-; THE NEW WHIGS IN POLAND.
/ARE debate of nextMonday night will be an important one for Independent Liberals. Perhaps the chief of the many causes which have estranged the bulk of the nation from these their natural leaders has been the imbecile immorality mark- ing most of their utterances on foreign policy. "Perish Savoy ! " is a cry which offends an Englishman's reason almost as much as his instincts, which irritates his sense of justice as well as his innate thirst for power and grade in the world. As at home he has no wish for a street row with a cad, but does not skulk away when the cad is thrashing his wife ; so, abroad, he deprecates war, but does not feel content to stand by, and so condone a triumph of brutal force. The double tendency has been manifested with unusual clearness in this case of Poland. The majority of the educated class are not willing to go to war for Poland, because they know that war once begun will set forces in motion on which no statesman can ever depend. At the same time, they cannot bear to stand by, and approve, as it were, by their silence a patent and horrible wrong. That is the feeling to which Independent Liberals, as representatives of the great mass of the half-determinate tendencies of the country, ought to give full expression, and we perceive, therefore, with hearty plea- sure, that the member for Bradford has at length accepted the ta.k. On Monday be will move, as an amendment on Mr. Hennessy's motion, the following distinct resolution :— . " That an humble address be presented to Her Majesty thanking her for the communication of' The Correspondence on the Affairs of Poland,' expressing the regret of the House at learning from that correspondence that the Emperor of Russia has persisted in violating those stipulations of the Treaty of Vienna upon the fulfilment of which Great Britain, and the other Powers who were parties to that treaty, based their sanction of the Sovereignty of the Emperor of Russia over part of Poland, and earnestly praying Her Majesty to signify to the Emperor of Russia that this violation of the treaty has freed Great Britain from the contract thereby con- cluded to sanction such Sovereignty."
That resolution differs entirely from the two or three which have preceded it, and from those which, though never pat to the vote, are implied in the speeches of Lord Ellenborough and Mr. Hennessy. There is nothing in it of the political sentimentality to which radicals are so prone, nothing clearly outside those ill-defined but rigid limits within which diplo- macy must be content to work. It is a well-considered proposal that a treaty, always respected by Great Britain, and at this moment recognized as the basis of the public law of Europe; should be honestly carried out. The Emperor of Russia is not King of Poland by right of descent, or by right of election, or by right of conquest, but by virtue of a specific agreement, the validity of which Prince Gortschakoff has within the last three months officially acknowledged. Under that agreement the Congress of Vienna, claiming as representa- tives of Europe to redistribute its soil, raised the Archduchy of Warsaw into a kingdom, and united the crown on certain condi- tions in the Imperial Crown of Russia. They did not vest it in the Romanoff family, but in the office of Emperor, the idea being, as appears from Alexander's letters to Prince Adam Czarto- ryski, published for the first time in the Revue des Deus Mondes, that the compensation to Poland would be her ex- ternal safety under the Russian sceptre. This ihvestiture was, however, as Alexander acknowledged, dependent on certain conditions, thus clearly specified in the treaty:—" The Duchy of Warsaw, with the exception of the provinces and districts which are otherwise disposed of by the following articles, is united to the Russian Empire, to which it shall be irrevocably attached by its Constitution, and be possessed by His Majesty the Emperor of All the ltussias, his heirs, and successors, in perpetuity. His Imperial Majesty reserves to himself to give to this State, enjoying a distinct Administration, the exterior extension which he shall judge proper. He shall assume with his other titles that of Czar, King of Poland, agreeably to the form established for the titles attached to his other possessions. The Poles, who are respective sub- jects of Russia, Austria, and Prussia, shall obtain a representa- tion and national institutions, regulated according to the degree of political existence that each of the Governments to which they belong shall judge expedient and proper to grant them." Not content with signing this contract, the Emperor carried it out, and on 24th December, 1816, while still reigning as auto- crat in Russia, granted a constitution to Poland which included legislation by representatives, responsible Ministers, freedom of the press, and the publicity of debate. The contract, therefore, was not only made, but acknowledged,—not only * Neuman, "Beene 1 des Testae," t. IL P. 673. acknowledged, but acted on. No agreement drawn up be- tween private individuals could be more exactly framed, no treaty was ever more thoroughly accepted by all the parties to its conclusion.
Every clause of that contract has been openly and repeatedly violated, and at the present moment the constitution is gone, and the separate existence, the right of the Poles to their in-; stitutions, and their claim to a national army. The agree- ment has ceased to exist, and with it, by every rule not only of justice but of international law, the royal right of the Czars has also disappeared. They are no longer Kings of Poland, but conquerors invading Poland by force, without legal title, or summons from the, people, or permission from the great European Areopagus. They are simply strangers who, having bought certain privi- leges at a price, have refused to pay it, yet strive to retain the property by an appeal to force. Their de jure right, the claim based upon treaties, has been surrendered by their own. acts, and it is this which Mr. Forster's resolution asks the. House of Commons to affirm. It is their business, wholly apart from their place in the politics of the world, as advisers to one, and the most considerable, of the contracting Powers, who signed the treaties of 1815. They may have no right to. dictate to Russia how she shall govern, or to the Poles how they shall resist, or to Europe how she collectively shall enforce endurable justice. But they have the right, the technical legal right, to advise their Sovereign to declare that a violated contract has for all diplomatic purposes ceased to exist. This is not a declaration of war, not an appeal to Europe, not even an act of unmistakeable hostility ; it is simply the announcement of a fact which is perceived to be clearly existing, and which, while unacknowledged, inflicts injury on mankind.
But what good is the resolution, if accepted, to do to Poland? Simply this, that with the tone now prevailing among the Powers which signed the treaty, the decision is certain to be accepted by all Europe, excepting Prussia, and if so accepted, the legal position of the Czars is at the best suspended. They cannot accept that result, even were they, with their tradi- tions of legitimacy, and order, and fidelity, willing to make the effort. As a matter of fact, we believe, a moral sentence pronounced by Europe would greatly affect a Court whose most earnest desire is to be recognized as leading members of the great European family, and to keep, at any expenditure of whitewash, within the civilized pale. But supposing the Tartar revealed beneath the Russian skin, the position is still untenable. Russia must win or lose the campaign, and in either case the resolution gives Poland a stronger foothold. If, as is still most probable, the organized strength of the Empire crushes the patriot leaders, the Czar must call on Europe to recognize his new possession on some diplomatic basis—that is, submit his tenure of his conquest once more to a public opinion not favourable to his cause. If he does not, any Power which may at any time be in col- lision with Russia can at any moment summon the Poles to arms as a European State, every execution for treason will be simply a murder, every act of repres- sion as much an invasion de fare as if it were committed in Saxony or Sweden. No civilized Government could remain voluntarily in such a position, or face for any length of time the expense consequent on the armed watchfulness It would be sure to demand. If, on the other hand, as is pos- sible, Poland wins, and Russia, exhausted, offers terms, she must begin not by pardoning revolted subjects, or falling back on the treaties of Vienna, but by acknowledging that she treats with an independent State, which can.claim or sacrifice her ancient provinces according to the fortune of war, and organize herself without reference to the disposition which Congress made of her soil. Should the victory be gained by . foreign assistance, then also the liberated position of Poland would tell heavily in her favour, for neither could France de- mand nor Russia cede rights which the Czar, by the consent of Europe, did not possess. It is, however, as a sentence, as a condemnation passed by the one tribuntik neither party can influence, that we wish Mr. Forster's resolution success- A fine of forty shillings does not much kffeet the rich, but none but those who have quitted society incur the condem- nation the fine involves.
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