Saturday week last, the morning papers contained an account of
the execution of four Polish gentlemen—Massalski, Zelmic, Jocz, and Wroblewski. On Tuesday, M. de Berg, the Russian Con- sul, and brother, we believe, to the General, wrote to the Times, giving a telegram from Warsaw, which stated that the news was absolutely false. We have before us a copy of the Wilna Courier of the 20th August (Old Style), the official journal, published in Russian and Polish, which states that the noble Karol Mas- Wlodzimierz Zelmic, and Ludwig Jocz, having been found guilty of taking part in the acts of the insurgent bands, with arms in their hands, have been shot to death, the day, hour, and place of execution, in each instance, being specified. The Wilna Courier of the 15th, also before us, gives a similar account of the execution of Ignatius Wroblewski and Thomas Waszkiewicz. The only in- accuracies in the English telegrams were that Massalski was called Massaliki, and Zelmic spelled Silwicz, mistakes on which the Russian authorities ought not to be very hard, as in the Wilna Courier, from which we quote, Wroblewski is described in the Russian column as a gentleman of Vitepsk, and in the Polish as a gentleman of Wilna. Meanwhile, we hope M. de Berg will explain to us whether we are to believe the Government at Wilna, when it says it has committed four murders, or the Government at Warsaw, when it denies them. It is quite possible, indeed, that the solemn mis-statement has, in this instance, been unintentional. It must be difficult for the Russian Government to keep an accurate list of the crimes it authorizes.
