| 815 | Poland. | {COMMONS} | Poland. | 816 |
a party to at Vienna. The French Chambers passed, he believed, a resolution every year, declaring that the independence of Poland ought to be supported: and he would be very much pleased if the House of Commons would adopt a similar course. Though he scarcely expected to live to see that happy event, yet the day he hoped would come when Polish nationality would be restored, and the integrity of that kingdom recognised. He deeply deplored the present oppressed state of Poland, the destruction of her national institutions, and the fate of her children and women: and trusting to see them soon reinstated in some of their rights by the remonstrance of this Government, he gave his willing support to the motion of the hon. Member.
Mr. Milnes: Sir, the Government of any country that was a party to the treaty of Vienna is more or less responsible for the well-being of Poland. It was the sanction of those Governments and of England among them, which submitted Poland to Russian rule, which exposed it to the insane ferocities of the governor whom Russia imposed on it, and which therefore was the remote cause of the Polish revolution, and all its calamitous consequence. If there is such a thing as the responsibility of governments, in this case England is responsible, and, admitting this, one only question remained for us—by what means, and to what extent that responsibility is to be asserted. In all matters of diplomacy, power must be regarded as well as right, and in none more than in the case before us. If what has occurred between Russia and Poland, had occurred between Holland and Belgium, had Belgium been defeated by Holland after her rebellion and resistance, and Holland had attempted to annihilate the nationality of Belgium, and transmute it into a Dutch province, is it conceivable that France and England would have permitted this infraction of the treaty of Vienna? We know, indeed, from the results of the Belgium revolution, that so far from this being the case, a new occasion for diplomatic interference was declared to have presented itself—the arrangements of 1815 were reconsidered and remodelled, and the independence of Belgium was the issue. The physical circumstances of Poland are different. I do not believe it was the duty of England to interfere alone by her resources or her arms in this quarrel; she owed something to Poland, but she owed more to the interests of her citizens and the peace of the civilised world. One function, however, after the contest remained for her to perform, one from which no difficulties—no special interests, no diplomatic delicacies, could excuse her, and this was most clearly and energetically to protest against any infraction of the privileges guaranteed to Poland by the treaty of Vienna. And this course was at once adopted. On the 9th of July, 1833, the noble Lord, the Member for Tiverton, (Lord Palmerston), whose absence from this debate, I trust, is wholly accidental, stated,—
"That the contracting parties to the treaty of Vienna have a right to require that the constitution of Poland should not be touched, and this was an opinion which he hid not concealed from the Russian Government, previous to the taking of Warsaw, and before the result of hostilities was known, and when Warsaw fell, and Poland was placed at the disposal of Russia, that opinion was again distinctly conveyed to the Russian Government."
The Russian Government remonstrated against this view, on the ground that the previously existing institutions were swept away by the revolution; but, continued the noble Lord,—
"The reply of the English Government was to this effect, that having taken into full consideration all that the Russian Government had stated in support of this 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. No circumstances can arise, under which the English Government can give their sanction or acquiescence to the arrangements which the Emperor has made."
In the same debate, Lord John Russell expressed the same sentiments; the noble Lord, now Secretary for the Colonial Department (Lord Stanley) said,—
If I am asked my own opinion as to the interpretation to be put upon the treaty of Vienna, I am ready to say, that it is that stated to be the opinion of the Government, and that I consider it has been violated by Russia."
And the right hon. Baronet, now at the head of her Majesty's Government, declared in the strongest terms his sympathy for the condition of the "Poles, and his indignation as to the course pursued by Russia." About three years afterwards, Lord Palmerton alluded to and repeated
