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Leader (1850-1860), 15th February 1851, Edition Town of 1, Page 157, mxtpttn Wtmmxutt,

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      Untitled Article

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

      Untitled Article

      POLISH NATIONAL DECLARATIONS . We conclude our notice of Poland , and her National and Democratic movement , by reprinting a series of resolutions passed at a meeting of the Polish Democrats in London on the sixteenth anniversary of the Polish Revolution of 1830 , November 29 , 1846 ; adding thereto the Manifesto of the Polish National Government inaugurated at Cracow in February , 1846 : — The Polish Democrats assembled in London on the sixteenth anniversary of the Revolution of 1830 , seeing that the recent efforts oftheir country were still imperfectly appreciated , resolved to pay a just tribute to the cause of truth , as well as to the self-devotion of their countrymen , by making the following solemn declaration before England and the world at large : — I . That they consider the Revolution of 1830 , which they meet to commemorate , merely as the beginning of a series of efforts , on the part of Poland , to recover that independence of which the three partitioning powers had treacherously deprived her ; that as existence and

      freedom of aotion were to her a necessary condition of fulfilling towards herself and mankind , the divine law of justice and progress , her first effort since the partitions must have been mainly directed towards independence , freedom , national strength , and , as a guarantee of these , the integrity of national boundaries . Hence will this effort remain f qt ever the groundwork of every further and more perfect manifestation of our national life ; but hence , also , the unavoidable necessity of not contenting ourselves with aiming at those objects of our former endeavour , but stamping our subsequent efforts with that new character , which national life has assumed in its further development .

      II . That the insurrection of Cracow , as denned by the manifesto of the 22 nd of February * 1846 , was such further development , improvement , and progress of the movement began in 1830 . That , although maligned by the enemies of progress and popular rights , it still remains a holy manifestation of the national will , thought , and feeling , and , although apparently destroyed by the snares of Prussian police and massacres of Austrian assassins , it lives in and sways the hearts of the Polish people who are henceforth determined to adhere in all future

      struggles for their emancipation , to the principle contained in the above-named manifesto . That the revolution of Cracow , by abolishing all privileges and class distinctions , by endowing the agricultural classes with landed property ( a principle diametrically opposite to that communistic tendency of which it has been falsely accused ) , has laid down the basis of the future life of Poland , has satisfied the exigencies of her national existence , perfected the revolution commenced in 1830 , and thus proved herself to be advanced in the march of national

      progression . III . That the Polish people , as a people , has not participated in the massacres perpetrated in Gallicia by the order of the Austrian Government , paid by Austrian money , directed by Austrian officers , spies , and soldiers in disguise , and performed by felons liberated for this purpose from Austrian gaols ; that , therefoce , the Polish , people has not disgraced the national name nor history , and , consequently , not forfeited its rights to national sovereignty . That it was not popular revenge which prompted the assassins of the best friends of the people , since the proscription list , and the scale of rewards for the heads of the murdered , circulated by Government agents , contained especially such names and devoted such

      to slaughter , as had for years , despite the opposition of Government , bettered to their utmost the condition of the people , and resolved to turn the serfs of their own estates into freeholders , and , making common cause with them , to battle for . the emancipation of the country . No , it was not the revenge of the people for oppression Buffered at the hands of their landlords [ for it is a fact univertmlly acknowledged and corroborated by local evidence , that in no instance the peasants murdered their own musters ; but that theae murders were perpetrated by bunds of hired assassins , strangers to the scone of massacre , to whom the people offered , in many eases , a alromr , and in some a successful , resistance . Still

      further in defence of Polish honour , Poland's hopes , and of the cause of right and truth , we solemnly assert beforo the world the innocence of the people nml the guilt of Mett . emich and Austria . These , and these only , are answerable for the blood of tl »«> murdered in Gullieia , equally as the Gxnrti were for the deaths of th « victim ** who fell at Human and I ' ragu . Therefore , we greet the entire Polish people as brothers . The nationality of Poland bus gained a grout and nure foundation by acknowledging life lights of the people ; and when Poland marshals her sons h ) h > must conquer , for since the manifesto of Cracow we have a fatherland that , it * no longer the country of a mere claws , but also tho fatherland of

      the whole Polish people . LV . Finally , we declare thut RuHsiu and Prusnia » rt > , equally with Austria , the murderers of I ' olaud , the cxticutionern of her children , and that those who sud ' er far the cause of Poland , under the dreadful inquisitions , oh tho rucks , in tint dungeons , uud on the ncuflblds ot KuNsiu and l ' rushia , u * e inurtyrn to the rights of their fatherland , equally with , tliotio who perished in the iiiuh-MucreH , or by tho decree * of Austria . W < j further declares that tho open or worot adherents of any of thoso UuvornmentH who took part , in tho partition of I ' olund , are pnrticliiutorH in their criminality , no witter under what

      disguise , and that theae unnatural children of Poland deserve the greatest ourse , who , availing themselves of the public indignation against Austria , appeal to the meanest of passions , to fear and selfishness , m order to allure their countrymen into the Bnares of Muscovite or Prussian policy , and thus strengthen the yoke of these two usurpers . The meeting , moreover resolves to publish the above resolutions in the English language , with a faithful translation of the manifesto of the 22 nd of February from the Polish original , in the hands of the Central Committee of the Polish Democratic Society , and a list of the principal murders committed in Gallicia by the Austrian Government . The meeting authorized their President and Secretary to carry this resolution into effect , and solicit the English press to give publicity to the above . E . Sia . niewicz , Chairman . X . Fink , Secretary .

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      MANIFESTO OF THE POLISH NATIONAL GOVERNMENT , February 22 , 1846 . Poles!—The hour of insurrection has struck . The whole of dismembered Poland rises and greatens . Our brethren have already risen , and in the Grand Duchy of Poaen , in Lithuania , and in the Russian provinces , are fighting against the enemy . They are fighting for their most sacred right s * of which they have been deprived by force and fraud . You know well what has passed and is still occurring . The flower of our youth are languishing in dungeons , the old , whose counsels guided us , are given tip to contempt ; our clergy is deprived of all respect ; in a word , all whose actions , or even thoughts , have shown the resolve to live and to die for Poland , have been

      destroyed or immured in prison , or are in danger of being so every moment . The groans of millions of our brethren , who perish under the knout , or pine in subterranean cells , or are driven into the ranks of our oppressors and subjected to all the sufferings which humanity is capable of enduring , have struck our hearts and caused them to bleed . We have been robbed of our glory ; our language has been forbidden to us ; the profession of the faith of our fathers prohibited . Insurmountable barriers have been opposed to the amelioration of our social condition . Brother has been armed against brother , and the most honoured children of our country have been reviled by calumnies . Brothers , one step more , and there would be no Poland , not even a single Pole . Our

      grandchildren would curse our memory for having left them nothing in one of the finest countries in the world but deserts and ruins , for having allowed chains to be put upon our warlike people and forced them to profess a foreign faith , and to speak a foreign language , and for having reduced them to be slaves of those who have trampled upon our right' ) . The dust of our fathers , of those martyrs of the rights of our nation , calls to us from the tomb to avenge them ; the infant at the breast calls upon us to preserve for him the country which God has confided to us ; the free nations of the entire world invite us not to allow the sacred principle of our nationality to be destroyed ; God himself invites us , He , who will one day demand from us an account of what we have done I with it .

      We are upwards of twenty millions . Let us rise as one man , and no force on earth can crush our power . We shall enjoy such liberty as never was known on earth . Let us conquer a state of society , in which every man shall enjoy his snare of the fruits of the earth , according to his merits [ earnings ] and his capacity , in which no [ exclusive ] privilege , of any kind whatever , will be allowed to remain ; in which every Pole will find a full guarantee for himself , his wife , and his children ; in which every man disabled by nature in the use of his bodily or mental

      functions , will find , without humiliation , the unfailing assistance of the whole social body : a state in which those portions of land which hitherto have been merely in the conditional possession of their cultivators , will become their absomttk property ; in which ali , kbnt [ white and black , according to the feudal acceptation of the term ] , soccagc labour , and other similar burdens [ entailed upon these lands ] , will cease toithout any indemnity [ to the landlords ] , and thons v > ho Mill devote themselves in arms to the national cause , ioilt ba remunerated by a grant of land from the national domains .

      Poles ! from this moment we reepgninc no distinction among ourselves ; brethren , henceforward we are the sons of one mother , our country ; of one fattier , ( Hod , who is in Heave ?* . ' Let us invoke His support , that Ho may bless our arms , and grant us victory ; but to draw down Ills blessings we must not sully ourselves with intemperance or plunder , we must not disgrace our consecrated urniH by urging them for oppression , or for the murder of the disarmed dissenter and foreigner ; for we do not struggle against [ tho people of foreign ] nations , but against our [ common ] oppressors . Ami now , in testimony of our union , let im adopt tlic national cockade and take the following oath : —

      " I swear to serve Poland , my country , by counsel , word , imd deed . I swear to sacrifices to her all my personal views , my fortune , and my life ! I swear obedience to the National Government , w hie In han been established in Cracow , the 22 nd of this month , at eight o ' clock iu the evening , in Krysztofory-house , and to all the authorities appointed by the Government , us God muy Htuud me in my need . " This manifesto will be inserted in the Government Journal , transmitted in separate nheetB throughout Poland , proclaimed from the pulpitH of all churches , and placarded in all public places . Crucow . February 22 , 1846 * . ( Signed ) LuDwilc GoitzKOWtjiu . John Tvubowhjci . ALKXANUKa GMgUUO ] lZliW 8 KI . lvA . 1101 , lt . ooA . WHKi , Secretary of tlie Government . ISi . B . Tho words inserted between orotohetB in tho above translation , do not belong to the manifesto , having been added rnerelv as elucidatory of the text .

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      ION'S LETTER ON POLITICAL SUICIDE . Feb . 12 , 1851 . Sm ,-The second letter of Ion to the Chartists , entitled Political Suicide , I do Hot feel m ^ Belf competent to reply to , not from want of experience in Chartist agitations , for I hare been among the " enrolled" for fifteen years , but because it is as well to confess that a poor uneducated working man like myself is not master enough to grapple successfully with the eloquent sophisms contained therein . One portion of that letter , however , relates m a measure to me , inasmuch as I happen to be the unfortunate wight who proposed the resolution Ion is so indignant about , which resolution the meeting at John-street , being " badly educated , " took care unanimously to pass .

      Now , will Ion keep his eye on the following fact—that the Chartist Executive , of which he forms a patt , have been elected ( as he very properly sajrs ) to develope Wider measures , enlarge the Chartist party , improve its character , and advance it towards political success . But to do this effectually , the Executive themselves must be somewhat like that model of a bishop set up by Saint Paul in his letter to Timothy ; they must , if not " blameless , " at least be vigilant" of " good haviotir ; " "not brawlers " nor covetous" either of filthy lucre , or what is

      just as filthy , the evanescent adulation of an unthinking mobocracy , calling themselves " dear children . " and " guard 3 . " Moreover , they must have a good report of them which are without ; but a portion of the Executive has not that good report . One accuses another of belying the wellknown character of Englishmen and abetting the cowardly crime of assassination ; the other emphatically denies this horrible charge , and justly demands to be brought before his accuser face to face : and does Ion gravely contend " that this is no business of the public ; " and that the dispassionately investigating this charge is a form of Political Suicide which must be put an end to ? Would the " An ti-Corn-Law League" have tolerated Cobden ' s charging Bright thus , after the fashion described ? Certainly not .

      But who is to investigate this matter ? Who better than the executive— 'independent of the natural desire actuating all societies to protect their brethren from foul calumny , or separate themselves from those found guilty of wilful wrong ; it is also undesirable , I think , thut they who shield wrong doing , are themselves sharers in that wrong . This isapublic matter—you , Mr . Editor , and your coadj utor Ion have been elected by us because we thought you would be true to the cause , and you cannot be true to the cause unless you be true unto yourselves : if the fountain be impure , enn the streams bo clear ? Depend on it , that the passing of that resolution in John-street , demanding tho

      Executive fully to investigate the above charge , will not end in the mere assent to the principle therein contained ; that motion was only a btep in the light direction ; and " badly educated" as the Chartists have been ( and heaven knows they have by some ) , still we have learned the ABC of common justieo between man and man , and know by painful experience that democracy can never triumph , or even approach a triumph , while we merely continue to denounce an open enemy , all the while refusing from fear of exposing our weakness ( futul mistuke ) to lash a false friend nuked through our ranks . John James Uezkh .

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      Feb . 15 , 1851 . ] ©| , j S , ta » et . . 167

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      LETTERS TO C II ARTISTS . HI . liKWARK OF QUAKRHI . S . The working clauses have acquired great political knowledge , and possess more energy than all clauses conventially above them ; it only needs , to secure their piogrens , that the direction of their power ahull be judicious . This constitutes the reason for reverting to the wisdom of one mode of action , in great favour Among them . In order to give place to Mr . . Hezur ' s letter , which illustrates this , subject , my remark * must bo very briof thin week . What has been the history of the Chartist party but a long tinsuo of personal disputes ? " Measures , not Men , " him been tho cry ; but Men and not Measures ban been the practice . Throughout political quarters , during tho past fortnight , theenemioHof Churtimn have chuckled at whtit sceniH to them the stale , but continually-successful trick , of Hinging a pormmal dispute iivto the Cluirtiwt cuinp , in order to divert tho Executive and prostruto their iutluonou . Mr . Bezor will not fail to see , that Mr . Colulen bringing a charge- agaiiiHt Mr . Bright is n very different thing from Mr . O'Connor doing tho lamo to Mr . llnrney . Mr . Cobdon him » reputation for measure in bin upeech find euro in his facts . Mr . O'Connor makes such an extraordinary use of lnnguagu and facts , that tho nioHt nkilful political cornputator cannot always determine his meaning . Any how tho Anti-Corn Law Leuguo would not interfere in a dispute ; they would , at mont , only pronounce judgment when it wan ended . When Sir Uobert Pool brought a ohargo of recommending his HHba » eination against

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      AND ITS OFFICIAL ACTS .

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Feb. 15, 1851, page 157, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1870/page/17/