The Sun.
London, England, 1832-08-29 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

Accounts are renewed in the German papers
ofthe barbarities (which we described two months
ago) committed by the Autocrat of Russia on
unhappy Poland.. The facts formerly stated in
the public prints, and alluded to in the British Par-
liament, have never been contradicted,•and can
never be too often or too loudly denounced.
The German journal, from which we have made
our present extract, seems about to draw a ge7
neral picture of Russian oppression, so far as a
German censorship will permit its exhibition,
and it could not do better than place in the fore-
ground the Czar himself, standing with the in-
famous ukase in his hand, which outrages human
nature, and converts every mother into an enemy.
The wanton freaks of despotism—or the enor-
mous excesses which unrestrained power is apt
to commit on unresisting weakness—would be
altogether incredible were they not attested by
so numerous examples, and supported by such
irrefragable evidence. No person beyond the
limits of a slave country, or unaccustomed to
narratives of slavery, could form a conception of
the extent to which the habit of indulging with
impunity in angry passions, and of inflicting
without responsibility arbitrary punishments, bru-
talizes the mind of the tyrant who calls another
man his property. Sympathy with the sufferings
of persons between whom " so great a gulf is
fixed" as that between the master and his slaves,
is entirely excluded. Pain or hardship endured
by the wretches who may be trodden under foot,
without:being allowed, like the worm, to turn
round on the heel that presses on them, is
reckoned as nothing. The feelings, the inte-
rests, the opinions, of such a degraded class of
beings are disregarded, unless where their re-
sentments may be dangerous ; and even their
lives may be sacrificed, on the most trifling oc-
casions, and without the slightest remorse.—
Examples of this kind must occur to the mind
of every one who is in the habit of reading ac-
counts of the cruelties practised by the Turks to-
wards their infidel subjects, or who is in the least
acquainted with the state of many parts of the
Russian empire. More than four-fifths of the
inhabitants of the latter empire are in the state
of predial or domestic slavery, and from the
Cz it down to the owner of the smallest village,
with its human stock, the influence of this bru-
talizing relation to the great body of their fellow-
creatures is impressed on their feelings, manners,
and character. It is necessary to keep this fact
in mind when reviewing the conduct of the Impe-
rial savage towards the unhappy Poles, who had
so deeply offended his pride, and whom he
could only regard in the light of contumacious
slaves resisting his authority. The reports of his
cruelties and atrocities towards them,—which in
other countries, and under other Governments,
would be set down as fictions, undeserving of
examination or belief,—are thus rendered cre-
dible on ordinary evidence. The ukase for
" the confiscation of Polish children," as the
German paper calls the late infamous decree, does
not appear to us more incredible than many
other well-attested enormities which were per-
petrated by his troops during the war, or have
been inflicted on the vanquished since their re-
subjugation. We cannot, therefore, see on what
ground an evening contemporary has ventured
to question the authenticity of the ordinance.
It is certainly revolting to humanity,—it evinces
a hardened indifference to human feelings and
human sufferings,—it appears to be almost an
useless crime,—a provocation to vengeance in
its execution, without the prospect of an ade-
quate advantage from its success ;—but is it
more cruel or more unjustifiable than his
conduct towards the gallant and distin-
guished noblemen and officers whom he
sent to Siberia, chained like galley-slaves,—
obliged to walk bare-footed,—stripped of their
distinctive dresses, and even deprived of their
names, and numbered like cattle ? In this lat-
ter well-attested fact, we find a wantonness of.
barbarity, or what the French would call a luxury
of vengeance and malignant rancour, calculated
to deprive almost every other tale of Russian
enormities of the effect of surprise, or the sus
picion of fiction. The object of the Czar is to
destroy the nationality of Poland, and to amal-
gamate the Polish provinces with the rest of
his empire. He seems convinced that he cannot
enjoy perfect security till that end is completely
accomplished. A Polish nation may still exist
as formerly, in a Polish legion, and, like the
latter, may, by some political convulsion of
Europe, be carried back to the Vistula, to find
its country, and to unite with its congenial race.
The immense number of emigrants whom his
broken faith and barbarous persecutions have
driven to seek a refuge in foreign lands, and who
cherish in their exile the patriotic hopes of a tri-
umphant restoration, must
_eive him uneasiness
even among his hordes of 407000,000 f slaves.
Hence he has endeavoured to leave them nothing
in Poland which can sympathize with their
sufferings in exile, or prepare the means of
their return. Hence he has abolished the
Polish army, and incorporated its soldiers
with his Russian troops. Hence he has for-
bidden the Polish colours, and deprived the
Poles of the exclusive administration of Poland.
Hence he has commanded that no King shall
be afterwards crowned at Warsaw, but that the
future Emperor shall put on the Polish crown
along with the Muscovite, at Moscow.
Hence, (without enumerating his other revo-
lutionary changes) he has abolished the Uni-
versities of Poland, and tried even to abolish its
language. The ukase for transporting Polish
children to his military colonies, or to be brought
up in his Russian provinces, is, in its object,
only a part of the_ same system, though in its
operation it has become more revolting to pub-
lic feeling, and has justly excited a more general
indignation. To attach Poland to his empire, as
a separate state, by the sentiments of gratitude,
or the gift of free institutions, is a policy which
he has long abandoned, if he ever entertained
it. His only other resource, therefore, was to
have no Poland, but only Polish provinces,
and to confound the Polish helots with their
barbarous masters. To have commanded all or
even a great portion of the children born in
that unhappy country to be torn from their
parents and transported from their homes, would
have been as absurd as it would have been ini-
quitous ; but a decree which orders the " orphans
and the children of the poor" to be carried to
Russia is capable of execution, and, if left to be
worked by the discretion of Russian commanders,
may soon people his military colonies with
Polish subjects. Had he intended no attack on
Polish nationality by this charitable pretension,
why were the children not maintained at home—
why put them in baggage-waggons, to carry
them beyond the limits of their country? Fa-
naticism and religious bigotry—as they have
displayed themselves in the dark proceedings of
the Spanish Inquisition, or in the cruel ex-
pulsion of the Jews and Moors from the Penin-
sula— have always been represented as the pas-
sions most calculated to steel the heart against

pity, and to prompt to the infliction of' the greatest
sufferings of which our nature is susceptible.
One of the tortures practised on that hated and
unhappy race alluded to, who were thought un-
worthy, three centuries ago, to live among the
ancestors of Don Miguel's subjects, was that•of
snatching the children from their mother's arms,
in order to sprinkle them with the waters of
baptism, or to retain them for future conversion;
and this torture is always described with most
feeling by the witnesses of the barbarity. What
fanaticism did in Portugal, the selfish policy of
Nicholas does in Poland, and we much question
whether any eye-witness of the scenes of Lisbon,
in the last Jewish persecution,—when mothers
threw their children into wells to avoid the grasp
of the priest,—has given a more heart-rending
picture than that contained in the following ex-
tract, with which we conclude these remarks :
" Up to the sth of May, four convoys, each of 150, had
been clandestinely sent out of Warsaw alone. On the
17th of May, the fifth convoy, consisting of more than
twenty waggons full of Polish children, from the ages of
six years to seventeen, was sent away, not in secret, but
quite openly. The scene was heart-rending. ' For
.ome days past,' writes an eye-witness, the weather had
been very bad and cold ; and on that day (17th May) there
was a heavy rain. Nobody was seen in the streets; a'l at
once, about one in the afternoon, there was heard an extraor-
dinary rumbling of.waggons, trampling of horses, and cries
of women mingled with sobbing. It was the caravans with
the stolen children rolling from the Alexander's barracks
to the bridge. Every body who had any provisions,
clothing, or money in the house, sent or carried it out, put
it in the waggons, or gave it to the innocent creatures for
ever lost to their mothers and their country. The mo-
thers, running after their children, rush among the wag-
gons to stop them ; other women join in their grief ; a
general lamentation is heard, with loud curses from the
gendarmes, but without effect.' " Times.

A public•meeting is to be held this day, to
give expression to the feeling of the country
with respect to the important struggle of which
Portugal is the scene. That England does, and
ought to, take an interest in such a struggle will
at once appear when we consider the questions at
issue ; for it is not a single question that divides
the parties and armies of Portugal at this mo-
tnent. There is first the question of legitimacy
and right, which all the world, with the excep-
tion of the usurper and his creatures, admit to be
on the side of Donna Maria. There is next
the question of constitutional as opposed to des-
potic Government, which has advocates—warm,
anxious, and, we may add, interested advocates
in the community of every free State, however
separated by local or political position from that
in which the struggle is going forward. These
principles together constitute an irresistible claim
upon the sympathies of every friend of justice and
freedom, more especially in this country, which,
from the greater influence it exercises on
public opinion throughout the world, is more
imperatively called upon to give the benefit of
that influence to the progress of human improve-
ment. But, besides the obligation arising from
the nature of the cause itself, the fact of the ex-
istence of a party in this country favourable to
the usurper renders it still more incumbent on
the great body of the people to disclaim the
opinions of that party, and vindicate themselves
from the slightest participation in sentiments
which reflect discredit on those who hold them.
It is impossible to forget the insidious attempts
made by Lord Aberdeen and others during the
last Session of Parliament to throw impediments
in the way of Don Pedro's exertions, as if it
were an object dear to their hearts to perpetuate
one of the most disgusting specimens of des-
potic Government on the face of the earth,
and to promote, by inuendo and implica-
tion, and all the underhand tricks of ex-
perienced tacticians in political fraud, a system
which, at the risk of public odium, they dare
not patronise openly. Remembering those at-
tempts, it is the more necessary that the people
of England should speak out on the present
oc-
casion, if it were only to remove the stigma from
the nation at large, and place it upon the heads
of those who alone ought to bear it. That such
will be the effect of the meeting this day, arid of
other similar meetings, which no doubt will
spring from it, we confidently anticipate. The
presence of the Duke of Sussex, who has con-
sented to take the Chair, will be in itself a pledge
as to the constitutional and liberal spirit from
which the whole proceeding has emanated. To
the honour of that Illustrious Person, he has ever
been amongst the foremost to assist in the pro-
motion of every good cause, amongst which we
rejoice to see included the cause of Portugal at
this crisis of her fate. It well becomes the most
popular Prince of the House of Brunswick to
lend his countenance to the patriotic efforts of
the brave men who are now contending against
the Usurper, and to do so at a moment when
other Princes are degrading themselves by the
assistance they afford to tyrants in the propaga-
tion of their infamous decrees.—Morn. Herald.

We understand that the Marquis of Palmella,
during his stay in London, had an interview
with Lord Palmerston on the subject of the ob-
stacles which Admiral Parker is stated to have
thrown in the way of the correspondence between
Lisbon and Oporto, and also of those persons
who are anxious to join the forces of Don
Pedro. The result of this interview is not
stated, but as the Marquis appears to have been
pretty well satisfied with his reception, we may
assume that it was favourable. The truth is
that. not only has no protection been afforded to
persons who were desirous of giving their sup-
port to the constitutional cause—a line of con-
duct which might be defended on the ground of
neutrality, but, on the contrary, a thousand °b-
oucles and difficulties have been opposed to
them. We will merely mention one fact to show
the spirit of Admiral Parker's neutrality. Five or
six young men, of good family, who had escaped
from Lisbon, on board an English schooner, not
having been able to reach the squadron of Ad-
rniral Sartorius, were, by order of Admiral Parker,
treated with great rigour, and, notwithstanding
their known respectability, put for several days
on the rations of common seamen. Altogether
the conduct of our Admiral has been the sub-
ject of great complaint by the Portuguese pa-
triots, and most particularly on the ground of the
impediments offered to the correspondence be-
tween Lisbon and Oporto, the freedom of which
is essential to the interests of Don Pedro, in
order to enable him and his partisans to expose
the falsehoods of the Miguelites, and prevent
the dissension which this is calculated to cause.
As the British Government have determined op
neutrality in Portuguese affairs, we presume that
it is desirous of seeing it impartially maintained.
There may be little foundation, perhaps, for
many' of the complaints which are brought
against Admiral Parker ; but unless Lord Pal-
inerqbn wishes to sc: the boasted neutrality of

England made serviceable to the Usurper, he will
immediately order inquiry into the statement
which has been made by the agents of the legiti-
mate Queen.-11/orning Herald.
Is ,the Lord Chancellor sincere or insincere
in hiss professions about his legal reforms, or is
he, under the specious pretence of a change ft r
the more economical and better, only increasing

his own patronage, and not saving the public
any thing at all ? Let us try him by his pro-
posed change of the Court of Review. Here is
a Court, costing twelve thousand a year, per-
fectly unnecessary, consisting of four Judges,
four Registrars, and eight inferior officers
(plenty of patronage here), all of whom the
Lord Chancellor himself- has admitted to be
very much underworked. Common sense says,
if a Court (merely experimental in its creation,
be it remembered) turns out to be useless, let it
be abolished ; and so it should be with the Court
of Review ; for the Vice-Chancellor would do
all the work it does, and the money it costs
would be saved to the country. No, but though
the Court is admitted to be useless and expen-
sive, and although it is known to have been only
experimental, it is not to be abolished. No,
the patronage, the Judgeships, and the Regis-
trarships, and all the other snug little berths be-
longing to it forbid that ; and so the Lord
Chancellor says, " I can't abolish it, or else
what is to become of Messrs. Erskine and the
other Gentlemen and Knights of the Court ?"
What is to become of them, indeed Why,
as they are there, pension them off, and rather
pay a small annuity during the lives of these in-
dividuals than perpetuate such a nuisance as
the Court is. But then good bye to the pa-
tronage ; and how can the Lord Chancellor serve
his friends ? We are sure that if his Lordship
had brought in a short Bill at the end of the
Session to have put down his Court it would
have passed nem. con., so unpopular is it, and
such a measure would pass at any moment of
time. This, however, is not Lord Brougham's
mode of proceeding. He wishes to have the
distribution of the places, and (mark the cun-
ning of the man) hear his proposition. He
will unite the Court of Review with the Insol-
vent Court, and by that means the Judges of the
Insolvent Court will be the oftener enabled to
make circuits. Lord Brougham is well aware
that the four Judgeships of the Insolvent Court,
and the other nice places there, are quite as
handy and acceptable gifts for himself and his
friends as those which we have enumerated of
the Court of Review, and so he will abolish
neither, but perpetuate both. His Lordship is
about to be (the first who ever was so) Lord
High Chancellor for life. He may probably live
many years to enjoy that high office. The Insol-
vent Debtors' Court cannot last one. The object
of that Court is to discharge persons from prison
who have been arrested for debt. But there is
au Act of Parliament already prepared to put
an end to the power of arresting for debt.
Where then will be the business of the Insolvent
Debtors' Court ? If it were not for this job of
consolidating it with the Court of Review, and
so perpetuating instead of getting rid of two
useless Courts, it must, when there shall be
no debtors to be discharged, die a natural
death. The Judges and others of the Court
would hold their then sinecures for life, but at
last the expense of it all must cease. The
Lord Chancellor, good easy man, likes not this
prospect. He wishes for the places to bestow.
There are plenty of hungry vizards and others
about him yet, and the Lord Chancellor likes to
give. But was there, we ask our readers, ever
such hypocrisy ? Under the pretence of giving
a Court, which has nothing to do, some work,
he says that it is his intention to unite it with
another Court, which he knows will soon have
nothing to do too ; thus keeping eight Judges
instead of none, and saddling the country with
the expense of two Courts where no Court
at all is wanting. If this be not proper humbug
we know not what is ; but if the people of Eng-
land be taken in by it we are much mistaken. If
Lord Eldon, Lord Lyndhurst, or any Tory Lord
or Commoner had attempted such a job, who Would
have been more ready to expose it than Henry
Brougham, ‘‘ho now most egotistically talks of
his reforms, his concessions, and his this, and
his that, as if there was no other man in or out
of the House of Lords like him ? We admire
his talents, and are proud of him as a fellow-
countryman, but when he talks of Reform and
of concessions, and other such things, we must
tell him that he has effected no one Reform for
the better, that he has given up no one thing
for which he has not got more than an equiva-
lent, and that we cannot put any trust whatever
in his professions, as his practice is so different
from what he preaches.—Morning Post.

POLICE INTELLIGENCE.

B 0 TV- STREET.

Yesterday Mrs. Patience Cromwell, of Drury-
court, was summoned before Mr. ROE by Mr. Tay-
lor, the surveyor of the parish of St. Clement Danes,
for suffering the cesspool attached to her premises
to overflow upon the footway pavement, contrary
to law.

M. Kenny, the surgeon, of the Strand, was at
that time attending two cholera patients in Drury-
court, and was quite satisfied that the stench of a
cesspool was quite sufficient to engender the coin.
plaint called cholera morbus.
The defendant was convicted in the penalty of
5/. and 4s. 6d. costs.

She declared her inability to pay it, but was told
that if the fine was not forthcoming, a distress-
warrant should be issued. On a subsequent appli-
cation to Mr. Roe, by Mrs. Cromwell, she was
allowed one week to pay the penalty.
Last night Mr. Dix, the assistant-overseer of the
parish of St. Giles-in-the-Fields, came before Mr.
ROE, and stated that a person had died of cholera
in the Seven-dials, and the parochial authorities, in
obedience to the instructions of the Board of Health,
had intimated their intention of causing the imme-
diate removal of the body for interment. The rela-
tives of the deceased, however, had declared that
they would resist the burial, and under these cir-
cumstances the parochial authorities were desirous
of obtaining the assistance of the pulice, in order that
the body might forthwith be removed for interment.
Mr. ROE directed Dodd, the inspector of police,
to proceed immediately with a sufficient number of
the force, and attend the parish officers in the exe-
cution of their duty, in order to prevent any breach
of the peace that might take place. The Magi-
strate further directed, that if any persons resisted
the law, they should be at once taken into custody.

Mr. Thomas said, that the instructions of the
Police Commissioners were, that the police force
should not interfere in enforcing the burial of per-
sons who died of cholera.
Mr. ROE immediately directed Ellis the officer to
proceed, without delay, to the parish authorities of
Sr. Giles's, and say that it was his desire that 20
special constables, chosen from the inhabitants of
the parish, should be summoned forthwith and sent
before him, in order to be sworn in for the purpose
of enforcing the burial of the deceased. The Ma-
gistrate also directed that the principal officers under
his immediate control should attend the special con-
stables, and direct them how to act.
After the lapse of about half an hour the beadle
of St. Giles conveyed a message from Mr. Dix to
Mr. Roe, stating that every endeavour had been used
40 procure the householders to act as special con-
stables for the occasion required, but without effect.
Mr. ROE observed, that it was very odd indeed
that such a difficulty should be found.

The beadle said, there appeared a great unwil-
lingness on the part of the inhabitants to act. He
(the beadle) had been to the house where the body

lay, and had seen that the coffin in which it was con-
tained was properly secured and pitched over.
Mr. ROE said, men must be procured at any rate,
and that the body should be immediately buried.
He then directed that the watermen of Strand-lane
should be applied to, and that ss. a man should be
given to them for their trouble.
On these terms between 20 and 30 men were
speedily collected, and, having been sworn in as spe-
cial constables for the occasion, were placed under
the direction of the principal officers, and proceeded
at once to execute the task assigned to them.