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Brave and Patriotic Poles: British Politics and Polish Independence, 1830–1847

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Abstract

From the outbreak of the November Uprising in 1830 to the annexation of Kraków by Austria in 1846, the subject of Polish independence continued to attract sympathy of British public opinion and politicians. As this chapter argues, despite numerous expressions of support, the question of Poland experienced a slow, but steady decline. Even the events such as the occupation and the eventual annexation of the Free State of Kraków, while attracting some attention, failed to gather the same interest as the November Uprising and its defeat in the early 1830s. For the majority of British politicians Poland was too distant and too irrelevant for British interests to attract anything more than words of moral support.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    For details regarding the November Uprising available in English see, for example, R. F. Leslie, Polish Politics and the Revolution of November 1830 (London: Athlone, Press, 1956); for details of the outbreak of the Uprising see, for example, J. Dunn, “‘The November Evening’: The Warsaw Uprising of November 1830,” The Journal of Slavic Military Studies, 16.3 (2003), 126–35 and Milosz Cybowski, “Poland’s Forgotten Novembrists: Youth and a Failed Uprising, 1830,” Age of Revolutions: [https://ageofrevolutions.com/2016/11/14/polands-forgotten-novembrists-youth-and-a-failed-uprising-1830, accessed on 17 December 2021].

  2. 2.

    For more details about Polish history in the nineteenth century see, for example, S. Kieniewicz and H. Wereszycki, “Poland Under Foreign Rule, 1795–1918,” in History of Poland, ed. S. Kieniewicz (Warszawa: PWN, Polish Scientific Publishers, 1979), 335–540. For more popular approach see also Patrice Dabrowski, Poland: The First Thousand Years (DeKalb: NIU Press, 2016) or Adam Zamoyski, Poland: A History (London: William Collins, 2009).

  3. 3.

    See Leslie, Polish Politics and the Revolution of November 1830; Br. Pawlowski, “The November Insurrection,” in The Cambridge History of Poland, eds. W.F. Reddaway, J.H. Penson et al. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1941), II: 295–310.

  4. 4.

    Lord Heytesbury to Viscount Palmerston, 21 January 1831. The National Archives (hereafter NA) Foreign Office Papers (hereafter FO) 417/2, 1.

  5. 5.

    The term was coined by Adam Lewak in his essay “Czasy Wielkiej Emigracji”: Adam Lewak, “Czasy Wielkiej Emigracji,” in Polska, jej dzieje i kultura od czasów najdawniejszych aż do chwili obecnej (Warszawa, 1930), III: 193–233. See also A.P. Coleman, “The Great Emigration,” in The Cambridge History of Poland, II: 311–323.

  6. 6.

    For more details about all pro-Polish debates in the House of Commons and the House of Lords, see Krzysztof Marchlewicz, “Propolski lobbing w Izbach Gmin i Lordów w latach trzydziestych i czterdziestych XIX wieku,” Przegląd Historyczny, 145.1 (2005), 61–76.

  7. 7.

    The Times, 11 December 1830.

  8. 8.

    The Times, 14 December 1830.

  9. 9.

    John Clarke, British Diplomacy and Foreign Policy 1782–1865: The National Interest (London: Unwin Hyman 1989), 184.

  10. 10.

    See House of Commons Debates, 15 and 16 November 1830. Hansard, Vol. 1, cc. 525–549 and 561–564.

  11. 11.

    M.E. Chamberlain, Pax Britannica? British Foreign Policy, 1789–1914 (London: Longman, 1989), 69.

  12. 12.

    David Brown, Palmerston: A Biography (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2010), 147.

  13. 13.

    For more details about the Belgian Revolution, see J. S. Fishman, Diplomacy and Revolution : The London Conference of 1830 and the Belgian Revolt (Amsterdam: CHEV, 1988).

  14. 14.

    Heytesbury to Palmerston, 21 January 1831. Correspondence respecting the Affairs of Poland, 1831–32. NA FO 417–2, 1.

  15. 15.

    Palmerston to Heytesbury, 22 March 1831. Correspondence. NA FO/417/2, 2.

  16. 16.

    Wielopolski to Czartoryski, 11 January 1831. Biblioteka Książąt Czartoryskich (hereafter BKCz) 5310.

  17. 17.

    Palmerston to Heytesbury, 22 March 1831. Broadlands Archive (hereafter BA) PP/GC/HE/147. Palmerston to Heytesbury, 22 March 1831. Correspondence. NA FO/417/2, 1. See also Kenneth Bourne, Palmerston: the Early Years, 1784–1841 (London: Allen Lane, 1982), 352–353.

  18. 18.

    Palmerston to Heytesbury, 21 September 1831. BA PP/GC/HE/152.

  19. 19.

    Palmerston to Heytesbury, 23 November 1831. Correspondence. NA FO/417/2, 8–9.

  20. 20.

    Palmerston to Heytesbury, 23 November 1831. BA PP/GC/HE/153.

  21. 21.

    The Times, 7, 12 November 1831.

  22. 22.

    For a detailed analysis of Polish emigration to Britain see particularly: Krzysztof Marchlewicz, Wielka Emigracja na Wyspach Brytyjskich 1830–1863 (Poznań: Instytut Historii, 2008). See also Milosz Cybowski, “First and last refuge: France and Britain as centres of the Polish Great Emigration,” in John Bull and the Continent, eds. W. Jasiakiewicz & J. Lipski (Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang, 2015), pp. 59–74; Milosz Cybowski, “A less eligible country for a Pole: Britain and the Polish refugees in the early Victorian period,” in International Migrations in the Victorian Era, ed. M. Ruiz (Leiden: Brill, 2018), 331–355.

  23. 23.

    Czartoryski to the Polish Legation, 29 December 1831. BKCz 5274.

  24. 24.

    Czartoryski to the Polish Legation, 25 December 1831. W. Plater (ed.), “Korrespondencye księcia Adama Czartoryskiego”, Album Muzeum Narodowego w Rapperswyll. Na setną rocznicę 1772 r. (Poznań, 1872), 139–142.

  25. 25.

    Czartoryski to the Polish Legation, 16 January 1832. BKCz 5274.

  26. 26.

    The previous debates on the subject of Poland took place on 8 and 16 August, 7 September and 13 October 1831. See Hasard, vol. 5, cc. 930–933; vol. 6, cc. 101–110, 1216–1218; vol. 8 cc. 696–697.

  27. 27.

    House of Commons Debate, 18 April 1832. Hansard, Vol. 12, cc. 636–664.

  28. 28.

    S. Kalembka, “Koncepcje dróg do niepodległości i kształtu Polski wyzwolonej w myśli politycznej Wielkiej Emigracji,” in Rozprawy z dziejów XIX i XX Wieku przygotowane dla uczczenia pamięci Profesora Witolda Łukasiewicza, ed. S. Kalembka (Toruń: Universytet Mikołaja Kopernika w Toruniu, 1978), 41.

  29. 29.

    Niemcewicz, Dziennik pobytu zagranica od dnia 21 lipca 1831 roku do 20 maja 1841 roku (Poznań, 1876), I: 279.

  30. 30.

    See, for example, Marchlewicz, “Propolski lobbing,” 61–76; Radosław Żurawski vel Grajewski, Działalność Księcia Adama Jerzego Czartoryskiego w Wielkiej Brytanii (1831–1832) (Warszawa: Wydawn. Naukowe Semper, 1999), 45–99.

  31. 31.

    The Organic Statute introduced in the Kingdom of Poland replaced the Polish Constitution granted by Alexander I. Jerzy Skowronek, Od konspiracji do kapitulacji (Warszawa: Krajowa Agencja Wydawnicza, 1989), 1–4.

  32. 32.

    House of Commons Debate, 28 June 1832. Hansard, Vol. 13, cc. 1115–1152.

  33. 33.

    Palmerston to Durham, 3 July 1832. NA FO 417/2, 18–19.

  34. 34.

    House of Commons Debate, 9 July 1833. Hansard, Vol. 19, cc. 394–463.

  35. 35.

    Żurawski vel Grajewski, Działalność Księcia Adama Jerzego Czartoryskiego, 97–99.

  36. 36.

    W. Zamoyski, Jenerał Zamoyski, 1803–1868 (Poznań, 1914), III: 53.

  37. 37.

    Zamoyski, Jenerał Zamoyski, 26.

  38. 38.

    Zamoyski, Jenerał Zamoyski, 41.

  39. 39.

    Zamoyski, Jenerał Zamoyski, 146.

  40. 40.

    Cybowski, “A less eligible country for a Pole,” 336–339.

  41. 41.

    House of Commons debate, 25 March 1834. Hansard, vol. 22, cc. 651–663.

  42. 42.

    Final Act of the Congress of Vienna. The General Treaty of the Final Act of the Congress of Vienna [https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Final_Act_of_the_Congress_of_Vienna/General_Treaty, accessed 17 December 2021].

  43. 43.

    “The Plenipotentiaries of the 3 Courts to the Senate,” 16 February 1836. State Papers: 1835–6(London, 1837), pp. 1356–1357. See also Radosław Żurawski vel Grajewski, Ostatnie polskie miasto. Rzeczpospolita Krakowska w “dyplomacji” Hotelu Lambert wobec Wielkiej Brytanii (1831–1845) (Kraków-Łódź: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Łódzkiego, 2018), 109–117.

  44. 44.

    The Times, 1 March 1836. Standard, 3 March 1836. Morning Post, 4 March 1836.

  45. 45.

    House of Commons Debate, 18 March 1836. Hansard, Vol. 32, cc. 403–426.

  46. 46.

    Copy of a Dispatch from Viscount Palmerston to His Majesty’s Ambassador at St. Petersburg, and to His Majesty’s Ministers at Berlin and Vienna. BA PP/BD/RU/4.

  47. 47.

    Palmerston to Lord William Russell, 28 June 1836. NA FO 881/749A.

  48. 48.

    Żurawski vel Grajewski, Ostatnie polskie miasto, 126–128.

  49. 49.

    Żurawski vel Grajewski, Ostatnie polskie miasto, 143–147, 153–162, 169–174. See also “On the necessity of appointing a British diplomatic agent to the senate of the Free Town of Kraków,” BA PP/GC/ZA/1.

  50. 50.

    See, for example, Morning Chronicle, 30 June 1840.

  51. 51.

    House of Commons Debate, 13 July 1840. Hansard, Vol. 55, cc. 670–695.

  52. 52.

    Żurawski vel Grajewski, Ostatnie polskie miasto, 208–277. See also Comment l’affaire de Cracovie peut amener une discussion plus générale dans l’état actuel de rapprochement de la France et de l’Angleterre avec l’Autriche, BA PP/GC/CZ/13.

  53. 53.

    Żurawski vel Grajewski, Ostatnie polskie miasto, 271–272.

  54. 54.

    For more details on the international context see particularly Radosław Paweł Żurawski vel Grajewski, Ognisko permanentnej insurekcji. Powstanie 1846 roku i likwidacja Rzeczypospolitej Krakowskiej w „dyplomacji” Hotelu Lambert wobec mocarstw europejskich (1846–1847) (Kraków-Łódź: Wydawnictwo Universytetu Łódzkiego, 2018).

  55. 55.

    J. Feldman, “The Polish Provinces of Austria and Prussia after 1815; the ‘Springtime of Nations,’” The Cambridge History of Poland, II: 352–355.

  56. 56.

    Stefan Kieniewicz, “The Free State of Kraków, 1815–1846,” The Slavonic and East European Review 26, no. 66 (1947): 69–89.

  57. 57.

    House of Lords Debate, 6 April 1846. Hansard, Vol. 85, cc. 574–579.

  58. 58.

    Westmorland to Aberdeen, 23 February 1846. Magenis to Aberdeen, 21 February 1846. Bloomfield to Aberdeen, 2 March 1846. Du Plat to Aberdeen, 10 March 1846. State Papers: 1846–7, 1042 et passim.

  59. 59.

    Aberdeen to Du Plat, 25 June 1846. State Papers: 1846–7, 1065–1066.

  60. 60.

    House of Lords Debate, 11 August 1846. Hansard, vol. 88, cc. 602–622.

  61. 61.

    House of Commons Debate, 17 August 1846. Hansard, Vol. 88, cc. 815–838.

  62. 62.

    Examiner, 3 October 1846. See also Morning Post, 22 September 1846.

  63. 63.

    Palmerston to Ponsonby, 23 November 1846. State Papers: 1846–7, pp. 1082–1085. The same instructions were directed to British representatives at Berlin and St. Petersburg.

  64. 64.

    Jasper Ridley, Lord Palmerston (London, n.d.), 316.

  65. 65.

    Żurawski vel Grajewski, Ognisko permanentnej insurekcji, 244–260.

  66. 66.

    House of Lords Debate, 19 January 1847. Hansard, Vol. 89, cc. 1–5.

  67. 67.

    He presented the intention of discussing the problem of Kraków in relation to the Russo-Dutch Loan on 19 January. The Times, 20 January 1847.

  68. 68.

    See, for example, Daily News, 24, 26 November, 1 December 1846; Morning Chronicle, 12 December 1846; Morning Post, 30 November, 1, 3, 4, 12 December 1846; Standard, 1 December 1846.

  69. 69.

    Żurawski vel Grajewski, Ognisko permanentnej insurekcji, 291–294, 316–320.

  70. 70.

    House of Commons Debate, 4 March 1847. Hansard, Vol. 90, cc. 861–895.

  71. 71.

    The motion was, therefore, an attempt to present that “society of merchants” economic benefits of pro-Polish action. See Radosław Żurawski vel Grajewski, “Kupcy i arystokraci. Szkic do wizerunku Anglików w praise obozu monarchiczno-liberalnego Wielkiej Emigracji,” in Swoi i obcy. Studia z dziejów myśli Wielkiej Emigracji, eds P. Matusik & K.Marchlewicz (Poznań: IH UAM, 2004), 118–119.

  72. 72.

    House of Commons debate, 4 March 1847. Hansard, Vol. 90, cc. 861–895.

  73. 73.

    House of Commons debate, 4 March 1847. Hansard, Vol. 90, cc. 861–895.

  74. 74.

    House of Commons debate, 11 March 1847. Hansard, Vol. 90, cc. 1157–1225.

  75. 75.

    House of Commons debate, 16 March 1847. Hansard, Vol. 91, cc. 26–103.

  76. 76.

    Żurawski vel Grajewski, Ognisko permanentnej insurekcji, 420.

  77. 77.

    Niemcewicz, Dziennik, I: 279.

  78. 78.

    Bourne, Palmerston, 353.

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  1. Wierzyce, Poland

    Milosz K. Cybowski

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  1. Department of English Literature, University of Portsmouth, Portsmouth, UK

    Maggie Ann Bowers

  2. School of Humanities, Coventry University, Coventry, UK

    Ben Dew

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Cybowski, M.K. (2023). Brave and Patriotic Poles: British Politics and Polish Independence, 1830–1847. In: Bowers, M.A., Dew, B. (eds) Polish Culture in Britain. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-32188-7_3

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