King of Saxony, the remaining 3,000 miles he transferred to Russia. In 1089, by the treaty of Schoenbrunn, 20,000 miles which had been stolen by Austria, was restored to the Duchy of Warsaw. In this way Napoleon proved that what he could recover by conquest he intended to give up liberally to Poland. The Duchy of Warsaw at the time when Napoleon had attained to his greatest power, comprised about 63,000 square miles. It was an instalment of what he intended to give.. He has been accused by one party of robbery, and by the other of ingratitude and breach of faith towards the Poles. Both charges were undeserved. If robbery consists in vindicating the rights of the weak against the barbarous aggression of the strong, then Napoleon was a robber, in forcing Austria and Prussia to disgorge some of the booty they had shamelessly swal lowed. But the world, fortunately, is not any longer willing to endorse the estimate of Napoleon's dealings with Poland, put forth by such sanctimonious hypocrites as were the monarchs of Russia, Austria and Prussia. We cannot see in what Napoleon showed lack of gratitude or faithfulness in dealing with the Poles. That he did not secure more was through mistaken policy rather than through want of will to re-establish Poland. When he commenced in 1812 what he called the "second Polish war," he issued a de claration addressed to the Poles, in which he states that Poland would be greater than she had been under Stanislaus, and that the Archduke, who then governed Wartzburg was to be their sovereign In reply, a Polish deputation told him truly, as he and all poli ticians saw afterwards "The interest of your empire requires the re-establishment of Poland; the honour of France is interested in it." He answered the deputation, that he had done all that duty to his subjects allowed, to restore their country; that he would second their exertions, and that he authorized them to take up arms everywhere, but in the Austrian provinces, of which he had guaranteed the integrity, and which he should not suffer to be disturbed." The language savours somewhat strongly of the cold cautiousness of diplomacy. But there can be no question at all that Napoleon fully purposed making the Russian campaign a means of restoring Poland. There were no less than 70,000 Poles in the army which he led forth on that disastrous occasion. The whole of these men in common with the rest of their countrymen, rejoiced at the entrance of the French into Russia, the consequence of which they confidently expected would be a renewed and glorious national existence. The end of the Russian campaign was the end of Poland's hopes. Nothing more was to be looked for from Napoleon. A considerable number of Poles continued true in his service to the battle of Waterloo.

When the Congress of Vienna commenced its labours, there was some intention to re-adjust the affairs of Poland. If this intention

had been strong and honestly acted upon, the difficulties in the way of settling this complicated matter would have disappeared. But the Members of the Congress, lacking a disinterested determination to deal justly with Poland, it was very easy for them to shelve their feebly cherished good intentions in favour of the dishonest and arrogant demands of Russia. The Duchy of Warsaw was a free territory, over which the Congress in strict right had no kind of control. Though there was no right, yet there was a determination to parcel out this, the only portion of Poland remaining intact. There does not appear to have been before the Congress at all the question as to what was right, but merely what was agreeable to the ambitious and aggrandizing policy of the great powers represented. Nations were divided and carved out with a free and unscrupulous hand. The proud absolutist representative of England, Lord Castleeigh, declared that it was necessary to make an example of the King of Saxony, who had received the sovereignty of Poland from Napoleon, "A cause de ses tergiversations, et parce qu'il a été le plus devoué des vassaux de Buonaparte." The result of the labours of the Congress, as far as regards Poland was, that, of the Duchy of Warsaw, 13,500 square miles were given to Prussia, 2,800 were ssigned to Austria, and the remaining 46,000 miles bearing the ame of the kingdom of Poland were annexed to Russia. The remaining 500 square miles including and surrounding Cracow was onstituted into the Free Republic of Cracow. These territories ere not given up willingly by Lord Castlereagh to Russia and 'russia. He was desirous of punishing the King of Saxony by lotting out his dominions from the map of Europe, but he was not ready to concede what Russia demanded. Castlereagh did not eel any interest in the fate of Poland. The only things he cared or were the degradation of every one having had even the most emote connection with Napoleon, and the maintenance of the alance of power. As soon as the design of Russia on Poland was manifest, he sought to bring about an agreement between Austria nd France; but Alexander was fully prepared to claim with the word what he had demanded in Congress. In reply to the proosals of Lord Castlereagh, he said, "I have 200,000 men in Poland, and cannot agree to the proposal you have made." In conunction with Prussia, he would have gone to war with England to ssert his claim to Poland, but just then Napoleon broke loose from Elba, and drove the European powers into combination once more. The Emperor of Russia, however, before giving his adhesion to the oalition, demanded a settlement of the Polish question on his own As soon as Alexander had secured Poland, he granted to it Charter of Constitution, which was issued in December, 1815. By his charter the Roman Catholic religion was established, perfect iberty was granted for all other sects, complete freedom of the

erms.

press, the national use of the Polish language, the reservation of public offices for the Poles, the inviolability of person and property except after regular process of law, liberty and publicity of discussion in the courts of law and in the Diet. The franchise was granted to men in all professions, and to mechanics of certified talent. These were the chief provisions of a charter which promised well for Poland. The Poles appreciated the liberal tendencies of the Emperor, and he prided himself on the peaceful and harmonious conduct of his Polish subjects. The Emperor, however, showed in different ways that he would rather keep guard over the Poles through the presence of his soldiers, than allow them, as he had stipulated the free exercise of their political rights. A Russian army of occupation, was, contrary to the Treaty of Vienna, placed on Polish territory, and this led gradually to many infractions of the constitu tion on the one side, and to discontent on the other. In 1815 Alexander issued an ordinance abolishing the freedom of the press illegal arrests were made, and they rapidly increased. Thus di the Emperor proceed from good to bad, and from bad to worse. until his tyranny became unbearable. Mr. Kinglake, in his "In vasion of the Crimea," has put in a very distinct form his explana tion of the strange and opposite tendencies seen in every membe of the Romanoff family. He says that the men of that family un dergo "a deterioration which shakes the ascendant of the bette nature," and they then "disclose the odd purposeless cunning of gipsy or a savage, who shows by some sudden and harmless sign his wild blood that he is not completely reclaimed." As to th cunning being purposeless, and sign of wild blood being harmles there are other and widely different opinions from those entertaine by Mr. Kinglake. According to this theory, perhaps we must ex plain the strange treatment which Alexander accorded to Poland.

Nicholas succeeded Alexander in 1826. "Of his coronation i has been said, that he went to the altar, preceded by the assassin of his father, followed by those of his brother, and accompanie probably by his own." To the Poles, he said, "Je jure devan Dieu j'observerai l'acte constitutionel, et que je mettrai tous me soins à maintenir l'observation." If ever a man were guilty o meditated deliberate perjury, Nicholas was that one. He hated al liberal institutions, and the name of freedom was to him an offence If he were surrounded on the day of his coronation by assassins he was himself purposing at the moment, when be received the Crown, and took this oath, to strangle Poland. For the sake of appearances, he did call one Diet. It was only a mockery. H only intended to deceive. Before the Diet was summoned, he had determined to quarrel with it, and thus supply himself with a pretext for breaking through one of the fundamental articles of the constitution. His rule was oppressive and cruel. Disconten

spread among all classes. Influenced in part by the French Revolution of July, 1830, and the commotion which prevailed generally through Europe, the Poles rose to cast off the yoke off Nicholas. They performed prodigies of valour. The Grand Duke Constantine was beaten and obliged to pray the Poles to allow him to leave the country in safety. After attempting in vain to come to terms with Nicholas, they prepared for a vigorous assertion of their rights. During many months, they were victorious. Hope was widely entertained that the day of the liberation of Poland had come. But through lack of men and the munitions of war, and partly through jealousies in their own ranks, the scale turned in favor of Nicholas. The Poles were defeated. Nicholas solemnly promised an amnesty. On the strength of this promise, the gates of Warsaw were thrown open to his troops. Then was supplied another glaring humiliating instance of the perfidy of the Romanoffs. As soon as the army was inside the walls of Warsaw, vengeance was wreaked upon the people in every conceivable form. The property of the Poles was confiscated; and vast numbers of the principal officers in the Polish army were driven into Siberia. Orders were sent to some of the Russian governors in Poland, to put to immediate death any whom they might deem guilty.* We see by the papers how Prussia acts as a lacquey to Russia-tramping on every principle of right and honour. A few facts from the history of the rising in Poland, in 1830, will shew that Prussia is the same despicable Power that she was then. Her border terriory was given to Russia as the basis of operation, and 15,000 Poles, to whom asylum had been promised by Prussia on condition of their giving up their arms, were actually driven back at the point of the bayonet into Poland, those who refused to go were shot down by Prussian soldiers, or handed over to Russia as deserters.

We have given a hurried but reliable sketch of the history of Poland, since the first dismemberment. We need not relate recent events. They are well known to all. The question which now demands an answer is, shall Poland be restored? It has been admitted by Lord Palmerston, that the people of England and France are perfectly unanimous and deeply earnest in favor of her restoration. We hold that England and France ought to give immediate and emphatic expression to this feeling. It is mockery to ask Russia to return to the constitution laid down for Poland, at the Congress of Vienna. Russia has repeatedly sworn to observe

As we write, the papers inform us of the proclamation in Petersburg, of an amnesty for the Poles. But surely the people of Poland are not to be again deceived, nor will they lay down their arms when there are good grounds for expecting a complete triumph over Russia.

that constitution, and as frequently has broken her oath. Why ask a renewal of an engagement, when we know it only means renewed perjury. An engagement or an oath of an Emperor of Russia is worth just as much as those which the lowest of costermongers would make. It is perfectly absurd and worse, merely to demand from Russia that she govern Poland, as was stipulated at Vienna. Nothing short of the restoration of the kingdom of Poland in its integrity will satisfy. Russia has repeatedly broken the treaty; all her claims are forfeited, and so the European Powers are morally and legally at liberty to demand that Poland be set free. We go a step further. Not only are the European Powers at liberty to demand that Poland be set free, they are morally bound t bring about a widely different arrangement from that which ha hitherto existed. As parties to the Vienna Treaty, they are unde obligations to the Poles, and also to Europe. The Treaty wa made in the interests of the Poles and Europe. It is not for th interests of either that the Treaty broken by Russia should b renewed. Russia has abolished that by virtue of which alone sh held Poland. We must go even further still. The Poles are emi nently fitted to have given to them the power of self-governmen This power is theirs by natural right. But admitting the usua line of argument on this point, it cannot be denied for a momen that the people of Poland are fit to be entrusted with the reins © government. Whatever may have been the defects of their ol national constitution, or their own failings as a people, they ar all things of the past. The constitution has been swept away There is no desire to renew its defects. The people have profite by their painful experience. During the last seventy years th Poles have shown greater patience, devotion to their nationa cause, and capacity for advance in knowledge and commerce, tha has ever been exhibited by any people placed in similar circum stances. If the governments of England and France demand tha Poland be set free, Russia dare not, will not refuse.

H.

THE UNIVERSITY BOAT RACE.

THE solidity of the present number of the Spectator is such from beginning to end that the younger portion of our readers wil perhaps not be unwilling to pass on from the mysteries of Mr Hinton's metaphysics, the curses of St. Athanasius, the sorrows of dismembered Poland, and the excellent intervening discourses, to