England in 1835: being a series of letters written to friends in Germany, during a residence in London and excursions into the provinces ... Translated from the German by Sarah Austin

Front matter

RAUMER'S ENGLAND IN ENGLAND IN 1835 BEING A SERIES OF LETTERS WRITTEN TO FRIENDS IN GERMANY, DURING A RESIDENCE IN LONDON AND EXCURSIONS INTO THE PROVINCES : BY FREDERICK VON RAUMER, PROFESSOR OF HISTORY AT THE UNIVERSITY OF BERLIN, AUTHOR OF THE 'HISTORY OF THE HOHENSTAUFEN ;' OF THE ' HISTORY OF EUROPE FROM THE END OF THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY;' OF ' ILLUS- TRATIONS OF THE HISTORY OF THE SIXTEENTH AND SEVENTEENTH CENTURIES,' &C. &C. TRANSLATED FROM THE GERMAN, By SARAH AUSTIN. THREE VOLS. VOLUME THE FIRST. LONDON : JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET. MDCCCXXXVI. LONDON: Printed by William Clowes and Sons, Stamford Street. CONTENTS OF VOL. I. Page Translator's Preface XI Memoir of the Author xix Author's Preface xxxiv

Letter IV

Party at the Duke of D 's— General impressions— Beauty of the Women — English compared with Roman Women — Absence of orders and decorations — English language — Specimen of German spelling by English officials . . . 12

Letter V

Breakfast— Catholics in Prussia and in Ireland— Political crisis— State of the present Ministry, and dismissal of the last— Sir Robert Peel — Whigs aud Tories— A Landscape Painter — Beauty au aristocratical privilege in England . U CONTENTS. VI

Letter VI

ra«e Whie Ministry — Causes of its formation and dismissal- Manner of dismissal — Its effects — Points at issue between Tories and Whigs — Lord Prussian Church policy — Irish Catholics, genuine Conservatives — O'Connell — Causes of his power — Tithes in Ireland — Attempts at reform — Private and public property — Mr. Stanley's motion — London and Paris news ........ 19

Letter VII

Mr. Babbage's Calculating Machine — Philosophy aud Mathematics — Dinner party, its length and luxury — Climate — Museum — Rhubarb tart — Vastness of London — Its metropolitan and commercial character — Comparison with other capitals — Squares — Parks — Regent's Park. ... 36

Letter VIII

Irish Church — Lord Althorp's motion — Debates upon it — Grievances of the Catholics — Kildare Street Society — Mr. Stanley's motion — Opposition to it — Its success — Duties of a Statesman — Tory doctrines — Church property — Violence of parties — Necessity of concession — Irish Union — Improvement in Irish commerce — Irish poverty — Middlemen — Poor Laws for Ireland — State and prospects of Ireland 40

Letter IX

London Shops — Hackney Carriages, Omnibuses — Clubs- Wealth and Magnificence of the Church of England — London and Southwark Bridges — Thames — English value for Time — Political Spirit of Prussia — Dinner at Lord M 's 58

Letter X

State and Prospects of the Ministry — Cost of Elections — Sentiment of an English Minister — Letter of Lord Holdernesse, on the Ministry of 1757— Resignation of the Ministry — Sir Robert Peel — Religious Tolerance— Power .of Words — Idolatry of Forms gg CONTENTS. VII

Letter XI

; Pase Philharmonic Concert — Comparison of London and Paris Miiiic — Mr. Hallam — Sir F. Palgrave — Mr. Cooper . . 71

Letter XII

Sir Robert Peel — House of Lords— Situation of the Catholic Clergy — English and German Protestantism — Historical Sketch of the Church of England — Motions and Debates on Church Reform — Church Revenues — Dissenters — English Tithes — Tithe Reforms — Voluntary System — Necessity for Reform 78

Letter XIII

Newspapers — The Times — The Standard — Athenaeum Club House — Dinner at H House — Squares — Domestic Architecture and Furniture — Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens — Dinner with Turkish Ambassador — Specimen of General Seydlitz's French — Museum — Chapter house, Westminster — Sir F. Palgrave — Doomsday Book — Germanic Institutions of England — Rich materials for History possessed by England — Regent's Park — Zoological Gardens 97

Letter XIV

New Ministry — False maxims concerning the English Constitution — Relations of Lords aud Commons — Tories and Radicals — Party inconsistencies — Hereditary Peerage — Peers for Life — Example of Rome — Ecclesiastical Aristocracy — Decline of Aristocracy — Duke of S Domestic finance — Eating-house — Dinner of Artisans — Drury Lane Theatre; Oratorio — Performance of the Messiah at Berlin and London compared— Modern Italian Singing and Music — Dinner— Comparative Prices of London, Paris, and Berlin —Tea Trade with China 103

Letter XV

Different ways of regarding Poverty— Experiments of antient Legislators to equalize Wealth— Moses, Lycurgus, Solon, CONTENTS. VIII Page Servius Tullius — Influence of Christianity — Historical Sketch of English Poor-laws — Law of Settlement— Increase of Poor's-rate— Scotland— Increased consumption of Eng land — Diet of Poor-houses— Remedies proposed — Mr. Sadler —Report of the Poor-law Commission— Allowance System — Moral effects — Functionaries — Overseers — Law of Bastardy — Plans for Reform — Poor-law Commissioners—Ob jections to the Poor-law Bill — Prevalent errors about England— Right of the Poor to relief 122

Letter XVI

Party prejudices of England — Peers for Life — Aristocracies of France and England — Lawyer Peers — Eligibility of Peers to sit in the House of Commons — Ex ojjsicio Seats in the House of Commons — Difficulties attending the formation of a Ministry — Balance of Parties — Negro Slavery — Objections to Emancipation — Notions on private Property — New Ministry — Causes of Changes in England — Tory Blunders — " Measures not Men" — Freedom of the Press — English Newspapers — Speeches of Sir R. Peel and Lord John Russell — Lord Melbourne and O'Connell — Corrupt practices at Elections 157

Letter XVII

Climate of England — Houses — Fires — Museum — St. Paul's Cathedral — St. Peter's — English Drama — English Law . 174

Letter XVIII

Exchange — Bank — Lloyd's Coffee-house — Naples and London — Commercial Spirit — West India Docks — Absence of Soldiers — Standing Armies 177

Letter XIX

Radical opinions and Toiy saws — Concession — English Church — Incomes of Bishops — Voluntary System — Education Expenses — Steam Printing-press — Intellectual power — Westminster Abbey — English Manners — Education of Women — Covent Garden — Macbeth — Richmond — English Architecture — Fashion and Flattery .... CONTENTS. IX 241

Letter XX

Paye Museum— Philharmonic Concert — Police-office — Summary Proceeding — Morning Concert— Concert-room — English, French, and German women — Royal Military Asylum — Chelsea Hospital — Hyde Park 202

Letter XXI

French Communicativeness — English Reserve — Prussian ( Staatszeitung ' — < Wochenblatt' — Exhortations to Peel — ' Thorough' — Insignificance of the Theatre— Political Press in Berlin and London — Whigs and Tories — Primogeniture — Husband-catching — Religious Bigotry — New interpretation of the Apocalypse — Hansard's Debates — English Suciely — German Joviality 213

Letter XXII

English and French Society — Scene in an Omnibus — House of Commons — English Oratory — Poor Laws for Ireland — O'Connell — Public and Private Law — Repeal — Lord John Russell — Devonshire Election — Sir R. Peel's City Speech — Fifty-fourth Birth-day — < King and Constitution' — King of Prussia, the First Reformer of Europe — Fogs — English Orthography of German 228

Letter XXIII

Reform in Parliament — Historical Sketch of English Parliament — Spiritual Peers— Creation of Peers — Changes in the House of Commons, from Edward I. to George III. — Projects of Reform — Mr. Pitt — Duke of Wellington's resistance — Its consequences — Lord John Russell's Bill — Remarks on the Debates — Rejection by the Lords — Resignation and Return of Whig Ministers — Final passing of the Bill . .

Letter XXIV

Remarks on the Reform Bill — English attachment to Forms — England aud France Constitutional States : meaning of those words — National Bigotries — History, Principles with a CONTENTS. X Page their Consequences — Sir Robert Peel — Exclusive Regard to Quantity, and neglect of Quality, iu modern Political Schemes — Edinburgh Review — Reports of Commissioners — Royal Authority — Centralization — Relation of numberof Electors to Population — Annual Parliaments — Ballot — Prospects of England As Herr von Raumer mentions in one of the following letters, that, when he did me the honour to request me to translate them, he gave me full powers to omit, abridge, and alter, it seems necessary that I should say whether I have used this permission, and to what extent. At first it appeared to me expedient to omit a good deal ; particularly the author's statements of the past history, and actual state, of certain English institutions, with which it seemed fair to presume English readers to be familiar.

But, on looking nearer into the matter, I saw that his arguments and conclusions rested immediately on these statements ; and that if I omitted the latter, I took upon myself the responsibility of the question, whether Herr v. Eaumer's conclusions followed from his premises ; and, if not, whether it was the statement that was incorrect, or the inference unsound. And this I did not feel myself justified in doing. I have therefore given them all. I have omitted (as I have carefully noted in the several places) certain summaries of debates in Parliament. These debates are quite recent, and references are given by the author to Hansard's reports of them; so that those who desire it can easily refresh their memory. I have also omitted one or two personal allu sions. There is, however, little of this kind for the translator to do.

Herr v. Raumer's objects were certainly far removed from the vulgar and discreditable one of collecting and retailing per sonal anecdotes; and I think the reader will perceive a general feeling of good will, respect, and gratitude towards England and Englishmen, which would naturally preserve him from all inclination to disparage or calumniate persons with whom he came in contact; as his high integrity would make him recoil from the idea of betraying confidence reposed in him. I think it right to mention more particularly one instance in which I have used my discre tionary power, because it may be liable to mis interpretation ; though, as it is of a personal nature, I do so with extreme reluctance. The name of Mr. Bentham occurs not unfrequently in the work, as the supposed representative of the opinions of an existing party, and always accompanied with expressions of disapprobation or of contempt.

I have constantly omitted it, when used in this manner, and have only inserted it in one place, where some remarks on Mr. Ben tham's opinions occur. Allusions and insinua tions, founded on what I believe to be an entire misapprehension of the character and sentiments of Mr. Bentham, were, as I thought, neither instructive nor convincing ; and to me, who had much cause to know the warmth, singleness and kindness of heart of the venerable man of whom Herr v. Raumer has conceived such erroneous impressions, would have been, I confess, most painful to write. I am anxious, however, that this unfairness, if such it be, should be under stood to be the effect of grateful and affectionate regard for the memory of a revered friend, and to have no relation to speculative systems of politics and ethics, which it is quite beyond my objects and my province to affect to judge.

With regard to the opinions generally con tained in the work, it would be presumptuous in me to attempt either to advocate or to criticise them ; nor should I have alluded to them had I not seen that the author's politeness has led him to express a wish that they might coincide with mine. I am far from undervaluing any expression of Herr v. Raumer's respect; and there are many subjects, among those within my reach, on which I entirely agree with him; but I must protest against being made a party to the opinions of any author whatever. It is the peculiar and invaluable privilege of a translator, as such, to have no opinions ; and this is precisely what renders the somewhat toilsome business of translating attractive to one who has a profound sense of the difficulty of forming mature and coherent opinions, and of the presumption of put ting forth crude and incongruous ones; not to mention the more individual feeling of the un suitableness of any prominent and independent station in the field of moral and political discussion, to a person naturally withdrawn from it.

The remark which I have just made as to the opinions of an author, also applies to his state ments. In three volumes containing so large a variety of subjects, treated as they arose day by day under public discussion, even a native might be expected to commit occasional errors with regard to matters of fact. I have, however, abstained from verifying his statements, or from suggesting any corrections of assertions, as to the accuracy of which a doubt might occur to me : inasmuch as I wished to exhibit a faithful portraiture of the author's views, and of the amount of knowledge which he possessed on each subject, so as to enable an impartial estimate to be formed of the weight due to his opinions. The Memoir of the Author, translated from the ' Conversations Lexicon,' I have prefixed, because the lives and writings of the eminent men of Germany are not in general familiar to Eng lish readers ; because it would be worth while to insert it, if it were merely to show the transition of the man of business into the man of letters — so utterly unknown in this country ; and be cause the history of Herr v. Raumer's political life affords the best commentary on his political opinions regarding England.

They appear to be such as a loyal subject of Prussia, where reform has so long been the exclusive business of the government, would naturally fall into. The extreme haste with which this work has been translated is, I trust, sufficiently obvious to disarm all criticism. This plea is, in ordinary cases, quite inadmissible ; but, in my own defence I must say, that when I acceded to Herr v. Raumer's request, I had no idea of the length of the book, nor of the extreme expedition with which it was to appear in Germany: two cir cumstances which have not only compelled me to write with the greatest rapidity, but to request Mr. Murray to put a considerable portion of the work into other hands. By this I am sure the author and the public will lose nothing; but it is fair to the gentleman who has translated the third volume, and to myself, to say that I have not so much as seen it ; and that, as far as translation goes, it is an entirely distinct work.

It would be unreasonable to look at a work executed under such circumstances as in any de gree a work of art, or amenable to the tribunals of art. Whatever defects may be visible in the style, they cannot be so obvious or so offensive to any eye as they are to mine. Fortunately, the nature of the subjects of which Herr v. Raumer chiefly treats, renders form comparatively unimportant, and the matter is, to the best of my knowledge and belief, faith fully rendered. As the greater part of the translation was done at a distance from works of reference on English affairs, the quotations and extracts have been re-translated from the German, which will account for their not appearing in the precise words of the original. Disclaiming, as I do, all idea of affecting to sanction the opinions of such a man as Herr v. Raumer, I may yet. venture to say that I have gone through my work with the satisfactory per suasion, that I was helping to give utterance to the sentiments of an honest, courageous, faithful, and enlightened friend to the highest interests of humanity.

Of the fitness of the means he advocates I do not presume to judge ; but it is permitted to every one to share his earnest and hopeful zeal for the end towards which his wishes and his labours are directed. S. A. London, March 18, 1836. MEMOIR Of PROFESSOR VON RAUMER. (From the ' Conversation's Lexicon.') Friedrich Ludwig Georg von Raumer, the eldest son of the Kammerdirector Georg Friedrich von Raumer, bora at Worlitz, near Dessau, on the 14th of May, 1781, went in his twelfth year to the Joachims thal Gymnasium at Berlin, where his residence in the house of the Kammerpresident von Gerlach exercised a beneficial influence on his education. In his seventeenth year Raumer entered the university, in order to study law and economical science. After three years' residence at Halle and Got tingen he passed a considerable time at Dessau, in order to obtain a practical know ledge of rural economy.

In 1801 lie was XX MEMOIR. appointed Referendary in the Chamber of the Kurmark*, and in the next year attended the Oberpresident von Bassewitz to Eichs feld, recently annexed to Prussia, where he obtained much experience in business, and was appointed assessor. But notwithstanding these occupations, he never, from the time of quitting the university, lost sight of historical studies, and in 1803 he began at Berlin to collect materials for his work on the emperors of the house of Hohen staufen. During the first French war (1806 — 8), he was at the head of a de partment of the board for administering the royal domains at Wusterhausen, near Berlin ; he nevertheless found time to make * The Mark of Brandenburg was formerly divided into the Kurmark, or the Electoral Mark ; the Allmark, or the Old Mark; and the Neumark, or the New Mark.

The Rammer, or Chamber, was a financial board, which had the management of the public domains, and the quartering and provision of the troops ; it also exercised a superintendence over the police. The branches of knowledge requisite for a member of one of these chambers were termed Cameralwissenschaften (translated " economical science" in the last page), and a man who devoted himself to them was termed a Camerahst. The old triple division of the Mark of Brandenburg has now been abolished, and the Chambers have been supplanted by the Regierungen, or Administrative Boards: (see the English translation of Cousin's Report on Instruction in Prussia, Explanatory Notes, p. %___.). The term Cameralmssenschaften is likewise now nearly abandoned, and has been sup planted by the more general term of Slaatswissenscha/ten, or " political sciences." — Translator.

MEMOIR. XXI considerable advances in his historical la bours, and for the first time gave lectures on history. In 1809 he was appointed to the situation of a councillor at Potsdam under the newly organized government, and in 1810 he was called to Berlin, where he was employed in the office of the Minister of Finance. At this period, Prince von Hardenberg, the Chancellor of State, not only intrusted him with the transaction of important business, but received him into his house, and admitted him to familiar intercourse. However improving and ad vantageous this connexion might appear, yet Raumer soon perceived that business of such importance engrossed his entire attention, and that he must either give up this employment, or completely abandon his historical career. Three years before, he had almost resolved, on the recommendation of Johann von Miiller, to become a professor in a university of Southern Ger many : this idea now recurred, and he him self drew the Cabinet order, by which the king appointed him a professor at Breslau in 1811.

Here he lived devoted to science MEMOIR. and his friends, until, in 1815, a journey to Venice served still more to convince him of the necessity of undertaking a longer tour in quest of historical information. At the re commendation of the ministry, and especially of Prince v. Hardenberg, the king gave him leave of absence, and furnished him with the means of travelling. He was absent from the summer of 1816 until the autumn of 1817, and found in Germany, Switzer land, and Italy valuable materials for his history of the Hohenstaufen. In 1819 he was called to Berlin as professor of poli tical science ; but, with the exception of a course on statistics and public law, delivered after the death of Professor Riihs, he has chiefly confined himself to historical lectures. Within the last few years Herr von Raumer has established fresh claims to the attention and respect of the public, both by his constant industry in the world of letters, and, in that of politics, by the firmness and courage with which he has ex pressed his opinions in times of excitement, and amid the agitations of party.

His great MEMOIR. XXIII historical work, ' The History of the Hohen staufen,' spite of the honest criticisms of erudition, or the cavils of mortified pe dantry, had established his reputation for ever in the field of science. It has already become national property ; as the various reprints of the work, and the attempts made, with greater or less success, to adapt Rau mer's representations of this, the Heroic Age of Germany, to the stage, sufficiently prove. Since that time his historical in quiries, no longer concentrated upon one laro-e and well defined field, but diffused over various interests — branching out into different veins — like modern history itself, have not so completely engrossed all his mental faculties, as that story of the early times of Germany; which in its beginning, its catastrophe, and its single tragical issue, seems to embrace the personal relations and interests of one vast and varied human life.

As he had formerly abandoned a brilliant political career, in order to devote his entire strength to science, so when he had attained this object, and had completed his great work, he again turned his labours to the MEMOIR. living intercourse of the present. Rau mer is one of a class of German Gelehrten (men of letters and science), till lately very few in number, who have been able to recon cile the most rigorous demands of science with the cultivation of those lighter and more graceful tastes which fit a man for society. He has proved that it is possible for a German Gelehrter to be also a man and statesman, a political writer, and a lover and a judge of Art, without detracting from the profoundness of his learning, or impair ing his power of application. Although this is a truth which daily becomes more and more evident, and must at last succeed in overturning the old aristocracy of pe dantry which ruled in Germany, yet a man must be endowed with singular ardour and vivacity and be placed in very favourable circumstances, to be able to labour with effect in such varied departments as Ra ti mer has done.

The part he has taken in politics has given rise to many misconstructions, — as must happen when party rage can see only party opinions. Raumer is a truly MEMOIR. free man, who opposes absolutism in every shape ; but most strenuously when it as sumes that of the despotism of exclusive political creeds, given out as the only means of political salvation. As the absolute principle in government changed with the disturbed times and the agitations of his country, his opposition changed likewise. He has remained perfectly steadfast and consistent; but the objects of his opposition have altered with time. Never having sworn implicit allegiance to any party ; praised up to the skies one day by those who persecuted him the next : he is no political weathercock, but a truly independent man, whose vote thrown into the scale gives it a weight which, in Germany at least, no party man can add to the cause he espouses.

Being a steady and zealous royalist upon principle, and a faithful adherent of the Prussian government, as the representative of that progressive civilization which marked its course up to the time of the congress of Carlsbad, he opposed the boyish chimeras of the disciples of Jahn, and thus incurred the hatred of the liberals, who denounced c M-EMOlRi XXVI him as a feudalist, a papist, &c. When, on the other hand, the idea of legitimacy degenerated from a useful fiction into an idolatry destructive of all intellectual life and progress ; when, amid the incense offered at the foot of the throne and the altar, the spirit of feudal aristocracy began to rise from its long slumber, Raumer's sound and acute understanding immediately perceived whence the greatest danger was likely to arise. The historian raised a warning, the Prussian patriot a strong, and, at last, an indignant, voice.

He who had strenuously laboured with Prince v. Hardenberg (whose greatest merit was, that he rapidly detected ability, and immediately employed it in the service of the country) at the regeneration of the Prussian monarchy could not but protest, in the name of the principles which had guided that great statesman, against those now acted upon, which threatened to destroy that glorious work. His voice was raised alone. His former fellow-labourers were grown old, or spiritless, or were elevated to posts in which they found it con venient to be silent. Raumer's name was MEMOIR. XXVII now hailed with acclamation by the liberals ; they extolled him to the skies, and exulted in the accession to their party, of a man who was as far from sharing in their dreams of freedom, as in the short-sighted obstinacy which had driven him (apparently, and for a moment) into their ranks.

There may,, perhaps, come a time when the latter will again turn from him with no less indignation, than the old Prussian em ployes — who cannot understand how a ser vant of government can presume to exercise his judgment on the acts of his superiors — now regard him with alarm and horror. If the much-talked-of juste milieu consists in endless tacking between two opposite principles, Raumer belongs rather to one of the extremes, than to that; but if the expression is taken to denote that free and neutral ground on which a man, resting upon the basis of justice, and untrammelled by party views, combats for truth proved by experience, careless whether his blows fall to the right or the left, — then Raumer unquestionably belongs to the juste milieu ; and it were to be wished that Germany posc2 MEMOIR. sessed more such political independents.

His treatise on the Prussian Municipal System * had opened a paper war, out of which Raumer, in spite of many important practical objections, came triumphant ; inas much as Stein, then minister of state — the creator of that system — avowed the principles of the work as his own. The work which followed upon this, " On the Historical Development of the Notions of Law and Government's," an acute ex amination of all the theories of government from the ancient to the most modern times, has gained greatly in completeness and practical interest in the latest edition. Two journeys to Paris and the South of France brought him intimately acquainted with the elements of French political and civil life (if, indeed, these can be separated). In Paris he was a witness to the great catastrophe of July. With prophetic spirit he foretold it, in letters which are printed * " Uber die Preussiche StUdteordnung."

Leipzig, 1828. ■j- " Uber die geschiehtlidie Kntwickelnng der Begriffe von Recbt, Staat, und Politik,-' Leipzig, 1826 and 1832. MEMOIR. XXIX precisely as they were written to his family*. It was no difficult matter indeed for the experienced historian who, with untroubled, though anxious eye, followed the obdurate policy of the Polignac ministry step by step, to predict the result. But the heightened effects of the approaching storm — the lan guage of exasperation — the admirable de scriptions — the calm glance, accustomed to watch the current of events — combined with the liveliest sympathy in all that was pass ing, and the most profound reflections on government — all expressed with perfect ease and frankness to his family and friends, stamp these letters with a peculiar value ; and they will remain not only an historical document, but a singular proof that the qualities which best fit man for his purely human relations, are more nearly connected with those of the politician and statesman than is generally believed.

Another fruit of this journey is, the Letters from Paris, in Illustration of the History of the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries -\. * Briefe aus Paris im Jahre 1830. 2 B*'- Leipzig, 1831. f Briefe aus Paris zur KrlUuterung der Geschichte des 16 und MEMOIR. The historical inquiries which led him to France were destined to a new work, upon which he has been employed for several years, and which will extend to six volumes — the History of Europe from the End of the Fifteenth Century* — of which three volumes have already appeared. This work is distinguished by accurate and profound re search which throws new light on many historical problems ; by a clear perception and distinct grouping of events. In the number of the Historical Annuals for 1831, he published his History of the Downfall of Poland J, which is also printed separately.

On the merits of this work there is but one opinion in Germany. In Prussia, the timid could not understand how a man, employed and paid by the government, could declare in print, that that govern- 17 Jahrhunderts. 2 Bde- Leipzig, 1831. (Translated by Lord F. Egerton.) * Geschichte Europas seit dem Ende des 15 Jahrhunderts. Leipzig, 1832-3. Since this was written two more volumes hr.ve appeared. (A translation of this work is in preparation, and wiil shortly be published. — Translator.') j- Historisches Taschenbuch, edited by Herr von Raumer since 1830. J Polens Untergang. Zweite Aufl. Leipzig, 1832. MEMOIR. XXXI ment had acted unjustly. Not only is the historian free to say this, but it is his duty ; besides, it is to be observed that Rau mer had always expressed the warmest sympathy in the calamities of Poland.