THE ACTUAL CONDITION OF POLAND.

Otago Witness, Issue 658, 9 July 1864, Page 8

THE ACTUAL CONDITION OF POLAND.

(From the Special Correspondent of the Observer.) , I see that your papers are entirely unprovided with correspondence from Poland. One may say that public opinion in England has definitively put aside the cause of this country, which, for the last thirteen months, has struggled without interruption, and, above all, fights with an enemy whose military strength is so exaggerated in Europe, and yet whose alliance is sought by those cabinets that represent free nations. And what is that alliance ? An alliance with the enemy of civilization and social order. One might say that Russia, helped by her two sisters in crime, committed upon Poland by its partition, has enclosed that unfortunate country so hermetically that neither cry nor communication can come from that theatre of murders, incendiaries, &c.

For my own part, 1 can assure you that, although the enemy, or rather the enemies, are very powerful, and that there is only a handful of heroes who do not fear either the cold of a northern winter or the numterless hordes of their oppressors, the inBurrection is still strong ; we are still with arms in our hands, and we beat the enemy as before.

After thirteen months of this unequal struggle, the peasants, who at first took hardly any interest in it— not understanding U sufficiently, and not believing the possibility of measuring themselves with a giant like the Czar — now hasten to the patriot camps : and the best proof of this is that during this severe winter the patriots were received in the peasants' cottages, where they found a warm and safe shelter, while the Russian troops nearly perished from the frost in pursuing them. The first warm days of the spring will change the face of the insurrection. There are not only great military preparations, but it seems that the movement itself as regards its political character will take another aspect. I. am told that diplomatic negotiations will not be listened to, as they have only been the means of ruining the country for the last thirteen months by leading it the wrong waf ; a new programme is going to be accepted, entirely revolutionary, relying upon the rights of nationalities; and it appears there is a general understanding between the interested parties. I send you a translation of the second number of a series of revolutionary Polish proclamations, which may be looked upon as the first stone of the confederation of the continental nations. It may at any rate be considered as a very important fact, for the election of a chief by three nations before the contest, to lead them against the common enemy. You will see who the chief 13 in the subjoined proclamation, which is as follows : —

Number Two.

Our first number was an exposition of principles ; it is time now to come to the real question of action. The Polish cause is holy not only because it is an endeavour to recover the natural rights of humanity, but, above all, because it is the foundation upon which history will raise the edifice of the freed nationalities, building up a Europe of order, of political and social truth. Hence the absolute necessity of Poland's solidarity with the subjugated nations ; and hence, therefore, the want of logic, the error and sin of every attempt on her part *t isolated action.

Men of narrow intellect and poor ideas, who by ill luck have been thrown at the head of the movement, even they have in their consciences felt the duty of alliance with forces outside their own country, though, misled by retrograde tendencies, they knew not how to prefer, the true to the false. "Suffer," said they to the nation, " fight and give thy blood, devote thy sons to the galiows or to Siberia ! France is coming to your assistance ; even Austria will connive at your deliverance." Mere madness, for dynasty must hold with dynasty, and government with government, or else commit suicide. The patrician in the camp of Spartan comes there only to betray.

Thirteen mouths of obstinate struggle have not been sufficient to break the spell. The majority have only opened their eyes to tbe illusion, when their very foes have shown them under what conditions they should act. But a little while ago, and ■what is called with tragic irony the Holy Alliance seemed shaken. When Russia was in trouble in the Crimea, Austria and ! Prussia looked on with folded arms at the ruin of their accomplice. When the Kaiser of Vienna was fleeing from the fields of Lombardy, the Brunderburgs of Berlin and the Gottorps of* St. Petersburg watched silently, however angrily, the dispersion of the imperial and Apostolic troops. But the Polish movement has been the touchstone of their mutual dispositions. It could not be otherwise; for the victory of Poland would have been the death sentence of her three executioners.

Scarcely had a shot been fired upon Polish soil, when immediately a secret

alliance against Poland was concluded besween Russia and Prussia, Austria for a time contenting herself with twisting the halters which Russia used, until the affair of Holstein forced her into the arms of Prussia. So the old disgraceful links were renewed, and the Holy Alliance drawn closer than ever. The example, based upon experience, is one for the nation to follow. " One for all, all for one" is the watchword even of tyranny ; and it is time that the peoples should answer with the same cry. "All for one, one for all !" Whoever goes forth to the combat, and not for this, rushes blindly upon his own destruction. The victory is only for him who takes up arms in accordance with the spirit of his epoch. The word which gives such strength to your enemies, even for evil, will be for you, O oppressed nations ! a sign of irresistible might and victory. The fight which, throughout the borders of Poland, under Muscovite oppression, has been so obstinately upheld, must be extended also into Austria. Then the alliance of Poland with her oppressed sisters will receive the baptism and sanctification of blood, and be indeed the indissoluble alliance of fraternity.

Who is an Italian, and not degenerate, in the name of Venice let him go forward against the enemy ! Who is an Hungarian, a Danubian slave, and not a bribed traitor against his own race, let him go forward against the enemy ! Who is a Pole, let him, as of old, go forward against the enemy ! " All for one, and one for all !" Thi3 is the burthen of the battle hymn which leads the brotherly alliance of the peoples.

To be at the head of such a movement, Providence (ever ready with suitable means for great ends) gives us one of those great historical figures, great through his devotedness and love for his fellowcreatures, strong in heart and soul, capable by his unlimited self-denial to confer great benefits upon humanity. The man and the cause are worthy of each other, and the conditions of victory are fulfilled. The leader is Garibaldi.

The armed apostle of nationality, the warrior for his own and others' liberty, has already received an invitation from the Hungarians to lead the common movement against the tyrant of Hungary and Italy. He has answered as becomes him, accepting wit i readiness. To a Polish deputation he has answered to the same effort, in the following words : —

"Caprera, Feb., 1864

" The Polish cause I consider as the cause of my own country. lam happy to see the disposition towards a mutual alliance of the three sisters — Poland, Hungary, and Italy — who go forth as the vanguard of the emancipation of the peoples. With pride and gratitude I accept the mandate with which Poland deigns to honor me. "G-. Garibaldi." Under such a flag, and with such a leader, all smaller intentions and all per ■ sonal and unjust tendencies will disappear, and insubordination be at an end. Until now one or auother has had to lead as he best could, conscientiously, yet with insufficient success. Who canuot lead to victory will not obstinately insist now on leading to ruin. Time and circumstance will show that only calumny threatens such degenerate sons of Poland.

It will not be without interest to your readers to describe the manner in which patriot prisoners are despatched to Siberia. For the last five or six months numbers of them have been sent off weekly, and sometimes oftener. Most of them leave behind their wives and children, whose only support they were, and who are, of course, without any means to follow; their dreadful fate, therefore, can easily be understood. What the parting of the poor creatures with their families and relations and friends is no words of miue would be able to describe. An interview with the condemned is hardly ever permitted. The nearest "relations of the prisoners have the greatest difficulty to obtain permission trom the Russian authorities to see the prisoners at the railway before they are sent away. Those who are fortunate enough, I alter a great deal of trouble, to obtain perj mission to see their relatives (whom they I only see when they are already in the carriages, as before that they are not allowed to speak with them) are provided with tickets of admission to the railway terminus, compelled to go there the evening previous to the departure of the prisoners, and they must do so before ten o'clock, as after that hour the santries do not allow any one to pass by the bridge leading to the station ; aud as the prisoners depart by the five o'clock train those wishing to see them must pass the night at the station, where very often several hundreds of people gather. There they are! all shut up, being watched by officer and soldiers, and there they spend the night in tears waiting for the painful hour. In the meantime the exiles commence arriving soon after midnight from the citadel. Those who are most compromised

come on foot, mostly in chains, and they are taken at once to the carriages', where they are shut in, and well guarded by soldiers. After these come such as are not compromised, men and women. They are in carts ; and they are all taken to the carriages, shut in, and guarded as the others. Then comes a detachment of troops, who are to accompany the condemned and who occupy the rest of the seats. Pew lamps are lighted, notwithstanding the night is dark, so that the hazy atmosphere of the early morning gives a very melancholy aspect to the scene. At last the hour of the departure strikes ; the signal bell is heard ; it is only then when, many more soldiers having surrounded the waggons, the doors of the waiting-rooms are opened, and a mass of people kept as it were in torture for a whole night, rush out. Then may be seen and heard a scene difficult to describe, All those who are in the train call out for their relations or friends. Those on the platform ask for those who depart, an-1 whom they capnot find. Here are children crying after their mother, who is condemned to exile in Siberia ; there a wife fainting ; again, a father entrusting his family to his friend ; there a gentleman giving his last orders to his solicitors; there a young man, a stranger, calling out his name, in order that some persons present may inform his friends of his fate; there a priest giving his blessing All is done in the most hurried way, as there is not a second to be lost. In a moment the second and third signal bell is heard, and the train is in motion, carrying away so many beloved ones, whose future fate is so dreadful ; and here are left so many unhappy mothers and sisters, so many widows and orphans. Fancy, then, how agreeable it must be to find on your return home an invitation to a grand ball from General Bqtql