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    TIIK GOSFKL OF TKMIMORANCK. H,,rton-I»y-...

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    Is Poland Still Revolutionary? " Kvery H...

    people , and followed as it was by the entire extinction of Poland ' s political existence . For thirteen years , from the beginning of 1794 to the close of 1806 , Poland endured the thrall of the three rapacious black eagles ; but her eons left their homes , and though deluded and abandoned by the French nation—namely , by their " legal" representatives—acting with , its consent , they by thousands entered the Franco-Polish Legion formed in Italy , and fought against the enemies of the French Rewould

    public , hoping that those misled Republicans at last be brought back to better sentiments towards their sister-republic , when they would see that it was not one individual , but thousands of the elite of the nation who were victims of the refusal of their assistance ; an assistance which they promised "to all nations wanting to recover their liberty . ' Does history furnish another such example of so many sons of a deceived , abandoned nation , sacrificing their lives to assist that very nation which refused , on absurd and frivolous grounds , help to their country

    in its utmost distress . When Napoleon came to Poland , after his having in a few months ( 1806 ) crushed with his broad hand the whole Prussian empire , the Polish nation again rose , and in no time thousands of its children , organized in regiments , joined the French army , and helped it to gain victories over the then combined armies of Prussia and Russia . And what was the result of these new efforts of the Polish nation , of this newly spilt blood ? The chief of the French Republic * instead of restoring at the conclusion of peace at Tilsit ( July 9 , 1807 ) , the Polish Republic in its ancient limits , patched up a small part of the territory as a duchy , and gave its rule to a foreigner , the King of Saxony . Disappointment No . 2 .

    The beginning of 1809 saw Poland , after a short respite of two years , again in trouble . The duchy of Warsaw , without any previous declaration of war , was invaded by an Austrian army of about 40 , 000 men , under the command of the Archduke Ferdinand . We then were scarcely able to muster 10 , 000 men to meet the invading army , and , nevertheless , we not only succeeded to repulse the enemyfiom the territory of the duchy , but to reconquer the whole of what was called New Galicia , from Warsaw up to Sodgorze , ten miles beyond Cracow , an extent of 220 English miles . Our troops fought in this campaign several

    pitched battles , and took two fortresses by storm . Here also the Polish nation was again doomed to meet a disappointment ; for after a complete triumph , gained by a fresh sacrifice of human life , at the conclusion of peace between France and Austria ( October 14 , 1809 ) , a great portion , almost the half of reconquered Galicia , together with the rich salt mines Wieliezka , was restored to Austria . But the disappointment , or rather injury , does not end here ; for , in the same year , Napoleon detached from the duchy a whole palatinate , that of Bialystock , and presented it to—Russia .

    Three years afterwards came 1813 , and with it the famous and disastrous campaign to which Poland furnished a contingent of 80 , 000 men , who all perished with the ; exception of a few thousands . The whole territory , one single palatinate , viz ., that of Cracow , exempted , 1 <; 11 at one swoop into the hands of the Muscovites . No time was to be lost in reorganizing a Polish array ; but , being limited to one palatinate , scarcely 18 , 000 men could bo gathered and armed . However small that army was , still it rendered the greatest service to the French army in the two following campaigns , viz ., that of 181 : i in Germany , and that of 1811 in France . Thus out of the eight years' existence of the Duchy of Warsaw our nation enjoyed but four yearn of peace .

    Now followed sixteen years of terrible pence under the Russian knout , : i peace which drove the Polish nation , in 18 IS 0 , to arms . It fought against the whole military forces of the Northern Colossus , the noble guards of St . Petersburg included , during ten entire months , thus saving France from a new invasion , which was then in contemplation , and in which the Polish army wan to take an active part , having for that object already been put on u footing of war . And what did France do whilst Poland was waging that desperate struggle ? Why , the perfidious Government of Louis Philippe ; , anxious to help the

    Autocrut , treacherously withheld our chiefs from energetically carryingout the war , under the specious pretext that all would be settled by diplomatic negotiations between the two Cabinets , and without any further bloodshed . Our chiefs having been simple enough to believe in those promises , neglected everything , abandoned their advantageous positions , and allowed the Russian army to unmolestedly cross the Vistula ; the result of which was , of course , that the reign of the knout wus restored in Poland , which restoration tlie French Minister Sobestiaiii unblushingly proclaimed from the parliamentary tribune " the reujn of order in Warsaw . ' Russian oppression now began to weigh more heavily than ever upon our unfortunate country . No * Though with an Kmperor at her head , France was then ntill u Republic , tthe only ceuHcd to be called mo in 1801 ) .

    Polish army , in fact not even one soldier , was left ; thousands of Polish citizens were dragged to * ^ oeria or to the Transcaucasian army ; thousands of Polish families were driven into the depths of Russia , and replaced by Muscovites ; even children of the male sex were wrested by thousands from the bosom of their parents , and transported to Russia ; the whole country was so disarmed that not even one fowlingpiece was left in the hands of a Pole to kill the wolves ; the axes , even , were taken from , the peasants , and only one left for fourteen houses ; it was the same with every other sharp instrument . The country was constantly occupied by an enormous Russian army , and the spy system so extended that there was hardly a house without a spy in it .

    A new effort to rise was made by Poland m 1846 , in Galicia and the Duchy of Posen ; but it was unexpectedly prevented in the first province by the wholesale massacre , by Austrian hired assassins , of all the principal and influential patriots ; and in the second , by the early imprisonment of all the leaders . Thus the insurrection , crushed in its very embryo , could not spread throughout the whole of Poland . Docs it not go far to prove that the revolutionary spirit of Poland was not extinct when such a revolutionary endeavour was made—when all Europe was plunged in a deep apathetic sleep ? This new symptom of Poland ' s unabated desire to shake off her foreign yoke rendered her enemies still more vigilant , and led them to aggravate the already horrible state of the country , which I have but

    cursorily touched upon . Such was the state of Poland when the revolution of 1848 broke out in Paris , Vienna , and Berlin ;—in consequence of which the already numerous army of occupation was almost doubled in Poland , thus rendering her condition still more critical . Meanwhile the frightened Governments of Prussia and Austria made fine promises to their Polish populations of the Duchy of Posen and Galicia , going so far even as to allow them to organize their national forces ; but such pretended concessions were merely made to prevent them from seriously rising , and to gain time for the reaction to acquire strength . This once acquired , their superior forces of regular troops , unexpectedly and treacherously rushed upon the yet unarmed and unorganized Poles , massacring them , and mercilessly bombarding their chief towns .

    I now appeal to the conscience of every honest and impartial man , and ask him whether there ever was a nation more diabolically deluded and insnared than the Polish people ? And moreover , was there ever a country , exhausted as it was by a series of so many unsuccessful efforts and wars , without ever being able to recover its strength , as do those countries whose independence is left to them , —was there ever , I repeat , a country more disabled to undertake a revolutionary movement than Poland ? But let us suppose for a moment that she had been in another position : that her populations had not been deprived of their fowling pieces , axes , and scythes , and that she had never before been deluded and deceived by other nations , —what had the Polish

    nation in those two years to encourage her to begin a desperate struggle against the hundreds of thousands of Russian , Prussian , and Austrian soldiers , occupying every coiner of its soil ? It was certainly not that shuflling manifesto of Lamartine , which , if it was intended to have any eifect at all , it was rather to discourage than otherwise . Nor was it the revolution of Berlin which left things in statu quo , soon after showing hostile feelings against Poland , and a rapacious yearning to preserve the infamously robbed Polish provinces , a yearning which was supported by the whole of Germany . Was it perchance tin ; movement of the Viennese , who repeatedly implored their run-away tyrant to return to his capital ? Or was it , perhaps , Hungary of 1848 ? But did she not likewine beg her foreign despot to come and reign over her ?

    Besides , Koine had shown in 1840 , whether up to this moment any French manifesto , any motto , any placarded Fraternity , any Republican Constitution , acknowledging the micredness of other nations . \ Independence was to be trusted ; and when we consider that in the ranks of the French army sent to crush a sister-nation , a Republic provoked by the consequences of Louis Philippe ' s sudden flight—when we consider , 1 repeat , that there was in those ranks not one man , man enough to feel the stigma thus cast upon the national colours , to break lii . s fratricidal sword and throw his epaulettes at the feet , of his commander , it is really almost impossible to entertain the slightest confidence in that nation oven for the ; fut . iiri >

    In 1841 ) IIugnryroHe and valiantly fought against her enemy , but unfortunately , like 1 'Vaiuo in 1818 , she did not adopt the only Hound policy , viz ., to extend the revolutionary movement as noon us possible over the frontier . Poland , an a matter of couihc , expected Hungary to do so ; but , alas ! no ; she feared thus to provoke Russian interference , which , an her statesmen ought to have foreseen , could not have been withheld , as soon as the Austrian Government had culled for it . This , again , was u new disappointment for Poland ; still , as the war in Hungary wau waged against a common enemy , she sent her

    contingence of youths , who by hundreds crossed the frontier at the peril of their lives , and entered th contending Hungarian army , where they bravelv fought , as did their brethren in Rome and in Baden thus proving by deeds that they understood the principle of solidarity amongst nations , afterwards proclaimed by the Central Committee of European Democracy , My object in writing this statement is to endeavour to show , and I trust I ha ^ e succeeded : — 1 . That there is no nation in Europe , whose difficulties to rise are in any degree whatever to be compared to those of Poland ; and 2 . That there was never in the history of mankind a People so unceasingly disappointed and betrayed as was the Polish nation . '

    Consequently , can any one , I ask , conscientiously accuse Poland of impassivity , or of having entirely lost her revolutionary character ? Will he not rather find in her continually renewed endeavours to shake off the foreign yoke , a guarantee that Poland has always willed to do so , " willed strongly and unceasingly—in every limb and at every hour of the day—willed in love , sacrifice , and constancy" ? Taking into consideration all I have recorded , I think that no " earnest and truthloving man will deny , that in the years 1848 and 1849 , Poland did , as much as she could , her duty towards the then contending nations , so much so , that the enemies of all

    nations , that the reactionists hate and persecute the sons of Poland , when and wherever they can , foi having done so ; and is it not strange that it is only the hatred of our enemies , which in thi 3 respect , renders us justice , whilst the love of our friends refuses it to us ? It is very easy , especially for a Frenchman , to say , Why did not Poland rise ? But he forgets that in that unhappy country a revolutionary movement does not terminate so smoothly as in France , in three days in the streets of Paris , where there is not one single foreign enemy , but , on

    the contrary , a formidable national army approaching 400 , 000 men , besides a million and upwards of armed National Guards ; whilst in Poland there does not exist one armed Pole in the whole country , but is overspread by hundreds of thousands of foreign enemies : and even in 1830 and 1831 , when she had an army , the revolution could not terminate in three days ; but after the struggle in the streets , pitched and sanguinary battles were to be fought , —a whole campaign to go through against the strongest European power !

    Yea , my sincere conviction is , that even in 1848 and 1849 , Poland did her duty , as much as circumstances allowed her to do ; for , in the application of the salutary principle of solidarity , she helped the struggling nations by sending them her sons . Now what did , for instance , France do during that time ? Did she not excite all the other nations to rally under the banner on which glittered the words Liberty , Equality , Brotherhood , promising them aid and protection ; and then , instead of protection and aid , did she not send her soldiery to crush those who ventured to believe her signal to he sincerely given ?

    I think if my readers will calmly compare the deeds of the two nations during that eventful epoch , they will have no difliculty to arrive at a conclusion favourable to my country—that they will find the actions redound with honour upon the one and disgrace upon the other ; they will likewise be able to determine whether there is any doubt of Poland s being revolutionary . The Polish nation alone is competent to judge the opportune time to rise . Rise it will , and rush , wore arnica

    it even empty-handed , upon the numerous hordes , and , whether preceded or not by others , fight the last desperate battle between absolutism and liberty , destined to decide , not only its own fate , but also that of all Europe . And indeed as long aB Kurope does not form a barrier between the northern Colossus and the rest of Europe , the other Continental powers being , without any interposition , backed by the Autocrat , will continue to be despotic , and will become in a very short time the subaltei ' Cossacks of their chief Attamim residing m • Petersburg . In conclusion , my earnest hope is , that my countrymen at home will—if they have not yet done so ~ spite of those enormous difficulties no other V ( ' ° i . has to contend with , speedily organize their clem < so necessary for aa eflieient accomp lishment oi i . sacred duty towards their own country and hum J « t large ; and that in their " love" for other ,,. > ' £ ; whether Sclavonic or otherwise , they will ag t , ' they . lid in lHtfl , inscribe on their revoluuona . y banners — " For our and your Liberty . , A Pol . IHU lUVOM'TlONIHI .

    1000 Whl$ 9>$&9tt* [Saturday,

    1000 WHl $ 9 > $ & 9 tt * [ Saturday ,

    Tiik Gosfkl Of Tkmimoranck. H,,Rton-I»Y-...

    TIIK GOSFKL OF TKMIMORANCK . H ,, rton-I » y-M . ic «» l » . Ocloll ' 1 1 ' . \ li of D ,, A . t KiR . -ThoiiBh I do not think more » j iy Mr R . Cruikshank ' s logic than do the wiitc >« ^ ^ articles or , " the Gospel of Temperance « ui ' ()( London Temperance League , " in your . •» the 11 th instant , I do think that jhhtic > ' » rendered to his nclf-donyingKOul m tho cuuse ot »»»

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Oct. 18, 1851, page 20, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_18101851/page/20/