The Express. — 1863-08-12 (London, England)

THE SOLDIER'S PROGRESS.  NIGH WATIR AT LONDON BEIDOIL Tai! DAT Morning. Oh. SAm . . Mariam lb. To•NoabOw—Mandog. Ih .Afkraoca. lb. Cm  LONDON, WEDNESDAY, Ar7OUST 12.  Iv heroism and martyrdom were sufficient titledeeds to national existence, Poland would not now be fighting for the right to live. Tried in the furnace of affliction, sharpened by despair, and strengthened by endurance, the constancy of that noble people seems to acquire a finer and firmer temper from day to day, wearing out the weight of an immense army by desultory contests over an ever expanding area of revolt, and carrying their resolve unshaken through loss and slaughter. Borne down at one point by overwhelming force, the insurgents rise in another, like a mountain torrent that, fed by subterranean streams, swells unseen into an abounding river. While the diplomacy of the Great Powers is fumbling at its eternal Penelope'a web, and playing at " points" which have the double merit of being equally un• acceptable and impracticable on both sides, satisfying neither combatant, and settling nothing, General MOURA V lEFF is supplying the fullest and completest interpretation of Prince GORTCHAKOFF'B polite despatches by a succession of edicts, of which the deliberate and calculating ferocity would search in vain for a parallel in all the records of barbarous warfare. The Scourge's of Mankind, who have in old times laid waste the finest portions of the earth, swept nations into outer darkness, and put whole peoples to death, were humane and merciful conquerors compared with this practical modern commentator upon the good intentions of a Russian EMPEROR, who confiscates the estates of all Polish patriots who will not present themselves to be hanged, and murders the resident proprietors as " suspects " in batches, on the testimony of loyal informers, who are paid in kind. The attention of civilized Europe will do well to fix itself upon General MOURATI Weft methods of pacifying Poland and preparing it for an amnesty. The day on which the latest collective but not joint, and similar but not identical Notes are communicated by the respective ambassadors to the V 10E .0 HANCELLOR of the Empire, and the reception accorded to each, with the rejoinders to follow, is an interesting topic for the serious conversation of Foreign-office clerks in their vacation rambles. But for the great public of France and England, who know nothing of diplomacy but its impotent results, the question is becomingone of merehumanity,likethe "Customs:" of Dahomey. No one beyond official circles and probably no one within them, can ever have imagined that any help for Poland was to come from the joint or collective or separate action of France, Austria, and England—three Powers between whom there is nothing in common save the conviction that nothing can be done, and the desire to appear to be doing something for Poland. The ;radical incompatibilities of the three Powers the moment they quit the safe ground of generalities are only too obvious. One of them alone, and that is England, can be perfectly disinterested in the desire of peace, as it is only England that could go to war on such a question without a motive of ambition or a fear of loss. England means peace, be • cause she knows that no good for Polish or any nationality can come out of • French war ; and because she knows that the Poles themselves or at least the moat intelligent of their leaders desire no armed intervention of the Powers. What Poland demands of free England, and what free England should be the first to demand on behalf of Poland of the Powers that signed the Treaty of Vienna, is a formal and emphatic repudiation of the Treaty rights which the Russian Government has so flagrantly broken ; so that not a shadow of factitious "law" may continue to mask the hideous wrong which the gibbet, the cord, the bayonet, and the axe are maintaining in Poland. What Poland has a ri3bt to look for from England is the most solemn national expression of disapproval of the proceedings of General MOVRAP lEF F. The form which such an expression of disapproval, or such an act of sympathy, should take would be nothing more or lees than the recognition by the British Government of the Poles as belligerents. Let the other Powers join with England in this recognition, and the consequence would not be a diplomatic settlement of the Polish question, but something more immediate and urgent :—a restraint upon the infamous practice of executing prisoners of war.  (