The Sun.
London, England, 1850-10-31 00:00:00

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LONDON, THURSDAY, OCTOBER 31, 1850,

November the 14th will witness the repetition of
that charitable entertainment which has in a great
measure tended to keep alive among us a feeling of
sympathy for an illustrious but unfortunate nation,
whose very name has been long since erased from the
map of the European continent. Than the sentiments
in which these festivities originate none can be more
noble, more pure, or more elevated. They are sen-
timents of a profound commiseration in the fortunes,
or rather the misfortunes, of a race as heroic as any
in Christendom—one, however, whose glory has been
obliterated from the face of the earth, and rendered
only a little less legendary than that of the Caliphs of
Bagdad, or of the Abencerrages of Granada. Stu-
dents of history may occasionally pause over the
melancholy annals of the past to bewail the disap-
pearance of a kingdom characterized by so many bril-
liant illustrations of prowess, and virtue, and patrio-
tism. Hero- worshippers may exult over the traditionary
memorials of SOBIESKI when he conquered the pre-
datory legions of the Crescent under the very eyes of
the affrighted Viennese. The admirers of genius
and of civism may lament with an unutterable dejec-
tion the calamities of that great KosciusKo whose
downfall has been identified by a northern poet with
the destruction of his country's freedom. Some may
sigh over the broken sword of PONIATOWSKI, and
others over the broken sceptre of STANISLAUS. Yet,
with all this refined sympathy and intellectual com-
miseration, no actual good might flow from emotions
as honourable as *ley are beautiful and persuasive.
It is to obviate this very probable, or we might even
very safely term it inevitable danger, that the benevo-
lent originators of the Polish Association have each.
year eppeale,d to the public bluntly and compre-
hensibly to come forward in aid of the desti-
tute children of Poland, those heirs to an ever-
memorable calamity. The practice has become at
length so established amongst us in the metropolis,
that the occasion is scarcely so much looked upon as
the renewal of a demand for an exhibition of gene-
rosity as a sort of well-understood anniversary. The
Polish Ball, in fact, has come at last to be regarded •
At once as a favourite charity and a popular amuse-
ment. •

Ag4inst this most inoffensive And beneficent enter-
tainm-nt frequent attacks have from time to time been
levelled, as against something injurious to the inte-
rests of the population. Any such insinuations as
have been thrown out against its promoters we cannot
sufficiently reprobate. Instead of wishing well to a
scheme inimical to no one individual throughout the
community, it would seem that these assailants
of the friends of Poland are resolved, if possible, to
quash the charity by reiterated misrepresentation.
We cannot but regret an evidence of so much and
such unpardonable malignity. For it is not as if the
subscribers to this same charity were in any way
- ,11.gtiged out of their contributions. Their guineas are
O-Iwn voluntarily. In addition to all which
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