Washington sentinel. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1853-1855, 1854-12-02
CAN Polish NATIONALITY BE RE
aTOREDf

Il 4 4uSDsASAl
in the present condition of affairs, has been
resolved in the negative by the New York Til
bune, of the 30th November. Inasmuch as the
arguments presented by that paper, which is
said to be well informed about transatlantic
politics, might derive certain weight from the
reputation Of their expounder, and plunge many
minds into errors, we will strive to show, by a
proper statement Of facts and views, the false
position of our contemporary, and the def
cheney Of his information.
The arguments Of the Tribune can be
summed up as follows:
lst. That the law of facts shows that history
has seldom or never known the. restoration Of
q decayed State.
I'd. The writer, after having spoken, 1--WE do
not know from what motive,) of Isthmian
games, Of the Roman consul Flaminius and Of
Napoleon, proceeds to say that conquered and
crushed nations never were restored by vic
torious one.
Sd. That if Prussia should be obliged to dis
gorge all her conquests, Austria and Prussia
will never condescend to give back what they
siezed half century ago.
9Th. That the strategic position Of Russia in
her Polish possessions, is gigantic and formi-
dable, and that the struggle would be life
and death one.
E 9th. That war would ruin the Polish peas
ants, who have no sympathy for the pugna-
cious mobiles.
9th. That Poland cannot be recognized
under the influence Of Democracy, and that
constitutional government would be established,
having some offspring of Bonaparte for its
leader.
18th. That Poland would instantly adopt the
poisonous panacea of free trade.
9Th. The reconstruction of Poland is be-
yond the reach of human probabilities.
Such are the points, faithfully extracted,
upon which the Tribune builds up series of
inconsistent arguments, deficient, the most
part in depth and solidity, and entirely free, as
we hope to prove, free elevated political views.
In the first place, and in reference to the
decayed state Of Poland, the Tribune ought to:
know that there is a notable difference between
a State morally and intellectually dead and
that which is only silenced by the overwhelm-
ing strength Of its enemies or the Indifference
of its friends. 1t ought to know, besides, that
peculiarly with Poland is to shine and de-
cline by turns, without ever losing her vitality
or the hope Of recovering one day her former
splendor. Whenever Poland is robbed Of
some portion of her territory, we Immediately
see her deiecta mena5ra unite again and form
still strong and enlightened State. Thus it was
with Boleslas the Ill, in 1889, at which time
she seemed to sink in consequence of the
imprudent division of the kingdom BY
that monarch. But some time after
she rose again under Kasimir the Great,
until she reached the highest degree Of
glory under the two Sigismonds. After that
she went down again under the reign of John
Kasimir in 1866 and 1860, till she came back
to life again under the liberator of Vienna, the
great John Sobiesky. Even at the time other
last struggle, when Stanislaus Augustus Ponia-
towski was nobly sustaining the contest against
enemies at home and abroad, she put forth,
amidst the most dreadful political commissions
ever known in modern history, the immortal
work of her Constitution, of May Sd, l79l.
After this memorable event we find Poland in
eessantly and most perseveringly at work for
the re-establishment of her nationality. Inn
mediately after the first campaign of Italy we
see her asking from the First Consul the adj
mission of representative in the Congress
which was to follow the peace of Campo Formio,
October 9th, 1919 But Napoleon Bona
parte who had then good reasons not to awaken
the resentment of Russia and Prussia, rejected
her demand; adding, that the re-establishment
Of Poland, could only be the result of time and
destiny. This great man did not believe like
the Tribune, her reconstruction to be beyond
the reach of human probabilities; on the con-
trary, he firmly believed in it submitting only
that event to the action Of time and the infu-
ence Of circumstances.
The noble stand occupied by the Poles in
oor own revolution, and more recently in the
wars Of the French Empire, show how desti-
tute Of truth is the accusation Of decay against
Poland, by the New York editor. The name
and history Of Pulawsky, Kniaziewicz, and
Dombrowsky, and their companions, and the
memory Of their deeds, inspires us with toe
high an idea Of their energy, courage, and de-
votedness, and love Of their native land, To
suppose, for an instant, that the blood Of the
people Of Poland has degenerated to that de
gree which the Tribune would make us believe
The revolutions Of 1881 and lS4s, and the
noble and courageous efforts Of that nation
against an enemy FIVE times stronger, is an
other argument in her favor. Indeed, upor
whatever page Of history we bestow our glance
be il under the yoke Of foreign powers, in free
dom or in exile, at home or abroad, in the pas
or in the present. in the expression Of thei
thoughts or in the utterance Of their senti
ments, we find the Poles united in one min'
and one heart, and that's the resurrection o
Polish nationality