POLAND. 



751 



constitution granted in conformity "with the 

 Treaty of Vienna, and when in that year the 

 Russian Government succeeded in reestablish- 

 ing its supremacy in Poland, it was by the 

 virtue, as it were, of re-conquest entirely ab- 

 solved from all precedent obligations. Com- 

 ing to the second branch of the question, he 

 says, it is the object of the Czar, as it is the 

 desire of her Majesty's Government, that a 

 practical solution of the Polish question should 

 be arrived at. The only difference of opinion 

 which exists between the two cabinets is due 

 to the fact that the English Government con- 

 tinues to maintain that a restoration of the 

 Constitution of 1815 is the " sole panacea" for 

 the troubles of Poland. 



Prince Gortschakoff goes on to say : " But the 

 English Government and nation can hardly 

 assert that there is only one form of govern- 

 ment possible for all peoples, whatever may 

 be their history and development. There are 

 many degrees to pass through, and each nation 

 must proceed in this path according to its own 

 instincts. It is just and natural that a sover- 

 eign, animated by the most benevolent inten- 

 tions, should calculate the bearing and exten- 

 sion of institutions destined to place his subjects 

 in the most favorable conditions of existence." 

 Prince Gortschakoff then appeals to the liberal 

 measures which the present Czar has inaugu- 

 rated in Russia, and remarks that a similar 

 " solicitude" has been brought to bear upon 

 Poland. He says that foreign states misappre- 

 hend the real nature of Polish institutions. 

 They are, in truth, most liberal, although 

 distance and " the chimerical passions of a 

 hostile party" have prevented 'strangers from 

 appreciating them. The system inaugurated 

 by the present Emperor contains " a germ 

 which time and experience must develop." It 

 will one day end in becoming " a species of 

 self-government, established on the basis of 

 those provincial and municipal institutions 

 which have in England secured the greatness 

 and prosperity of that country." They have 

 hitherto been prevented from bearing their full 

 fruit by " the party of disorder," and " it has 

 been impossible to show how they work, or 

 how far they respond to the real necessities 

 and to the degree of maturity of the country. 

 It is only when this experiment shall have 

 been made that it will be possible to pass a 

 judgment upon this work, and to complete it. 



" Russia is too directly interested in the tran- 

 quillity of Poland not to understand the duties 

 of her position toward other nations. It would 

 be difficult to assert that she has met, in this 

 respect, with scrupulous reciprocity.' The con- 

 tinual conspiracy which is being organized and 

 armed abroad to keep up disorder in the king- 

 dom is a fact of public notoriety, the incon- 

 venience of which principally consists in the 

 moral effects which the favorers of the insur- 

 rection deduce from it, in order to lead astray 

 the peaceable population, by gaining credit for 

 the belief in direct assistance from abroad. 



"If the Government of her Britannic Majesty 

 lays stress upon (releve) the reaction which the 

 troubles of Poland exercise on the peace of 

 Europe, we must be still more struck with the 

 influence which the agitations of Europe have 

 in all times had the power to exercise on the 

 tranquillity of Poland. Since 1815 this country 

 has witnessed the development of a material 

 welfare unknown until then in her annals, 

 while other states have in the interval under- 

 gone many interior crises. This repose was 

 only troubled, in 1830, by the consequences of 

 commotions coming from abroad; 18 years' 

 later, in 1848, while almost the whole of 

 Europe was convulsed by 'the revolution, the 

 Kingdom of Poland was able to preserve its 

 tranquillity. We are persuaded that it would 

 be the same at present, were it not for the 

 continual instigations of the party of cosmopol- 

 itan revolution. If this party, everywhere de- 

 voted to the overthrow of order, at present 

 concentrates all its activity upon Poland, a 

 grave error would be committed in supposing 

 that its aspirations will stop short at that limit. 

 "What it seeks there is a lever to overturn the 

 rest of Europe. Those cabinets which attach 

 importance to seeing the Kingdom of Poland 

 return a moment earlier to the conditions of a 

 durable peace, cannot therefore more certainly 

 ensure the realization of this desire than by 

 laboring on their side, to appease the moral 

 and material disorder which it is sought to 

 propagate in Europe, and thus to exhaust the 

 main source of the agitations at which their 

 foresight is alarmed." 



With reference to this despatch, Lord Rus- 

 sell, writing on May 2d, to Lord Napier, Eng- 

 lish Minister at St. Petersburg, says : " Baron 

 Brunnow came to me this morning, and, before 

 giving me a copy of the despatch of his Govern- 

 ment in answer to mine to your Excellency, of 

 the 10th of April, said to me, in substance, 

 what follows : ' You have declared to me that 

 the step which Lord Napier was instructed to 

 take was taken with a pacific intention. The 

 Imperial Cabinet has received your despatch in 

 a similar spirit of peace and of conciliation. 

 You have told me that the representation you 

 have made is founded upon the basis of the 

 stipulations of the Treaty of Vienna of 1815. 

 The Imperial Cabinet on its part accepts the 

 basis. The Imperial Cabinet is ready to enter 

 upon an exchange of ideas upon the ground 

 and within the limits of the treaties of 1815.' " 



The reply to France is a much less elaborate 

 document than the despatch sent to England. 

 Prince Gortschakoff states that the wishes ex- 

 pressed in the name of the Emperor Napoleon 

 harmonize with those of the Emperor of Rus- 

 sia. The Emperor Alexander admits the just 

 interest which the powers bordering on Poland, 

 and those who cooperated in settling the state 

 of Europe, must naturally take in all the com- 

 plications of a nature to disturb its harmony. 

 The Emperor Napoleon, in pointing out to 

 Russia the opportunity for taking measures to 



