§ MR. DARBY GRIFFITHsaid, he would beg to inquire of the First Lord of 355 the Treasury, as to the existing state of relations between Russia and Sweden on the subject of Poland. The noble Viscount at the head of the Government had, on a former occasion, taken rather a sanguine view of the efficacy of the provisions of the treaties which related to Poland, and there was much of the same vague generalities on that subject in the speeches of the noble Lord as in the recent despatches of the Foreign Secretary. Russia appeared to have answered the despatches of the noble Earl by the publication of an amnesty which did not satisfy the claims of Poland, and the important question now was, what was the next step to be taken? The publication of the amnesty had been accompanied by a sanguinary proclamation from the Governor of Warsaw inciting the peasantry to rise and murder their landlords, and other tokens of Russian menace, which showed how little the amnesty was worth, and it had been altogether rejected by the Poles. In short, there was this irreconcilable difference between the Poles and the Russians:—That, whereas the former would never be satisfied without having Lithuania and other parts of ancient Poland restored to them, the Russians contended that those provinces had long been united to Russia, and that nothing should induce them to consent to a separation. But he wished to consider how this subject affected the relations between Russia and Sweden. The designs which Russia had always entertained upon the Baltic had led to an alienation of feeling on the part of Sweden, and the jealousy between both countries had been increased by the circumstance that a steamer, called the Ward Jackson, which had lately left this country carrying Poles who wished to go to the assistance of their countrymen, had put into one of the ports of Sweden; and being threatened by a Russian cruizer, the Poles made their escape into that country. The geographical position of Sweden had always tempted aggression on the part of Russia, as was shown in 1808, when Russia, by precipitating hostilities, obtained the conquest of Finland. The noble Viscount once represented himself as a "judicious bottle-holder" in the great conflicts of Europe, and some such quality might before long be again in requisition. He trusted that the noble Viscount would prevent Russia from making an attack on Sweden. The preparations at Cronstadt were well known throughout Europe to be 356 most active and extensive at the present moment; and as Stockholm was only twenty-four hours' sail from St. Petersburg the operation of the greater Power upon the less would probably be pressing and immediate. An hon. Member of that House had put into his hands a letter dated the 26th of March last, from a relative in Sweden, a landed proprietor, who stated that 20,000 Norwegians and 40,000 Swedes had been ordered to march for Finland. The writer added, that although war was regarded as a great calamity, yet that the military operation in question was very popular throughout Scandinavia. He presumed that the army had only received orders for preparation, but his information came from so high an authority, that if the noble Viscount felt a desire to know the name of the writer, he should be happy to communicate it to him privately. He trusted that the noble Lord's attention would be directed to the subject.