The Sun.
London, England, 1851-05-07 00:00:00

• POLISH REFUGEES.
The following is a copy of the letter: addressed' by Lieu-
tenant Charles Szulczewski, secretary to the Literary Asso-
ciation of the Friends of Poland, to Mr. Hardwick, the Ma-
gistrate of the Police-tourt, Marlborough-street, and of
which a substance has appeared in several of our contem*
poraries : -
"Literary Association of the Friends ofPoland, aussex-
chambers, Duke-street, St. James's, Nayl 5.
" Sir,—ln the Times and several other journals of the Ist
instant there appeared under the head of the Police-conrt,
Marlborough-street, a statement purporting to be a report of
a conversation which took place between yourself And me
respecting a Polish refugee named Joseph Mierzejeweki, who
had applied to you for assistance on the ground of his having
been, according to his own statement, expelled front France
without any reason by order of the authorities of that country.
"One part of this statement runs thus :
"' Mr. Szulczewski, the secretary, made his appearance,
and having been informed of the treatment the applicant had
sustained at the hands of the French authorities, said this was
an exceedingly common case. For some time past% it had
been the open practice of the French authorities to clear
their country of idle, profligate, or criminal foreigners, by'
sending them to England. He believed that not fewer than SCO
doubtful characters had been within a limited period sent to
this country. This practice would account for the appear-
ance of the applicant here, who, though with a passport to
Lyons, was compelled when he got to that city to leave it,
and to embark at Boulogne for England. 'The French Go-
vernment had, doubtless, found out that the epplicatnt was
without visible means of subsistence, and bad in the cus-
tomary way provided means for getting him out. of France
into England.' I
" What I said was this: that the individual then before
you was not the only instance of the severity with which
the French authorities act towards the Poles- that numbers
of them have within the last two yearg been sent over here,
and that the French Government is not very scrupulous in
that respect. That, independently of the refugees whose
political conduct renders them obnoxious in he e3-es of the
French Government, it sometimes expels persona who, having
'offended against the laws of France might, -in virtue of
these very laws, be punished there, rather than be made a
present of to England. That, as regards, the refugee in
question, who arrived here without a passport or any papers,
1 did not suppose that he could have bean removed from
France merely from political motives,
" I added, that the influx of the Polish refugees in
England during the past year was greater than at any
other period, the number at present in England being
about 800, and that at one time there were nearly 1,000,
many of whom arrived here from Switzerland with re-
gular passports, visaed in France, having been compelled to
qUit Switzerland,- at • the instigation of the Continental
Powers, and that several also came here from Hamburgh.
"It was far from me to think, much less to say, that
only idle, profligate' or crimminal foreigners' are expelled
from France to England. Such a statement tends to create
a very strong prejudice in the public mind sgainist the
Polish refugees, and as an act of justice towards their
moral character, by which as a body they are distinguished,
and with the view' to remove so erroneous an impression,
I have felt it my duty to trouble yon with this commiinicae
tion. . "4 am, Sir, your obedient servant, Air
-" C. SZIJLCZEWSKI, Seerietairpg -
J. Hardwick, Esq., Sitting Magistrate, '' ' .• • *",
"Police-court, Marlborough-street."