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Leader (1850-1860), 18th January 1851, Edition Country of 2, Page 20

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    • Gnxwnn Stmnnt% AND ITS OFFICIAL ACTS.
    • Jtaarifitnit Bnycm
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      68 Stt Liratft. [Sawrpay,

      68 stt liratft . [ Sawrpay ,

      Gnxwnn Stmnnt% And Its Official Acts.

      <& nrn $ nn Wtmnxmi ] , AND ITS OFFICIAL ACTS .

      This Page Is Accorded To An Authentic .E...

      This page is accorded to an authentic . Exposition of the Opinions and Acts of the Democracy of Europe : a 3 such we do not impose any " restraint on the -utterance of opinion , and . therefore , limit our own responsibility to the izthenticity of the statement .

      History Of The Polish Democracy. [The Fo...

      HISTORY OF THE POLISH DEMOCRACY . [ The following brief synthetical view of the elements , history , and organization , of the Polish Democratical party is by a foreign pett . But we adopt its conclusions without reserve ; and gladly give it place amongst our delineations of Democracy in Europe . This exposition will be completed next week . ] The Palish Emigration , presents a singular and admirable spectacle . Those who compose it are not people hiding themselves before persecution or the sword of an implacable conqueror , —they are not individuals dissappointed in their ambitious designs or hopes , seeking abroad for better social conditions , —but they are men forming a portion of a nation which not long ago was m i nsurrection : they are members of the late national

      Government or of the Diet—public functionaries , military men of all ranks , from that of general to that of private soldier , who have no other thought than that of unceasingly striving to assist their unhappy country whilst sojourning in foreign lands . It was that thought which gave birth to the Polish Emigration , becoming at once a deliberative body , based upon peculiar forms adapted to the national wants , so that the Polish Emigration , constitutes , as it were , a nation amongst other nations ; and the emigrants , although they have devoted themselves to different pursuits and trades to maintain themselves and their families , yet hold themselves ever ready to relinquish them at the first call upon them in the name of Poland .

      That our readers may become acquainted with the D 3 tnocratic party in Poland , it is necessary for them not to lose sight of the Emigration , in which that party is represented by the Polish Democratic Society , and of the Centralization , or Executive Committee , which conducts the operations of the society . Yet it would be erroneous to date the existence of the Polish Democratic party only from 1830 , or from the commencement of the Polish Emigration : it would be equally erroneous to imagine that ideas originating in Western Europe , and springing from the French Republicans , had given birth to Democracy in Poland .

      Poland ' s history , and the archives of the Polish Democratic Society , furnish the most convincing proofs to the contrary ; and , in fact , if we study the history of Poland —if we examine her laws and institutions , we at once perceive that the development of her internal and social life has been completely different from that of England , France , or Germany . There were in the old Polish Republic only two classes—the nobility and the peasantry ; as to the bourgeois , or middle class , their number was very insignilicaut ; and , in spite of the not trifling privileges granted to tho inhabitants of larger towns , trade , as well as commerce , remained almost , exclusively in the hands of immigrating Germans or Jews .

      Such a state of things , on the one hand , necessarily endowed the nobility with wealth and supremacy , whilst on the other nothing but misery iiud oppression bcfo . l tho people . From unbounded wealth and supremacy to cxcphs and corruption there is but one step ; and the Polish nobility soon passed that narrow boundary . This occurred in the eighteenth , century , precisely at the moment when affairs in Europe began to assume an entirely new aspect , — when populous towns hud arisen plumiix-like from the ruins of feudal castles , — when tho middle classes had grown up to intellectual and financial power , and the creation of standing unities hud put the means of making conquests into the hands of ambitious inoniircliH .

      The sole salvation of Poland in such n Htate of things , and under the watchful rye of grasping neighbours , lay in the riaing en masse of her nobility ; but luxury and lioentiouNiiesM had rendered them impotent ; they hud last all their chivalrous Hpirit , ami were unable to innke any efficient resistance : Ik ace Poland '*! three pa . rtitic > im in 177 , 5 , 1792 , and 179- ') . Thus luxury , extravagance , and the entire absence of chivalrous disposition in the nobles , as a body , on the one hand , and tho oppression and misery of the people at large on tho other , mostly contributed to the downfall of Poland . Where were to besought the elements of a now

      riuinf t nnd ft new life ? Not in the middle class , which had no real oxiHtenco . Not in tho nobility , which the yearn 1772 , 17 i ) "A und 17 !) 'l amply proved to be totally unequal to » ucl » emergeneit'H ; but in the people at large—the whole nation ! Hence to all thinking men , to all who wished to reconquer tint independence of their country , there appeared but one efficient means , viz ., that of raising the people to the conscious dignity of citizens , by tho Hincore adoption of tho most advanced principles of nncial and political emancipation . It was from the moment when hucIi a conviction began to Hprcud , that the Democratic party took it » ride .

      We shall not here enumerate all that has been written on this subject , or discussed in the Polish Diets , though honourable mention might be made of the writings of Staszic , and of Kollontay , called the Polish Robespierre ; for , after all the efforts of that period , the first ten years of the nineteenth century were merely individual , not concentrated into a general system or plan , uncalculated to ensure success . The generality of the nobles could not yet support radical reforms ; the levelling of all classes was not yet the gospel of the privileged themselves ; hence Koscioszko , scarcely able to lighten the slavery of soccage-service , could not hope to emancipate labour ; and even in 1830 and 1831 partial emancipation only was here and there granted .

      It was only when , after the revolution of 1830 , several thousands of Polish revolutionists were scattered beyond the boundaries of their Country , when past blunders and errors presented themselves in all their nakedness , when people began to reflect and ponder upon the means of freeing the country from its thraldom , that , to the question " why up to the present time all the past insurrections had been fruitless ? " the following answer suggested itself to the warmest hearts and to the most clearsighted

      intellects of the country : — " Because , up to this moment , Po . and has never attempted against her enemies a real national war , in which the whole nation has taken an active part , —because , as yet , nothing has been done that would show to those enemies that the cause of the insurrection is the nation ' s cause . " Now , the idea which this answer contains , advocated by some members of the Diet , and several able writers * , became , ere long , the property of all , and resulted in the formation ( March 17 , 1832 ) of the Polish Democratic Society .

      This Democratic Society , having for its object the freeing of Poland from a foreign yoke , and the emancipating of the peasantry , and investing them with landed property , laid the foundation both for a political and for a social revolution ; a revolution adapted to the condition of the country , in which the earth is the sole workshop , and agricultural products the only elements of the national wealth . The peasantry of Poland were , under the old regime , serfs , adscripts fflebce j they rendered a certain amount of

      compulsory labour ( soccage-service ) to the lords to whom they belonged , in return for which they had the right of cultivating portions of his demesne for their own purposes . The scheme of their emancipation , of which we have been speaking , consists in granting the full and unconditional proprietary of the land which they cultivated , without any indemnity to former landowners , and in freeing them from this enforced labour . The great majority —we may , in fact , say the generality of the Polish landowners—acquiesce in this temporary sacrifice on the part of their class .

      The Polish Democratic Society , after some few years spent in encreasing its number , and in internally organizing itself , issued , on the 4 th of December , 1836 , its manifesto , containing the political and social principles of the society ; a document which was signed by 1135 exiles , amongst whom were many military men of high rank , and several members of the Diet of 1831 . The bases of this manifesto are : — " Through the Society for Poland , through Poland for Humanity . " — Liberty , Equality , Fraternity . —Sovereignty of the People . —Emancipation of the peasantry , and investing them with landed property , without any indemnification to the present proprietors . —Liberty of thought , word , writing , and printing . —Liberty of conscience . —Abolition of political and class prerogatives . — Equality of rights and duties , of benefits and burdens . —Public education , accessible to all . "

      The democratic party was from this time really constituted , and since then the Democratic Society , having placed at its head the centralization , consisting of five persons , began to carry on an oral and written propaganda of ttieir principles , both in their country and amongst their lVllow-emigranttt : oral , through the medium of agents—written , through that of pamphlet *) , books , periodicals of historical , political , or military character , which , altogether , formed a library of about tiixty volumes . Of the periodicals , we shall mention the

      I'oltsh Democrat , a political journal , and I ' szonka , a satirical publication . There appeared besides , for a length of time , two reviews , tin ; one political , under the title of Memoir ( J'trrnietni / c ) ; the other historical , entitled , Ileview <>/ J ' olish History . As military productions deserving to l > e < : it . ed , there are Instructions for Insurgents , containing Tadics , ( Strategy , anil Field-fortiiication , as well as a critical analysis , in a military point of view , of the Polish campaign of 1 H , ' { 1 . All those productions were written and published for the association .

      The diffusion of democratic principles was not only opposed by the Polish aristocracy , with l ' rince Czai tory . ski at its head , but altso by Liberals , who , though admitting the republican form and the democratic principles , thought it unwise to apply those principles at once , in all their development , an proclaimed by tin ; Democratic Society . In the content , which unavoidably oiiHiied from this opposition , the society enjoyed . in evident , advantage over all other parties in being an organized body , animated by one thought , and guided by one will : and the

      result was that the antagonintH of the tsociety ( gradually lost their influence both at home and in oxile , and that the transmission of funds to be disposed of at ; the discretion of Prince Czartoryski became less frequent . That , chief of the antagonistic party , thwarted on every point preHHod by the consequence of his own policy , and nnpir ing to be consistent and logical , proclaimed himaelf , at . length , pretender to the future Polish throne ; and this brought ridicule on what , yet reinaiui-d of his influence and virtually abandoned tho field to tho democratic party . VV <) may ipiot .: . iiinoiitfHt , t . llicin , of two ui * WH | mpn h , ptib-Hh 1 h . i 1 in IN . 'U , which went Ilicu t . h <; or ^ . um of t in , revolutionary party , viz ., tho I ' ol ' mh ( Jazette and the JSeiv Poland .

      Jtaarifitnit Bnycm

      Jtaarifitnit Bnycm

      Robert Owen And The Exhibition Of 1851. ...

      ROBERT OWEN AND THE EXHIBITION OF 1851 . To the Social Reformers op Great Britain . Frtends and Brethren , —Great reforms are the results of great efforts . The year 1517 will ever be remarkable in the annals of Europe as the most important epoch in the revolution of mind , when a poor monk electrified the western world by proclaiming the ascendancy of reason , and settling for ever the right of every in matters of faith

      man t 6 private judgment . The year 1649 saw , for the first time in our own country , the triumph of popular will . An obscure farmer succeeded , by the aid of public opinion , in exploding that monster fallacy of politics , the " right divine " of kings . The year 1776 is immortalized by one of the nc-West ¦ victories in the records of nations , when the New World declared its independence of the Old , despising the trappings of regal pomp , and founding National Law upon National Will .

      The year 1733 13 distinguished for the birth of those European Revolutions which threaten the disruption of the old system of things , and demonstrate that " peace and order" will be a stranger in society until the principles of equity and fraternity , in their most enlarged and enlightened interpretation , are established amongst us . The year 1851 , we are assured , will be memorable in the progress and development of civilization . For the first time in the history of the world there is to be a meeting of the peoples of the leading nations of the globe , not with the view of butchering each other , and making the earth around them groan in agony and death , but for fraternal communion , each contributing their measure of ingenuity and skill to one common emporium , in which will be exhibited all that modern intellect can produce .

      Such a brilliant opportunity should not be lost by the Social Reformers of this country to make further known to the world , through their brethren visiting the International Exhibition , the means of universal happiness and brotherhood . There is a tide in the affairs of nations as of men which , taken at its flood , leads to fortune . A people , as an individual , by seizing the proper moment may achieve more by one great effort than years of agitation and suffering . And what moment more Opportune for promulgating these views so well calculated to make the world happy than the time when the world is there to listen to you ? The friends of Social Progress , of all shades of opinion , will have serious cause of regret if they permit an event so propitious to pass by without an effort equal to the occasion to place their opinions in the hands of these numerous foreigners who may be instrumental in sowing the seeds of truth in quarters they might not otherwise reach for a generation to come .

      It is anticipated by the projectors of this Exhibition , and their expectations are reasonable , that it will give a mighty impetus to the progress of physical science—probably advance it a century . Why not also make it subservient to the advancement of those sciences more immediately involving the welfare of the people ? If our means of encreasing wealth are to be augmented by it , why not also the mode of distributing it facilitated ? This is , in fact , the desideratum of modern civilization . To encrease wealth , without distributing it , is only a partial good . It rests with the devotees of social science , therefore , to see that this memorable demonstration fulfils the highest possible , mission .

      As many will come from countries where freedom of speech and press are almost unknown , suoii an opportunity of getting political and social information may be to them of double value , and the sense of this oug ht to bo to us a double stimulus . It is proposed that tracts and lectures on political nnd social subjects be translated into the leading languages and distributed at the Exhibition , as well as at the residences of various foreigners . It is intended ' , also , to invite the venerable founder of English Socialism , Robert Owen , to deliver a series of lectures during the season . It would be , a worthy triumph in the career of such a man . Who ouuht . to be heard with more affection and

      respect at the meeting of " all nations" than he who has been the devoted and consistent advocate of tho welfare of all nations for these last sixty years ? The world ones him a debt nf gratitude , and no time can bo more fitting for its acknowledgment . Public meetings will also be held in various parta of London , to which invitations will be sent to the loading visitors of the Exhibition , and every effort used to take advantage of the great occasion , iiut in entering upon a war . though u bloodloMH one , the sinews of war must be forthcoming , or the attempt at once abandoned . Lot our friends , therefore , north and south , unite with a generoHity and enthusiasm commensurate with their cause , and the opportunity and the year ' /> L may prove the brightest ora in iimny 4 iiiu me year i > l may prove me nngntem era m

      the destiny of nations . We would Buyout that committees bo forthwith formed in Manchemer , Birmingham , Newcastle , Edinburgh , Glasgow , nnd other populoiiN rowi , n to receive HubHcriptionn and act with the central committee in London . No time nbould be loHt , a w now beiiiff worth a mouth at any other period . Let every true , friend of progreHH feel hirnHolf delegated to do a great work , and a . tfritat Work will be done . We live in an ago of popular triumphs . Let ua add one more to the liist , mid that , the RreatoHt , the noblest . R . COOI-KU , ( I . J . Iloi . YOAK . JJ , J . RllJUY , II Ivory , Hon . . Sec . ( communications to he nent in the meantime to the Secretary , f > 2 , Colle Ke-place , Oumdrii town , London . JiKKD . s Ri ; i > i ' . Mi-noN So «; ikty ' h Annual Soiukk . — The annual Noiree of thin aociety took place at the Muiiic-hall , LeedH , on the eveninK of Monduy , the Kith

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Jan. 18, 1851, page 20, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_18011851/page/20/