The Sun.
London, England, 1835-12-12 00:00:00

-- -
. .
-;°,7,-- elismena*Kcd provinces into one great and powerful 'Wove- i
reignty— Great applause.) He did not allude to the rc-
•
constitute of Poland as it was in 1815, but to the re-esta-
igithidevi f. Poland of 1777, with its 20,000,000 people.
4
,
- Tliqk L . , ' ed Doctor, after an eloquent and talented speech
i i , •,, r• 4; li. limits oblige us to omit, said, that after the tourse
t:. -•• .3.4, ussia had pursued against the Poles, they were all
1-1,..1 t cd to advocate the speedy and effectual re-institution of
entire Poland.--( Great applause.) He saw no reason to des.
pair. This was an age of wonders, and although the imperial
, miscreant, whom all freemen united in devoting to the infer-
nal gods--(Applause)—had threatened to annihilate the Poles
if they made the tightest demonstration of attachment to the
cause of national independence, the means were at hand, if
necessary, for accomplishing the restoration of their country,
if the free Governments of Europe would wisely and energc-
tieally employ themselves when the auspicious moment ar-
rives.—( Cheering.) The Learned Doctor concluded a most
eloquent and energetic speech by proposing " The speedy re-
storation of Poland."—(Cheering.)
Mr. FEROUSSON, M. P., gave " The cause of Civil and Re-
ligious Liberty all over the world," in a speech which was re-
ceived with great applause.
Sir GEO. WARRENDER proposed " The health. of Count
Zamoyski," to which the Count replied in v'lry appropriate
terms.

The SOLICITOR-GENERAL said, wh'en our Chief Magistrate
announced that the Corporatio.-, of the City had conferred
their freedom on our two 'illustrious guests, we had seen
enough of them by that tame not to be aware that such an ho-
nour would have }seen -.nerited on their own account; but I believe
we are satisf
_est that they will consider the compliment a tri-
bute, not ;,ply to their honour, but an honour to their equally
unfort'suate, though more amiable countrymen, from whom
they, are separated, some of them a short distance, and who are
well known amongst us.—(Tremendous cheering.) Although
I am unwilling- to occupy your time more than merely intro-
ducing the toast which I have to propose, yet I beg that the
friends of the cause throughout the country are well entitled to
know that these Poles, who have come to this part of the world
and received amongst us, have distinguished themselves for
their good conduct, for the honourable manner in which they
have distinguished themselves, and sustained their adversity._
(Hear, hear.) The Learned Gentleman, after enlarging with
great eloquence on the character of the Poles res Vent in Edin-
burgh and its vicinity, said it was the duty of the people of
Edinburgh to pay every tribute to those Poles who were well
known amongst them, and to testify what they all knew of
their conduct, which was w'srthy of their cause, and of their
country. He concluded by giving " The exiled Poles re-
siding in Edinburgh."--( Immense cheering.)
Mr. W. G. CRAIG gave the " Chairman."
The CHAIPAIAN returned thanks.
Mr. ROBERT JAMESON, W. S., rose to give the next toast,
• He said, in the present age of manufacturing industry, when
every, branch of human energy is calculated to its exact amount
of profit and loss ; and when even war itself is reduced to a
trade, wherein the Hebrew merchant must be consulted before
the national defiance is proclaimed, I do fear that the bare
mention of the word hero will at once be my passport to the
pages of the old romance, or at least to those skilful imitators,
the chief interest of which consists in the strong contrast af-
forded between the wild vicissitude,s of an iron age, and the
soft repose of modern sseurity. I fear that the reckless ge-
nerous =Pulse of chivalry would find little favour amongst us,
if exhibited u 'present practical realities. And hence the
heroic, thous desperate, efforts of Poland have, among too
many of Is's, been coldly censured as the phrenzied outwork of
a profitless, therefore culpable, enthusiasm. The cause, the
excuse of this, is our own more happy condition as a nation,
protected at home and respected abroad. The proud con-
sciousness of independent nationality gives to our political diss
pates only the character of keen but generous rivalry, We
differ among ourselves ; but to whatever party allied` I\ trust
we never may forget in the partizan the commeSS attributes of
Britain ; and Whig, Tory, or Radical, we 'may contest politi-
cal questions with political zeal. But 'eve are still fellow sub-
jects of the same beloved King, in t'de same glorious land. We
meet under the temples of a s'srnmon worship. We associate
together at the same 4:estisse board. We unite as one in the
same scheme of n-sdonal philanthropy ; and we are ready to
band together rss brothers, should a foe ever dare to attack
national ex.,scen„. therefore, cannot conceive of the
deadly Irsie between the tyrant and the slave ; and thanks to
that best bulwark of our freedom—the sailors, " whose march
is on the mountain wave," and who may yet do more even than
be the invincible defenders of our sacred soil. Still less can
are conceive of the bitterness of the slavery which crouches
beneath a foreign and barbarian yoke—or the double galling
of the chain, in which an inferior half-civilized master holds
a superior, a civilized, a high-spirited people. And yet such
is Poland—the most honoured nation of eastern Europe
Deeply has she atoned for the sin of saving Christendom from
the Turk • for the Tartar is now trampling on the bulwark of
Europe, ;hat tyranny may know the barbarian is at the gate.
Yet gallantly have the Poles striven for their ancient name.—
(Cheers.) Any single one of the revolutions would have
made the proud history of a free and heroic nation ; yet still
she is the slave of the Calmuc---the meanest, though the craf-
tiest, of conquerors.—( Cheers.) This is a truth as strange
as sad. Fortune, man, and nature, have combined against
Poland ; and for a time she has yielded to the unholy alliance.
Other nations have nature to aid their efforts for their eman-
cipation. Every crag in Switzerland is the mountain throne
of freedom, which the tyrant lent to court his destruction.--
(Cheers.) In the measureless expanse of America, the host of
the invader is baffled and lost, and even the Hollander could
call back the sea to protect the soil he had rescued from its
dominion ; but Poland is -opened and expesed on all sides—
has no natural resources. Her only trust is in the untiring
energy of her sons ; her citadel is in the breast of every Pole,
which he carries wherever his destiny leads him ; and until
the last Pole dies in the last strlnd sif his refuge, there is still
hope for Poland; there is sill retribution for her rude and
merciless oppressor.—(lsdud cheers.) We, therefore, dare
not accuse the late revolution, even with its fatal result, even
though the despot, i:d the full-blown pride which goeth before
a fall, now dechres, before the heaven he insults, that the
whisper of hos,se in Warsaw shall be the knell of her destruc-
tion, because this revolution proved the spirit of Poland to be
unehangeli ; because it gave to the world the deeds of the
heroes, in 'Warsaw in 1831, and their deeds are the pledge
that like deeds will be done again.—( Cheers.) I speak not
of the Generals who led. My prouder task is to tell how
the soldiers fought, and that you may understand me, let
me give you an instance. An individual, on the morning
of the fatal conflict when Poland fell, and hope, though
but for a season, bade farewell—when Prussia basely
gave the Muscovite his only entrance into 'Warsaw, the
beleaguered tower menaced on her weakest side, had with
military skill 'pushed her batteries onward to meet the
assailants, and which batteries they must destroy be-
fore they could invest the city itself, the outermost
of these was chiefly entrusted to a young Lieutenant of Artil-
lery. It was a high compliment to this young officer that such
a post was entrusted to him, and arrangements were made for
his plentiful reinforcement, but which arrived too late, The
Russians, aware of its importance, sent against it a picked bat-
talion of their best troops, aided by an overweelming artillery,
who surrounded, and attempted to storm it. The handful of
defenders resisted ; as Poles bravely fought, and fighting fell ;
but the numbers, and let me add, fairly the valour of the best
troops of Russia, were too fearful odds ; and the remnant sur-
vivors had but one alternative, to submission and defeat. Still
the alternative was tempting. The alternative was death ;
and a Polander's life is readily bestowed for a moment's ad-
vantage to his country. Without the desperation of a fanatic,
but with the cool and unflinching resolution of a martyr, the
Lieutenant struck his torch into a powder-magazine, and con-
sented to share in the destruction he launched upon his coun-
try's foes. The explosion was awful. Hundreds of the Rus-
sians, conspicuous from their red uniforms, were in an instant
hurled in the air; the din of battle, while invaders and in-
vaded stood aghast at this terrible though glorious achieve-
ment,—duke et decorum est pro pat, ia mori—which a Pole
may well render,
" His is the sweetest, noblest bed
Who sinks entombed mid fOemen dead."—(Cheers.)
Gentlemen, what think you of this hero of Warsaw ? I speak
of him from the pages of history, where this young Lieutenant
is spoken of with excelling pride, mingled with grief for his
too early loss ; and if, after the fight was over a scorched and
blackened body was discovered still breathing, and by a
friendly foreign hand tended through a tedious and precarious
recovery—if' he escaped the vengeance of the despot, whom in
his single person he had despoiled of a regiment--if he found
his way to an honoured exile—if he can now in this presence
- appear in the person of my Gallant Friend (Ordon) who now
sits beside me--(Tremendous cheering for several minutes)
—may we not say thathe is a precious gift from the dead to the
liyiug—( Loud cheers);—that he has come back from the gates
of the land of spirits to tell to the survissors that the voices are
calling loud, and that the living must not be dumb—(loud
cheers)—that the martyrs of Pssiand are marshalled in bright
though invisible ranks, and pointing to the land which must
be free, ere they find rest in their graves.—(Loud cheers.)
And may he not also ts;11 to us, that in his fate we have the
emblem of his country—(Cheers)—that thougn scorched, and
s,;slssrsi, and. prostrate, her very heart crushed under the
chariot whetAs of the usurper, yet by the aid of some friendly
foreign hand, she may again rise in strength and in glory,
and gather her happy children into her bosom, such as Ordon
and his companions are, the heroes of Warsaw.—( Loud
cheers.) And my friend, rising to return thank; with more
trepidation before a circle of applauding friends, than he ever
felt at the cannon's mouth, or on the loaded mine, he will tell
you that what he has done, they each, and all of them would
have done; and yet Poland, in his person, can boast of a deed
v.hich Leonidas might have envied, and which Dccius and
Curtius could not have surpassed.—( Loud cheers.)
Mr. CHAS. MACDOUGAL, Advocate, proposed Dembinski,
Dwernicki, and the gallant Polish Army. He said, My Lord
Breadalbane, we have heard with admiration and delight
the sentiments, worthy of Poland, with which her restoration
and her wrongs have in various forms been presented to this
meeting. Yet, my Lord, whether the patriot eye, brighten-
ing over the prospects which have been powerfully unfolded of
the future, or sinks in sadness upon the sepulchres of the past,
there seems to be one other subject, not merely fitted for re-
ennition here, but, as I conceive it, second to none in depth
ofinterest, er magnitude of importance. I have to propose
that your Lordship should devote this bumper in honour of
those heroic men, who have been the active, and, alas, the
hapless and suffering agents in the great events which we are
here here to commemorate.—( Cheering. ) I mean the gal-
lant Polish Army at large. —( Continued cheering.) Among
which, I will venture to describe, as perhaps the most re-
markable military feature of modern times, illustrious alike for
the disproportion of its results to its means, and for the glo-
rious elements comprehended in its constitution--( Cheering)__
an army not of reluctant conscripts or sordid mercenaries—no
beartleSs levy of the mere animal machinery of warfare—but a
glorious and gallant array of all "ranks and of all ages,
from generous youth, just opening into manhood, and
nehlv struggling under the load of arms, to gray-haired