| 827 | Poland. | {COMMONS} | Poland. | 828 |
Parliament, for a copy of which his hon. Friend, the Member for Nottinghamshire, had moved. Now, what was the principal object of these Ukases? What but the effacement of almost the last trace of their distinct national existence, which had been left by former ordinances; and that, perhaps, one to which nations were the most attached, and which generally survived the longest, the distinctness of their judicial institutions. He passed the practical grievance of having their causes curried before a distant, a hostile, and if report said true, not a very incorrupt tribunal—he would only dwell upon the wound to national feeling, the complete amalgamation, so contrary to European obligations, which was implied in the fusion of the judicial courts of Poland with those of Petersburgh. Why, looking to our own country, to what was Scottish feeling, after a close and friendly connection of two centuries, more attached still, than to the distinctness of their own laws, of their own tribunals? Had it not taken five or six centuries of most intimate union with Wales, to enable us, and even then not without some difficulty, to persuade the Welsh to give up their separate judication? And yet with regard to Poland, this was done at once by a stroke of the pen; and the finishing blow was thus dealt, if any yet were needed, to the illusion, that the conditions on which the greater part of Poland was handed over to Russia at the Congress of Vienna, were considered in any way binding upon that power. That the insurrection, to which the Poles were driven, might have led to some modification of their constitution in their internal organization, he could understand, at least it would be a nice question for discussion; but how it could dissolve the obligation entered into towards Europe to maintain that distinct nationality, the intention to maintain which, pervaded every stipulation of the treaty of Vienna in regard to every fragment of Poland, he was at a loss to comprehend. He hoped, that the unanimous expression of opinion on this subject would have its weight, not only with the Emperor of Russia, but also with the two other powers, who had shared in the spoils of Poland, and whose obligations had not been much more rigidly observed—though the circumstances were not such as to excite the same degree of public interest. He should not have risen to prolong this debate, if he had not wished to show, that those who had taken an early interest in this cause, had not forgotten it, though they were content, and rejoiced to leave it mainly in the hands of other, and newer champions, upon whom that interest had descended.
Mr. Sheil hoped that the Government would continue that munificent hospitality to the distressed Polish refugees which they had hitherto experienced at the hands of this country. He congratulated all the speakers who had preceded him, on the tone and temper of their observations in the course of the debate.
Mr. Stuart Wortley said, that he should scarcely have thought it worth while to prolong this discussion, in which all the speakers were agreed, had he not felt anxious before its close to record, in a very few words, his entire concurrence in the objects of his hon. Friend, the Member for Nottinghamshire. There could be do doubt that, as had been correctly stated, the position in which this country stood with respect to the relations between Russia and Poland was that of right founded upon treaty; and it was impossible to look back to the transactions of the years 1814 and 1815, without becoming convinced that other rights besides those guaranteed to Poland were distinctly asserted and recognised in the negociations of that period. Indeed, it appeared to him that the very history of the fate of Poland, since the insurrection of 1831, showed symptoms of a lurking consciousness, even on the part of Russia, that there were other parties besides herself who had some right to a voice in her proceedings against that portion of her dominions. For, if we considered that history, what did we find? When she had suppressed the insurrection of 1831, what would have been easier for her than to have asserted at once her right of conquest, and to have incorporated, without delay, the territories and people of Poland within the limits of her own empire? But was this the course which she had pursued? On the contrary, she had proceeded by gradual steps; and if we looked back through the period which had elapsed since that insurrection, we found it marked by a series of successive alterations in the connexion between the Russian Government and that country, but all tending to the same apparent end. Through the years after 1831,—through 1836, 1837, 1838, and thence down to the last year,— we might trace the progress of this course. We might see a partial displacement of the Polish language, followed by its more general exclusion; the suppression of the
