The Sun.
London, England, 1847-03-06 00:00:00

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LONDON, SATURDAY, MARCH 6, 1847.

In eonsequer ce of the great press of matter, we are
obliged to omit our usual summary of the Parliamentary
proceedings,

Instead of dwindling away, the indignation which
the Austrian and Russian Governments have excited
against themselves by the occupation of Cracow is
rapidly increasing in energy, and promises in time to
become an irresistible means of revenging Poland and
of vindicating the sanctity of international treaties.
That indignation has been successively expressed in
the official protests forwarded to the Courts of
Vienna, St. Petersburgh, and Berlin, in the brief but
emphatic allusion to those protests contained in the
Speech from the Throne, in the enormous assembly
convened in the Freemasons' Tavern, on Tuesday
evening, and in the earnest and repeated commenta-
ries of an untramelled Press. It has now found a
voice in the Parliament of Great Britain. To the
jealous and watchful Autocrat this repetition of con-
tumelious and wrathful accusations, both in regard to
the policy of his own Cabinet and in that of his ob-
sequious and sympathetic neighbour, must be serious
cause for trepidation. The might of justice, sus-
tained by the enthusiasm of unanimous nations,
and allied to the spirit of liberty and the genius of
patriotism, is irresistible when opposed to the selfish
and solitary sway of a detested despotism. It is be-
cause we are so thoroughly satisfied with the gigantic
power of those predominant forces, when combined
together, that we are watching with so much interest
the spread of the odium consequent upon the last
and most flagitious of the crimes which have been
perpetrated at the instigation of Russia, and under
the guidance of Prince METTEnNICII. And it is
because of this sense of security and of our dormant
strength that we are morally convinced the present
agitatic:n in respect to Polish freedom will, if con-
ducted with undiminished ardour, ultimately prove
victorious.

IVe are grateful therefore to the Honourable Mem-
ber for Montrose for the strenuous efforts he is
making to bring this important matter directly under
the consideration of Parliament. Although we are
ready to admit the force of Lord JOHN RussaLL's ob-
jection to the third point in the motion brought for-
ward by Mr. HUME, namely, that the non-continuance
of the payment of the Russo-Dutch Loan is scarcely
a question coming directly under the cognizance of
the House of Commons, but peculiarly a matter
requiring the previous interposition of the Executive,
we are still sufficiently satisfied that the introduction
of the subject to that Honourable House must
prove in effect beneficial, to express our obligation
and gratitude for the course pursued by the Honour-
able Gentleman the Member for Montrose.

It cannot be forgotten that the occupation of
Cracow by Austrian troops was the cause of certain
observations from the lips of Mr. HUME to-
wards the conclusion of last session. Remembering
the military possession which was taken of that
neutral republic in 1831, and subsequently in 1836,
the Honourable Member deemed this new inter-
ference with the arrangements of the Cracovian mu-
nicipality of sufficient importance to justify the
more rigid scrutiny of those passive Governments who
were parties to the treaty ensuring to Cracow its
independence. The result has significantly verified
the suspicions then expressed by the representative
of Montrose. Brooding over the contiguity of a free
state, however insignificant its dimensions, and con-
spiring the means for its extinction and oblitera-
tion during a period of more than thirty years,
Austria and Russia at length found a propitious
moment for the consummation of their unexampled
crimes. The preservation of a portion of that Poland
whose colossal debris were scattered along the fron-
tiers of their several territories, goaded on the crowned
robbers of the North to the commission of the deed
which they seemed to regard as the only means of re
moving from the face of Europe the otherwise damning
and everlasting monument of their common infamy.
In the independence of the Cracovian population the
names of their heroic ancestors appeared to possess
the germ of ulterior revenge. The sound of the
irresponsible legislation of Cracow reverberated like
an evil omen even within the walls of Vienna : it
reminded the arbitrary rulers of that Polish blood
which cried to heaven for vengeance, from generation
to generation. That germ must be blasted, that
sound must be silenced : those were the necessities—
and Cracow was destroyed.
Now, the question at present under the considera-
tion of the Legislature is not whether this annexa-
tion of Cracow to the Austrian dominions be
a positive infraction of the stipulations en-
tered into by the contracting parties at the Congress
of 1815. That is indisputable. The very protests
forwarded from the Foreign-office, the very language
uttered by her Most Gracious MAJESTY, the very
expressions used by the members of the Administra-
tion, were to the effect that it was a direct and
monstrous infringement of those stipulations. The
question propounded by Mr. Hussy is this—whether
England is not justified in refusing to pay any
further instalments of the Russo-Datch Loan ?
" That is the question." Since 1816 we have paid
to the Russian Government, on this score, no less
an amount, in hard cash, than 3,374,0001. "A
pretty fair amount from a distressed country," says
the Hon. Member for Montrose. So say we. Our
estimated surplus for the next financial year is not
more than 60,0001., and that we cannot but regard
as a rather sanguine estimate. Shall we then, in
this moment of embarrassment, continue to pour into
the exchequer of a perfidious power monies which
we have only engaged to pay so long as she preserves
unbroken the compact of the Congress of Vienna ?
Has she not already broken that solemn compact, and
rendered it ipso facto a dead letter ? It contracts itself
to that consideration. If so, then are we relieved
from the moral obligation of disbursing any more of
this Russo-Dutch Loan. That is manifest. The problem,
therefore, to be decided by Parliament is this—" Has
Russia rendered the Treaty of Vienna a dead letter?"
Supposing that problem be solved by an affirmative
then may Ns e refuse, without any diminution of our
credit, to continue our annual contributions to the
revenues of NICHOLAS; but not otherwise. We are not,
however, amazed at the catastrophe of Cracow.
Arising from the Treaty of Vienna, we are reminded
of the gathering of figs from thistles.

The frequency with which the delinquencies of the
police force are brought under public notice becomes
perfectly repulsive. No sooner has one objectionable
act by one or more of this corps been exposed, and
subjected to such merited censure, either by the
magistracy, or by the ordinary channels of public
opinion, or by both these authorities combined, so as to
justify the hope of our being spared the repetition of
similar grave offences, than another is laid on the
tapis in very mockery, as it were, of so delusive an
expectation. As we have before now often remarked, it