The Massachusetts spy, and Worcester County advertiser. [volume] ([Worcester, Mass.]) 1825-1831, 1831-03-09

that Discretionary power with which he was
invested. This menstrous authority, the source
of the greatest abuses, and which might wound
tile personal dignity of every individual, had
become so infatuated, that it even dared to call
before it citizens of every rank and condition,
merely TO load them with insults, and at times
TO subject them to disgraceful public labors,
reserved for the vilest convict; as if PRovI-
DENcE, by permitting them to carry their out
RACES against the people to the very utmost
PITCH had destined their inordnate abuses of
authority to be the exciting cause of our insur-
rection.
After so many nffronts, after so manifest a
violation of the guarantees sworn--a violation
which no legitimate Government in any civiliz
ed country would have allowed itself with I'M
punity, and which, a fortiOri, may justify our
instruction against an authority imposed by
force-who will not consider that this authori-
ty has broken off all alliance with the nation,
that it has oppressed it beneath the yoke of
slavery, that it has given the right at every
instant to burst its letters and forge them into
arms ,
The picture of the disasters of our brethren
may be superhuous, but truth forbids US to pass
it over. The provinces formerly Incorporated
with Russia have not been reunited to the
Kingdom. Our brethren had not been admitted
to the enjoyment of the liberal institutions stip-
uated by the Congress of Vienna; on the con-
trary, the national recolleetions awakened in
them, first by promises and encouragement, and
then by long expectation, became a crime
against the State, and the King of Poland caus-
ed to be prosecuted, in the ancient provinces of
that State, such Poles as had dared to call them
selves Poles. The youth of the schools were
particularly the objects of persecution; our
1 Ghll0ran heir thpre tic .
the issue of the first families were transported
to Siberia, or were forced to enter into the
ranks of corrupt soldiery. In official docu-
ments and judicial examinations, the Polish
language was suppressed; the Polish tribunals
and civil law were snnihilated by Ukases !;
abuses OF administration reduced the landed
proprietors to misery, and since the accession
of Nicholas to the throne, this state of things
had constantly been growing worse. Religious
intolerance itself employed every means to con-
solidate the united Greek ritual upon the ruins
OF the Catholic ritual.
In the kingdom, although none of the liber-
ties guaranteed by the constitution were OBJ
served, these liberties, suppressed de factO,
nevertheless continued to exist de jure. It was
precisely this existence de jure that it was
necessary to undermine. We then saw that
additional article to the Constitution appear,
which, setting forth a specious sollctude for
the maintenance of the Charter, destroyed one
of its principal provisions by depriving the
Chambers Of the publicity Of their proceedings
and the support of public opinion, and which
above all, was to consecrate the principle that
it was allowed to cut up at will the fundament-
al compact and thereby entirely abolish the
Charter, as one of Its articles had been abolish
ed. 1t was under these auspices that the
! Diet of 1928 was convoked, from which it was
sought by all manner Of means, to discard the
! mos! intrepid defenders Of our liberties q
| Nuncio, who had just taken part in the deliber-
Eatons, was carried off by main force, surround
cd by gendarmes, and held captive for five years
| till the moment when the revolution broke ont
/ Deprived of its force, shut up, Threatened with
/ the loss Of the Charter, and mised by fresh
! promises ofthe ancient provinces being re unit
/ ed to the kingdom, the Diet of 1928 followed the
example of that of 1918; but those promises
remained without effect and the petitions
which prayed for the reStorations of our iber.
| ties were rejected
| The general indignation Of the well disposed
! inhabitants, and the evaporation Of the whole
nation, had long been bringing on the storm
the approach Of which began to appear, when
| the death Of Alexander, the accession of Mich
olas to the throne, and the oath he took t.
I maintain the Constitution, seemed to promise
US cessation of abuses and the return Of oul
liberties This hope soon vanished, for no
only did things continue as they were, but thu
| revolution at St. Petersburg even served as
p1etext to imprisoa and bring TO trial the mos
distinguished individuals of the Senate, The
! Chamber of Nuncios. the army, and the citi
1 zens. In short time the prisons Of the CAPT
/ tai were filled Every day fresh buildings Wert
appropriated TO receive thousands o. victims
sent TO Warsaw from every part of Old Poland
and even from parts subject to foreign Govern
ments Upon the native soil Of liberty were
introduced tortures which cause humanity t.
shudder Death and suicide constantly dimn
ished the number of the unfortunate victims
who were sometimes left forgotten in SINAI
and damp dungeons. la contempt of every
law, a special committee of Inquiry was in
sttuted composed Of Russians and Poles, mos
Of them military men, who by protraeted tor
lures, by promises Of pardon and insidioui
questions, only sought to extort from the &C
cused the confession of an imaginary crime
1t was only after an Imprisonment of one yea
and half that the High National Court was
established, for as in spite of every law, i'm
| prisonments had been crminally prolonged to
degree that severa! victims had died in prison
it became absolutely necessary to render Ihi.
measure legal. The conscience of the Sen
ate disappointed this expectation, and the &C
cused, who had been groaning in prison for two
years, were acquitted of any crime against the
State This decision from tina: period remov
ed all distinction between the accused and
! their Judges. The former, notwithstanding
the sentence, which preclaimedtheir innocence
instead of being set at liberty, were conveyed
to ST. Petersburg, where they were imprson-
ed in forts, and up to this moment several have
not been restored to their families. The lat
ter were detained for nearly year at Warsaw
| for having shewn themselves independent
Judges. The publication and execution Of
1.-THE sentence was stopped. twas submitted to
| the examination of the administrative authori
ties, and when at length, out Of some regard
! for Europe, it was found necessary to publish
! it., a Minister carried his audacity so far as &c
degrade the national Majesty, by reprimanding
in the name of the Sovereign, the highest
Magstracy, of the State, in exercise OF theil
most exalted functions.
1t was after such acts that the Emperor
Nicholas resolved to be crowned King of Pc.
land. The representatives of the nation being
summoned, were silent witnesses Of this cere-
mony, and the new oaths were soon violated
far M nhusa was sIInnreSeed moi avnn