The southern aegis, and Harford County intelligencer. (Bel Air, Md.) 1862-1864, 1863-05-08
THE LESSON TAUGHT BY POLAND.

ing 30 mach torn by factions, aad none
showing the same ungoyernable Spirit
The Germans, their neighbors, have to
this day an adage, showing the impossible
ity of the Poles to- agree on anything.-
When men qaarrel without any chance of
being reconciled, they say they agree
with one another as the. Polish Diet, :"
which means they cannot agree at all
Yet, notwithstanding this diyersityofsen
timent, the Poles have always been a
brave, polite, and chivalrous people, who
delighted in being called "the French of
the North, and who, in many respects,
deserve that name. ~. -1.,...Ias..s.
! The internal dissepsious of Poland at
last invited she, cupidity of Catharine IL,
of Russia, and Of, Frederick the Great, of
Prussia, who resolved to divide her The
good Empress Maria Therese of Austria,
had no part in ,devising the plan and
the share which was offered her, was more
in the nature of hush-mopey than. any
thing else. 1t was Catharine who, used
to say Of Poland, "that in it one need only
stoop to pick up something" while Maria
Therese answered the autograph letter of
Catharine, offering the lGallicia, in these
terms I'll shall always be happy to have
you for a friend, but not as next-door
neighbor." She nevertheless yielded to
the persuasions Of her ministers, and es-
pecially to the advice Of her Chancellor,
Prince Kauni,z; and 10 signing the treaty
of partition gave that as her only apology
for the act, hoping that God would forgive
her the commission OF that crime q % III
There is no instance on record where a
country or d province has been divided
aHd occupied, militarily, with less hope of
being ever again united, than Poland was
in l772. She was divided among three
great military powers;' one Of which,
Prussia, was headed by the greatest milf
tary genius of the age While Russia and
Austria we're at that time id possession Of
the largest standing armies in Europe
But was the sentiment of Polish nationali-
ty crushed by thisi division ~ BY no
means. Was their military spirit check
ed? Heruism became one Ut the Polish
virtues, and Polrs distinguished them.
selves Oh every battlefield of Europe. 10y
Was their love of liberty extinguished I?
No country has Since l772 given greater
proofs of the devotion of its people TO the
cause Of freedom No, battle was fought
for liberty in Germany, in France,,i id Eta
ly, iu Spain, 10 North or South America,
but patriotic Poles have inscribed their
names Ia the annals of war. They were
always foremost in the'hght; for they saw
their country wherever a field was opened
to freedom, and their bravery won them
after the fall of Napoleon a separate CAPT
tulation1 and safe return! TO their own
country. They fought, ut first for their
independents and were defeated; but
though kosciusko dcspairedo of Polaad, the
Poles themselves continued to cherish
hopes and to educate their children for d
renewed struggle against their oppressors.
The Poles were devotedtD the elder Ma
poleon, and had right TO expect from
him what at one time was Id his 'poWerto
accompllsh-tht reunion ofthe Polesfinto
a powerful kingdom. Napoleon no doubt,
contemplated such modification of the
political map Of Europe; the'dynast? in
tiuences prevailed and the scheme was
dropped. sHadcit beehgadopted,itlis more
than probable that the conqueror Of Jena,
Austerlitz and tWagram would have been
SPARED hisi Russian campaigu,i aud with it
all his subsequent disasters. teg3aIol 'sra
! Z It wax not more than fifteen years after
the battle of Waterloo, that Poland again
rose---no we amade mistake, we ought
to have awritten that part, the Dacby of
Warsaw, which had been torn from Po.
land5by her successive partitions and by
the Congress ofiaVienna, 7+-rose, and for
nine entire months, bafied the whole mill
tary power of tho ,Ausocrat Of Russia
That revolution, though stifed in the
blood of the insurgents, was followed by
partial risings in Posen and Galicia, and
again subdued, partly by force of arms
and partly by streachesy in, Prussia and
Austria. In 1S48, it required an army
of a'hundred thousand men to prevent a
new outbreak in the Duchy of Warsaw,
and it cannot be doubted that, had the
Hungarian rebellion succeeded or continu-
ed six months longer, the Poles in Galicia
and the Duchy would have risen, and
maintained their independence. Il was
for this reason, and not to assist Austria,
that the Emperor Nicholas MARCHED one
HUNDRED and fifty Thousand Russians. into
Hungary; the. subduing of. the Magyars
sealed the fate Of the Polesauod III slpe Il,
|, The Poles have nogiagain risen without
any political conjunction favoring the en-
terpgise, simply, as their leaders express It,