The Sun.
London, England, 1861-10-28 00:00:00

POLAND.

A letter from Warsaw, dated Oct. 19, says—The
state of siege which I announced to you in my last
letter has had the very reverse of the effect the
government intended it to produce. Of course you
have already heard of horrors perpetrated by the
soldiery on the 15th, the anniversary of the death
of Kosciuzko. There is something marvellous in
the persistence with which the Poles carry out all
their plans, in utter disregard of any orders or
threats to the contrary. One would have thought
that the proclamation <which accompanied Count
Lambert's address, threatening the most severe mea-
sures on the part of the military in case of any
demonstration, religious or otherwise, must have
deterred the people from joining in what was, after
all, only a commemoration, the celebration or non-
celebration of which could not have much effect
upon the national cause, either one way or the
other. But the opportunity of showing their con-
tempt and detestation of the government was
too good a one to be missed. Here was one
of those religious festivals which they consi-
dered they had a clear right to celebrate, and
which are forbidden by the authorities under pe-
nalties of absurd severity, which they knew it was
impossible to enforce—another instance of the ex-
traordinary folly which has marked all the acts of
the government in this country. At any sacrifice,
then, the order was to be disobeyed, and the im-
potency of Russian rule in Poland demonstrated ;
for there can be no doubt that the object of all
these demonstrations, which people abroad consider
so childish and useless, is to worry the Russians
out of the country. The Poles are far-sighted
enough to perceive all the difficulties which would
attend an armed intervention of the Western Powers
for the restoration of Poland, even if their present
disinclination to interfere in any way could be over-
come ; and on the other hand, they are not ignorant •
of the feeling which is entertained by all sensible
Russians who desire the good of their-country, that
to retain Poland at its present cost, viz., the main-
tenance of a large army and a cloud of policemen
and spies, and the bad name which Russian policy
is acquiring in Europe by its Polish administration,
is a most ruinous speculation. The advantages of
this situation are too great not to be retained at all
risks. It is evidently the interest of Poland, always
supposing—which, indeed, is clear—that she desires
her independence, to force Russia to keep up its
large expenditure on her account, and to take advan-
tage of every slip of the government to show its
incapacity. With the present agitation that is
silently but surely spreading over Russia, there is
a hope that before long wiser counsels will prevail
at St. Petersburg, and Russians will cast off an
acquisition which has brought them nothing but
pecuniary loss and indelible disgrace. Meanwhile,
no concession, or mark of reconciliation on the part
of the Poles is allowed that may lead Russia to alter
this opinion, or make Poland less intolerable to her.
This view will explain much that may have
seemed inconsistent in the conduct of the Poles
during the late events. Nor is their strategy un-
known to the government, which has over and over
again been informed by the most distinguished men
in the country that nothing will satisfy the Poles
but the departure once for all of the Russians from
the kingdom. Under these circumstances, the
blind folly of the Government in proclaiming a
state of siege, without the slightest provocation,
except what they had quietly permitted for the last
six months, is, almost incredible. The letting loose
of a savage and drunken military on the people
was, if possible, a greater piece of madness
still. The scenes in the churches, particularly the
cathedral, were brutal and disgusting. The half-
soldiery, who had broken into the church; men
and women fell by hundreds, wounded with mus-
kets, pikes, and sticks; everywhere large blood-
sfotarr2voedhocuornsgeg , rwasatithhadsavbaegene
fbu
rl oyckbeyd thine
attackedion, which
with
blood-
stains marked the pavement; priests were struck
down at the altar, and ladies were seized by ruffian
soldiers, thrown on a bench and whipped, stripped
of their valuables and dresses, and dragged
half naked into the street. Three thousand men
were arrested. In the streets of the town the
butchery was equally fierce and indiscriminate.
Bands of Cossacks, infuriated with drink, galloped
about, and struck and plundered every one they
thelsl one land): inse
ur yl
that
h.
waltat
ri
aes
nbcurrentlyeatennhdrme
opatnohr,
et
reawd
imt
she
Mr.
.it
auseveral
;
met. Many houses were broken into and robbed
foreignbany d
Mitchell, was so severely wounded that he is still
keeping his bed. It is to be hoped that Our' Go-
vernment will at least protect the lives of British