The Sun.
London, England, 1812-07-25 00:00:00

ItE-ESTABLISIIMENT QF THE KINGDOM CF
POLAND.

REPORT OF ME DIET.

WATONW, JULY I.—Our-countly•begins at last
to emerge from its ruins. Poland is re-.esta-
blished. A General Diet has been assembled at
Wnrsaw, and in the Sitting of the 23d of June,
a Committee made the' following Report
GENTLEMLY,

fr If there ever, existed among men an-important
com Mission, or if ever, there was an honourable
task aisig.led them, it is, without doubt, that
ti-hich we have received from you. If ever 'a
work directed to the mind and to the heart all
that is caleulated tok rouse •the one or influence
the other,, it is certainly that to which you have,
directed our attention.

Placed, bra concourse of prodigies, at the
.cl.ose of the drama, in which our country perish-
ed, between the
.yet recent cradle of .one part Of
that same country, and the tomb still open of the
other-"-the. picture which we have -to present to
you, the :accents in which we should eddress you,
to be faithful, ought to
,partieipate in the awful
mixture of Life and Death. They ought, at the
same time, to convey hope and consolation to
the hearts of the victims,: and terror-to 'those of
theiroppressors- But that is not enough j it, is
fit that there should be placed in your hada, the
thread which is to conduct you towards the issue
of the labyrinth of misfortune, into which you
have been made to wander during half. acen-
wry. Your footsteps 'must be firmly placed in.
the new path, which circumstances lay open be-
fore you. _ _ _

" Such is the 'extent of the relations under
which your Committee has viewed the labour you
have committed to its charge: The Committee
Las felt, that they had to appear before Europe,
as well as before you ; before ages to come, as
well as before the• present generation ; before na--.
tions, as well as. before. Sovereigns; they have
_said to themselves, above all, that they spojie,he-:
fore‘the greatest of Sovereigns,. and before' thei-r
own great Nation. They have felt all the sancti-
ty of your cause,. the magnitude of its results ;
and more sustained than terrified by those power-
ful motives, they come to lay at the feet of, this
Senate, a. work, of which they wish to make
au offering to the Country, in the persons -of
those, in whom it has plaCed its confidence and
its hope.
"For a long time there had existed in the
centre of Europe, a celebrated nation, mistress
of an extensive' and-fruitful country, rendered 11-
lustrions by the two-fold glory of war, and of
the arts, protecting .for ages, with .indefatigable
arm, the barriers of Europe against the bar-
barians whO surrounded—its confines ; and by a
character as honourable as singular, having never
made,its valour subservient to employ against 'the
existence of its neighbours, thoSe.attempts which
focceshastoa often coloured under the pktext of
justice. A rinmerous population prospered iii its
soil, nature liberally rewarded their labours, its
Kings had, often received a place in history by
the side of those who have 'done most honour to
'sovereignty. On all sides was eagerly courted the
honour of sitting on its throne ; if at any time
dissensions broke forth in its b6som, those storms
obscured only its own horizon, and never carried
their ravages to a distance.
" Gentleinen, this country was -Poland ; you
were this people, and what now are they' become:?
In vain our 'eyes look for them in those regions,
the union of which forinerly constituted their
glory. Alas ! those whom we now see only too
•much recal to our minds those who might have
been here, and the blessing, though small,'.we
1-are now permitted to enjoy, only too much re-
-mitid of that which we have lost.- - . -

" But how has this dismemberment of our
country been effected—how has this: great family
which even and amid its intestine divisions
not 'separate, which remained united amid ages of
dissension, how has this powerful family been so
dismembered What hare been its .crimes, and
whil have been: its judges-? •By whati right' has it
been attacked, invaded, . and eficed from the list
of States and Nations ?

Whence have proceeded its oppressors and its
fetters ? The indignant universe might answer
you for tifi ! ':.EveryState„ every Nation; might
say to you, that it has seen its own tomb opened
beside that of Poland. In the audaciousprotana-
tiou ,of those laws on which all communities
equally rely=—in the,insulting contempt that has
been shewn of those laws, in order to destroy us
—the world has imagined that it has-been deliver-
ed up to the empire alone of conveniency, and •that
soon it should have.no-
.other master. Europe,
terrified and menaced, might point • out above all,.
to your just resentment, that empire, whiich in
crushing you, was preparis to bear it down hy.a,
new weight. We do not doubt, Gentlemen, that
it is Russia that is the antlu'ie of all oiir misfor-
tunes. Not contented with the enjoyment of. a
great portion of the globe, the World itself would
scarcely satiateiier ambition. During an age past,
she has- advanced with gigantic steps upon nations
that were even h.,;ncwant of her mane.' With Peter
the First the veitarose, behind which was formed
an immense, empire,: where every thipg tenipted
Cie' inhabitants to renew upon Europe the inroads
Which their fathers had made. This new appear-,
anct ought to have filled Europe with alarm, and
made her seek in a prudent foresight the iii&UIS
of repelling 4113 new danger. She ought to have
shut her gates against the ambitiong Prince, who
came to be instruoted in all the secrets of her arts,
in order to arm, against her, the hands of his fero-
cious aud servile subjects, .and though the battle
of Pultowa seemed only to decidebetween Charles
and Sweden, Europe was conquered almost at -the
same moment as Sweden. Poland ciperienced ha-
i!,ediately the erects of this increase of the _Russian
power., Placed in its immediate.vieinity, she re-
ceived its first as well as' lust attempts. Who
In enumerate these attempts, ever since Russia,
ill 1717, tried her influence by licensing the
Polish unny, ? Since that period, what Moment
has there been exempt from her influence, or her
outrages ?

At first she,preseribed an alternative to that
free election which had always decided the throne
of our country. / By.thtis she assails those rights

of wisi(2l: the nation had always shewn itself inoirt
jealou.,. Very soon our fittest provinceS became
the "rewards of the favourites of,her sovereigns";
our childreL,Aragged by force into the, ranks of
her. :arAnies, were compelled to purchase with
• their blood what the 'Russians, alone ought to
-have foniOt for. if 'our fields arc covered with
harvestit is to,feed her soldiers. Every new
war shews, the Russian standards traversing Po-
land, and her colours living on all sides. It is by
continually treading the Polish soil that ithe,Rus-
Aan power approaches gradually the body of
Europe,- which she aspires to govern.
~" If, by assuming tither forms, thiS crafty power
united itself to Poland, it was to imPose tryna her,
'as din 1764, that, fatal guarantee, which attached
.•
. the integrity'of out frontiers to the perpetuity of
anarchy, for the purpose. of making this anarchy
the ineaysaol acconiplishinener ambitious designs,:
The world knows what they-have been since this
fatal perimil,.. 'lt is since this period-that, piece by
• piece; Poland has hen seen entirely to disappear;
without crime ns, Avielout revenge.: It is since
thiiperiiathat the Poles have indignantly heard
theinsulting, language of the Russians and of the.
Sivers, whom they have seen holding), with daring
hand, the reins of 'their own ~,,Coverment. lt is
since that period that the Russian soldier has a
hundred times bathed-his hands in the blood of
his fellow-citizenS, paving. the Way for that day
for ever execrable (must it be recolleeted) on which,
in the midstpfthe yells of a ferocious conqueror
Warsaw heard the cries of the people of Prague,
which was totally destroyedb yti re and sword.Ples,
for it is time to make this name resound in your
ears,:which is
,yonrs; and which you ought never
to have lost;i these are the odious means. by IA ich
Russia has . been enabled to appropriate to
herself your finest prOvinces-7these are the rights, ;
the only rights she exercises, over you. Force
has' enchained you, and-force may also break -the
fetters which it alone 'lilts forged,---They will
be broken ! liowCan, you. doubt it, when.you
conteMpliate what is passing around you ! in- .
quire if any thing' which has been your ruin
still exists. In this vast revolution which 'in.:-
volves the world, why would you recognise :the
ancient dangers of your country ? - Instead of the
jealousy of power, which kept alive in Europe
an anarchy similar •to that which gnawed your
own bosom, one spirit only seems to animate the ,
whole. Your plains are covered with standards,.
astonished at their new fraternity - Instead tf
neighbours avaricious of your spoils, and accom-
plices in your destruction, all have joined their -
arms with yours. Instead,of those phantoms of
armies which the whole of your, ancient territory
with difficultyfurnished, numerous
"legions issu-
ing, as if by.enchantthent, from a s,niall portion
only.of the same soil, covered with ' the glory of
recent victories, formed in the school of 'the
"greatest Captains, and, after the example of the
greatest, of armies, threaten your spoilers with
their. swords, forged of steel,• produced .in the .
same country as themselves, and burn with the I
desire of hearing the hour of vengeance strike !

.."Stead of those small succours which France
lent to ,your necessities, it is the whole of France
which is nay in motion, and which advances
with steps frightful to your enemies.--,France was
always the ally, the friend of Poland.- Poland, in
'its turn, always returned to France love for.love,
in her various relations towards France, whether
to give her assistance or ,to demand it from her.
The first use that Poland -made of her right
,of
choosing her own Kings,wasrto call to the throne
a Prince of Frendh blood. It was to France that
Casimir went to ask consolation for the hardships
he had experienced on the throne of Poland. It
was in a part of France that Stanislaus went to
realize the benevolent designs he contemplated
for Poland. A ,
." It is with nations as with individualS.
pathics of interest strengthen between them.the
indissoluble bonds of union. .
All these are found to subsist between France
and Poland, but what formerly was only beldby
that small number of men-Whom the minutest re-
lations of the interests 'of States cannot escape, is
become the political_axiom of PolamL Poland 'is
neaessary to France, as France is 'to Poland.
What do I say ? It is necessary to all Eiirope.
Europe has to repose from five and :twenty years,
of great agitations. Fier system will .reinain in-
complete, the price "of her labours and her:blood
will not be secUre,so bag as the North shall
be able to pour upon her. -those hordes, re-
specting -the nature of which we must no longer
shU our eyes.' 'They are no, longer those men
`whom necessity .drove front their _savage abodes,
and impelled forwardin all the routes which could
lead theth to countries that promied enjoyments
riot to be found in their own severe climates.
" Among such men, a blind instinct holds the
place of those arts which' polish or ,defend other
Nations. But. h;re, the arts which civilize Man-
kind are loand associated, even with that bar-
barism. The Russian has sought instruction from
the Europeans ;,.—he has learned from them -every
thing that could serve for attack or_defence, that
.could, enable him to injure or destroy. The Rus-
:sian has', in some respects, rendered himself the
equal ofltin2alZurope-an, in order tii4Jie night
bedome his master. In that country, sueersti-,
tions and docile slaves placa all their faculties
Mulct the confront of a Government_ familiarised
with all kinds of atrocities. At, its voice, -their
iadefatigable,*,,arms. have, during, a century, la--
boured- to stop the dykes which confine this toy-
. rent, always direcfed t 9 overwhelm them. 1.16 w
often have, not the Russians alit: overstepped
ttese bounds, impelled either by their own inte-
rest, or by, the imprudent summons of Princes, to
whom they, bear concealed chains under their per-
fidious succour. In the course of fifty years,
Russia has twenty times inundated the south of
Europe ivith her arms. The Empire of Constan-
tinople has been thrown back upon her Crescent,
half destroyed.

- " Frederick himself could not protect his capi-
tal. against her. In 'these latter times has
received them With honour in her smiling pains,
invoking, in vain,.a new.larlas.to rise to her aid:
Who could have believed ? The cries of barba-
rous Scythians- have been 'beard in. the torirb of
the Mantuan Swan---k Virgil). •In. their head-

sttong holdnesS those shrts,-cut down
-by the Gallic sword, have fertilized the free coun-
try 'of the Swiss. The arm of a hero Was requi-
site. at Austerlitz to arrest their carter. At a period
still more reeent, 'the same arm was necessary to
drive them back to-their'forests. Numerous, ex-
amples have made Europe sensible of her danger,
and of the remedy , which is required. These
dangers and these remedies have, not escaped the
observations of a Prixce, who, in his calculations,
embraces the future-with the same facility as the
present, and who having founded a vast empire,
Cannot fail to impart f 6 it all the solidity neces-
sary for a structure reared by such a succession of
toils. =

He is aware, that a perpetual and impene-
"trable bulwark is indispensable against the inroads
of i'gnoranCe and barbarisms He is aware, that
the, frontier tchich separates civilized from barba-
rous nations, , lutist „be fortified with brass and
with. steel. Inc is aware; that-the nation, form-
ing as it were the vanguard of Europe, inust• be
possessed of power sufficient
_to ensure her `re-
pose. ilrat other periods every thing seemed to
coinhine for our destruction, at present the:,' all
unite for our-restoration: Polani then will exist.
What do I Say ? she exists already, or rather, she
hts never ceased. to exist. How could the Ne-
fidy, the plot, the violence under which she 'Ails
~nnk, injure her rip:hts ? Yes ; we are Poland ;
we are -so by the title..,:yhich we deriv.efrOm naT
tire, froM civil society,
_from our ancestorSl;
those sacred titles which the'nniverse.recognizes,
and the sureties for which are mankind at large.
Not only we are so, who already erijoy the re-
generation of our country,
;but likewise all those
Who inhabit those vast territories, that still wait
for the era of their deliVerance.

. Those .boundaries traced by the hand of vio-
lence, those barriers reared by suspicion, those
.guards' With which she has blOcked up every axle=
rtue, all those gloomy forebodings,. which are the
attendants pri,usurpation, have not been able) to
alter a common originoior. to break those ties of
consanguinity Which establish love and Mutual
cOnfidence among a nation, of brothers.' Yes,
notwithstanding' so long a separation, the inha-
bitants of Lithuania, of White Russia, of the
Ukraine, of Potolia, and of WolhYnia, are our
brothers. Likens they are Poles, and have the
same right with us as such to appear:. Our coun-
try, like a tender parent, still throws open her.
ants to all her sons ; and every member has a
right to re-unite himself to that family from, which
he was torn .by violence.
" Poles ! for by whAt other name can' I now
address you ? I will no hinger avert thOSe wishes
and feelings which ari. bursting:from your hearts.
Let them be proclaimed aloud ;. let your lips re,
peat them with that energy, which springs from
wishes long suppressed, and let the existence Of
the kingdoni of Poland be solemnly proclaimed
within thv circle," be re-echoectover all Poland,
and as hire, -amidst the same sentiments of emo-
tion, and the same shouts of joy. •
" But, to give to those emotions an irresistibl
force, to be /more assured of the result which
they ought to produce; let us consult the history
of,,our ancestors, and let, us ask • what was sug-
creSted to them, by the ardour of their love for
their country; keeping clear of those dangers,
which too .frequently di!prived them of those: ad-
vantages. they ought to have acquired.
'" Let not their experience be lost upon us.—
Let us stamp upon .this confederation a new
character ofthe closeit union. Let us -make it
the central point, close to,which we shall always
be united, and "-room! Which all those may rally
without difficulty',- and witliont. confusion, who,
always want a Central point to Which they mat
repair. Then, what human power can stay. the
unanimous Movement of a great nation, can ar.,
rest the .rapid march, ofd people who resume theiin•
..
ancient existence, and who, to establish it more
securely, are willing to forget their former suffer-
ings, and to double their former sacrifices ?

0, happy day! DA), of
.gladges. arid of
triumph: Before thee .disappear all those days
whieh ought to be effaced from our his.tory) and
from the recollection of Mankind: This day-shall
be celebrated among all other days'. Our posterity
inherit the homage and respeet We pay to. it.
For-it .Was reserved/the proclaming a the dear
and sacred- name of Poland, whieh lived in
.our
hearts, 'iand which a cr(iel destiny had ,condemned
us to bury there. .

Henceforth the descendants of Prest and
Jagelton limy adorn thcmselveswith that.name,.
of 'which their fathers were proud that name
before, which turned pale, Thom for a time,
fraud anal. crime had constituted
,yOur masters.
Doubt but this land, formerly so fertile in
heroes, is about to resume all her ancient lustre.
She will again give birth to a Sigismond, and a
!`,...4abieski, and
,her
_glory will burst forth with re-
newed Snlendour. The nations resuming, with
respect to us, %entiments of justice, will ac-
knowledge' that nothing was wanting for make
every virtue blossOm. upon:i!Olish. ground, but
that it should be cultivatt::j. by the hands of free-
',men; by 'the.hands of her own sous icleased-from
their chains.

5! And you, 'venerable citizen, whom a. centiny
almost of virtue has pointed out to the eyes of
your - fellow-citizens, -to 'preside - over the most
vomit:l-I'6l event of their history, and to guide the
first steps of your regenerated country, what an
,af7
feedug lesson is afforded by the prize of virtue
which yoU receive fo-day. Those eyes fixed up-
on you, those tears which your presence:causes to
flow, tell the youthful hearts of your fellow pa-,
triots what is reserved 'for services similar to
yours. Stationed, if may speak sO, at the-two
extremes of the life of your Comitry, you will have
assisted at the twilight of her first, and the dawn
of her'second life you will have seen her rise and-
her fail. What a ;destiny for a citizen like you
That destiny, decreed, that fifty yearrhack, you
should_ fill rn_ that Diet which made the first
step 'towards a better government, the same
place, whieh :you now fill in this whichhas been
'saiumoned.tO insure our existence and happiness
as a nation: ,

" Nation of Polish Patriots F---When you va-
nished from their eyes, you carried along Nvith
you th,e•gods saved from the conflagration of your