No. IV
The following extract from the London Courier of April 9th, 1832, in reference to the recent Imperial Manifesto which converts Poland into a province of Russia, may serve to confirm the remarks which we have made in the text, on the system of deception practised by the Emperor Nicholas towards the Cabinets both of England and France, on the subject of Poland.
‘We perceive that the Manifesto of the Emperor of Russia, relative to Poland, which we gave on Saturday, has excited general indignation in France, as well as in this country. Perhaps, as the Poles are not of a character to be awed into submission by the power of their oppressors, whilst the slightest chance of emancipation is open to them, it is better for the cause of humanity that they should be tied hand and foot in the bonds of slavery, than that any opportunity should be afforded them of again saturating the soil of Poland with the blood of its best and bravest patriots. If life with disgrace be better than death without dishonor, the destruction of the nationality of Poland may not be so great an evil as the world at large imagine. If the utter impossibility of successful revolt be clearly shown, the Poles may at length wear their fetters without resorting to vain attempts to shake them off; and the monarch who has enslaved them, may gradually witness the extinction of mind, in proportion as he coerces and binds the body. But what a sad disgrace it is upon the government and people of this country to have neglected, in proper season, the means of securing to the brave and unfortunate people of Poland a nationality which would have given to them the form and substance of liberty, without involving the necessity of a rupture with the Power which has conquered them. Is it not true, that, at a time when the warm-hearted and generous portion of the people of this country were calling upon the Government to exercise the influence and power of the British Crown on behalf of the Poles, the reply was, ‘We cannot go to war with the Emperor of Russia for foreign interests—we cannot insist upon his evacuating Poland, and leaving the country in a state of complete independence; but we will use our good offices towards obtaining favorable terms for the insurgents; and we have already the satisfaction of knowing that the Emperor Nicholas has declared that the nationality of Poland shall in no case be forfeited, and that in all other respects the world shall be astonished at the extent of his generosity towards the vanquished.’
‘Is there a member of the Government, or any other person, who will tell us that such language as this was not made publicly and privately, in Parliament and out of Parliament, in the newspapers and out of the newspapers, and that the sole excuse for non-intervention was not the real or pretended belief that the nationality of Poland would be respected, and the conduct of the Emperor Nicholas be full of generosity and magnanimity? Gracious God! and are we come to such a pass that the sovereign of a semi-barbarous country can laugh at the honor and dignity of the British name! Is all the respect that he can show to the good offices of the British Government, in behalf of a great-minded people, to be found in empty professions and unmeaning declarations; and are we to put up tamely with one of the greatest insults that ever was inflicted upon the Government of the country? Was it for this that we conciliated the Autocrat of the North on the Belgian question? And is all the return of our concessions a bold and naked defiance of our power, and a determination to convince the world that the days of British influence are passed forever? Perhaps we shall be told, even now, of the magnanimous intentions of the Emperor of Russia; but the cheat is too stale. Every body knows not only that we have truckled to Russia in vain, but that to deception she has added insult, and that at this moment there is a Russian Ambassador in town, with instructions to cajole the Government on the Belgian question, and to withhold the ratification of the treaty until after the passing or rejecting of the Reform Bill, when the Emperor may be enabled by a change of government to dispense with it altogether.—But we are tired of the subject; the more we look at it, the more we feel disgraced. We blame not this or that minister; for the intentions of the government towards Poland, we firmly believe, were kind in the extreme; but we blush for the country at large in having purchased the chance of peace at the sacrifice of honor.’