The Sun.
London, England, 1846-12-01 00:00:00

Ale-Axing .:",!attit,

LONDON, TUESDAY, DECEMBER 1, 1846,

Poland was—Poland is no more. In the destruc-
L tion of that kingdom the descendants of an heroic race
have been dispersed over the world as aliens and out-
', casts. 'Warsaw has been desolated by a political
• visitation as complete, if not as deplorable, as the reli-
gious visitation which desolated Jerusalem. By
insidious encroachments, by piecemeal annexation, by
secret spoliation, and by open fraud, one of the most
chivalrous, venerable, and illustrious governments of
Europe has been annihilated. At the commencement
of its troubles its spoilers were its friends, at the ter-
mination of those troubles its destroyers were its
protectors! By the annexation of Cracow to Austria
the last vestige of Poland has disappeared—but may
not that vestige be revived ? Is the dismembered
kingdom permanently dissipated ? May not a tardy,
but terrible vengeance be wreaked upon the sharers
of that spoil ? May not the cause of the dispersed
and abused people be vindicated by the outraged spirit
of civilisation ? May not the nations who have ac-
quired for themselves the blessings of liberal
institutions, and political liberty may not
the free nations of the west abase those
despots of the east who have obtained an

nfamous celebrity by their predatory incur-
sions upon their neighbours? Filled with sym-
pathy for a brave and unfortunate race, the popula-
tion of England and France are aroused to indigna-
tion against the Northern Powers; the population of
those two countries are regarding with jealous eyes
the proceedings of their Ministers in regard to the
recent atrocity perpetrated in Galicia. Anything
like connivance of the villanies of Austria, Russia,
and Prussia would not be permitted by the
multitude, if it were attempted. But such will
not be attempted ; it cannot be attempted. This
generation would never sanction any such infamous
movement which could thus render our Governments
accomplices after the fact. The days of Ministerial
hoodwinking and political chicanery are past, as far
at least as the population of England is concerned.
Sunday last, being the anniversary of the Polish
revolution of 1830, was commemorated by the refu-
gees in London with an enthusiasm most in ac-
cordance with their present interesting position.
Driven from their native land by adverse circum-
stances, and sojourning in a remote island, the in-
telligence of the final subversion of the Republican
Government of Cracow has fallen upon them like a
thunderclap; but while that mournful intelligence
has oppressed their hearts with an indefinable sorrow,

it has simultaneously renewed and confirmed their
inborn patriotism. The lamentations of their de-
parted countrymen resound in their ears from the dis-
tance of bygone days and the depths of their violated
graves. It is impossible, no doubt, for the dissevered
remnants of this population to re-assert their own
independence, to reclaim their own hearths, to re-
estaitlish their own principality. They look to the
liberated kingdoms of Europe, they look to the
honour and the magnanimity of flourishing nations,
they look to those Governments which are based
upon the adamant of freedom and enlightenment.
From these they expect the vindication of their un-
merited woes.

Upon the movements and intentions of the Ad-
ministrations of London and Paris there are a thou-
sand conjectures, but few that are entitled to a mo-
ment's consideration. The Cracow annexation has
actually jeopardised the very existence of the Guizot
Ministry. Rumours innumerable are floating about
the vicinity of the Tuileries, and it is now
tolerably certain that the proposed successor
of M. GUIZOT is the statesman whose eva-
cuation of Ancona has rendered his name
somewhat unpopular amongst his warlike country-
men. We allude of course to Count MOLE. There
is unquestionably much sagacity in that insinuation
of the Courrier Francais, that M. TEIIERS, amidst all
these official arrangements, is merely " lurking be-
hind the scenes, waiting to mount upon the stage" im-
mediately there is any favourable opportunity. There
is a preposterous corollary, however, to these reports
in relation to the protest said to have been forwarded
to Lord Possoicnr, at Vienna, by her MAJESTY'S
Minister for Foreign Affairs. The explanation given
in the Parisian press of the character and tone of this
supposititious document is manifestly inconsistent
and improbable ; and is not assuredly the English
remonstrance at the atrocious convention of the 6th of
November. Of that convention the only apology pub-
lished under the auspices of the Northern patriecides
is the article inserted in the Austrian Observer of the
20th ultimo—an article founded upon the doctrines of
despotism, feudalism, ignorance, depravity, and expe-
diency. It is only by snapping their fingers at all
moral and Divine law that the Austrian and Rus-
sian Emperors can maintain the advisability of such
proceedings as the incorporation of Cracow with the
territories of the Kaiser FERDINAND. It is only by
deriding all the holiest laws of nature and revelation
that they can have the audacity to insist upon the
justice of their behaviour.

Let the spoilers of Eastern Europe hearken to the
cry of the banished countrymen of SOBIESKT, let them
listen to the voice of those whose souls are ani-
mated with the great memory of Kosctusxo. It
proclaims :

" You have seen Poland protest in arms on a hundred
fields of battle—you will see it again ; she prepares her-
self for fresh struggles, and this last attack on her, by
causing her efforts to be redoubled, will hasten her de-
liverance.

" The treaty of Vienna no longer remains to Europe ;
that part of spoliation, which was never binding on
Poland has been destroyed, by its very authors. In its
place will arise a more powerful alliance of people, which
nothing will rend asunder."

Those threats may appear impossible of accom-
plishment to the monarchs of Russia, Prussia, and
Austria at this moment, but a persistance in their
foregoing atrocities will ultimately render such
threats no longer contemptible. The Northern
Powers must be warned by the reflection that the
laws of GOD and man cannot be scorned for ever
with impunity.

What is to be done with Ireland ? The question
has been repeated for years. No matter how great is
the sum of legislation for Ireland comprised within
even the last quarter of a century—no matter how
large the boon, be it essentially political, social, or
purely pecuniary, for which the Irish have thundered,
and not in vain, at the doors of the United Parlia-
alent,—no matter how intensely successive Cabinets,
whether swayed by the genius of a CANNING, GREY,
MELBOURNE, PEEL, or RUSSELL, have devoted their
energies to the political redemption of the sister
isle—no matter how much of the time of each session
has been given up, and in an increased ratio, with the
view of mastering her difficulties,—every year the cry
seems to become louder, and the question to be
more emphatically put, of what is to be done
with Ireland? As yet all would appear to have
been in vain. A variety of treatment has, in turn,
been resorted to, but always with an illusory result.
The coercive and the lenitive system, the rigorous
and the ameliorative, has been; as it were, by fits and
starts, adopted, and yet, with all our endeavours to
lay the foundations of peace and prosperity, we appear
to have been only grasping at shadows.
If anything were required to add to the conviction
of the distracted condition of Ireland, and of the
perplexity of attempting to improve it, it would be
found in the discordant views which the Irish them-
selves take of the state of their country, and in the
nature of the suggestions, for the most part crude,
wild, and efficient, which are propounded on all sides
for its improvement. It is a medical rule, that when
a man is sick, he should never prescribe for him-
self. Yet, in Ireland, where the body politic
is so deeply affected, and different parties
pearecusleivaer nostrum,rallywill
ing to quack themselves with some
the notion is entertained by a large
body of the inhabitants that, with a domestic legis-
lature, all their ailments would cease; that if they
had only the power of swallowing) every political
dose as rapidly as it could be compounded, Ireland
would be completely revivified. It is well for Ireland
that she has Great Britain to advise and control her
in her hours of affliction and disquietude.
The intelligence from the other side of St. George's
Channel is by no means inspiriting. Severe destitu-
tion continues to prevail, particularly to the south-
ward and westward, and the impositions that have
been practised upon the relief,committees, by whom
persons have been employed on public works, whose
circumstances are not sufficiently distressed to entitle
them to relief, to the exclusion and prejudice of others
whose want is excessive, have in many parts spread a
a spirit of dissatisfaction and disaffection which must
be promptly allayed. This, we have no doubt, will
be quickly accomplished, as every devisable means is
being followed up with alacrity for expelling these
cunning and heartless intruders upon the benevolent
resources of the public.
There is nothing, however, we regard with so much
of apprehension as to their probable consequences
unless immediately and authoritatively discounte:
nanced, than the recent proceedings of the gentry in
the county of Clare. The board of guardians for
the union of Kilrush have passed resolutions, and
addressed a memorial to the Prime Minister, recom-
mendatory of a wholesale scheme of emigra-
tion, as the best method of relieving Ireland
from its cumulative destitution. They suggest
that the present remedies of the Government
are utterly inadequate to meet the calamities
of the country, and therefore jump to the conclusion
that thousands must be shipped off from their father.
land to cultivate large unreclaimed tracts of our
colonies. It may be true, and we have been of those
who have indicated the necessity, that—to use the
words of the memorial—" some more effective and
permanent measures" are required to get rid of the
universal pauperism, with its concomitant evils, of
Ireland. But, " the more haste the worst speed," and
notwithstanding the memorialists allege they have
‘‘ minutely investigated" the state of their electoral
divisions, which has led them to " hasten to lay their
deep conviction before the Executive, and not to
hesitate to suggest an extensive system of emigration
by families," we dislike the precipitateness with
which they have arrived at their conclusions, and

- -
unreservedly impugn the soundness of their judg,

ment. What l are the landed proprietors to
turn round upon a hardy race of peasantry, and,
addressing them like so many cattle or bestial droves,
to exclaim, " There are too many of you here; be
off to the nearest ports ; ships are there lying in
readiness to transport you to other climes. Food
and labour may or will be'within your reach on
strange shores, but, believe us, that at home, the land
of your birthright, and that of your forafathers, you
look for these primitive blessings in vain." We
warn the landed gentry of Ireland against counte-
nancing for a moment any such project, one so re-
volting to the social feelings of any population, and
particularly to so excitable an one as the Irish.

Once let their language and councils take this
direction, and the torch of rebellion will be lighted
up from one end of Ireland to the other. Such a

storm would arise as would not
,bee„easily hushed.