The Sun.
London, England, 1848-08-22 00:00:00

POLAND-GALICIA.

The following is the translation of an interesting pri-
vate letter received this morning from Austrian Poland,
and which gives an accurate account of the state of
things there:—

" Limberg, capital of Austrian Galicia, Aug. 13.
" The state of things in this country must be incompre-
hensible for all who cannot appreciate the destructive effects
of the Metternich policy. The principle, " Divide et impera,"
was carried in Poland out of the sphere of politics into the
social relations, and the last stroke of the wand of the falling
magician banded peasant against lord and tenant against
landlord. The first result of this nefarious plot aginst public
order was the attempted massacre of 1846, of which the de-
tails and the instructions given by the Vienna Cabinet to
their agents have been partially made known in England.
The outcry raised throughout Europe at these horrors made
the Government of Vienna strive to subdue the spirit they
had raised against the patriotic class of the nobility, who
threatened to carry with them public opinion, and to combat
whom those reckless politicians were fain to resort to the
lowest arms of French, which means demoralising demo-
cracy. They were able to check the movement they had
roused, because a strong military force occupied the country ;
but since the Italian war has drained it of troops, the
leaders of the demagogues have it all their own way.
These leaders are men who have studied in the
French capital the art of anarchical rule, but
prepared as the country was for their reception, the people'
still hesitate to follow men who do not disguise the nature
of their schemes. The peasants look on with wonder, and
refrain from throwing themselves under the guidance of such.
chiefs. The citizens of the principal towns have joined the:
respectable part of the nobles in forming a national guard.l
Here would be materials for a strong Government to work;
with and restore order. At Vienna some disposition is'
manifested to take advantage of this state of things. A
new Governor, a native of Galicia, bl. Zaleski, is on his way,
and will find a considerable number of the respectable
classes well disposed to assist him. But he will be opposed
by the so-called National Club, headed by Dzierskowski,
Ruebenbauer, and Paducha, )rho have installed themselves
as a kind of Provisional Government at this place, and are
seeking to influence the election of the officers of the National
Guard. Since this Guard—which perhaps exceeds 25,000 in
number, and which, if armed, would be an efficient force—is
all the country has to trust to in the absence of the military,
it is obviously the Government's interest to unite with and to
strengthen the respectable part of the populations of all
classes who are friends of order, and who have
hitherto, unsupported, made head against the agi-
tators that have stepped into the place formerly
occupied by Prince Illetternich's creatures. The traditions
of the Metternich Cabinet survive, however, in a remark-
able manner amongst the old employis, who will be found
amongst the most strenuous opponents of the new Governor,
whom they will hate both as a Pule and as the harbinger of
a new sv..tem.
.Their plan is to rouse the Ruthenian pea-
santry against their Polish }neighbours, Galicia being divided
between those two. populations in equal parts. As the Ru-
thenians stretch into the Russian territory, it is not un-
likely that this manoeuvre is supported by Russian gold, it
being left to Providence to decide who will reap the benefit
of the machination. Its immediate effect is to weaken the
Polish party, to whom the landlords in the Ruthenian circles
belong. A sad result of the disorganized state of things is
that our fine harvest cannot be got in, and we shall, conse-
quently, be of little service to you if you have a bad crop.
All parties are desirous to come to a fair arrangement with
the peasants respecting their holdings and their labour rents,
for the commutation of which, on merely nominal terms, plans
have been submitted that might long since have been in opera-
tion it the two opposing influences I have named—Metter-
nich's Cabinet and the democratic agitators who succeeded
him—bad not prevented it. We are now threatened, in ad-
dition to anarchy and scarcity, with the horrors of the
cholera, which has broken out here, although not with full
ce. The Governor will have enough to do to meet
svoiriunlaennydifficulties at once, and cannot do it unless sup
ported by unity amongst the intelligent of all classes."