The Sun.
London, England, 1861-06-08 00:00:00

On Thursday the 29th annual general meeting of the
Literary Association of the Friends of Poland took place at
the rooms of the institution, Sussex chambers, Duke-street,
St. James's, and the proceedings were unusually interesting
in their character, on account of the recent melancholy
events which have taken place at Warsaw.
The Marquis of Townshend, president, occupied the chair,
and amongst the noblemen and gentlemen by whom he was
supported were the Prince L. Czartoryski, General Count
Zamoyski, the Earl of Harrowby, K.G., Earl of Shaftes-
bury, Earl of Zetlaud, Earl of Ilchester, Earl of Harring-
ton, Lord Kinnaird, Lord Ebury, Lord Talbot de Mala-
hi,* e, Lord Kingsale, Viscount Raynham, M.P., Sir
Harry Verney, Bart., M.P. ; Sir H. Hoare, Bart., Rev.
Dr. Worthington, Richard Monckton Milnes, Esq., M.P.;
Colonel Pinney, M.P.; T.E. Brown West►head, Esq.,
M.P.; F. McEvoy, Eeq , M.P.; W. H. Gore Langton,
Esq., M.P. ; Right Hon. More O'Ferral, M.P. ; S. Greg-
son, Esq., M.P. ; Torrens M'Cullagh, Esq , D. Urquhart,
Esq., Captain Caldwell, F. Marx, Esq., Edmond Beales,
Esq., G. Fitzpatrick, Esq , Dr. Fisher, John Abel Smith,
Esq., Edward Romilly, Esq., Thomas YounT, Esq., Ed-
ward Johnston, Esq., William Lloyd Birkbeck, Esq., W.
Bridgeman, Esq., &c.
Mr. L. BIRKBECK read the report, which was very volu-
minous, and detailed the operations of the association, as
well as gave the history of, and strongly commented upon,
the recent massacres at 'Warsaw, and denounced the bruta-

lity of the Russian Government.
The Earl of HARRINGTON moved the adoption of the
report. He attributed the recent movements at Warsaw
to two causes. First, the example set by that glorious
revolution in Italy, by which 20 millions of Italians had
acquired not only their independence, but their liberty.
(Loud applause.) Secondly by the emancipation of
the serfs throughout Russia. Great credit was
was due to the Emperor of Russia for the perseverance
and courage he had exhibited in that noble act, but it was
deeply to be regretted that, whilst he had exhibited a desire
for the march of freedom, on the one hand, he should
have permitted the hand of oppression and cruelty to be
exercised towards the Poles on the other. (Hear, hear.)
The Earl of ZETLAND seconded the resolution, and it was
carded unanimously.
The Earl of HARROWBY moved the re-appointment of
the Marquis Town ,head as president of the association,
and said, whilst he still maintained his old sentiments of
the right of Poland to its nationality, guaranteed as it
is by the most solemn treaties which, if faithfully carried
out, would no doubt soothe the wounded feelings of the
Poles—whereas the constant and unscrupulous violation of
those treaties by the partitioningpowers over Poland can only
produce events such as lately occurred at Warsaw. Those
events had proved one thing, namely, that however the land
of Poland might be divided, the heart of Poland was just
the same. (Cheers.)
Lord TALBOT DE MALAHlDEseconded the resolution.

Prince L. CZARTORYSKI said—l am requested to sup-
port the resolution which has just been proposed, and I am
glad to have this opportunity of rendering the tribute of
my gratitude to the noble president and the other members
of this association. In the name of my countrymen, let
me say, we are not ungrateful. An association, like an
individual, has a specific existence ; its power lies not
merely in its show of strength, but in the legitimacy of its
aim, and the constancy with which it pursues its righteous
purpose. The association first assembled on the morrow
of that eventful day when, by a fate irresistible, Poland,
deserted by the Governments of Western Europe, was
forced to succumb to her enemies ; on the morrow of that
catastrophe which saw encamped in the heart of Europe
the Tartar hordes, but half disguised in European uniforms.
Five and twenty years later, England and France were
compelled to spend thousands of lives and millions of trea-
sure, to curb, for the time, the ambition of a power dange-
rous to the equilibrium of Europe. You therefore resolved
since then to remonstrate against the improvidence of
statesmen to inform the public opinion of your country, to
point out where a bulwark may be formed against the
dangers of the future, to advocate a policy of equity
amongst nations which, thank God, begins already to gain
ground, to protest against the flagrant violation of treaties
and the arbitrary rule of the spoilers, to assert the inex-
tinguishable rights of Poland, and proclaim aloud the duties
and obligations of Europe. We address a community at-
tached above others to the supremacy of law. The chief
of your magistrates presides in the assembly of your Peers,
and the Ministers of the Crown seek the advice of
your most eminent jurists when dealing with the
Governments of other States. It is nut merely her fleets
and armies that constitute the power of England, it is not
merely her wide-spread commerce and her great possessions,
it is her fidelity to the principles of law and liberty. It is
this which causes her mediation to be sought in the differ-
ences which arise between nation and nation, between
sovereigns and subjects. Do not believe that her inter-
position is a dead letter because we do not always see an
immediate result. Resolved to draw the sword only in de-
fence of your own rights and interests, you do not therefore
fail to render signal service to the cause of truth and right.
Your condemnation weighs upon the conscience of the
guilty—your moral support nerves the arm of the oppressed,
inspires him with courage and patience, and raises for him
new allies. . Such was the moral help we sought to invoke
when, more than a quarter of a century ago, this society
was first formed, and it has never deviated from the path of
usefulness originally marked out for it. You have from
time to time caused remarkable discussions in the Houses
of Parliament. I need only allude to those of 1832, 1833,
1837, 1843, and 1846. And you have been mainly instru-
mental in obtaining from the Government of her Majesty
solemn protests against the violation of treaties regarding
Poland. Do not allow yourselves to be disheartened by
the malignant suggestions of our enemies that your efforts
have hitherto been of little avail. Be assured that it is in
no small degree owing to the remonstrances and denuncia-
tions of the West that our spoilers have not harmed us
more, and that they profess a willingness to make us
some reparation. Do not believe that they will do so of
mere good will. Do not leave us tacitly to the discretion
of Alexander, it would be to assume a heavy responsibility
of prolonged oppression and renewed bloodshed. There is
for us, I know, sympathy in this country. The Poles do
not ask material, but moral help. All they ask is that you
do not shrink from doing thorn justice, by publicly and
nationally acknowledging their rights. England is bound
in honour to do this; for, is she not one of the signatories of
the Treaty of Vienna—thati treaty so grievous to us Poles,
as recognising the partition of our country, but which has
in it the most distinct and explicit acknowledgment of our
nationality. England has thereby assumed a grave respon-
bility concerning us in the face of the world. The present
juncture peculiarly demands your active solicitude. The
late events at Warsaw render it a duty no longer to remain
silent. May we not claim the co-operation of all just and
and sincere men, whatever may be their distinctiveopinions?
Friends of conservatism and friends of progress may alike
with consistency and honour lend their aid. Poland, with
the same voice, invokes the rights of legitimacy and the
rights of a people, rights founded in the law of humanity
and rights guaranteed by treaties. The atrocities perpe-
trated by the Russian Government for a long time passed
in silence ; but in February last, when the people of War-
saw were engaged in funeral prayer, they were attacked
by the police, who, enraged at their remaining passive,
butchered the defenceless crowd without mercy. The fear-
ful truth became speedily known through Europe, and
amongst the Russians themselves a sense of shame spread.
The Government of the Czar redoubled its cruelty and
struck indiscriminately, while seeking vainly for chief
offenders, where all are equal in the passive resistance to
wrong; for it was a whole nation, if any, that conspired.
And truly all have been dealt with accordingly. Women as
well as men, aged persons and children, every class and
every creed have furnished their contingent of victims,
and thus the cruelty of the oppressor has made palpable the
unanimity of our nation in a manner unexampled. There
are those who have said that Polish nationality was dead.
But is it death which year after year can continue without
submission to incur the remorseless enmity of Russia, and
which not only in the armed battle field, but in the unarmed
byways of life can indomitably endure the cruelty of such
a power. It is almost a century since Poland was divided,
yet to the present hour all the race, thus politically severed,
continue to live the same life, speak the same tongue, and
desire the same national end. Let one illustration suffice.
I allude to the manner in which the entire country identi-
fied itself with the movement at Warsaw. In every church
young peasant was assassinated by
;
and chapel throughout ancient Poland a solemn service was
performed when the massacre in the capital became known,
honoure and Russians in St. Petersburg itself admitted that there was
no other token which could be given so forcibly or so feel-
ingly.
r thedaya idlee persons of all classes vied with
of carrying his coffin to the
scenesS
have occurred at Posen and else -
a
where. Is there not in these things evidence of unity?
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Failing all other grounds of reproach, our enemies taunt
us with conspiring merely to restore the regime of the an-
cient noblesse; but let not the great legislative acts of 1791
be forgotten. It was by the nobility, the name of which
answers precisely to what in England is called the gentry,
that those great acts of justice to the people were done
which secured equality of all men before the law and eventual
abolition of serfhood. These acts, no doubt, precipitated
our fate, and made the oppressors hasten to divide and de-
spoil us. The present Emperor himself acknowledges the
liberal tendency and spirit of our nation, without distinction
of class, when he recites in his recent ukase the fact that it
is in accordance with the initiative taken by the various
Polish Governments that he was induced to decree the
emancipation of the serfs. And the last act of the Agricul-
tural Society, before it was violently dissolved, was to pass
a resolution abolishing, wholly and without reserve, all
tenures of land by compulsory labour. The first act of the
Diet of Gallicia has been the solemn confirmation of this
great act of justice. Amidst circumstances unfavourable to
our cause, you have been obliged fns some years to limit
your attention to acts of mere benevolence; but that
now
Poland has once more spoken, and,
though bleeding, has
reassumed an attitude of life, it is for take
part you originally assigned
toyou to again the
yourselves, to unfurl here
our national flag, to rally men of heart around it, and to
awaken sympathy in those who do not know us. You have
already shown a good example to all sincere and generous
men, and your reward wi 11 be with you, in the triumph of
our cause, at no distant day, of which my conviction, and
the conviction of the country, is most firm. The hand of
God has rested heavily upon Poland but
Inouye of