11 APRIL 1846, Page 13

POLISH INSURRECTION AND EUROPEAN REVOLUTION.

POLISH insurrection is the portentous comet which has arisen to perplex the despots of Europe with coming change. The imme- ate results must be sought anywhere rather than in Poland—. in Germany, in St. Petersburg, in the Sclavonian provinces be- tween the Adriatic and the Danube ; but not in Warsaw, exce in the present retribution dealt by despotism or the servility left by defeated rebellion. The Polish rebels have been vanquished, but the rebellion fructifies. Poland, mutilated and bound, en- feebled by the demoralizing influences of captivity, is held down by three of the "Great Powers" of Europe : she struggles, she is quelled—easily ; but all three tremble. And they have cause for trembling. It is remarkable that their fears are in exact pro- portion to the vigour of their despotism. The Czar of Russia rules with a rod of iron, and surveys his domain through an army of spies' but the country which is governed by an army of spies is a nation of spies on its rulers ; and so odious is the oppression of the Autocrat, that he knows not how many Polands are em- braced within the confines of his empire. Austria has incited the peasantry of Galicia to rise and massacre their nobles—has taught the art of revolution as it was practised by France in the last cen- tury! Prussia has the least to fear, and the reasons are curious— "The measures of the Prussian Government for the suppression of the pro- jected disturbances in the dutchy of Posen," says the Times "were far more opportunely and efficiently taken than those of .Austria. The condition of the peasantry in that province is very superior to that of the population of Galicia, and no agrarian revolt broke out. Even the Poles regard Prussia as the least arbitrary and harsh of their three taskmasters; and we trust that in the proceed- ings which may follow these events, the Prussian Government will maintain its character for justice and moderation. But Prussia differs- from her Northern neighbours in this most important respect, that the acts of the Cabinet of Berlin are scrutinized by an active and intelligent public epinion, in spite of all the restraints put upon the press; that a very large portion of the German people sympathize with the cause of Polish independence, as was shown by a recent vote of the Chambers of Saxony; and that nothing is, more calculated to augment the internal embarrassments of the Prussian Monarchy than the revival of the Polish question. The Prussian Government, like that of Austria, is driven by the con- sequences of their common crime to bind itself to the stern policy of Russia; • but at the same time, that policy, and the very name of Russia—nay, the bare sus- picion of Russian influence—are more than ever odious and abhorrent to the German people." This is quite true; but the very embarrassment of Prussia' between conflicting policies constitutes her comparative safety. Her position is not antagonist to that of the advancement which neither she nor her colleagues can resist. Bing Frederick Wil- liam is prepared, or partially prepared, for " eventualities" : he stands ready to alter his tack as soon as he must ; and he takes the precaution of advertising an intended " constitution " often enough to produce it with a decent show of willingness when his subjects shall demand it peremptorily. He will probably concede too late to save all that he might now save ; but the very facility of revolt in Prussia will disarm it of its worst horrors. We see that in the conduct of Poland. The Prussian soldiers were not unsuspected of "sympathy," and towards Prussia the revolted troops showed a peculiar inclination to yield ; facts which indi- cate on both sides a considerable reliance in a mutual under- standing.

Bat the able paper which we have quoted shadows out another great influence at work-

" In this country it has been strongly felt that any demonstration tending to encourage the Poles in a hopeless insurrection was not only a vain but a culpable display of enthusiasm; but in France, be it right or be it wrong, this demonstra- tion has been most energetically made. Nor has it been confined to mere Sym- pathy with Poland. It has revived what may be termed the Revolutionary pas sions of the French Liberals against the Continental Powers and against the Con- tinental treaties of 1815. It has turned the fury of popular declamation against the policy of the Austrian Government in Italy and in Poland; and, by a reaction not very uncommon among our volatile neighbours, England has ceased to be the bugbear of the French Opposition, and 11. Guizot into be denounced at the itp- proaching elections, not as the coadjutor of Lord Aberdeen, but as the tool of Prince Metternich."

This also is true, and truer than it looks. French influence has established a tooting in many countries of Southern and Eastern Europe the genius of French opinion owns sway even in the midst of Europe; great Northern empire, defying, the memory of Moskow and the absolute prohibition of the Emperor. The waves of three broad and remarkable currents of opinion meet and cross each other in Central and Eastern Europe. There as this French influence and opinion. There is German Liberalism, longing for that municipal freedom which had its cradlp in Saxony, has been developed in Western Europe, and is about to be reimported into Germany. Into that more recent, more powerful,. and more worthy agitation, the restless efforts of Poland to regain her nationality will be merged. And there is the extraordinary movement set on foot by Russia, under the name of Pansclavonism, to create a feeling of common nationality among the scattered Sclavonian races, and to consolidate them in one power—meant by the Russian to be his own empire but perhaps destined to swallow even that empire in a vast and free federation. Beyond these may be descried the unceasing agita- tion of Italy, kept down, but never abandoned. It is curious to mark on the map the Powers which are threat- ened by all these rising and more rapidly moving tides : they are the actively despotic Governments—Russia Prussia, Austria, and the minor German despotisms ; the Italian Governments ; and Turkey. The states threatened are exclusively those—not Sweden and the countries of the North-west—not France nor Belgium—not Portugal, nor even Spain ; for Spain, labouring under political and military anarchy, is still exempt from social revolution, that which threatens to subvert the orders of society, and set up totally new governments in the countries overspread by these formidable currents. What may possibly be the course of those currents—what the upshot? It cannot, we say, be found in Poland ; though one of the movements, perhaps a mixture of all three, is now seen there in a feverish crisis. Polish nationality, is a sentiment of the past ; Polish institutions are not worth reviving, as the leaders of the late revolt seemed to feel when they hinted at some new kind of tenure for property. But Poland, with her military genius, may be a depository for active discontent, an efficient diversion in fa- vour of the great neighbouring movement—the revolution for liberal institutions in Germany ; a movement on which Poland herself must wait. Pansclavomsm may appropriate a vast third of Europe; but when it does so, it will not be with Russian forms of government. That dream of the future, too, may one day bring a glad morn of waking to Poland. Italy, with her petty isolated revolts and invasions -by handfuls of exiles,. seems to be the most behindhand with hope. Republicanism is a shadowy abstraction, and is no match for the material force of despot- ism. One policy, however, might supply. the Italian patriots with all the substantial strength they need, and it is a policy that seems by no means improbable : suppose the patriots were to exchange their dreamy bookish Republicanism for that "limited Monarchy" which is just now the political fashion of Western Europe; and suppose they were to offer the throne of that limited Monarchy to a French Prince France would be poured into Italy ; Austria, distracted on that side, would have strange work in Germany and Poland ; King Frederick William would find it expedient to make up his mind; and then let the Russian dynasty look to its empire.