§ Sir H. NIELDasked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether by an Act of the Congress of Vienna of 9th 740W June, 1815, the kingdom of Poland, though dynastically united to Russia, remained, and has continued, constitutionally to be a separate entity; whether its laws have been entirely distinct and modelled on the Code Napoleon; whether he is aware that by Article 5 of the Civil Code of the Kingdom of Poland (1825) it was provided that the laws of such kingdom affect all Poles who are subjects thereof even if they are living abroad; and if such provision has remained intact and in full force up to the outbreak of the present War, or when was is abrogated and by what means?
§ Lord R. CECILBy Article 1 of the Final Act of the Congress of Vienna of the 9th June, 1815, as well as by Article 3 of the Treaty of the 3rd May, 1815, between Russia and Prussia, and by Article 5 of the Treaty of the 3rd May between Russia and Austria the position of the Kingdom of Poland was defined as follows?
Article 1.
The Duchy of Warsaw, with the exception of the provinces and districts which are otherwise disposed of by the following Articles, is united to the Russian Empire, to which it shall be irrevocably attached by its constitution, and be possessed by His Majesty the Emperor of all the Russias, his heirs and successors in perpetuity. His Imperial Majesty reserves to himself to give to this State enjoying a distinct administration, the interior improvement which he shall judge proper. He shall assume with his other titles that of Czar, King of Poland, agreeably to the form established for the titles attached to his other possessions.The Poles, who are respective subjects of Russia, Austria and Prussia, shall obtain a representation, and national institutions, regulated according to the degree of political consideration, that each of the Governments to which they belong shall judge expedient and proper to grant them.A constitution was granted by the Tzar Alexander I. in December, 1815, in accordance with this article.
The exact obligations of the Emperor of Russia under Article 1 of the Final Act of the Treaty of Vienna became a matter of great controversy in the nineteenth century. By a Ukase of the Emperor Nicholas I. of the 26th February, 1832, the Constitution was abolished, though it was stated that:
741W(the Poles) should have a distinct Administration, in conformity with their wants, in such manner as that the Kingdom of Poland may never cease to form an integral part of our Empire, and that they may in future make with the Russians but one nation, one people of brothers.His Majesty's Government, both then and in 1863, after the second Polish insurrection, maintained that by the Congress of Vienna not only a distinct administration, but also a Constitution has been guaranteed to the Poles, but this view was never admitted by the Russian Government. Papers on the subject were laid before Parliament in 1863.
A Code, modelled on the Code Napoleon, was promulgated in 1825, and was in force in Poland at the outbreak of war. The Russian Government has, however, modified the status of Poles by many Acts during the nineteenth century, and His Majesty's Government is unable to say whether, from a legal point of view, the article in question has been affected in any way.