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DOWNFALL OF POLAND.
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It is with heartfelt grief we announce
the melancholy fact, that the cause of
Poland is lost, and the tyrant Nicholas
triumphs in its ruins. On the 7th of
September, Warsaw, the capital, after a
vigorous defence, submitted to the Rus-
sian army. The city had been invested
some days. On the 4th the Field-Mar
shal Count PASKEWITSCH, the Russian
commander, demanded submission in the
name of the Emperor, promising on the
other hand amnesty and pardon. The
demand was rejected. On the 6th, the
Russian army stormed the city, and after
a desperate and sanguinary resistance,
made themselves masters of four redoubts,
a second line of intrenchments and a
broad moat round the city, defended by
bastions, remaining to be overcome. On
the 7th renewed overtures were made to
the Poles, but no decisive submission
being made, the Russians renewed the
attack, and the second line of intrench-
ments was carried at the point of the
bayonet, and by 9 o'clock in the evening
Warsaw was in the hands of her enemy.
The city and the Polish army submitted,
and implored the clemency of the Em-
peror. The Marshal consequently re-
strained the vengeance of his soldiers,
which had been provoked by the desperate
resistance. On the following day, the
army and the nation formally submitted,
and the former, in conformity with the
Emperor's manifesto, had gone to Plozk,
there to await his orders. The loss of
the Russians was very severe. The Mar-
shal was himself severely wounded, and
they acknowledged a loss of from 4,000
to 5,000 men.
In the latest accounts, some doubt is
entertained as to the complete capitula-
tion of the Polish army. Warsaw was in
a state of profound tranquillity. "The
Russian authorities," says the Ptussian
State Gazette, "act with the greatest for
bearance and indulgence, so that the
citizens and tradespeople begin to breathe
more freely."
The Polish Envoy, in a state paper
communicated to the Editor of the Con-
stitutionnel, complains bitterly of the
conduct of the British and French Go-
vernments, both of which, he alleges,
had, under promises of assistance and as-
surances of perfect safety, employed his
struggling country as a tool for their own
purposes with regard to Belgium. The
Times takes up their cause-proclaims
the Envoy's charge-reprobates the con-
duct of both the Government and the
people of England-and calls upon Earl
Grey for an explanation.
Unhappy Poland! Thy brave struggles,
worthy the noble cause of freedom, have
but rivetted the more strongly the fetters
of despotic sway under which thou hast
long groaned. But if there is any sym-
pathy, any faith, any zeal for the rights
of our common kind, among the free
nations of Europe, the day of thy deli-
verance is not distant-a day when thy
oppressors shall be chased from thy soil,
and the ensigns of liberty float more
proudly than ever from thy battlements.
The Insolvent Law. -The Con-
ference between the Committee of the
Legislative Council and the Chamber of
Commerce, on the subject of the Bill for
the Relief of Insolvent Debtors, has, we
are informed, led to a strange result -
nothing less than a resolution on the part
of the Committee to recommend to the
Council that there be no Insolvent Law at
all! But for the sudden arrival of im-
portant English news, we should have
entered at some length into this matter.
We have always been among the most
zealous advocates for such a modification
of the expiring Act as should give the
creditor a better protection against frau-
dulent insolvency; but we never dreamt
for a moment of abolishing all provision
for insolvent debtors. On what principle
the Chamber of Commerce can have un-
dertaken to recommend so sweeping a
measure, it would not be easy to conjec-
ture; but we have learnt from good au-
thority, that it is founded on the general
leniency of New South Wales creditors.
We admit the fact, that such leniency
does exist, and exist to a great extent :
but what does this amount to? By the
same sort of logic, the general honesty of
a country would justify the repeal of the
penal code. Laws are intended to com-
pel men to do that which they ought to
do, but which it may sometimes happen
they are not inclined to do. They com-
pel the debtor who can pay, either to
satisfy his creditor, or go to gaol; and
surely it is equally reasonable to protect
the debtor who cannot pay from the ven-
geance or caprice of his hard-hearted
creditor. To make the creditor's just
treatment an act of free will, to be done
or left undone at disown pleasure, on the
plea that such free will is generally ex-
ercised on the side of leniency, is cer-
tainly a mode of reasoning beyond our
comprehension. If it is unjust, immoral,
cruel, and injurious to society, to impri-
son the honest insolvent ; the Legislature
is, in our humble opinion, bound to in-
demnify him from such treatment.
We should hope the Council will pause
before they act upon the views of the
Chamber.
Foreign Attachment Bill. - It
was our intention to give, in this day's
paper, an abstract of this Bill in its pre-
sent shape, together with some comments
of our own ; but the arrival of English
intelligence has rendered it impossible.
Their Majesties were in the enjoy-
ment of excellent health. Before the loss
of the Reform Bill, it was arranged that
they should go to Brighton about the
middle of October; but the great crisis
would doubtless detain them at London
or Windsor,
Admiral Sir James Saumerez had
been elected to the peerage.
We learn by the Norfolk, that the
Cragievar, which sailed from Sydney in
May, had arrived safe, and that the
Elizabeth and Asia left London for this
colony on the 2d of October. The Port-
land, Elizabeth, and Gilmore, had been
taken up.
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