The Sun.
London, England, 1861-09-18 00:00:00

the 10th of this month :

"It is now proved beyond a doubt that the events at
Wilna, of the 18th August, formed part of a preconcerted
plan of the Russian authorities to draw the Poles into a
collision with the soldiery, so as to afford the Government
a pretext for avenging itself on them for the ceremony of
the 12th i❑ memory of the union, which it appears gave
great offence to the Emperor. Secret orders had been sent
to M. NAZIMOFF from St. Petersburg, after his report of
the ceremony had been received there ; and although
their exact nature has not transpired, some words
which the general was heard to say leave little doubt as to
their purport :—' I will put a stop to these hymns, those
stupid prayers, these demonstrations; 1 will restore order'
—words which were soon followed by deeds that gave
striking testimony to their significance. No time was lost
in obeying the orders received from head-quarters. The
first step in the disgraceful plot was taken a very few
days after by the .Government agents who began
to spread a report announcing the arrival of a
procession. The authorities feigned to believe
the rumour, and sent policemen to every house in the town

to warn the porters against harbouring the pilgrims who
were coming from the
.kingdom. These were followed by
other policemen, but this time in disguise, who, pretending
to belong to the national party, exhorted the inhabitants to
take the pilgrims into their houses and conceal them so as
to enable them to escape the police. A police functionary,
disguised as a pilgrim, actually entered the church of
Ostrobrama, and announced in terms of the most touching
eloquence to the congregation the approaching arrival of
his companions."

The first improbable reports of the helpless towns-
people having killed the soldiers, is as false as it
was improbable. Not one soldier was killed. An
eye-witness told the writer of the letter that the
atrocities committed by the troops surpassed de-
scription." The massacre was begun by Colonel
WASKLIEFF, by horsewhipping a poor old woman
till she was covered with blood. The Cossacks
charged the people, some with drawn swords,
some with lances, and others with knouts.
At the Pawhoulavka gate, at the square
of the Holy Ghost, and before the church
of St. Ignatius, there were heaps of bodies
that had been trodden down by the horses or
pierced with lances. At the last of these places
ten persons were killed, and many more lives would
have been sacrificed had not the people taken
refuge in the church of the Bernardins. The sol-
diers were so drunk that they did not recognise
friends from foes, and severely beat and otherwise
injured several Russian officials who happened to
be in the crowd. A list, a very incomplete one, of
forty severely wounded was seen by our informant.
M. NAZIMOFF and his complacent CZAR have had
their fill of blood."

What may be in the counsels of Providence for
the Poles, it is not for us to predict ; but the ex-
perience of the present generation points to the
conclusion that love of nationality is not an empty
nor a hopeless sentiment. Greece and Belgium
have regained existence within recent memory, and
Italy is now before us as a nation born in a year,
and already complete, except where the supercilious
vanity of the heartless Frenchman and the sullen
brutality of the Austrian mar the scene. Hungary,
after twelve years of ceaseless efforts to make her
a part of the trumpery Archduchy, is the fine old
Kingdom of Hungary still—and what shall we say
of Poland ? The fangs of Russian despotism strike
into her very vitals, and yet she lives—lives more
than ever. In the longest separated parts of the
kingdom of the JAGELLONS, the Polish feeling is
kindling afresh, and all things are preparing for
the opportunity which even this generation may
live to see.