| 807 | Poland. | {COMMONS} | Poland. | 808 |
Poland, the Emperor was placed in the same situation in which he stood after the treaty of Vienna, and before the granting of a constitution to Poland, and that he was at liberty, the previously-existing institutions having been swept away, as they contended, by the revolution, to determine by what sort of institutions they should be replaced. The reply of the English Government was to the following effect:—That having taken into full consideration all that the Russian government had stated in support of their view of the case, they still adhered to the opinion previously expressed, that the true and fair interpretation of the Treaty of Vienna required that the Polish Constitution should remain as before the revolution, and that Russia had no right to abolish it. "
On the 19th of February, 1836, Lord Palmerston said,
"I stated on a former occasion, that the British Government had remonstrated against the change which was made in the constitution of Poland, and had expressed it as their opinion that it was not consistent with the treaty of Vienna."
England, therefore, through the mouth of her Minister, stands committed to the opinion that the insurrection was no justification of the violation of the treaty; and, in this country, every succeeding Government admits itself to be bound by the acts of its predecessor. If the representations of England, unsupported by Austria and Russia, did not obtain all that was desired, yet they had an effect; for in the very organic statute which Russia promulgated in 1832, and which is odious in the eyes of the friends of Poland as having been the first public act by which this constitution was abolished—in that destructive statute Russia felt it necessary to introduce pledges of an opposite character. If the organic statute violated one half of the treaty of Vienna, it respected the other half. If it abolished the constitution—if it substituted a Council of State for the Polish Diet, it preserved the distinct administration. If it deprived Poland of its independence, it preserved its nationality—and entered into fresh obligations to respect its religion,—its tribunals,—and its language. Thus it was that, in 1832, despotic rule was, by the organic statute, substituted in the place of free institutions. I will not here dwell upon the pains and penalties by which the new system was ushered in; the suppression of the Universities, the confiscations, the banishments to Siberia, the expatriation of families and children. Of all these this House has heard before, and it might have been hoped that with them resentment would have been exhausted. Neither will I say a word about Cracow, for Cracow is a subject to itself. But I now pass on to the two recent Ukases, to the new matter, in consequence of which I feel myself authorised to call upon this House to express an opinion. After a lapse of nine years,— after an interval during which no new insurrectionary movement has appeared in Poland, during which, if many blows have been inflicted, no resistance has been attempted, Russia, without any communication with the contracting powers, as if to ascertain how much Europe would endure, has issued two Ukases which complete the violation of the Treaty of Vienna, by putting an end to the distinct administration of Poland. These Ukases were issued in September last, since the accession to power of the present Ministry. No room is left for doubt, for the Ukases are prepared with the following words,—
"Finding that a separate Council of State for Poland no longer suits the present posture of affairs" —
And the Ukase then proceeds to incorporate the government of Poland with the government of the empire. Instead of the Polish Council of State, the 9th and 10th sections of the senate of Petersburgh are henceforth to administer the affairs of Poland. The 7th and 8th sections superintend the administration of Moscow, so that the government of Poland is assimilated in every respect to that of every other province of the Russian empire. The Supreme Court of Justice of Poland is abolished, and the 9th and 10th sections of the senate of Petersburgh succeed to all its functions. These sections are to sit at Warsaw, but, component parts as they are of the Russian senate, they are under the same control which directs the senate of Petersburgh, and no longer possess any distinct character. They are to be composed indifferently of Russians and Poles. The emperor names the whole body in the first instance. These are the words of the Ukase:—
"Finding that the existence of a separate Council of State for the kingdom of Poland is no longer suitable to the existing state of things, and as it is necessary to place the Supreme Tribunal of Justice upon a better basis, we have determined that the Council of State
