The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1854-05-21

ed: and the peasants unbelief Of the promises Of
their lords, till then not followed by deeds, has had
TO give way TO the evidence of the accomplished fact
in the provinces which the revolutionary movement
had passed over. This immense progress toward
the fusion Of the classes, from which the indePen
dence Of Poland must proceed, has been found ac-
complished since l849. The propaganda Of the al
lance between the national and the social ideas
thenceforth slowly extended among the une-
mancipated people, and progressed there uninter.
ruptedly, while above it each Of the triumphs Of
the reaction threw trouble, disheartenng, and too
often doubt and apostacy, In the souls OF the noble
and privileged classes. From this arise the errone
GUS judgments of tourists in Poland to the spirit
Of the populations, Of which they never touch but
single surface layer without ever having time or
means to sound its depth.
II was in this disposition Of mind that the affairs Of
Turkey found Poland. Their action on the masses
was doubly decisive.
Certainly the nobility could see and did see in it q
complication from which the arrangement Of the
European equilibrium might issue, and thence oc
casion for national efforts. But, accustomed to
Judge of events from the relations Of the journals
and reading there how all the powers Of Europe
were determined to maintain peace, or at least the
status quo of territorial divisions, by combining the
to the limits of Turkey it thought conscious Of
itsown poweressness that might content itself with
waiting some deliverance from Notwithstanding
like the Napoleonist intervention Of old time in the
affairs Of Poland From that nothing could result,
except, at very most, changeof masters.
But the people judges not from such premises; and
consequently it arrives at very different conclusions.
1t has traditions, and believes in them; it has i'm
pulses and follows them. IT. acts are determined by
its feelings more than by its reason or, rather the
popular reason, which we improperly call instinct,
takes special count of its affections, its wants. its
faith and the facts which meet its understanding,
without complicating them with calculations and ar
guments beyond its reach. Now, the events which
are passing in Turkey, by their proximity as well as
by their notoriety, are especially OF nature to i'm
press it and to determine it to rising.
For year past it has seen its fields trayersed by
two immense ayalanches of soldiers coming from the
North and precipitating themselves southwark iuto
the two yawning CULTS Of Wallachia and the eau
casus. There the Turkish scimitar lays them low
for the cannon roars, the TeDeums in the churches
resound unechoed, but none return to bear witness
Of the victories they have won. On the contrary
mysterious voices whisper in the ear that word-de
feat and the faces of every regiment that arrives
are more downcast and more pale than those that
went before. And yet these armies are not enough
they are being exhausted, they are shrivelling up
for sealed papers come to the village registrars,
which, when they opened, condemn nine OF every
thousand peasants to the hell of military service. At
this mournful news the steppes are peopled with
fugitives the forests with rangers, and in the vii
lagos only old men, women, and children are left.
pitiless fear Of the Tzar For how can the Tar be
without fear, whom even the Turks are beating,
while England and France are arming against him?
France who, formerly, in spite Of England, could
thence, according to the popular sentence, by the
Generals Frost and Famine-now France Is no
in the eyes Of the people of Poland the France
Of 1872 but that Of 1s4s It is the revolution which
enfranchsed our brothers in Gallicia it is enamel
patton it is freedom-it is Poland. Heretofore,
between the free peoples and Poland rose the insur
mountabe wall of the Russian, Austrian, and
Prussian forces, united together in one fascis Of
dissolved Russia isolated, and her army the prin-
cipal barrier removed from the West to the South.
Between the West and Poland there is no more bar.
rier access to Poland is left free to the European
Revolution for what matters to the people the
letter of Napoleon III. and his conservative assur
ances2 Does it know them Can they have on its
imagination the same influence as the memory Of
the revolutions Of France, Vienna, Berlin, Venice,
six years ago. did not move it, have since appeared
to It clothed with the prestige of the past. Paris,
Vienna, Berlin, Rome, Venice, Hungary: they all
mean Liberty. Poland, it is Liberty and more, it is
abolition of the Russian recruiting system, the abo
lition of soccage labor, the abolition Of vexatious
police-it is the proprietorship of the land it is
freedom Tor religious worship free trade, markets
prosperity, well-being. This is how the good sense
Of the people of Poland sums up the present ques-
ton, and solves 1t with one single argument the
Turks can beat the Russians-why may not the
Poles?
Under these circumstances, any appeal would de
termine them to rise-no matter whence it might
eceed, from town. the fields, or the forests, from
Cossack noble, from the steppes ofthe Ukraine
fleet in the Baltic-provided it is sufficiently
noised abroad to be heard throughout the country
and Of sufficient duration to reach its farther from
tiers. But this appeal has already reached them, and
stirs their minds reheartens them and sharpens
their scythes and lances. And this appeal is an old
legend, an accredited prophecy, an article Of the
popular faith It is the apocayptic prediction Of the
This prophecy, uttered after the confederation Of
Bar, on the banks Of the Dneper, and conceived in
sense eminently Polish has since penetrated into
all the provinces of Poland and found believers
every where among the people.
This prophecy, in old yellow manuscripts passing
from hand to hand among our gran fathers, wa,
preserved by them, If they were noble, with that
sort of veneration which attaches to a curious
ument of the visionary patriotism of old time; but
they belonged to the people, was learned by heart
as a confirmation of their hopes and guarantee Of
their realization. After having very clearly pre-
| dicted the total dsmemberment the utter fall Of
Poland il indicates in apocaiyptc images the fruit
less efforts which will be undertaken FOR its relief
| and ends with the prediction OF universal cata-
| clysm, terminated by war, in which the Turks
alyng with Poland shall come to water their horses
in the Visula, but which shall be decided by the
| maritime Intervention of England. Then, say.
| Wernyhora, all Poland will rise, glorious and tri
umphant, and engage in one great and last battle
| in locality of the Ukraine, which he mentions b,
name, and pursue the fleeing Russians into dcile
also mentioned, where our final triumph shall bt
sealed by their utter determination. In the mind.
of the great majority Of the people Of Poland, the
names mentioned in this prophecy have passed int
| the condition Of sacramental formua they arr
part of the articles Of its belief and have taken
| its determinations the authority of commandment
| Of the Most High.
Here, again, may find place what has already SC
many times in history put the systematic doubt d
scepticism to the proof-the pretended effect will
have determined the cause, the prediction will b I've
produced its own fufment, and the fact will have
taken place solely because it had been announced
1t is not only very natural, but also necessary, nev
table, fatal, in the eyes Of whoever knows the cir
cumstances and dispositions Of the people as we
know them. The people of Poland, Following the
events of the present war; will rise because it will
find motives determining it to rise; and will not be
able to hinder itself from obeying them it will rise
because these motives suggested to IT, not by
system of policy OF which 1t understands nothing,
nor by conspirators in whom ii could have conf
dence and who, moreover once discovered, would
draw into ruin both their plans and the end they
proposed to attainbut by greater events, having a
clear and positive meaning for it-by redoubling
nf -