754 



POLAND. 



to its perfect readiness to seek to conciliate, 

 and in order to reply with courtesy to an 

 appeal which bore a similar character. The 

 Russian Cabinet is still ready to enter upon an 

 exchange of views upon the basis and within 

 the limits of the treaties of 1815. 



" The Russian Government subscribes to the 

 principle laid down by Earl Russell, that the 

 basis of government is in every case the con- 

 fidence which it inspires in the governed ; but 

 the indispensable corollary of this principle is 

 respect for authority, and no government can 

 allow that a fraction of the people be vested 

 with the right of seeking elsewhere than under 

 the legitimately constituted authority, by arm- 

 ed rebellion, supported by hostile or foreign 

 parties, the well-being and the prosperity which 

 they might declare that they could not realize 

 without the aid of inspirations from abroad." 



Coming to the six points, Prince Gortschakoff 

 refers to his former despatch to show that the 

 Emperor has already either decreed or prepar- 

 ed the greater part of the measures which they 

 include. But Russia is unable to share the 

 hope, without certain reserves, that an adoption 

 of the six points would lead to a complete and 

 permanent pacification of the Kingdom of Po- 

 land. In the opinion of the Russian Govern- 

 ment, reorganization of the kingdom must in 

 all cases be preceded by the reestablishment 

 of order in the country. That result is depend- 

 ent upon the stoppage of the material assist- 

 ance and moral encouragement obtained from 

 abroad by the insurrectionists. We must pre- 

 sume that the sources of information from 

 which the English Government have formed 

 their judgment of the state of affairs in Poland, 

 are not of an impartial origin. If Earl Russell 

 were exactly informed of the occurrences in 

 Poland, he would know that the masses of the 

 people have kept aloof from it, that the rural 

 population have even evinced hostility to it, 

 that the insurrection sustains itself alone by a 

 terrorism unprecedented in history, and that 

 the insurgent bands are principally recruited 

 from elements foreign to the country. The 

 principle of action of the directing committees 

 from without is to keep up agitation at all cost, 

 in order to furnish an occasion and a pretext 

 for a diplomatic intervention which should lead 

 to military action. As long as this situation 

 lasts, the measures which Earl Russell recom- 

 mends would with difficulty find application 

 practically. The same causes would again 

 produce the same effects. The presence of 

 armed bands, the terrorism of the Central 

 Committee, and the appearance of an imme- 

 diate pressure from without, would moreover 

 take from these measures the fitness of time, 

 the dignity and the effectiveness which the 

 Russian Government could expect from their 

 spontaneous adoption. The instigators of the 

 rebellion would not accept the adoption of the 

 six points as a solution of the Polish question. 

 They demand neither an amnesty, nor an auton- 

 omy, nor a representation either more or less 



complete. The absolute independence of the 

 kingdom even would be for them only a means 

 for arriving at the final object of their aspira- 

 tions. This object is dominion over provinces 

 where the immense majority are Russian by 

 race or by religion; in a word, it is Poland 

 extended to the two seas, which would inevi- 

 tably bring about a claim to the Polish provinces 

 belonging to other neighboring powers. The 

 final result would be a general conflagration, 

 and the subversion of the peace and the equi- 

 librium of Europe. 



The project of Alexander I. to combine the 

 Duchy of Warsaw " with the Polish provinces 

 anciently dismembered into a kingdom under 

 the sovereignty of Russia, with an administra- 

 tion in accordance with the wishes of the 

 people, was a passing inclination of that sover- 

 eign and must be excluded, even in an exchange 

 of ideas made within the limits of the treaties 

 of 1815. The proposal of an armistice is 

 rejected. The Emperor of Russia, it is said, 

 owes it to his army, to the peaceable majority 

 of the Poles, and to Russia to take energetic 

 measures to crush the insurrection. The pro- 

 posal of a conference of the eight Powers 

 which signed the Treaty of Vienna for the pur- 

 pose of discussing the six points is also rejected. 

 ]f the measures were to be submitted to ulte- 

 rior deliberation, there would result a direct 

 interference of foreign Powers in the most 

 intimate details of the administration, an inter- 

 ference that no great Power could admit." 

 It would also " further increase the pretensions 

 and illusions of the Polish agitators." The 

 only conference which Russia will accept is a 

 conference with Austria and Prussia, between 

 which "the traditions of history" and imme- 

 diate neighborhood establish a certain com- 

 munity and reciprocity of interests. On this 

 point Prince Gortschakoff says : " All the ar- 

 rangements destined to regulate the interior 

 administration and the mutual relations of the 

 Polish territories placed, since the Congress of 

 Vienna, under their respective dominions, have 

 been laid down in treaties concluded directly 

 between these three Courts on April 21st (May 

 3d), 1815. They have been successfully comple- 

 ted by a series of special conventions whenever 

 circumstances have required it. The general 

 principles mentioned in these treaties, and 

 which could interest Europe, have alone been 

 inserted in the Act of the Congress of Vienna, 

 signed on May 27th (June 9th), by all the Powers 

 invited to concur in it. At present it is not a 

 question of these general principles, but the 

 administrative details and ulterior arrange- 

 ments would furnish useful matter for discus- 

 sion by the three Courts in order to place the 

 respective position of their Polish possessions, 

 to which the stipulations of the treaties of 

 1815 extend, in harmony with present necessi- 

 ties and the progress of time." In conclusion, 

 Prince Gortschakoff expresses the hope that 

 the great Powers, by clear and categorical lan- 

 guage, would contribute to dissipate the illu- 



