The Sun.
London, England, 1834-01-21 00:00:00

POLAND.

PARIS. JAN. 16. —The French Ministers and their
friends, particularly M. Thiers and General Bugeand, have
asserted in the Chamber of Deputies that the Polish question
is foreign to the interests of France, and that it was im-
possible for the French Government to do anything to
save Poland. The reasons by which this assertion is
supported are-
1. That Poland is 400 leagues distant from France.

2. That France must have had an army of 900,000
men to lie able to transport 400,000 to the Vistula.
S. That in attempting to succour Poland France would
have turned Prussia and Austria-against that country and
herself.

4. That if Prussia had thus been rendered hostile, she
would have immediately united her armies to those of
Rns•ia, and Warsaw would have been taken in a fortnight.

5. That even Napoleon was not able to re-establish
Poland. _

_
In the course of the discussion a generous orator declared
that with regard to Poland the question for France was
not one merely of honour, but of morality. He was of
opinion that the prior relations of France were sufficient to
bind her to give support to a cause which she had often
proclaimed sacred and truly French, and which during
the course of a century bad always been common and ad.
vantageous to herself.
But the Ministers appeared to defy their opponents to
explain the means whereby they could have given support
to the late struggle in Poland. We accept the challenge,
and the question is still not without interest, for it does not
relate merely to the past.
It is not to be disputed that in ordinary times France could
not think of a war with Russia unless she had 400,000
men in the field. Rut at the period of this Polish insur-
rection Russia was in a state of momentary weakness.
The Russian army had sustained four successive cam-
paigns against the Persians and the Turks. These wars
bad cost Russia 300,000 men, and at the beginning of
1834 all her military depots being drained, the reorgani-
zation of the army became a matter of difficulty, and
occasioned much delay before some corps could he brought
into the field. Of the eight army corps, of which the
Russian army was then composed, only four were com-
-namely, the Ist, the 6th, the Grenadier corps, and
Guards. The 2d, 3d, 4th, and sth were almost
- ely composed of recruits, and were besides numerically
it oroplete. The four first-mentioned corps, a part of the
Guard which remained at St. Petersburgh excepted,
entered Poland in the beginning of February, 1831. The
2d and 3d entered successively, and took their positions
in line. The sth occupied nearly the whole of the time
Podolia and Vollaynia, and was opposed to the insurgents
of those provinces, while the 4th in like manner had to
contend with the Lithuanian insurgents. Moreover, one-
half of the sth corps had been left in Wallachia, and one-
half of the 4th in the Caucasus. Finland, too, could not
be entirely stripped of troops, for appearances of discon-
tent had there become manifest.

In the course of April and the following month the
6th corps was nearly destroyed by the war and the
cholera, and by the end of May every corps of the Russian
army was considerably reduced. The campaign was
afterwards carried on during several months with varied
success. How, then, can it be said that 400,000 men
would at this time have been necessary to establish an
equilibrium in the force of the contending armies ?
Energetic and sincere counsels accompanied by subsidies
might have had the effect of rousing Turkey, and she
might easily have sent 30,000 or 40,000 men into the
held. A French division of 6,000 men, draughted partly
from the Morea and partly from Algiers or Toulon, would
have formed a nucleus for this army, which, without
difficulty, could have invaded or at any rate menaced Wal-
lachia and Moldavia. The sth Russian corps, the only
corps remaining disposable, would have been forced to oc•
copy those principalities, leaving Podolia, where immense
stores of arms and ammunition existed, unprotected.
Thus a powerful and decided impulse would there have
been given to the insurrection.
In the North an Anglo-French fleet might have occu-
pied the Baltic, and cut off from the Russian army all its
communications through the Prussian territory, which
afforded the only routes remaining open during the last
two months of the war.

To bring the affair to a speedy conclusion it would have
been advi.able to embark a corps of 20,000 men at Polan-
gen, in the beginning of June, with arms for the insurgents,
amounting to 15,000 men, and ammunition for the
15,000 regular troops who were on their march to that
point from Warsaw. This demonstration would have
compelled the Russian army to retrograde beyond the
Niemen. Had the force of that army been divided, the
part left before Warsaw might have been annihilated : at
any rate, that capital would have been placed out of danger,
while at the same time it would have ceased to be of
exclusive importance. Other centres of operation would
have been created, and even the occupation of Warsaw by
the enemy would not then have been regarded as an event
of overwhelming influence as to the result.
But supposing all this to have occurred, we are told that
Prussia would have marched troops against Warsaw, and
that the fate of that city would have been decided in the
space of a fortnight. We are of opinion, however, that
Prussia would have deliberated more than once before she
rejected energetic notes from France and England, supported
as they would have been by the camps upon the Meuse
and in Hanover.

But, admitting this supposition, an armed interference
by Prussia in the affairs of Poland would have been an
European event more calculated than any other to bring
the Polish question within the scope of the general
treaties of Europe, and it would, therefore, have held out to
Poland, even after subjugation, a fate infinitely less un-
fortunate than that which she experiences under the un
controlled dominion of a single Sovereign destitute of com-

passion.
However, to confine the question to narrower limits,
the mere neutrality of Prussia would, according to all
probability, have saved Poland. France and England
would then have had merely to declare, as they did with
regard to Belgium, that events had broken the compact
pf 1815, and rendered a new modification necessary,
which must be adopted in concert. This language would,
in no respect, have been menacing to Prussia, and the
Polish subjects of that power had looked forward to such
a atate of things, for they bad made the greatest sacrifices
to their country, by repressing their enthusiasm at
home, while they sent men armed to Warsaw.
Thus the Polish possessions of Prussia might have been
guaranteed to that Power, while, on the other hand, her
possessions on the Rhine were menaced, if she did not
maint.in her neutrality. In a word,Poland would have been
saved had France and England merely declared to Prussia,
as they lateiy did to Spain, when, without deviating them-
.elyea from neutrality, these two Powers found the means
of ob!jeing Ferdinand to remain neutral also. The result
pf tl;is neutrality, strictly watched, as it would have been,
by the friendly Powers, would have been of incalculable
advantage. On the approach of winter a repose of six
months would have been obtained, as well on account of
thz season as of the immense loss of the Russian army.
to Austria, she would not have thought of offering any
opposition. One half of her people, nay, of her army,
felt the most vivid interest in favour of the Poles ; the
neighbourhood of Russia has long alarmed this Power ;
hot as soon as she shall perceive the western Powers of
pprope. united in the prosecution of an enlightened and
energetic policy, she will cheerfully join them against
Russia.
That day will surely come, for Russia will not halt in her
present career, but will proceed to menace England and
France in their possessions, and even to threaten the anni-
hilation of their European importance. In this great
struggle, the crusade of civilization against barbarism, the
inpat eminent part belongs to England. The part sl.e
would have to act is ably pointed out in the memoirs of
Ole French General Pelet on the campaign of 1809 (chap-
ter 2).
Ltstly, the case of Napoleon has been alluded to. But
no one %could have had to reproach that great man, nor
ould he have reproached himself, with the
desertion of
;oland as one of the chief causes of his ruin, could it with
justice be said that he was not able to re-establish her
independence.
If France and England, just now too much engrossed
with their own internal affairs, and not well instructed in
the real bearings of the question, which was fir ten months
at issue on the banks of the Vistula, failed to perceive all
the vital importance of that struggle to their own imme-
diate interests, and to adopt the measures which the cir-
cumstances required, let the Ministers of those Powers at
least abstain from replying to just reproaches, by general
assertions of impracticability, which are as detrimental to
their own countries as to that nation which has fallen,
though without ceasing to live, or to prepare for the future.

During the year 1833 there entered the port
of Havre, from long sea voyages, 447 vessels, foreign and
French. Of these 44 were from Martinique, '7B from
Guadaloupe, 3 from Senegal, 2 from Cayenne, 11 from
the whale fisheries, and 213 from the United States. The
number that sailed was 3'75, of which 32 were for Mar-
tinique, 45 for Guadaloupe, 1 for Cayenne, 2 for Senegal,
5 for Irciia and China, 24 for the whale fisheries, and 192
for the-MA/4 'firm During the last year there arrived
is the Por of Mass& 98 American vessels, measuring
together 11,40 touto
fes,\

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LONDON,
TUESDAY EVENING, JANUARY 21, 1834.

The Paris Papers of Sunday arrived this
morning. They contain no news of interest
from Spain. Some of them, however, publish
the address of General ',LANDER to the QUEEN
REGENT. This document, although it does not
go quite so far as the Ultra. Liberal Papers in
Paris had stated, is of considerable importance
as the manifesto of the Constitutional party in
Spain. The Journal des Debats, which is the
semi-official paper of the French Government,
is displeased at the conduct of the Spanish Con-
stitutionalists, but intimates that the French
Ministry will not interfere against them on
behalf of the Queen of SPAIN.

There is every reason to believe that the in-
tention of sending troops to Portugal, which is
said to have been entertained by some of the
Members of the Government, has been for the
present abandoned. When it was first asserted
by one or two of our Contemporaries that it had
been resolved to send troops to Portugal, we
stated, from an authentic source, that nothing
had occurred to indicate an intention of sending
British troops to that country. This statement
is now fully confirmed. We regret the
confirmation on two grounds,—First, be-
cause we consider that the presence of Bri_
tish troops in Portugal would not only esta-
blish order there, but also tend to the preserva-
tion of the peace of the Continent, by putting
an end to the intrigues of the Northern Sove-
reigns in the Peninsula ; and secondly, because
the abandonment of the intention, coupled as it
is with a report that it has been caused by the
disinclination of an illustrious personage to sup-
port the views of the Premier against those of
other Members of the Cabinet, shows but too
plainly that Lord GREY has not the influence
to which he is entitled by his eminent services
and high talents, and which is essential to the
welfare of the country. This fact becomes the
more important from the consideration that the
want of influence to which we allude is the
consequence not so much of an impression pro-
duced on the mind of " the illustrious person-
age," by representations from Lord GREY'S
colleagues,—if colleagues they can be called who
pull different ways,—founded on their own mis-
taken views of the policy proper for the Cabinet
to adopt, as of the interference of a clique, a
back-stair faction at Court, of which some mem-
bers of the family of that illustrious personage
form part. We have heard, from a source on
which we can place reliance, that on a late oc-
casion at Brighton the influence of one
member of this family was exercised in a
striking degree, and it is stated as a curious fact
that the friend of the Duke of WELLING-
TON, the ex-whipper-in of the House of
Commons,was on the spot at the time, daily and
hourly, receiving information of the proceedings
of the Premier, of whose embarrassments and
difficulties he seems but to have been too well
aware. It must be painful to persons who wish
well to their country to learn that great and
important questions, whether of foreign or
domestic policy, are decided by this clique,
and that the man who took the helm of
state at a time when, but for him and those who
acted under him, a convulsion destructive to all
good institutions—the necessary consequence of

long, and severe endurance—must have en-
sued, has now no alternative but the abandon.
ment of the government of the Tories, or
concessions to a party from whom, on great
questions of national interest, he can obtain no
concessions in return. How long this state of
things is to continue we know not, but we do
know that it cannot continue without the most
serious injury to the cause of reform. Lord
GREY will, we hope, take advantage of the
next session of Parliament to strengthen himself
against the faction that besets him, and to insist
on the possession of the power and influence
which every Prime Minister ought to possess.

Hops and tobacco furnish two prominent
instances of our practice of sacrificing industry
for the sake of revenue. We imported hops
from Flanders before they were raised in En-
gland, and because a considerable revenue was
derived from them through duties of customs,
we subjected the home growth of them to a
duty of excise. With the exception of the
malt duty, the hop duty is the only direct tax
upon any raw material of home growth. It is
infinitely more objectionable than the malt duty.
Indeed, so long as any excise duty is levied, we
do not know any tax less objectionable than the
malt duty, which is levied only upon a portion
of the barley raised, bears but a small pro-
portion to its value of beer and ale, and does
not interfere in the smallest degree with the cul-
tivation of the soil ; whereas the hop duty is
levied upon the sylloie of the produce, is small
in gross amount compared to the gross amount
of the malt duty, is much more expensive in
the collection compared to the gross amount,
and is felt the more that the expense of cul-
tivation is great, being at the rate of thirty
pounds per acre, while the crop is, of all others,
the most uncertain, and the duty is felt the
most severely when the crop is most abundant,
because then it bears the highest proportion to
the value of the article. For the relief of this
branch of industry, therefore, the hop duty
(we mean the excise duty on hops) should be
repealed. The net duty last year was only
294,3251., whereas the net malt duty last year
in Great Britain was 4,579,1691. No hops
are raised in Ireland, and the malt duty there
last year produced of net revenue only 254,9661.
We can spare the hop duty, but we cannot
afford to part with the malt duty, nor until the
operation of the present corn laws be removed,
ought we, on any account, to part with it. When,
by restoring the operation of the corn laws,
which prevailed previous to the year 1815, the
cultivation of the soil shall be restored to the
poor as they enjoyed it for forty-two years be-
fore that year, and when, by a proper modi-
fication of our duties of customs we shall have
so increased the public revenue as to enable us
further to relieve home industry, by repealing
duties of excise, then we may consider of the
reduction of the malt duty, which, however, is
one of the last of duties of excise which we
should think of repealing. Compared to its
amount, it is little expensive in collection, does
not interfere with any branch of home industry,
applies to an article of universal consumption,
and affects it in a smaller degree than any tax
which can be laid on any article whatever.
But what we desire more immediately to
apply ourselves to at present is the absurdity of
our policy with regard to tobacco. We origi-
nally got our chief supply of this plant from Vir-
ginia—as from a mistaken policy with regard to
our colonies, we subjected them to the mono-
poly of the home market for their supplies, so it
was but reasonable that we should secure to
them the monopoly of the home market for
their productions. We thus prohibited the
cultivation of tobacco at home in order to
insure it to our then colonies in America ;
but we levied a heavy duty upon it, which we
have continued ever since, and last year the
net proceeds of this duty were 2,428,5391.
This was the amount of the duty received
upon our own consumption. But the amount
of the duty (3s. per lb.) is so excessive, com-
pared to the value of the article, that both
the smuggling and adulteration of it cannot be
otherwise than excessive ; so that large as the
revenue derived from tobacco is, it should be
much larger, even upon our own consumption,
and our own consumption would be much larger
if it were not for the heavy duty laid upon it.
But it is a singular circumstance attending this
plant, that though not known before the year
1560, it has since become an article of desire
by the most savage, as well as by the most civi-
lized nations, and is used by all ranks and de-
grees among the latter. 'What then must be
the quantity of tobacco required for the con-
sumption of the whole world ? and why should
not we try to supply the consumption of the
world ? The climate both of Great Britain and
Ireland is similar to that in which the plant is
grown. There is in both countries the sort of
soil in which it is generally cultivated. But
though Virginia, where it has been chiefly cul-
tivated, is a sandy soil, it does not follow
that a sandy soil is the best adapted to it.
On the contrary, from experiments that have
been made in Ireland, it flourishes luxuriantly
in a soil of a very different description. And
here we beg leave to address ourselves to the
common sense and right feeling of our country-
men. We have torn up the Tobacco Planta-
tions in Ireland. How revolting ! Why should
Ireland, or the people of Ireland, be prevented
from exercising their industry in any way they
think fit, and particularly in a way so naturally
arising from the situation of Ireland, namely, in
the cultivation of the soil in every way in which it
is susceptible of cultivation? Can it be otherwise
than that the feeling in Ireland is deep, though
the complaint may be smothered on this account,
and is it not a positive act of injustice as well
as of impolicy ? Even with reference to revenue,
can it be supposed that Ireland will pay one
sixpence of tobacco duty, if she can avoid it ?
With the resolution of alAbole people not to pay
a duty upon an article of universal demand,
means will be found to have the article without
paying the duty in spite of all revenue laws

whatever, and how wicked and absurd to prevent
a people from raising an article of general
demand among them for their own consumption,
and the consumption of their neighbours too, if
they are willing to buy from them. From the
numbers required to plant, transplant, prepare the
ground, keep it clean, cut the crops, sweat it, and
otherwise fit tobacco and snuff for use, the cultiva-

on of this plant is peculiarly desirable at this

time in Ireland. The people are willing to
cultivate it ; the Government prevents them.
Can this be, and must not the Government
apply themselves to the consideration of this
matter as well as of the other matters we
have already suggested with regard to Ireland ?
Let the duty on tobacco be reduced to 6d.
per pound, with the removal of the prohibition
of the culture of the plant in any part of the
United Kingdom. As a larger revenue is now
derived from coffee than formerly, when the
duty was six times its present amount, so a
similar result may be expected in the case of
tobacco. There will be an end of its adultera-
tion and smuggling, and the additional quantity

thus paying duty will go in aid of the increased
consumption to augment the annual amount of
duty. But the main advantage will be the em-
ployment of Lumbers of the people in cultivating
and preparing the plant for use, the taxes paid
by whom, moreover, upon articles of consump-
tion, will further increase the public revenue.

We have perused with great pleasure a letter
just delivered from the Vote Office, from Sir
JOHN F. BURGOYNE tO Sir JOHN CAM HOB-
HOUSE, Bart., when Secretary to the Lord
Lieutenant of Ireland, relative to the Navigation
of the Shannon. This letter refers to four
Reports made by Mr. RHODES, Civil Engineer,
which are printed with it, accompanied with
maps or plans, showing the improvements which
require to be made from its source, near the
town of Sligo, in the north of Ireland, to its
mouth below Limerick. We formerly suggested
that the superintendence of the navigation of
this noble river should be intrusted to Commis-
sioners, similar to those to whom the making of
the Caledonian Canal was intrusted, to hold
their sittings in 'Westminster, and issue their
directions from thence. As the Highland roads
and bridges, as well as the Caledonian Canal,
were made under the direction of such Commis-
sioners upon the reports of Mr. TELFORD, SO
we beg leave to suggest that this letter of Col.
BURGOYNE'S should he referred with the re-
ports of Mr. RHODES to Mr. TELFORD, to
examine the whole of the navigation reported
upon, to consider which of the improvements
suggested by Mr. RHODES should be first begun,
and the succession in which they should be ex-
ecuted, and whether any and what alterations it
may be advisable to make upon them. Such
directions may be immediately given by the
Lords of the Treasury; but for the purpose of
giving effect to the reports to be made by Mr.
TELFORD, Commissioners should be appointed
in the way we have suggested.

We have received Frankfort Papers to the 16th
inst. They contain no news of importance. We
subjoin the quotations of the Austrian funds :
VIENNA, JAN. 14.—Five per Cent. Metallique., 95i ;
Four per Cent., 85 ; Bank Shares, 1,229.

THE FUNDS.-(THIS DAY.)

CITY, TWELVE 0' CL 0 CK.

Up to the present hour we have no arrivals of the least im-
portance, and the express from Paris is of a very meagre de-
scription.

The letters from Barcelona speak of a Constitutional Regency
i gong to be established there.

M. St. Hilaire passed through Bordeaux as extraordinary
courier from Madrid to Paris. It was stated that he was the
bearer of important despatches from the Queen of Spain to the
French Government with an account of some new event in Ca-
talonia. The letters from Madrid report that a council of
Ministers was held on the reception of news from Catalonia. The
writer adds, that they are every day expecting some important
crisis.