POLAND. 



753 



offices in such a manner as to form a distinct 

 national administration, having the confidence 

 of the country. 4. Full and entire liberty of 

 conscience ; repeal of the restrictions imposed 

 on Catholic worship. 5. The Polish language 

 recognized in the kingdom as the official lan- 

 guage, and used as such in the administration 

 of the law and in education. 6. The estab- 

 lishment of a regular and legal system of re- 

 cruiting. Earl Eussell, in submitting to Prince 

 Gortschakoff these six points, stated it to be 

 the opinion of her Majesty's Government that 

 the Poles would not be satisfied by mere dec- 

 larations of good intentions. 



The French note to the Russian Cabinet 

 respecting Polish affairs recommends, in the 

 same terms as the English and Austrian notes, 

 the acceptance of the " six points" as a basis 

 for the pacification of Poland. M. Drouyn de 

 1'Huys does not suggest that the Eussian 

 Government will object to these proposals, or 

 hesitate to accept them as bases for negotiations. 

 He thinks " that there is room to anticipate 

 a provisional pacification, founded upon the 

 maintenance of the military status quo, which 

 it would be the duty of the Emperor of Russia 

 to proclaim, and which the Poles should on 

 their side observe on their own responsibility." 

 Polish affairs may then be submitted to the 

 consideration of a conference of the eight 

 Powers which signed the Treaty of Vienna. 

 Thus if, as the French Cabinet hopes, Russia 

 accepts the bases of negotiation proposed to her, 

 "this question, withdrawn from the decision of 

 force, which might cut it once more without 

 solving it, would henceforth enter on the path 

 of friendly discussion, the only way to prepare 

 a solution vainly sought up to the present day, 

 and which would be worthy alike of the en- 

 lightenment of the epoch and of the generous 

 sentiments by which all the cabinets are ani- 

 mated." 



The despatch of Count Rechberg is dated 

 Vienna, June 18th, and addressed to the Aus- 

 trian Minister at St. Petersburg. After a 

 retrospective introduction of a very friendly 

 character, Count Rechberg says, respecting the 

 replies of Russia to the former notes of the 

 three Powers : " They have appeared to us to 

 correspond with what we expected from the 

 wisdom and liberal intentions of the Emperor 

 Alexander. The Cabinet of St. Petersburg ap- 

 peared, in fact, to display a desire to proceed 

 to an interchange of ideas on the means the 

 most calculated to attain the common object 

 of our desires. Austria, France, and Great 

 Britain found themselves, therefore, in a man- 

 ner invited to express their views in a more 

 precise way, and to explain them amicably to 

 the Russian Government. Animated by the 

 spirit of conciliation which actuated our first 

 step, we have not hesitated to follow the path 

 indicated to us. We have consequently ex- 

 amined what are the conditions by which, in 

 our opinion, tranquillity and peace could be re- 

 stored to the Kingdom of Poland ; and we have 

 TOL. in. 48 A 



succeeded in expressing these conditions in the 

 following six points which we recommend to 

 the consideration of the Cabinet of St. Peters- 

 burg. Like England and France the Government 

 of Austria is in favor of calling a conference 

 of the Powers which signed the Treaty of 

 Vienna." Count Rechberg remarks on this sub- 

 ject: "To judge from a passage of Prince 

 GortschakofPs despatch to Baron Brunriow, 

 the Cabinet of St. Petersburg seems to admit 

 the interest which all the Powers who signed 

 the general Act of the Congress of Vienna 

 have in participating in deliberations concern- 

 ing the country designated in that Act as the 

 Duchy of Warsaw. We should have no objec- 

 tion for our part to such a form of negotiations, 

 and we should be ready to accept preliminary 

 negotiations or conferences between the eight 

 Powers signing the general Act of the Congress 

 of Vienna, if Russia recognized the expediency 

 of such conferences, in order to discuss the de- 

 velopment and application of the programme 

 which we have drawn up above." 



Prince Gortschakoff replied to these notes 

 on July 22d. In polite but determined language, 

 Russia declined either to accept the six points, 

 or to agree to the proposed Congress. In point 

 of ability, this reply is one of the most remark- 

 able documents issued on the Polish question. 

 At the outset, Prince Gortschakoff says : " We 

 have pleasure in learning that Lord Russell 

 admits with us the barren nature of a prolonged 

 controversy relative to the signification of the 

 1st article of the Treaty of Vienna ; and that 

 with us, likewise, he desires to place the ques- 

 tion upon ground which should offer more op- 

 portunities for arriving at a practical solution. 

 Before taking our stand upon this ground, we 

 deem it useful to put in a clear light our posi- 

 tions respectively. The Imperial Cabinet ad- 

 mits the principle that every Power signing a 

 treaty has a right to interpret the sense thereof 

 from its own point of view, provided always 

 that that interpretation remains within the 

 limits of the meaning that is possible to be put 

 upon it according to the text itself. In virtue 

 of this principle, the Imperial Cabinet does not 

 dispute this right in any one of the eight Powers 

 which have concurred in the general proceed- 

 ings of Vienna in 1815. Experience has, it is 

 true, demonstrated that the exercise of such 

 right issues in no practical result. The experi- 

 ments made already in 1831 have had no issue 

 but to place on record the divergence of opin- 

 ions. Nevertheless this right exists. It ex- 

 tends as far as the limits which I have indicated 

 above, and is incapable of obtaining a wider 

 range but with the express consent of the con- 

 tracting party most directly interested. Ac- 

 cordingly it depended upon the Imperial Cabinet 

 to maintain the strict application of this prin- 

 ciple, observing the line of action taken in the 

 course of the month of April last, with respect 

 to events which occurred in the Kingdom of 

 Poland. If, in reply to that appeal, it went 

 further into the subject, it was entirely owing 



