The Sun.
London, England, 1861-09-26 00:00:00

MEXICO.

The Patrie contradicts the report that the present
state of Mexico is about to be the pubject o a CM*

vention between the three Powers most interested
in the question. The Patric admits that the French
Government has fully approved the conduct of its
Minister in Mexico; that it has expressed its great
dissatisfaction with the measures of the President
Juares, and its intention to protect the French inte-
rests affected by them. But no decision has been
made as to the means to be employed to effect this
result.

POLAND.

(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)
WARSAW, SEPT. 20.

The state of things in this unfortunate country is
every day becoming more unendurable. The ap-
pointment of General Lambert to the Viceroyalty
excited some faint hopes of a change of system,
which, however, were soon destined to be dispelled.
No one doubts his intention to conciliate the Poles
by a milder rule; but it is evident that his instruc-
tions do not allow him to swerve even by a hair's
breadth from the line of conduct adopted at St.
Petersburg with regard to the national movement
in Poland, That movement all their efforts are
bent to crush ; and all the machinery of violence
and espionage, which they know so well how to
work, is brought to bear upon this object. Here at
Warsaw General Lambert's personal character has
done much to mitigate the severity of the Govern-
ment measures; open violence is no longer resorted
to, and although every possible obstacle is placed in
the way of any demonstration of the national feel
ings or will, there has been no repetition of the
atrocious butcheries which disgraced the rule of his
predecessors. On the other hand a most base and
provoking system of espionage has been organised,
with the view of introducing dissension into the
national party. Members of the Prussian police
force in Posen, the same police which had tried to
est un a revolution in that province by circulating
among the inhabitants addresses trom a pretended
I Polish committee in London, and whose proceedings
on that occasion were afterwards clearly proved and
denounced in the Prussian Chamber, have been sent
to Warsaw, no doubt at the request of the Russian
Government, to ply their dirty calling. Fortunately
the patriots got wind of their approachingarrival, and
warnings against their machinations *ere soon sent
all over the country. They were not a moment too
late ; for on the occasion of the performance of the
funeral service for the victims of the recent events
at Vilna, at a numerously attended church in the
town, a man came forward after the service and
read a most inflammatory address to the congrega-
tion, which was very badly received, its tone and
language clearly showing the source from which it
had emanated. The same address was afterwards
posted up in the town, and torn down almost as
soon ; and an address from the patriots was published,
the moderation of whose language and sentiments
showed a striking contrast to the violence and abuse
of the Russian decument. Indeed, the Poles re-
quired no warning to discern the source from which
this document proceeded. So long as the Russians
preach violence and insurrection, they stand very
little chance of being mistaken for patriots. The
Poles have had too much experience of the conse-
quences of ill-considered revolutions to allow them-
selves once more to be caught in the trap. Work,
moderation, self restraint, perseverance, are the
qualities they most admire and strive after ; and
any one advocating violent measures is looked upon
with suspicion as either a turbulent enthusiast or a
spy, who can only do injury to the national. cause.
In the provinces the condition of the Poles is still
more lamentable. There is scarcely a district
which is not governed by a military tyrant invested
with full powers. All the provinces but Volhynia,
Podolia, and Ukraine, are in a state of siege ; the
troops are quartered on the inhabitants, twenty
soldiers in some cases being billeted on the same
family, and the most disgraceful outrages are com-
mitted by them with impunity. People with money
or jewellery about them are stopped by the soldiers
and robbed in the open street, and houses andshops
have been broken into by them and ransacked of
everything valuablethey contained. In the southern
provinces the flower of the Polish youth were in-
duced, by a rumour spread by Russian agents, of
the formation of a Polish legion in the Trans-Danu-
bian provinces to proceed to the Moldavian frontier,
where they were seized and sent to Russia. Other
agents, chiefly discharged soldiers and other dis-
reputable characters, have been discovered insinuat-
ing themselves into the families of the peasants,
encouraging them to murder their masters, and
bribing them with promises of grants of land to
dog the steps of the patriots, in order to procure
information which might lead to their arrest. In
Lithuania General Nazimoff and his agents spread
a report among the peasants that the object of the
organisation of the patriots was to enslave them,
and that the prayer, " God save Poland," was
to implore the aid of Providence in carrying out
their plans ; and they were only undeceived by the
publication of the prayei in Polish and Samogitian
(the language of the Lithuanian peasants) which
showed them its true meaning.

The great national religious fete at Czenstochowa,
which has just ended, was a very brilliant one,
80,000 Polish pilgrims, from all parts of the coun-
try, were present, and among them 50,000 peasants.
The procession from Warsaw came with a flag with
the Polish eagle on it ; and the other processions
from all parts of the country passed through the
various towns and villages on their way singing
'the national hymns. The most cordi,tl harmony and
unanimity prevailed, and even the troops, who were
encamped in large numbers under General Wagner
near the town, did not attempt any interference
with the proceedings. When the festival was
over, and the processions began to return to their
homes, each of them was accompanied by thou-
sands of people with crosses and sacred pictures
as it left the town, and women and children
with black and white dresses, priests, monks, and
others threw green garlands and flowers in its
way. The departure of one of these processions,
that from Posen, was the indirect cause of a
disgraceful outrage perpetrated by the troops at
Kalisz. It appears that, as usual, the police had
spread false rumours of the approaching arrival
of t his procession in the town on its way home, the
consequences of which rumour was, of course,
the assemblage of a large number of people in
the streets to give their fellow-countrymen a
cordial reception. As soon as a sufficiently
large number, in the opinion of the commandant,
had collected, he sounded a whistle, with
which he had provided himself for the
occasion, and immediately the soldiery rushed
out upon the people with their bayonets, which
they were so drunk as to be almost incapable of
using. This, and the darkness of the night, no
I doubt saved the lives of many, but numbers were
wounded and otherwise ill-treated, arrested, and
robbed of all they had on them. Krajewski, an
old man of 70, was dragged along the pavement,
and beaten with sticks and the butt-ends of muskets
by three patrols in succession. Jencz, a chemist,
was seized in his shop, robbed of his watch, and
severely wounded in the head with a knife; and
whilst he was being treated in this way an officer
stood looking on with his arms folded, and turned
a deaf ear to his complaints and appeals. Women
and children were wounded and beaten, and one,
the wife of a policeman, who was with child, was
killed. Such was the revenge of the Nizowski re-
giment for the charivari the inhabitants gave them
last July for their brutal conduct on a former occa-
sion. Upwards of a hundred were killed in this
abominable massacre, and twenty-five wounded.
Several of the latter, among whom are some
children, are in prison. Next morning a deputation
was sent to Gen. Lambert at Warsaw, to ask for
redress, but he refused to receive them. General
Paulucci has, however, been sent to Kalisz to
e s seized
investigate the matter. Meanwhile the troops hold
undisputed possession of the city. The poop',
do not da?e to leave their houses, for those whom
necessity compelled to do so were instantly
of
het
seid
and half-killed by the soldiery, without distinc-
tion of age or sex. The instigto
out-
rages are Colonel Zajcow and Captain Bergmann.
The wife of the latter, a Polish lady, has separated
from him in constqu'enee of his unmanly treatment
of her fellow-countrymen.

Snch acts cannot much longer be borne, even by
so patient and long suffering a nation as the Poles
ba-fe ohoviu themselves to be, The hopes of all

are now turned to the municipal elections, which
take place at the end of this month, and are ex-
pected to give great accession of strength to the
national party. The following translation of an
address to the Poles on the subject gives a true pic-
ture of the feelings and hopes of the patriots :
" Nothing is now so necessary for our country as
unity and concord. For them we ought all to
labour, for to them only can we owe our restora-
tion. In a crisis so important as the present, the
decision of the majority must be a law to all ; and he
who thoughtlessly breaks this law pushes the coun-
try into a precipice. We, therefore, address our-
selves to all who love their country, that they
may not be carried away by their enthusiasm,
and allow themselves to be deterred from what the
body of the people consider best and most advisable.
We speak of the elections fcr the provincial and
municipal councils, to take part in which, and to
direct them so that they may give us men of courage,
sense, and energy, is the duty of every true citizen.
This is not a question of the acceptance or rejection
of ►eforms, for these elections are not reforms, but
a basis for obtaining reforms answering to the wants
of the country, and which it behoves us to use for
that purpose.

" The country wants, above all, organisation,
mutual understanding, communication, and harmo-
nious working in different channels, but with the
same object. The councils do not give the oppor-
tunity of extensive action within their limits ; but
they will be important, if we select men of energetic
will and indefatigable perseverance, who love their
country above all things, and would boldly lay
before the Government its wants and requirements.
Let us endeavour, then, not only to bring the elec-
tions to a satisfactory issue, but also not to be
ashamed of our deputies, and to be able to depend
upon them. This is not the time for protests and
words ; we require deeds, organisation, and work.
The greater the difficulties we meet with, thy harder
we must work to overcome them. Let us have
unity and concord for the good of our country
above all!"

Several high appointments have been published
in the official paper. General Lewinski is to be
President of the city of Warsaw, and M. Unbert
Jeska, a gentleman highly respected in the town,
Vice-President. M. Wielopolski has been appointed
Vice-President of Council of State. This appoint-
ment has not given satisfaction, M. Wielopolski's
Panslavistic tendencies being extremely unpopular
in the country, and the delay which he has caused
in the development of the various educational insti-
tutions having raised great opposition against him.
M. Paumanns, the chief of the police at Cracow,
continues his persecutions of the Poles in that city.
A princess belonging to one of the oldest families,
and holding an important position at Court, was
fined, with numbers of other persons, for taking an
active part in the recent national demonstrations.
On being informed of her punishment she refused
to pay the fine, and said she was ready to go to pri-
son instead, the law allowing her the option. The.
confusion that ensued in the police office may be
readily imagined. To imprison a princess was
rather more than even M. Paumanns dared do; and
on the other hiind it was clear that the fine would
not be paid. I have not heard how the matter was
settled.

An address to the Poles, Ruthenians, and
Lithuanians, has been circulated in Poland, inviting
them to be prevent on the 10th of next month at
Horodle, on the Bug, to commemorate the first pro-
clamation of the union of Poland with Lithuania,
which took place at that city.