Star.
London, England, 1831-05-18 00:00:00

FOREIGN INTELLIGENCE.
POLAND.

We have news from Warsaw of the 3d of May. The
Russian army was continuing its retrogade movement. The
want of provisions was more and more felt in its ranks,
which were daily thinned by disease. The Polish head-
quarters bad been transferred to Jendrezow, beyond
Kalussyn.
The accounts lately received of the retreat of General
Dwernicki into the Austrian territory are unfortunately but
too true, having been confirmed by subsequent intelligence
contained in letters from Vienna, dated May 5.
After a series of excessive fatigues and successful attacks
against a superior force, the brave Dwernicki, pressed on
one side by Rudiger, and on another by General Roth, who
a:rived by forced marches from Moldavia, was obliged to
seek protection beyond the Austrian frontier, and, there-
fore, he crossed it on the 30th of April, with a body of 5,000
men and 17 pieces of cannon.
Dwernicki was unable to obtain uermission to retire in
the direction of Zamosc. Had the Austrian Government
yielded to this request, it would have violated the principle of
neutrality.
We have great apprehension as to the effect which this
news must cause at Warsaw ; so much confidence was at-
tached to the name of Dwernicki. However, the Poles
have made us so familiar with such traits of courage that we
still entertain hopes of their bearing this fresh reverse with
exemplary resignation. Besides, the principal operations of
the campaign cannot be materially affected by the unsuccess-i
ful issue of the expedition under Dwernicki. For more'
than six weeks his separation from the main strength of the
army had reduced his services to that of a skilful auxiliary
chief.

It is impossible not to contrast the generosity shown to'
Dwernicki e troops, by the Austrian Government, with the
revolting partiality of the Prussians towards the Russians.
Compare the conduct of Austria with that of Prussia, which,
not satisfied with stopping foreigners, and even Poles, who
wished to cross her territory, to repair to Poland, receives
every day the Russian soldiers expelled by the Lithuanians,
leaves them their arms, and suffers them to re-enter the
Russian territory as soon as they can do so with advantage.
This is what foreign Cabinets call neutrality, and what ours
consent to consider as such.--

A CIRCULAR, ADDRESSED BY THE SECRETARY OF
STATE FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS AT WARSAW To
THE AGENTS OF THE POLISH GOVERNMENT IN

FOREIGN COUNTRIES.
Recent military events having freed the capital, and the whole of the
right bank of the Vistula, from the attacks of the enemy, I deem it a
duty to request you to use every possible effort to convey to the Go-
vernment to which you are accredited the wishes of the Polish nation.
It is a received principle in Europe, that the independent exist-
tence of every country is founded on those rights which have
once been recognized, as well as in the formation of a
domestic force capable of protecting, and maintaining it.
When the question of right is co-existent with that of fact, both yield
to each other reciprocal support. The former existence of Poland, her
relations with other states, are sufficiently known, nor can the three
partitioning Powers question their historical accuracy, for they must to. 1
tain a recollection of the intimate relations which Poland formerly main-
tained with them, of the services that she rendered them, or of the reverses
which she forced them to endure. lf, then, we consult the history of our
country, or that of Europe, it will be seen that the right of the Poles to
a national and independent existence is incontestable. It is true that
at the close of the last century the three partitioning Powers, after hav-
ing confederated for our ruin, destroyed that independence; but tbat
act has been designated throughout the world as spoliation and political
crime ; that act could neither annihilate ancient rights nor create new
ones. Titus, even after the success of the conspiracy of the three Courts,
the voice oiEurope, in raising itself in favour of the rights of Poland,
proclaimed them to be imprescriptible ' • but although they preserved
their full vigour, they could no longer be exercised in the political world,
invested with their external attributes.
Recent events have changed this state of things. An insurrection,
distinguished for its energy and exemption from every excess, has se-
vered the bonds which connected Poland with Russia. The kingdom
is now subject only to a national Government, unanimously chosen
by a Diet, the members of which, it is worthy of remark, were all
elected under the Russian Government. That Diet has intrusted the
public affairs to persons the most eminent both for birth and popu-
larity, and whose political career affords the best guarantee to Europe.
The Diet has thus secured, in the strongest way possible. those
monarchical institutions which the two Chambers have declared'
as best suited to the wants and the wishes of the nation. The
National Government of the kingdom encounters no opposition in the
exercise of its authority ; its orders are executed with the utmost real,
in every part of the kingdom unoccupied by the enemy. The Po-
lish troops, the armed representation of the opinions, of the desires,
and of the power of the nation, after three glorious but deadly con-
filets, after having sustained dreadful losses, have again completed 1
their full numbers. Their confidence in their own resources
has increased them, and that heroic army responds to the hopes
that the National Government reposes in them. We are now
independent, in the strongest sense of the term, and the question of fact
is no longer in opposition to the question of right. The dangers which
may hereafter threaten us, and which to-morrow may threaten the li-
berty and the glory of other Powers in Europe, cannot in any respect
alter our real position, nor can they prevent us from proclaiming at this
moment that we are independent. It is, therefore, admissible for us to
claim from other Governments the recognition of our independence—to
claim it in the name of the most sacred rights, which Europe has un-
animously declared to be imperishable.
If Belgium, which never ranked among states,—if Greece, whose
political existence has been annihilated for ages,—have obtained, among
all the uncertainty of war, the recognition of their independence. I ask
if Poland have not stronger grounds for her pretensions,—that Poland,
whose national existence, extinguished for a moment, revives with so
much vigour, sustains itself with so much energy, and at the price
of so many sacrifices,—that Poland, which, alone and without aid, has
dated to combat with the giant of the North, and has already overthrown
the illusion of her power. It would be vain, in discussing the question
of Polish independence, to refer to the acts of the Congress of Vienna.
The treaty of Vienna, when uniting the kingdom of Poland to Russia,
assured to us a national individuality. and a conttitutior.al Government;
it also aimed at extending this nationality to the Polish provinces in-
corporated in the Russian empire ; and this for the purpose of con•
solidating the tranquillity of Europe.
Such was the spirit of the treaty of Vienna. The Emperor of Rus-
sia has been the first to violate that treaty by overthrowing in the king.
dom the principal constitutional securities, in smothering all national
spirit in their Polish provinces, in prohibiting even the use of our lan-
guage. All our sufferings have been sufficiently exposed in the mani.
festo of the Diet. The treaty of Vienna has then been, both in its ar-
rangements and their results. inadequate to the maintenance of peace.
The violence of the Russian Government has provoked an insurrection,
which has been followed by decisive events. A new order of things has
arisen. The chain which attached Poland to Russia has been broken,
the bond which united Belgium with Holland has been severed, but a
short time previously, although the treaty of Vienna had guaranteed
their perpetuity. The European Powers have, notwithstanding, recog-
nised the independence of Belgium, adopting a noble and elevated po-
licy. Why, then, animated by the same spirit, do they not interfere la
our favour ?
" The union of Belgium with Holland," says the Protocol of Lon-1
don, of the 19th of February, "is broken. Official communications
have convinced the five Courts that the means originally destined fee'
its preservation can neither re-establish it at present, nor preserve it
hereafter, and that henceforth, instead of confounding the affections
and the welfare of the two people, it could only excite passions and
hatred which, from their collision, could only produce war and all Its,
disasters. It does not devolve on the powers to judge of the causes
which have destroyed the antient ties, but when they see these ties se.
tared, it belongs to them to aim once more at the object which was
proposed in their formation. It belongs to them to secure, in favour of
the new combinations, that tranquillity to Europe, of which the union
of Belgium with Holland formed an essential basis."
The cause of Belgium is identified with ours ; and if there be any
dissimilarity between the two, it is in our favour. Poland was foam*
independent and powerful. The Congress of Vienna even contemplated
the reestablishment of that independence. and of the integrity of the
Polish territory; but as these views were counteracted by imperious
circumstances, a new kingdom was crested, the limits of which were
small, and which was united to Russia. On every occasion the beet
intentions with regard to us were testified, by guaranteeing also
the nationality of the other Polish provinces : the inadequacy of
these dispositions towards Poland in general was clearly demos.
strated—dispositions which may be considered as provisional. Ibe
kingdom to which the Congress of Vienna had guaranteed a oonellio.
tion was united to the most powerful despotic state. This allianoswas
difficult to form; its duration was impossible, for it carried in bed'
the seeds of dissolution. It may be urged in opposition to this, the
Russia, that power so redoubtable to all Europe, can, even after a des.
perste contest, reduce us to submission, and pacific, by commissar.
us. The peace of slavery—the peace of the timh—a pines essalb •
nature as to excite a terrible war on the first favawalis egrollositY—
can such a peace meet the noble sad dignified busdoes &as Euro-
pean Powers ?