The Portland daily press., 1863-04-14
The Polish Instruction.

Now that the first flush of natural sympathy
for men struggling however hopelessly with
fate is over, now that every fresh arrival from
Europe brings tidings of Polish disaster and it
seems a settled fact that this instruction is
to end like all the rest, it is time perhaps to
reconsider the grounds of the encouragement
which the united voices of all the great ma
tons have lent to the Poles in their late des-
perate undertaking. Langewicz, the late
dictator, has been defeated and taken prisoner
The surprise and capture ofthe Russian garri-
sens In a few instances have been of no avail.
No permanent stand could be made against
monarch, who wields the vast military re-
sources of the Russian Empire. The attempt
was madness. Who was responsible for this
Madness
or course, II is very easy to charge the
whole business to the cruel prescription, of
which we have heard. Some people are still
silly enough 10 attribute the Sepoy rebellion
TO the famous "greased cartridges" or the
American rebellion TO the election of a Repub-
ncan President. This will not do? What
occasioned the prescription? That is the
real question. Has the Emperor Alexander
shown himself so insensate, as to justify us in
regarding this act as mere arbitrary outrage?
On the contrary, he has used his greet power
Tor a purpose most beneficent, no less than
the abolition of the last form of servitude on
that soil which gave us the word Stare. Was
there then any reason for the prescription?
All, was there mott Does any one doubt the
existence offs conspiracy among the disafiect-
ed Polish nobility ever since the Crimean war
and long before? Its existence was well
known then: it has been maturing ever since,
and was ripe for action. Ifany one doubted
this before, the prompt and harmonious action
of the insurgents no longer admits any other
construction. Had the Emperor right to
maintain his empire? Obviously, If he could.
But If he was to assert his supremacy, have
we not learned here that palterng, shutting
hallway Buchanan policy is terribly expensive
in the end? Alexander acted promptly, Wig
orously drew out the insidious conspiracy
into open rebellion before its time, and crush
ed 1t.
Who are the Poles, after all? The popular
notion of their cause is derived from Camp
bell and Miss Jane Porter. The unexception-
able Thaddeus of Warsaw and Kosciuszko,
over whose fate Freedom shrieked," are the
Poles In whom we all believe in the nursery.
History should teach us better though, few
years later. But the Poles have had no his
tory within the recollection of the present
generation. They are, it is true, race of
gentlemen; but their cauae is not the cause of
liberty. Thirteen fifteenths Of the entire pop
ulation of Poland are serfs The Jews, in
whose hands are lodged all the business
interests Of the country, make up another
nfteenth; your Pole never disgraces himself
by becoming a tradesman. The other fifteenth
comprises the Polish nobility and this is their
rebellion, q purely aristocratic and selfish az
fair, and for that reason entitled to the British
sympathy 1t has SO abundantly received, but
not TO ours. The liberty they see.; is liberty
TO tyrannize over their inferiors-it is not
liberty, but license. Their national existence
was a prolonged intestine quarrel. They
were incapable of devising or submitting to
any practicable form of government Their
nationality was lost through sheer incoher-
ence.
Il Is said that the Emperor has sent dis
patch TO Paris, indicating his intention to
grant constitution and separate autonomy
to Polish Russia. No greater blessing than
good constitution, backed by an armed police
strong enough to compel its observance, could
be conferred upon Poland A constitution.
given from the hand of Alexander to the
Poles, will not be likely to provide for the
maintenance Of their peculiar institution"
and will probably be opposed on that account.
Such opposition will not command American
sympathies.