The Nashville daily union. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1862-1866, 1864-04-17

The Cars Proclamation OF EmaacIDa-
tiOn ia P0land-The Epoch Of Lib
eFiy.
The middle Of this month viii wit
! ness in Europe another Of those grand
/ events which. like the Presidents Pro
| clamation of Emancipation in America.
/ are to make these years forever Illus
trious in history. On the 18th Of April
! by q recent ukase Of the Car, every
/ serf in Russian Poland is to be at once
! and forever set free from all bondage
/ He Is to own the cottage and the plot
| Of ground which he has been occupy
/ ing, his time and labor are 10 be his
( own, and he is liberated from all claims
/ 10 service and obligations of labor
/ which his master may have possessed
I over him. Fer this great emancipation.
\ he has only to pay TO the Government
\ a tax, by which lOval masters" are 70
! be remunerated. More than this, the
I Polish serf Is 10 become at once a self
! governing citizen. lie is to elect his
own village officials, his mayor, and
sheriff, and Justice Of the pedee-a privi-
! lege which Prussia has never yet grant
ed to the Prussian Poles.
Thus, at single stroke, millions Of
human beings are set free from an an
cient oppression, and endowed with
new privilege and rights Like the
/ Proclamation here, it is Of course the
| death-blow Of the revolution, at which
it IS aimed. Poland, ike the Southern
States Of America, never had a middle
/ class Society consisted Of a brave and
/ barbaric aristocracy and the degraded
/ serts. The mercantile class was made
up almost entirely Of foreigners. The
/ heroic val0r and incredible sutferings
Of the aristocracy, with their Unweary-
/ ing and neyer-vanquished struggles for
nationality, have endeared them to the
sympathies of humane and progressive
men the world over, while the scveri-
/ ties Of the Russians have intensified
this feeling, until sympathy for Po-
/ land has become almost war-cry OF
the Liberals in every country.
But, unfortunately, the Polish RevO-
luton never based itself, ike the Hun
garian, on the emancipation and eleva-
ton of the serfs 1t had no popular
/ leader or reformer as KOssuth, to bring
it into sympathy with the great move
ments Of the age Tt was the revolu-
ton Of a class-a heroic and valiant
class, it IS true, whose sutierings claim
the respect OF the world-but who, like
the corresponding class of shareholders,
in a far different rebellion here, must
90 down when the masses they have
oppressed or neglected are reused up
against them.
The Emperor, in this great and wise
measure, has struck the mortal blow to
the Polish Revolution He has met
revolution by q cOunterreyOlutiOH. He
has liberated Poland. lie has with
drawn the Polish struggle from the field
of European sympathies The millions
who. on the 18th Of April, shall stand
up lreemcn, are so many supporters Of
the Russian Government, and pledges
of its continuance in Poland. The
Polish aristocracy are attacked in the
house Of their friends
The mind cannot easily grasp the ex-
tent and results Of such great measures
Of human elevation, as this act q
Polish Emancipation. 4 whole people
of sorfs living in ignorance and de-
pendenee on half barbaric masters, sud
denly made free IN person and labor,
and gifted with communal selEgoyern-
ment
Act by act, the great drama opens
itself which is 10 distinguish this age
beyond all others-the grand move
ment for the elevation Of the lowest
classes, and fer the breaking up OF all
forms Of human bondage On this side
Of the ocean, millions Of slaves drop
their fetters, and through seas OF blood
nation moves steadily on TO the
establishment OF universal freedom and
and Justice on the new continent On
the other, millions Of serls in Russia
are freed by a peaceful decree, and now
another vast population Of bondsmen
arc liberated BY the sharper necessities
Of war
We who are actors in this cannot
appreciate the grandeur OF the age.
Our children's children, for hundreds
Of years, viii look to it as we regard
now the era Of the Reformation Of the
first French Revolution-as one OF
those rare periods when the human
race made suddenly some Of its greatest
steps 6f progress. when the abuses o:
centuries were abolished 40 n stroke,
and the wrongs which had weighed
longest On humanity were Cverthrswn
In but q few years-E T. Tines