If -ft 
 

Harper's Stereotype Edition. 
 
 THE 
 
 HISTORY OF POLAND-, 
 
 EARLIEST PERIOD TO THE PRESENT TIME. 
 
 BY JAMES FLETCHER, ESQ. 
 
 OF TRINITY COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE. 
 
 WITH A 
 
 
 
 NARRATIVE OF THE RECENT EVENTS 
 
 Obtained from a Polish Patriot Nobleman. 
 
 NEW-YORK : 
 
 PUBLISHED BY HARPER & BROTHERS, 
 NO. 82 CLIFF-STREET. 
 
 1835. 
 
ADVERTISEMENT 
 
 THE singular orthography of the names is not 
 the le^ft difficulty we have to encounter in the 
 minutiae of Polish history, and it has been greatly 
 increased by the attempts of most writers to reduce 
 them nearer to their pronunciation. Chevalier, in 
 his Preface to the " Histoire de la Guerre des 
 Cosaques," published in 1663, justly complains 
 of the custom of authors, even in his time, to 
 " estropier," as he terms it, these words ; and the 
 Revue Encyclopedique also points out the absurdity 
 of it. The Author has endeavoured to give the 
 Polish spelling as correctly as possible, and sub- 
 joins the folio wing hints for pronunciation, taken 
 principally from the "Letters, Literary and Po- 
 litical, on Poland, Edinburgh, 1823." 
 
 All vowels are sounded as in French and Italian ; 
 and there are no dipthongs, every vowel being pro- 
 nounced distinctly. The consonants are the same 
 as in English, except 
 
 w>, which is sounded like v, at the beginning of a word ; 
 thus, Warsawa Varsafa; in the middle or at the end of a 
 word it has the sound of/, as in the instance already cited ; 
 and Narew Nareff. 
 
 Cj like te, and never like k ; thus, Pac is sounded Patz. 
 
 g, like g in Gibbon ; thus Oginski. 
 
 ch> like the Greek or k ; thus, Lech Lek. 
 
 cz, like the English tch in pitch ; thus, Czartoryski pro- 
 nounced Tchartvryski. 
 
8 ADVERTISEMENT. 
 
 sz, like sh in shape ; thus, Staszyc like Stashytf. 
 szcZ) like shtch ; thus, Szczerbiec like Shtcherbietz. 
 rzj like j in je t with a slight sound of r ; thus, Rzewusld 
 Kjevuski. 
 
 The Author gladly avails himself of jthe present 
 opportunity to express his thanks for the commu- 
 nication so kindly furnished by E. H. Barker, Esq. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Remote History Ancient Records Historians Three Periods of Po- 
 lish History Military Despotism Dethronement of Popiel Piast's 
 Accession Piast Dynasty State of Poland Accession of Miec- 
 zylas Introduction of Christianity Boleslas the Great Invested 
 with Regal Dignity Defeats the Russians Is again victorious 
 Obtains the Name of "the Terrible" Casi mi r I. Polish Revolu- 
 tionInsurrection of the Serfs Casimir recalled from Exile Bo- 
 leslas II. takes Kiow Infidelity of the Polish Women Murder of 
 the Bishop of Cracow Boleslas excommunicated and dethroned 
 His Character Anecdotes Polish Militia Campaigns of Boleslas 
 IV. Reign of Casimir II., called the Just The Teutonic Knights 
 Casimir the Great Formation of the DietPolish Laws Pacta 
 Conventa End of the Piast Dynasty Page 13 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Hedwiga marries Jagellon, Duke of Lithuania Jagellon Dynasty com- 
 mences 1386 Lithuanians Their Origin, Religion, and History 
 Union with Poland Union of the Romish and Greek Churches 
 Jagellon defeats the Teutonic Knights Wladislas succeeds, 1433 
 Defeats the Sultan Amurath Is killed in the Battle of Varna Casi- 
 mir IV. Subdues the Teutonic Knights Polish Prussia added to the 
 Kingdom Origin of the Polish Diets, 1468 State of Learning in 
 Poland under Casimir Printing introduced John Albert, 1492 
 Ascendency of the Nobles Alexander Sigismund I. Annihilation 
 of the Teutonic Knights Sigismund Augustus Order of the Livo- 
 nian Knights suppressed Union with Lithuania consolidated State 
 of Learning under Sigismund Copernicus Zaluzianski, the Polish 
 Linnaeus Religious Toleration Trade of the Jews Termination, 
 of the Jagellon Dynasty, 1572 Remarks on this Period Page 44 
 
 CHAPTER ILL 
 
 Poland becomes an elective Monarchy Religious Toleration Henry 
 of Anjou elected Henry absconds Stephen Batory Introduces the 
 Jesuits-^Disciplines the Cossacks Origin, Manners, &c. of the Cos- 
 sacks Sigismund III., Prince of Sweden, elected Swedes revolt, and 
 expel Sigismund Demetrius, the Russian Impostor War with Rus- 
 siaThe Poles take Moscow, and carry the Czar Prisonejr to Warsaw 
 
10 CONTENTS. 
 
 A Pole Czar of Russia Zolkiewski- War with Gustavus Adol- 
 phus Wladislas VII. -T',io Revolt of the Cossacks Casimir TIL 
 Charles Gustavus overruns Poland Is repelled Treaty of Oliva 
 Project of Partition Revolts of the Nobles -Casimir abdicates the 
 Throne Liberum Veto Page 59 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Michael Wiec.nowec.ki elected Intrigues against him War with Tur- 
 keyTreaty of Buczacz Royal Confederation Treaty broken Death 
 of Michael Battle of Chocim Election of Sobieski Sobieski's Ances- 
 try Life, &c. Battle of Leopol Coronation Sobieski's Danger 
 Treaty of Zuranow Alliance with Austria Siege of Vienna Sobi- 
 eski succours Vienna and defeats the Turks Leopold's Ingratitude 
 Sobieski defeated by the Turks Consequences of this War Intrigues 
 War renewed Complaints of the Diet Religious Persecution 
 Sobieski takes the Jews into favour Disorders of the Government 
 Sobieski dies Page 81 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Augustus II., Elector of Saxony, raises himself to the Throne De- 
 tains his Saxon Troops in Poland Makes Peace with Turkey At- 
 tempts to seize Livonia Forms an Alliance with Peter the Great of 
 Russia Defeated by Charles XII. of Sweden Dethroned by Charles 
 XII. Stanislas raised to the Throne Augustus resumes the Crown, 
 and is again deposed Charles defeated at Puliowa Augustus reas- 
 cends the Throne Charles XII. Prisoner in Turkey Returns to 
 Sweden Attempt to assassinate Stanislas Death of Charles Op- 
 pression of the Protestants Death of Augustus Pag e 122 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Stanislas re-elected The Russians enter Poland, and proclaim the 
 Elector of Saxony King Siege of Dantzig Escape of Stanislas from 
 Dantzig Stanislas abdicates Augustus III. Count Brulh, Prime 
 Minister Intrigues of the Czartoryski Family Frederick the Great 
 invades Saxony The Death of the Empress Elizabeth terminates the 
 War Intrigues of Poniatowski and Catharine Life, Education, &c. 
 of Poniatowski Catharine murders Peter and is proclaimed Empress 
 Poniatowski's Disappointment His Intrigues Factions against 
 Augustus Death of Augustus Page 143 
 
 CHAPTER VH. 
 
 Forced Election of Stanislas Poniatowski Bold Resistance of Mokra- 
 nowski Confederation The Confederates offer the Crown to Henry, 
 Brother of Frederic the Great Coronation of Stanislas Anecdote 
 of Stanislas Claims of the Dissidents; supported by Russia ; rejected 
 by the Diet Confederacy of the Dissidents Confederacy of the Con- 
 stitutionalists Repnin's Treachery Polish Bishops banished to Si- 
 beria Dissidents confirmed in their Rights Confederacy of Bar 
 
CONTENTS. ] 1 
 
 Attempt to seize Repnin Bar taken by the Russians Rupture 
 between Russia and Turkey Defeat of the Turks State of the fun- 
 federates The Confederates transfer their Council to Eperies Visited 
 by Joseph II Page 166 
 
 CHAPTER VHI. 
 
 Grand Plan of the Russian Campaign in 1770 Insurrection of Greece 
 Elphinston sails into the Dardanelles Russian Fleet in the Levant 
 Defeat of the Turks by Land State of the Confederates French 
 Agents, M. de Taules, Dumourier, and Viomenil Valiant Defence of 
 Czenstochowa Viomenil's Account of the Confederates Saldern, and 
 Russian Cruelties The Austrians seize Zips The Prussians enter 
 Poland Attempt to carry off Stanislas from Warsaw Decline of the 
 Confederacy Treachery of Zaremba Treaty between Russia, Aus- 
 tria, and Prussia Dispersion of the Confederates Page 195 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 Origin of the Plan of Partition Prediction of Stanislas Relations of the 
 three Powers Frederic Maria Theresa Kaunitz The Emperor 
 Joseph has an Interview with Frederic at Neiss Interview at Neu- 
 stadt Frederic's Encroachments and Tyranny in Polish Prussia 
 The Austrians seize ZipsPrince Henry's Visit to Petersburg Prince 
 Henry proposes the Partition The three Powers sign the Treaty of 
 Partition Division "Defences" of the three Powers " Deduction," 
 &c. The Diet of Partition Patriots, Reyten, Korsak, <fcc. Poninski, 
 the Marshal Reyten's bold Resistance The Diet appoint Commis- 
 sioners -The Treaty is ratified Permanent Council Inaction of 
 Foreign Powers Page 208 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 State of Poland Stanislas proposes a Reform Diet of 1788, or Con- 
 stitutional Diet Alliance with Prussia-jConstitution of the 3d of 
 May Irresolution of Stanislas Treachery of Frederic William 
 Opposition of Russia to the Polish Reform Confederacy of Targowica 
 Frederic William's Letter to Stanislas The Russians enter Poland 
 Irresolution of Stanislas The Prussians enter Poland Frederic's 
 Manifesto Opposition of the Confederates to Russia overcome 
 Frederic's Claims Tyranny of Sievers Concession of the Diet 
 Second Partition Page 235 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 Patriots at Dresden and Leipzig Patriotic Conspiracy at Warsaw The 
 Patnots of Warsaw correspond with Kosciusko The Russian Minis- 
 ter orders the Troops to disband Madalinski refuses, and marches to 
 Cracow Kosciusko enters Cracow Confederacy of Cracow Kosci- 
 usko declared Generalissimo Kosciusko's Life Kosciusko marches 
 against the Russians Insurrection at Warsaw, and Expulsion of the 
 Russians Lithuania Barbarities at Warsaw Kosciusko's Camp at 
 
12 CONTENTS. 
 
 Wola The King of Prussia invests Warsaw ; retreats Insurrection 
 in Great Poland Suwarow marches against the Patriots Battle of 
 Macieiowice, and Kosciusko taken Prisoner The Russians take Praga 
 Massacre of Praga Warsaw surrenders Russian, Prussian, ani 
 Austrian Prisoners Third PartitionStanislas's Abdication ; Death ; 
 and Character Page 256 
 
 CHAPTER XIL 
 
 Polish Patriots at Paris and Venice The French Directory promise 
 Assistance Polish Confederacy at Paris Oginski sent to Constanti- 
 nople Buonaparte's Letter to Oginski Polish Confederacy in Wala- 
 ^hia broken up The Emperor Paul, on his Accession, liberates the 
 Polish captives Kosciusko Polish Legions ; in Lombardy ; at Rome 
 Suwarow, in Italy, defeats the Second Legion Battle of Novi 
 Legion of the Danube Legions perish in St. Dorningo War declared 
 between France and Prussia The French enter Warsaw Treaty of 
 Tilsit Grand-dutchy of Warsaw Frederic Augustus New Con- 
 stitutionDiet of 1809 War with Austria The Austrians enter 
 Warsaw Prince Poniatowski invades Gallicia Retreat of the Aus- 
 trians Part of Gallioia, &c. added to the Grand-dutchy Page 275 
 
 CHAPTER Xm. 
 
 State of the Dutchy of Warsaw in 1812 Napoleon's Designs ; Treaty 
 with Austria Alexander's Treatment of the Lithuanians Russian 
 Invasion Napoleon enters Wilna Napoleon's Answer to the Poles 
 * Confederacy Burning of Moscow and Retreat of the French 
 Wilna and Warsaw entered by the Russians Prince Poniatowski. 
 retires to Cracow ; joins Buonaparte in Saxony ; is drowned at Leipzig 
 Polish Legions follow Napoleon to France The Allies enter Paris 
 Koscius-ko's Letter to Alexander Alexander's Answer Dom- 
 browski and the Polish Legion return to Warsaw Congress of Vienna 
 The Kingdom of Poland annexed to Russia New Constitution 
 Lithuania, Posnania, Gallicia, and Cracow Diet of 1818 Infringe- 
 ments of the Constitution Death of Alexander Nicholas Poles 
 involved in the Russian Conspiracy ; acquitted Nicholas crowned at 
 Warsaw in 1829 Infringements of the Constitution Prospects of 
 Poland Page 294 
 
 NARRATIVE OF RECENT EVENTS. 
 
 Preliminary Views The Grand-duke Constantine's Barbarities Po- 
 litical Persecutions Case of Major Lukasinski Revolution of 1830 
 Attack on Constantine's Palace Escape of Constantine Rise of 
 the Engineers and Students Polish Troops join the Patriots Chlo- 
 picki appointed Dictator ; resigns the Command of the Army to Skrzy- 
 
 necki Page 312 
 
 Memoir of the President of Poland ... 329 
 
 APPENDIX 333 
 
THE O^ 
 
 HISTORY OF POLAND. 
 
 CHAPTER L 
 
 Remote History Ancient Records Historians Three Periods of Po 
 lish History Military Despotism Dethronement of Popiel Piast's 
 Accession Piast Dynasty State of Poland Accession of Miec- 
 zylas Introduction of Christianity Boleslas the Great Invested 
 With Regal Dignity Defeats the Russians Is again victorious 
 Obtains the Name of " the Terrible" Casimir I. Polish Revolu- 
 tionInsurrection of the Serfs Casimir recalled from Exile Bo- 
 leslas II. takes Kiow Infidelity of the Polish Women Murder of 
 the Bishop of Cracow Boleslas excommunicated and dethroned 
 His Character Anecdotes Polish Militia Campaigns of Boleslaa 
 IV. Reign of Casimir II., called the Just The Teutonic Knights 
 Casimir the Great Formation of the Diet Polish Laws Pacta 
 Conventa End of the Piast Dynasty. 
 
 THE Poles pretend to carry back their annals to 
 the remotest periods ; some, indeed, go so far as to 
 trace their descent from Lech, a great-grandson of 
 Noah. From him they make the Heneti, the Atveroi 
 of Homer, Herodotus, ^Eschylus, and Euripides, de- 
 Ascend. These they consider the progenitors of the 
 Sarmatians, who were their own immediate ances- 
 tors. Much curious and fanciful speculation is 
 wasted on this point by the Polish historians ; but 
 the fact is, that all this grand superstructure of 
 genealogy is reared on the petty foundation of 
 the resemblance of two words. The relation with 
 Lech, whom they call a great-grandson of Noah, is 
 derived merely from some fanciful affinity between 
 B 
 
14 HISTORY OF POLAND. 
 
 the name of Lech, one of the monarchs who figure 
 in their ancient and fabulous annals, and that of 
 some individual whom they meet with in the family- 
 tree of the patriarch. The inferred connexion be- 
 tween the Sarmatians and the Heneti, or An/trot, is still 
 more arbitrary, if possible. The Sarmatians, or 
 some tribe of them, adopted the name Sclavonians, 
 most probably from vanity, being derived from Slawa, 
 which, in their dialect, signifies glory or honour ; so 
 that Sclavonians means the honourable or glorious 
 nation. The Greek word AIVCTOI is of the same signi- 
 fication, which solves the important mystery. We 
 will now take leave of these fictions, and proceed to 
 something more palpable and substantial. 
 
 The most ancient records preserved in the ar- 
 chives of the country are a memorandum of a pri- 
 vate family-compact, dated 1088, and a bull of Pope 
 Clement III., which was issued about the end of the 
 twelfth century. The monks, who introduced Chris- 
 tianity into Poland about the year 960, were the first 
 who were acquainted with writing in the kingdom, 
 and made records. This has been the case, indeed, 
 with almost all the other countries of Europe ; but 
 with them, the history, prior to the monkish annals, 
 is preserved in the songs of the national bards. The 
 rhythm and measure of verse keep this kind of tra- 
 dition almost inviolably the same as it came from 
 the lips of the poet ; and the only question, therefore, 
 is about its original authority. Some scanty infor- 
 mation may thus be derived from the traditional 
 songs of a country ; but no light of this kind is shed 
 on the darkness of the early Polish history. The 
 Poles had either no bards or wandering- minstrels, or 
 possessed at that time so little taste for song, that 
 their effusions have been forgotten, and all the first 
 generations of the people, unembalmed by the muse, 
 have mouldered into their kindred dust, and are heard 
 of no more. 
 
 The monks, therefore, were the first repositories 
 
SITE AND CONFINES OF POLAND. 15 
 
 of learning. Almost all the Polish historians, from 
 Martin Gallus,* who lived in the twelfth century, and 
 whose works are the oldest extant on the subject till 
 nearly the seventeenth, were of the clerical order, 
 and wrote in Latin. The Bishop Naruszewicz, who 
 was employed by the government in 1780 to compile 
 a history of Poland, and had all possible access to 
 information, both in his own country and elsewhere, 
 found himself obliged to suppress the first volume 
 which he meditated on the early ages, and make his 
 narrative commence with the introduction of Chris- 
 tianity. 
 
 This occurred in the year 965 A.D.; from which time 
 we have every reason to believe that the national 
 events were recorded by contemporary writers. Tra- 
 dition says, that about 135 years prior to this period 
 a fundamental change took place in the government 
 by the accession of the family of Piast to the throne ; 
 and as the rumour of this event must have been com- 
 paratively fresh in the memory of the generation of 
 Poles then living (who, at least, might have received 
 it in the third or fourth generation), we may include 
 this period in the authentic history, and will there- 
 fore from this date our narrative. 
 
 The family of Piast, who came to the throne 830 
 A. D., preserved their authority, with some interrup- 
 tion, till 1386, A. D., when the dynasty of the Jagellons 
 commences. This last, continued till 1572 A. D., at 
 which time the crown became elective. The history 
 thus divides itself into three periods, which division 
 we shall adopt. 
 
 The site and confines of Poland at this early time 
 are very indefinitely described by historians ; but we 
 may infer from various landmarks which occur in the 
 history that it lay between the Vistula and Oder, ex- 
 tending not much beyond the modern Posen to the 
 north, and barely as far as the Carpathian mountains 
 
 * Between the years 1110 and 1135. 
 
16 HISTORY OF POLAND. 
 
 to the south, comprising the greater portion of what 
 is called Poland Proper.* This district was most 
 probably stocked with inhabitants by the superabun- 
 dant population of the erratic tribes on the east of 
 the Vistula, who advanced westward to occupy the 
 countries vacated by the savage hordes who over- 
 whelmed the Roman empire. These would be called 
 by classic geographers Sarmatians, an indefinite 
 name, which served in the ancient maps to fill up all 
 the unexplored tract from the Vistula to the Volga. 
 Some of these tribes, as above mentioned, assumed the 
 name of Sclavonians, and the portion who settled in 
 Poland gave the country that title from a Sclavonic 
 word signifying a plain, Poland being almost one 
 uninterrupted level.f 
 
 The government of a rude people is uniformly 
 found to be arbitrary: formed and defended by a 
 savage soldiery, it must always eventually succumb 
 to a military despotism. The business of war, more 
 than any other, must be performed by simultaneous 
 exertion ; and this can only be ensured by enducing 
 the individuals of a society to form together and to 
 serve under one heavy yoke. When the weight 
 becomes too galling, the yoke-fellows can readily 
 throw it off, but it is only to resume it ; for the same 
 reasons which led them to submit to it in the first 
 instance again operate to oblige them to own its 
 
 * The landmarks mentioned in the text, from which we deduce the 
 limits of Poland at this period, are as follows : Gnesne and Posen, which 
 are almost in the same latitude, were cities of note even at this early 
 period. Gnesne was for some time the seat of government, and was 
 made an archiepiscopal see at the first introduction of Christianity. 
 Allowing, therefore, a little farther extent towards the north, we have 
 the boundary on this side. The eastern limits could not have been 
 much, if at all, beyond the Vistula; for we find, that in the invasion of 
 Russia by Boleslas I., about 1000 A. D., he is stopped by the river Bug, or 
 Bog, in the Russian territory. Hungary, Bohemia, and Silesia, with 
 whom Poland was continually waging war, mark out its boundaries on 
 the south and west. 
 
 f "An observer in a balloon might pass at the height of twenty toises 
 over almost the whole of Poland, without fear of coming in contact with 
 any mountains or other obstructions." L'Observateur en Pologne par 
 Hubert Vautrin. 
 
MIRACULOUS STORY OF PIAST. 17 
 
 sway. The Polish voyvodes, or barons, had just ex- 
 erted their power, and emancipated themselves thus 
 early from the tyranny of their despot duke or leader, 
 who is known by the name of Popiel, at the period 
 when our history commences. They say that Heaven 
 fought for them ; and describe, in the figurative lan- 
 guage of illiterate barbarism, that a swarm of rats 
 were bred in the dead bodies of the tyrant's victims, 
 which exacted retribution for their wrongs, destroy- 
 ing the whole of his hated family without exception. 
 
 Dreading to suffer a repetition of the horrid scene 
 of tyranny, the Poles determined to enjoy for a time 
 the sweets of unrestrained liberty; but justice with- 
 out her sword had no power over a horde of savages, 
 and they were therefore obliged to restore it to her. 
 Assembling to appoint their chief magistrate, great 
 contests naturally ensued, and, as is generally the 
 case in such matters, while the powerful were op- 
 posing each other's pretensions, an humble individual, 
 whose low condition allowed him to pass unnoticed 
 through the crowd of competitors, possessed himself 
 of the vacant throne. Perhaps the enraged candi- 
 dates, rather than allow one of their opponents to 
 obtain the victory, vented their spleen in fixing on 
 this obscure person. The story is differently related 
 by monkish writers, and is embellished not a little 
 with miracle. 
 
 As political troubles seldom come alone, a famine 
 now added to the calamity of discord and anarchy. 
 Death, in its most horrid forms, was carrying on its 
 ravages among the people, when two angels, says 
 the old monkish historian, arrived at Cracow, and 
 took up their abode with one Piast, a poor artisan (a 
 wheelwright), son of Kossisco, a citizen of Krus- 
 witza, which was then the seat of power. Piast had 
 already a character for hospitality, but, like the poor 
 widow's of Samaria, his stock of provisions was 
 reduced to his last cruse. But even this, which was 
 a small cask of wine, he shared with his guests, who, 
 B2 
 
18 HISTORY OF POLAND. 
 
 admiring his charity and benevolence, promised him 
 the crown of Poland. The faith of Piast, says the 
 historian, was equal to his other virtues, and this 
 removed the mountains which stood between him 
 and the throne. Implicitly following the directions 
 of his angel visiters, he distributed the contents of his 
 little cask among the thirsty multitude, and found 
 that " it failed not." The people cried out that he 
 was chosen by the gods to be the father of his nation, 
 and the voyvodes, or barons, complying with their 
 wish, took him from his shop, and " set him among 
 princes." 
 
 It was about the year 830 that Piast was elevated 
 to the ducal dignity. His power was controlled 
 only by his own will and the fear of his subject 
 barons, but he did not abuse his authority.* The 
 Poles, although indebted to him for nearly thirty-one 
 years' peace, have preserved scarcely any remem- 
 brance of him, but his name. This however is an 
 "expressive silence:" it was a greater glory, and 
 required a more powerful mind, to keep his restive 
 and warlike subjects within due bounds for such a 
 space of time, than to leave a name emblazoned 
 with victories and " all the pomp and circumstance 
 of war." 
 
 The Poles at this period were like all other bar- 
 barous nations ; the mass of the people were almost 
 slavesf to the voyvodes, whose only business was 
 
 * He made Gnesne the seat of government. Tradition says that this 
 city was of much more ancient date than Piast, having as well as Posen 
 been founded by Lech, one of the traditionary dukes who lived about 
 550 A. D. It was named Gnesne from a word signifying nest in Polish, 
 as an eagle's nest was found there. For this reason also, says Puf- 
 fendorf, an eagle is the national crest; and on the same account the 
 order of knighthood of the white eagle was so entitled. 
 
 f We say almost slaves, for at this period they were not entirely 
 subject to the barons. With the exception of some slaves taken 
 prisoners in war, or bought, who were only to be found in the houses of 
 the great lords, the rest of the inhabitants were free and equal in the eye 
 of the law. Essai Historique sur la Legislation Polonaise Civile et 
 Criminelle, par Joachim Lelewel. 
 
STATE OF THE POLES MIECZYLAS I. 19 
 
 war and hunting : the only laws were will and fear, 
 and their only religion a gross idolatry. Without 
 arts or commerce, their sole pursuits were the use of 
 their weapons and athletic sports: nearly uncivil- 
 ized, and with their minds unoccupied by a par- 
 ticle of science and learning, they thought only of 
 " what they should eat, or what they should drink, 
 or wherewithal they should be clothed." Their 
 taste was exercised only in the embellishment of 
 their arms, and their judgment in the choice of their 
 horses. 
 
 The ducal authority descended from son to son of 
 the posterity of Piast, in almost unquestioned suc- 
 cession ; but their names serve for little more than to 
 fill the vacant niches of history till the accession of 
 Mieczylas I. This prince came to the throne in the 
 year 964 A. D. 
 
 He was born blind ; but at the age of seven, with- 
 out any assignable cause, he gained his sight. Such 
 an opportunity for the exultation of national bigotry 
 could not be allowed to pass unnoticed, and the event 
 was accordingly attributed to a wonderful interpo- 
 sition of supernatural power. The monks, who in- 
 troduced Christianity into Poland in this reign, as 
 we shall more fully mention hereafter, would of 
 course invent something as a type of their under- 
 taking, and make miracles prepare the way for the 
 advent of Christianity. 
 
 It was not a miracle, however, which softened the 
 heart of Mieczylas for the reception of religious 
 faith, nor was a monk his preacher. Love was his 
 priest, and woman's lips first schooled him in the 
 principles of the Christian religion. He was en- 
 amoured of Dombrowka, the daughter of the Duke 
 of Bohemia, a country which had lately embraced 
 Christianity. The lady refused to accept his suit 
 unless he were baptized ; and Mieczylas, prompted by 
 the impulse of affection rather than faith, sacrificed 
 the superstitions and prejudices of his fathers on the 
 
20 HISTORY OF POLAND. 
 
 altar of love But the religion which he first 
 adopted for the sake of Dombrowka he afterward 
 propagated for its own. He became a most ardent 
 champion of the gospel ; broke down even with his 
 own hands the idols of his country, and built 
 Christian churches on the ruins of pagan temples. 
 He founded the archiepiscopal sees of Gnesne and 
 Cracow, and appointed St. Adalbert, who had been 
 most instrumental in the introduction of Chris- 
 tianity, to be the first diocesan of the former see. In 
 fine, this prince almost wholly devoted himself to the 
 services of religion. We may form an idea of the 
 excessive ardour with which he advocated his new 
 faith from the edict which he issued, that when any 
 portion of the gospel was read, the hearers should 
 half-draw their swords, to testify their readiness to 
 defend its truths. Too often, alas! have those 
 swords been drawn in the cause of faith or religious 
 dogmas, and sprinkled even the mercy-seat with 
 human blood. 
 
 The character of this prince has been studiously 
 disparaged ; but the only reason for it is, that it has 
 been so flatteringly drawn by the monks. The ap- 
 proval of these religious writers is, in the eyes of 
 most modern historians, a damning blot; but in a 
 case like this, when we have no proof to the con- 
 trary, we must " lean to mercy's side," and may 
 even answer the detractors in Pope's noble words : 
 
 " Who builds a church to God, and not to Fame, 
 Will never mark the marble with his name." 
 
 On the death of Mieczylas, in 999, the ducal 
 authority devolved on his son, Boleslas. Like his 
 father, he was a devotee to the newly-adopted faith, 
 and the first act of his reign was one of piety. He 
 obtained the remains of St. Adalbert or Albert, who 
 had so signalized himself in propagating Christianity, 
 from the Prussians who had murdered him, and 
 deposited them with great pomp at Gnesne. For 
 
BOLESLAS THE GREAT. 21 
 
 this act of gratitude to the saint who first brougnt 
 him " the glad tidings of salvation" he received his 
 reward, a crown of glory, though a corruptible one ; 
 for Otho III., emperor of Germany, to whom St. 
 Adalbert was known by the fame of his reported 
 miracles, made a pilgrimage to his tomb in conse- 
 quence of a vow, and in return for the hospitality 
 he experienced from Boleslas, conferred on him the 
 regal dignity. This decree was also ratified by the 
 pope. 
 
 But peace-making was not an ingredient of the 
 king's religion ; he became one of the most active 
 warriors of his time. The monks, however, seemed 
 inclined to be witty on the subject, and called the 
 sword* with which he fought " the sword of God," 
 in allusion to a tradition that it was an angel's pres- 
 ent.! The first people against whom he unsheathed 
 this miraculous weapon were the Bohemians, whose 
 duke, without any provocation, had invaded his 
 country with a large army, committing the most 
 wanton and barbarous ravages. The invaders, how- 
 ever, immediately fled on the approach of the Poles, 
 who in their turn acted on the offensive. The Polish 
 troops at this time were chiefly cavalry, at least all 
 those who could afford to keep a horse; the rest 
 served on foot. This seems to have been almost 
 the only real distinction among the people.J The 
 booty was their only pay, and their weapons the 
 only baggage with which they encumbered them- 
 selves. The Bohemians could not withstand these 
 warriors, and even Prague, their capital, was obliged 
 
 * This sword he is said by some to have received from Otho, and 
 after being notched on the gates of Kiow, it was deposited in the trea- 
 sury of the kingdom, and worn by the kings at their coronation. 
 
 t It is remarked by the old historians that Boleslas sanctified all his 
 bloodshed with a semblance of religion ; and the first formal edict that 
 appears in Polish history was issued in this reign, being an order that a 
 Christian hymn should be sung before engaging in battle. 
 
 J All the people were obliged to serve, and the comes of the district 
 commanded them. These commanders were judges also, and were 
 called Kastellani and Castellans. 
 
22 HISTORY OF POLAND. 
 
 to surrender, after an obstinate resistance of two 
 years. The duke fell into the hands of the con- 
 queror, who sullied his glory by cruel, although pro- 
 voked retribution ; putting out his enemy's eyes, to 
 deprive him at least of the pleasure which scenes 
 of blood had always seemed to afford him. Mo- 
 ravia also yielded to the victor on his first approach. 
 The only use Boleslas made of his conquest was 
 to levy contributions, and demand a trifling trib- 
 ute, more as a feodal acknowledgment than an 
 impost. 
 
 His attention was afterward engaged by the Rus- 
 sians, who, being a growing, restless people at that 
 time, and strengthened under the wise jurisdiction 
 of the famous Wladimir, were, rather troublesome 
 and encroaching neighbours. Another pretext was 
 added for making the Russians feel the weight of 
 the Polish arms. On the death of Wladimir, civil 
 war broke out in Russia, in consequence of a dis- 
 puted succession ; and one of the parties requested 
 the aid of Boleslas. The Poles marched into the 
 country, and advanced as far as Kiow,* the most 
 celebrated and opulent city in that part of Europe, 
 called by the writers of the time the rival of Con- 
 stantinople (aemula sceptri Constantinopolitani). 
 
 The golden gate of Kiow (as it was emphatically 
 called) opened before the miraculous sword of Bo- 
 leslas ; and the Poles, after repaying themselves for 
 their campaign with the riches of the city, established 
 their ally on the throne, demanding in addition a 
 petty tribute. War was renewed, in which the Poles 
 were uniformly victorious. The greatest opposition 
 they encountered was on the banks of the Bug ; but 
 the intrepidity of the king carried all before it, and 
 the Russians were routed with great slaughter. The 
 river was so stained with blood, that it has retained 
 ever since the name of horrid, and Boleslas was 
 
 * The history of this city may be seen in the Tableau de la Pologn* 
 edited by Chodzko. Vol i. p. 458. 
 
CASIMIR I. -REVOLT OF THE SERFS. 23 
 
 entitled by his enemies Chroly the Terrible, or Val- 
 iant, by which appellation he is generally known in 
 history. 
 
 He is said next to have turned his arms against 
 the Saxons, and extended his conquests to the Elbe, 
 on the banks of which he erected two iron columns, 
 to mark the bounds of his victories. The inhabit- 
 ants of the country to the north of Poland, called 
 Borussians, now Prussians, were also reduced to 
 obedience. But the Poles retained none of these 
 conquests ; returning, like an overflowed river, once 
 more within their natural limits. 
 
 Boleslas, after having thus governed and fought so 
 many years, was laid in the tomb of his fathers in 
 1025, leaving the crown to his son ; who, not choosing 
 to disobey the requiescat in pace on his sire's monu- 
 ment, enjoyed nine years of peaceful luxury, quiet, 
 and debauchery, interrupted only by two or three 
 revolts. 
 
 Casimir I., grandson of Boleslas, being young, and 
 the Poles fearing that he would follow the bad ex- 
 ample of his father, was not allowed to enjoy the 
 uncontrolled regal authority ; Rixa, his mother, being 
 nominated regent. She, however, disappointed the 
 expectations of her subjects ; imposing enormous 
 taxes, and advancing Germans to the most important 
 offices : in consequence of which she was obliged to 
 fly from the kingdom, taking the precaution, how- 
 ever, to carry off the regal treasure. Her son, 
 Casimir, was also obliged to fly from the vengeance 
 of the voyvodes. 
 
 The throne being thus left vacant, a general scene 
 of saturnalia ensued in Poland. The serfs, imitating 
 the example of their masters, rose in a body, and 
 retaliated the cruelties which they had so long suf- 
 fered. The reaction was equal to the pressure, and 
 the whole system of servitude was at an end. The 
 Bible, from which the corrupt, timeserving priest 
 took his text, on passive obedience to the most 
 
 
24 HISTORY OF POLAND. 
 
 severe and tyrannical master, seemed to the po< 
 peasant only to add another link to the already hea\ 
 chain of bondage ; the church of God appeared b 1 
 another prison-house ; and the name of the Mo 
 High that of a strange god, who had come amor 
 them as a destroyer. Bibles, churches, monks, ai 
 masters were made one great sacrifice of atoneme 
 to the enraged serfs, on the idolatrous altars of the 
 fathers. The lex talionis, that law which has alwa; 
 been so deeply engraved on the human heart by tl 
 finger of revenge, was the only code of these infuria 
 bodies. Their masters had taught them to plunde 
 tyrannize, and murder ; and their last lesson was 
 rebel. 
 
 But an invasion of their country by the Bohemiar 
 who took advantage of the opportunity, now turn 
 the points of the Polish swords from each othei 
 bosoms. These marauders laid waste all the we 
 of the kingdom ; and the Russians, adding to t 
 slaughter, ravaged the east. The measure of t 
 people's calamities seemed now full. The rebellio 
 members of the political body again assumed th( 
 functions ; the serf bowed his neck to the yoke, ai 
 the Poles supplicated the ministers of that ve 
 religion they had just abjured, for aid ; they rebu 
 the churches, which were almost yet smoking ; se 
 an embassy to the pope for absolution and a cur 
 upon their enemies; and, lastly, invited back t 
 prince, Casimir, whom they had just banished, 
 resume the sceptre. 
 
 Casimir, however, was not to be found ; and ; 
 their search seemed fruitless. Messenger after me 
 senger returned without tidings, and hope after ho 
 was frustrated. At length they remembered that 1 
 mother, Rixa, who had taken refuge in German 
 would most probably be acquainted with the retre 
 of her son; and after some difficulty they succeed 
 in obtaining from her the wished-for intelligenc 
 Five years had elapsed since his flight, whe 
 
CASIMIR IS RECALLED. 25 
 
 letiring to France, he had become a student at the 
 university of Paris ; he then went to Italy, where the 
 wandering outcast king entered a monastery, '* to 
 beg for a piece of bread," and assumed the religious 
 habit. After this, he retraced his steps to France, 
 and became an inmate of the abbey of Cluny,* in 
 which seclusion he was hidden while the Poles were 
 so earnestly seeking him. But although found, an- 
 other apparently insurmountable obstacle stood in his 
 road to the throne ; his religious vow prohibited him 
 from engaging in secular matters. The pope, how- 
 ever, had the power to grant a dispensation of this 
 tie, which he at length consented to do, on condition 
 that they should pay Peter's pence, and that the 
 whole nation should shave their heads, and wear, like 
 other Catholic professors, white; surplices on the days 
 of festival. The Poles still continue to wear their 
 heads shaved, except a small portion on the crown; 
 though it proceeds, we believe, from a very different 
 reason to that assigned.! 
 
 Casimir soon re-established peace in Poland, and 
 ensured himself from aggression on the Russian 
 frontier, by marrying Mary, the sister of the Russ 
 duke. Religion also shared his attention with polity ; 
 and in gratitude to the monks of Cluny, who had 
 afforded him an asylum when his own subjects had 
 turned him out of the palace of his fathers, he invited 
 many of them into Poland, and fixed them in the 
 abbey of Tyniec,J near Cracow. Casimir, having 
 thus deserved well of his generation, made way for 
 his son, Boleslas, after a reign of sixteen years. 
 
 The crosier was now laid aside for the sword. 
 
 * Later Polish writers deny that Casimir became a monk, or was 
 even at Cluny ; but state that he went to Liege (Leodium) to finish his 
 
 Lelewers Essai. 
 
 t This had been founded by Boleslas the Great. 
 C 
 
26 HISTORY OF POLAND. 
 
 Boleslas II. was ready to fight everybody's battles', 
 to stretch out a hand to every falling sovereign, everi 
 at his own peril. His court became the asylum of 
 unfortunate princes, where they found a king who 
 was both ready and powerful to save. The son of 
 the Duke of Bohemia, the brother of the King of 
 Hungary, and the eldest son of the Duke of Russia 
 were at one time under his protection, and the claim- 
 ants of his assistance ; nor were their requests dis- 
 regarded. He reinstated them all on their thrones, 
 and even fought the battles of the Hungarian and 
 Russian monarchs twice over. His benevolence to 
 the latter prince eventually, though not directly, cost 
 him his crown. 
 
 > Kiow was the only city which offered any great 
 resistance to the Polish arms. Its opulent citizens 
 defended themselves with a valour proportionate to 
 the importance of their charge. Famine, however, 
 at length reduced them to obedience ; and Boleslas, 
 who was as great an admirer of courage as a pos- 
 sessor of it, treated the vanquished but brave Kio- 
 vians with the greatest generosity. So fully, too, 
 did the citizens appreciate his noble spirit, that as 
 he marched through the streets with his troops they 
 greeted him with acclamations ; a much more glo- 
 rious triumph than if thousands and tens of thou- 
 sands of shackled kings had swollen the pageant of 
 ovation. 
 
 But Boleslas, wheh "the Golden Gate" of this 
 city of voluptuousness was once shut on him, heard 
 no more the call of war : wearied with his labours, 
 he in a moment of weakness and lassitude laid his 
 head on the lap of a Delilah, and woke only to find 
 that his strength was " gone from him." Kiow was 
 the foster-child of Constantinople and the Eastern 
 empire. The voluptuous Greeks had made it a 
 storehouse of al Ithe luxuries of Asia ; here was the 
 noble architecture of Athens festooned with the 
 gaudy tapestry of Ly^ia, and the rough metal of 
 
INFIDELITY OF THE POLISH WOMEN. 27 
 
 Russian swords embossed with the polished gold of 
 Ophir and Persia. The hardy natives had plunged 
 into the stream of pleasure with all the zest of novelty 
 and were tasting of its enjoyments with the unpalled 
 and greedy appetite of healthy and vigorous con- 
 stitutions. ' 
 
 This was the state of Kiow when it received Bo- 
 leslas with open arms. The generous Pole quaffed 
 the bowl of pleasure which it held out to him with 
 the freedom of unsuspecting and unguarded frank- 
 ness ; and found, when too late, its intoxicating quali- 
 ties had transformed and degraded all the nobler 
 energies of his nature. The king's example was 
 followed Iby his troops, and this army of warriors 
 slept away, month after month, on the soft couches 
 of Kiow ; and, as if they had eaten of the fabled 
 fruit of the lotos-tree, at length forgot that their 
 homes were without masters, their wives without 
 husbands, and their children without fathers. 
 
 They had already been absent from Poland, it is 
 affirmed, seven years, engaged in these various wars 
 and pleasures ; and the Polish women, who found 
 that " hope deferred maketh the heart sick," naturally 
 consoled themselves with what was at hand, and 
 lastly bestowed their favours on their slaves. The 
 example was generally followed ; one Penelope only 
 was found Margaret, the wife of Count Nicholas, 
 of Zemboisin. She continued patiently to weave 
 the web of expectation till her faithless lord should 
 return to his duty. The tidings of this general revolt 
 among the women spread to Kiow, and most of the 
 enraged Poles, cursing Boleslas for being the author 
 of their disgrace by detaining them from home, and 
 without waiting for permission, or while their pas- 
 sion might cool, hurried to Poland, to wreak their 
 vengeance on their wives and their insolent para- 
 mours. They met, however, with a vigorous resist- 
 ance : for the women, maddened by despair, spurred 
 on their lovers to prove themselves worth) 7 " of their 
 
28 HISTORY OF POLAND. 
 
 favours, and sell their lives dearly ; while they did 
 not confine their efforts to mere exhortations, but 
 fought in person, seeking out their faithless hus- 
 bands, on whom to vent their rage. But in the heat 
 of this motley battle another enemy appeared. Bo- 
 leslas, at the head of the few remaining troops^ was 
 come to chastise them all ; the women for their infi- 
 delity, the slaves for their presumption, and the Poles 
 for their desertion and contempt of martial discipline. 
 Poland was deluged with blood, and deprived of 
 some of its best sons. Many of the women perished, 
 and the rest are said to have been obliged by the king 
 to suckle dogs, as a punishment for the degrading 
 connexion they had formed with their slaves. 
 
 But the last scene of the tragedy was yet to come. 
 St. Stanislas, bishop of Cracow, either being shocked 
 at the unchristian slaughter, or making it a pretext 
 for other designs, reproved Boleslas, threatened him 
 with the vengeance of the church, unless he ceased 
 from his bloody work, and even went so far as to 
 refuse him admittance to his church, still called St. 
 Stanislas- Kir che, while he was performing mass. 
 The hasty and provoked king, in a moment of rage, 
 burst into the sanctuary, and murdered the poor pre- 
 late at the very altar.* 
 
 The thunders of the pope now roared over the 
 devoted head of Boleslas ; he was accursed, excom- 
 municated, dethroned, and banished. He who had 
 given away kingdoms found none to bestow on him 
 the poorest pittance, and those who had grown rich 
 on his bounty refused him the meager alms of a tear. 
 Abandoned by men, and denounced as one abhorred 
 by God, he crept away into the forests, whose savage 
 tenants were the only living creatures which were 
 left to afford him an asylum, and make him an in- 
 mate of their caverns. At length the poor penitent, 
 broken-hearted, went to pour out the last bitter dregs 
 
 * St. Stanislas was buried in the cathedral of Cracow, and there w 
 till standing there his superb monument. 
 
WLADISLAS. 29 
 
 of the cup of life in a monastery in Carinthia ; and 
 he who had wielded a sceptre, and revelled in all the 
 luxuries of Kiow, spent the last few days of his life 
 in preparing lentils and hard bread for the monks, in 
 a miserable kitchen. 
 
 The life of Boleslas forms one of the saddest and 
 most striking pictures afforded by the worst vicissi- 
 tudes of human life. From the almoner of kings to 
 the pensioner of mendicants; from the leader of 
 armies to the menial of a monastery ; from the royal 
 voluptuary to the starving beggar ; from the palace 
 to the kitchen; how stupendous was his fall! and 
 how stupendous the power which hurled him from 
 the throne ! Nor was his moral fall less great. He 
 had set out in life with a heart full of generous feel- 
 ing ; he had a noble spirit ; but the bland and seducing 
 smile of the votary of gayety lured him to its orgies, 
 and corrupted the pure warm blood of a hero's heart. 
 Self-dissatisfaction, added to the violence of his pas- 
 sions, then accelerated his downfall ; and the hand 
 which was once stretched forth only to help the 
 weak and assist the poor, was now stained with the 
 blood of a minister of that faith to which his great 
 namesake and predecessor had devoted all the ener- 
 gies of his vigorous mind. Had the first and last 
 parts of this king's life been transposed, his charac- 
 ter would now perhaps be viewed in a very different 
 light. We must not, however, moralize longer on the 
 inmate of the Carinthian monastery, but return to 
 Poland, and its destiny under succeeding princes, 
 a dynasty that had already begun to feel the dreadful 
 effects of giving offence to that spiritual authority 
 that was preparing to rule the world. 
 
 The vengeance of the pope extended to the sons 
 of Boleslas ; and visiting the sins of the father on his 
 children, he excluded them from the succession. He 
 however allowed his brother, Wladislas, to assume 
 the supreme authority, but shorn of the pomp of the 
 C2 
 
30 HISTORY OF POLAND. 
 
 regal title ; and it continued in his family for a long 
 time.* 
 
 On the death of Wladislas, his son, Boleslas III., 
 succeeded to the throne in 1103. The fond but im- 
 prudent father had made a division of the Poljsh 
 territory between his children; but the collisions 
 which naturally ensued furnished Boleslas with an 
 opportunity of uniting the whole of his brothers' 
 patrimonies with his own. No sooner had he thus 
 consolidated the strength of Poland than he found 
 an occasion to exert it. The King of Hungary was 
 now involved in a war with Henry V., emperor of 
 Germany ; and having been instrumental in estab- 
 lishing Boleslas on his throne, the Polish duke was 
 bound to assist him. He therefore made a diversion 
 of the emperor's troops on the side of Bohemia, 
 under the pretext of maintaining the right of one of 
 the contending candidates for the Bohemian crown, 
 who had taken refuge with him. Henry was com- 
 pelled to desist from the expedition against Hungary, 
 to meet this new enemy. The German troops over- 
 ran Silesia, which was then dependent on the Polish 
 government, and penetrated as far as Glogau, a small 
 town on the Oder. This place was at that time but 
 feebly garrisoned; notwithstanding, the citizens gave 
 the emperor a warm reception. They were at length 
 obliged to make overtures, and agreed to surrender 
 in six days, unless they received succour. 
 
 No aid having arrived, the emperor advanced to 
 take possession of the town, but was unexpectedly 
 saluted with a discharge of arrows and javelins. 
 The citizens had received notice from Boleslas, that 
 he could not arrive within the six days, but would 
 not be long after; so that, availing themselves of 
 the laxity with which treaties were kept in that age 
 
 * The regal dignity was not reassumed till more than two hundred 
 years after, in the reign of Premislas II. Wladislas appointed one of his 
 favourites palatine, or commander-in-chief, which was the origin of the 
 authority of the palatines. 
 
ANECDOTE OF A POLISH ENVOY. 31 
 
 of savage warfare, they sacrificed their word to their 
 liberty, and still held out. So obstinate was their 
 resistance, that the Germans were obliged to retire, 
 and besieged Breslau, the capital of Silesia, on the 
 Oder, and sixty-seven miles to the south-east of Glo- 
 gau. The German historians* say, that a battle en- 
 sued here between Henry and Boleslas, in which the 
 latter had so much the worst, that he sent an ambas- 
 sador to the emperor, with overtures of peace, f The 
 name of this ambassador was Scrobius. Henry is 
 said to have received him very haughtily, and given 
 him to understand that the Poles must not expect 
 any peace from him, unless they submitted to his 
 conditions, and became tributary. At the same time, 
 runs the story, he led him to his treasury, to exhibit 
 his wealth ; and, pointing to the gold, told him there 
 were the weapons with which he would reduce the 
 Poles to subjection. To this the ambassador made 
 no answer, but taking a ring from his finger, threw it 
 into the heap, saying, with a smile, " Here is some- 
 thing to augment the store." Henry is said to have 
 answered with equal coolness, shutting the coffer, 
 Habdank ; I thank you ! Happy, remarks a modern 
 historian,^ would this state have been, if, surrounded 
 by neighbours who think as this emperor, it had pre- 
 served in our days that noble disinterestedness and 
 contempt for gold, which would have ensured it its 
 independence. A battle ensued, in which the Ger- 
 mans were completely routed ; and the emperor then 
 gladly accepted the offer of peace, which was after- 
 ward strongly cemented by the marriage of Boleslas 
 with Henry's sister. 
 
 It is paid that the duke employed this season of 
 repose in preparing to join the crusaders, who were 
 
 * Heiss. lib. ii. c. 10; and Gobelinus Persona Cosmad. aet. 6. 
 t This, however, is differently stated by some authors. The Universal 
 History makes the Germans perform a march from Glogau to Warsaw 
 distance of more than 200 miles, in one day. 
 t Rulhi&re, Histoire de 1'Anarclue de Pologne, torn. i. 
 
32 HISTORY OF POLAND. 
 
 at this time fighting for the rescue of Jerusalem. 
 History, however, does not tell us what use he made 
 of these preparations. 
 
 Boleslas, after having been conqueror in forty 
 battles,* was now to meet with a reverse. It was 
 treachery, however, which turned the scale of glory 
 against him. He had intrusted a Hungarian, whose 
 tale of sorrow had won on his heart, with the govern- 
 ment of one of the frontier towns, which the ingrate 
 betrayed to the Russians. The duke, marching with 
 an army to resent the injury, encountered the enemy, 
 and was again betrayed by the cowardice of one of 
 his generals, the palatine of Cracow, and obliged to 
 take to flight. He is said to have sent the pusillani- 
 mous author of his disgrace a hare-skin and a spin- 
 ning-wheel. But his spirit was so broken by the 
 defeat, that it brought, him to the grave. All the 
 glory of six-and-thirty years' victory was tarnished 
 by this one miscarriage ; one single day had blighted 
 the laurels which he had so long worn, and which 
 his enemies had seen green and unfaded, till a traitor 
 snatched them from his brows. A. D. 1139. 
 
 It was in this duke's reign that the pospolite, or 
 militia of Poland, was first established. Every pala- 
 tinate (of which Poland Proper contained eleven) 
 was obliged to raise a certain number of cavalry 
 within a stated time, to be at the king's orders. 
 
 Boleslas divided the dukedom between his four 
 eldest sons ; but this regulation pleased neither them 
 nor their subjects. " All, or none," was their motto ; 
 and after great contentions and various turns of for- 
 tune, Boleslas, the second son of the late monarch, 
 obtained the mastery, and was declared duke of 
 Poland, A. D. 1146. He however allowed the chil- 
 dren of his elder brother, Wladislas, to retain Silesia, 
 a portion of his patrimony, which continued in his 
 
 * Puffendorf, after some of the old historians, says but twenty-seven, 
 but be enumerates only the " batailles rangtet." 
 
ATTEMPT TO CONVERT PRUSSIA. 33 
 
 family a distinct government, but a fief of Po- 
 land,* 
 
 Wladislas, however, not content with being an 
 almoner of a younger brother's bounty, engaged the 
 emperors of Germany, Conrade and Frederic Bar- 
 barossa, successively to assist him in the recovery 
 of the Polish crown. The Polish historians agree 
 in stating that the emperors both failed, and were 
 reduced to the necessity of negotiation.! The con- 
 test was, however, shortly concluded by the death 
 of Wladislas, which happened as he was on his road 
 to Poland to try the chance of fortune once more. 
 
 Boleslas, being peaceably seated on his throne, 
 found the time hang heavy on his hands. Religious 
 wars were the prevailing fashion of the day, and 
 furnished employment for the idle and the fanatic. 
 Saint Peter's descendants, like their great apostolic 
 ancestor, have always been but too ready to draw ' 
 the sword in the name of Christ. The Polish duke 
 enlisted in the same cause, and pretending to be 
 grieved at the idolatry of his northern neighbours, 
 the Prussians, advanced into their territory with the 
 gospel in one hand and the sword in the other. 
 These people were then a barbarous race, inhabiting 
 the greater portion of what is now called Regal or 
 Polish Prussia, extending northward from Poland to 
 the Baltic. They were sunk in the grossest idolatry 
 and ignorance; their objects of worship were among 
 the most loathsome creatures in nature snakes and 
 reptiles. Besides these, however, like all other un- 
 informed nations, they regarded thunder, lightning, 
 and other natural phenomena, with superstitious and 
 fearful veneration. 
 
 These were to become the Polish duke's converts ; 
 and accordingly advancing into Prussia, he compelled 
 
 * Tt continued some time under the government of the descendants 
 of Wladislas, and ultimately became subject to the crown of Bohemia 
 about 1339. At length it was invaded by the Prussians. 
 
 t The German historian says, that Frederic reduced Boleslas to obe- 
 dience, and obliged him to pay tribute. 
 
34 HISTORY OF POLAND. 
 
 them to submit to his arms and to hear the Christian 
 doctrines preached. No resistance could be made by 
 undisciplined savages ; they were all driven into the 
 Christian fold. " Die in your sins," said the savage 
 monk to the stubborn recusant, and suited the action 
 to the word ; whereas " a promise of the life which 
 now is and that which is to come" was the reward 
 of the humble disciple. But " the bread of life" was 
 not to be given gratis, and Boleslas made them pay 
 dearly for it out of their scanty stores. It is said, 
 however,, by some historians, that the conversion of 
 the whole nation was effected without any bloodshed. 
 Perhaps they would with equal facility have enabled 
 us to account for the speedy decay of the early Chris- 
 tian church of Prussia, by reason of its not having 
 been cemented by the blood of martyrs. Be that as 
 it may, the Prussian soon relapsed into idolatry, and 
 unfortunately sent their Polish apostles prematurely 
 to receive the crown of martyrdom, as some small 
 acknowledgment for their late kindness. Decoying 
 the Poles into a defile, they attacked them with great 
 slaughter ; and Boleslas himself narrowly escaped. 
 
 The Polish duke, finding the occupation of conver- 
 sion not so agreeable as he had anticipated, turned 
 his attention to the management of his secular affairs, 
 in which course he persevered till the period of his 
 death, in 1173. 
 
 In the early part of this reign, the spirit of Euro- 
 pean chivalry directed towards the crusades had 
 spread through Europe, and extended even to Poland. 
 It was in 1147, that, induced by St. Bernard, Con- 
 rade, the emperor of Germany, in company with his 
 nephew and successor, Frederic Barbarossa, led sixty 
 thousand men against the Saracens for the recovery 
 of the holy sepulchre. Henry, a younger brother 
 of Boleslas, caught the infection, and at the head of 
 a numerous army of Polish volunteers embarked in 
 the same cause. One campaign, however, cooled 
 his religious ardour, and he returned back to Poland, 
 
CASIMIR THE JUST ANECDOTE. 35 
 
 But this short service did not lose its reward ; for he 
 is handed down by the monkish writers as one of 
 the greatest champions of the Holy Cross. 
 
 Four years after the death of Boleslas IV., during 
 which interval Mieczylas, his third brother, held the 
 ducal dignity, Casimir II. was called to the throne by 
 the discontented Poles ; an event which occurred in 
 1178. He was the youngest brother qf TBoleslas IV. 
 It was not ambition that induced him to take posses- 
 sion of the throne from which Mieczylas was ejected ; 
 for, on the contrary, he even requested to be allowed 
 to resign it to him, pledging himself to the voy- 
 vodes for his better conduct. This offer was, how- 
 ever, refused, the Poles not being willing to trust 
 themselves to their former tyrant ; and the only fruit 
 of the negotiation was the proof of Casimir's mild 
 and generous disposition. 
 
 He was engaged in various wars with the Rus- 
 sians, though not of sufficient consequence to Poland 
 to merit detail ; in all which, however, he rendered 
 himself conspicuous for clemency and benevolence, 
 " smoothing the rugged brow" of war, and binding 
 up the wounds which his sword had made. 
 
 The following anecdote is given as an admirable 
 illustration of the mildness and benevolence of this 
 amiable prince. " He was one day at play, and won 
 all the money of one of his nobility, who, incensed at 
 his ill fortune, suddenly struck the prince a blow on 
 the ear, in the heat of his uncontrolled passion. He 
 fledimmediately from justice ; but being pursued and 
 overtaken, was condemned to lose his head. The 
 generous Casimir determined otherwise. ' I am not 
 surprised,' said he, * at the gentleman's conduct ; for 
 not having it in his power to revenge himself on for- 
 tune, no wonder he should attack her favourite in 
 me.' After these generous words he revoked the 
 sentence, returned the nobleman his money, and de- 
 clared that he alone was faulty, as he encouraged by / 
 his example a pernicious practice that might termi- 
 nate in the ruin of hundreds of the people." 
 
36 HISTORY OF POLAND. 
 
 This prince was indeed a father to his subjects t he 
 viewed the oppression of the nobles over the serfs 
 with an eye of sorrow ; and though it was not in his 
 power to change the constitution of Polish society by 
 emancipating them and making them perfectly, inde- 
 pendent, what he could do he did, in protecting them 
 by strict laws from wanton cruelty. He has left be- 
 hind him the character of the most amiable monarch 
 that ever swayed the Polish sceptre. He had faults^ 
 but they were almost lost in the number of his noble 
 qualities and his virtues. He was a lover of peace, 
 and the friend of the people. 
 
 His manners were of the most conciliating kind, 
 
 " And e'en his failings lean'd to virtue's side." 
 
 His clemency was not the result of fear, nor his 
 bounty the ostentation of pride. Like Aristides, he 
 never swerved from duty and equity; and, unlike 
 him, he tempered right with mercy. He has there- 
 fore even one claim more than the Athenian to that 
 rare and enviable appellation which his subjects be- 
 stowed on him the Just. 
 
 After several succeeding reigns, in which nothing 
 occurred worthy to be remembered, we find Wladis- 
 las* III. on the throne in 1306. He had been deposed, 
 but after five years he was-reinstated in his authority. 
 The regal title had been revived by one of the pre- 
 ceding princes in the year 1296, but the Poles were 
 determined not to bestow it on Wladislas until he had 
 rendered himself deserving of it by reforming his 
 mind and character as a prince. 
 
 The first opportunity he had of meriting well of his 
 country was in its defence against new enemies 
 and invaders, no less than the Teutonic knights. 
 This military order had obtained a settlement in 
 Prussia, and were continually infesting the northern 
 frontier. The Germans who accompanied Frederic 
 
 * Surnamed Lokieteck, on account of his diminutive stature, meaning 
 bufan ell in height. 
 
TEUTONIC KNIGHTS DEFEATED. 37 
 
 Barbarossa, Emperor of Germany, to the crusades in 
 1 188, being- left by his death without a commander, 
 were at length formed by Henry, King of Jerusalem, 
 into a religious and martial order, called the Knights 
 of St. George. This title was afterward changed to 
 Knights of St. Mary. They were required to be of 
 noble parentage, to defend the Christian religion, and 
 promulgate it to the utmost extent of their power. 
 In the year 1191, Pope Celestine III. granted them a 
 bull, addressed to them under the title of the Teutonic 
 Knights of the Hospital of St. Mary the Virgin. In 
 the beginning of the 13th century, Culm, in Prussia, 
 was allotted to them, under the condition that they 
 should turn their arms only against their pagan neigh- 
 bours. This injunction, however, was soon set at 
 naught. After conquering all Polish Prussia (as it 
 is now called) and building Marienburg, they invaded 
 the Polish territory, and overran the greater part of 
 Pomerania. 
 
 Wladislas, when they had been denounced by the 
 pope as out of the pale and protection of the church, 
 soon checked their inroads. After several battles, in 
 which the Poles were always superior, a great and 
 last effort was made, but still fortune declared against 
 the Teutonic knights ; for, according to the Polish 
 historians, 4000 of them were left dead on the field, 
 besides 30,000 auxiliaries either slain or taken cap- 
 tive. Wladislas had it now in his power to exter- 
 minate the order ; but, at the sacrifice of policy, he 
 contented himself with taking possession of his own 
 territory, and binding them down by a treaty. 
 
 Having thus fought the battles of his country, he 
 returned to obtain the crown which his subjects could 
 no longer refuse. However, to give the ceremony 
 the sanction of religion, Wladislas sent an ambas- 
 sador to Rome to persuade the pope, more, perhaps, 
 by a liberal sum of money than words, to ratify it 
 with his authority. This confirmation being obtained, 
 the ceremony of coronation was performed with great 
 D 
 
38 HISTORY Or POLAND. 
 
 pomp in the cathedral at Cracow.* Death, however, 
 shortly transferred the diadem from his head to that 
 of his son Casimir, in the year 1333, to whom he 
 gave these instructions on his death-bed : " If you 
 have any regard for your honour or your reputation, 
 take care to yield nothing to the knights of the Teu- 
 tonic order and the Marquis of Brandeburg. Resolve 
 to bury yourself under the ruins of your throne 
 rather than abandon to them the portion of your 
 heritage which they possess, and for which you are 
 responsible to your people and your children. Do 
 not leave your successors such an example of cow- 
 ardice, which would be sufficient to tarnish all your 
 virtues and the splendour of the finest reign. Punish 
 the traitors, and, happier than your father, drive them 
 from a kingdom where pity opened an asylum for 
 them ; for they are stained with the blackest ingrati- 
 tude." These prophetic words, observes a modern 
 historian, may serve as an answer to the manifestoes 
 published by Prussia concerning the partitions ; and 
 on this account they deserve to be recorded. 
 
 The first remarkable event of the new reign was 
 a rupture with the Teutonic knights ; but this being 
 settled amicably, Casimir planned an invasion of 
 Russia. This design was so vigorously executed, 
 that the greater portion of the modern Polish prov- 
 ince, Russia Nigra, was then brought under the 
 power of Poland. 
 
 But Casimir founded his claim to the gratitude of 
 his subjects on a much sounder foundation than 
 foreign conquest; he portioned out the domain of 
 individual right with a measure more fixed than the 
 false and arbitrary rule of strength and power, and 
 jnarked out its limits with the obvious landmarks of 
 written law. Before his time, there was no code of 
 statutes : precedent, opinion, and passion were the 
 
 * The form of the ceremony continued the same from this time. The 
 Archbishop of Gnesne placed the crown on his head. A while eagUv 
 which was the ornament of his throne, became the national arms. 
 
CASIMIR REFORMS THE LAWS. 39 
 
 overbearing 1 assessors on the tribunal of justice. 
 The noble of a district was the supreme judge over 
 his demesne; and though from his court there lay an 
 appeal to the king, it was only a mere show of 
 redress. The injured dependant knew too well, that 
 should he make his complaint heard by the deaf ear 
 of royalty, his sovereign, even if he defended the 
 right, would not thank him for being embroiled with 
 one of his powerful nobles ; and the cruelty of his 
 lord would only be aggravated by opposition. The 
 arbitration of civil cases was equally irregular, and 
 even more absurd. A written oath was administered 
 to one of the parties, and was made the criterion of 
 the case. If the reader made the least hesitation or 
 mistake, he lost his cause. On the contrary, he who 
 had sufficient hardihood to go unhesitatingly and 
 unblushingly through the process of perjury obtained 
 for his villany the credit of right and justice. The 
 form was, however, as reasonable as any other mode 
 of ordeal, and, in fact, still more so, for it was not 
 made to depend entirely on chance ; nor was it so 
 absurd as trial by single combat. Guilt is sooner 
 confused and unnerved by the eye of scrutiny than 
 by the drawn sword ; and the " mens conscia recti" 
 arms itself more frequently with the defensive armour 
 of the uncowed eye, and the firm composed voice, 
 than with muscular strength and agility. 
 
 Casimir, however, determined to make reason 
 depose chance and passion from the judgment-seat, 
 and that justice should be fairly meted out by the 
 standard weights of the law-book. 
 
 The three modes of trial by ordeal were also 
 known in Poland. We have stated above that there 
 was no regular code ; there was indeed a confused 
 mass of laws, but Casimir, the Polish Justinian, was 
 the first who caused them to be reduced to a con- 
 sistent form. His predecessor had convoked an 
 assembly of the bishops and barons at Chenciny, in 
 the same year that he died, to revise the laws ; but 
 
40 HISTORY OF POLAND. 
 
 the work remained unfinished : and ten years after, 
 Casimir called a diet at Wisliga, previously to which, 
 separate meetings had been held in Great and Little 
 Poland, to draw up sketches of the desired reform ; 
 and on this basis they proceeded to found the famous 
 code of Wislia. Pecuniary compositions for crime 
 still continued to be countenanced, and the cmttons, 
 or serfs, were not so favoured as the nobles. The 
 lot of the lower orders, however, was much amelio- 
 rated ; if oppressed, they were allowed to sell their 
 goods, and change masters. For these laws the 
 sovereign obtained the flattering title of king of the 
 serfs. He appointed regular courts in each palati- 
 nate, with fixed fees for the judges. Nor did he 
 content himself with making statutes for his people, 
 but guarded the welfare of all ranks with the most 
 jealous care, and was amply rewarded by their love 
 and respect. 
 
 Envy could not behold such excellence without 
 attempting to sully it; and accordingly, she has 
 employed against it the ostracism of scandal. But 
 the worst charges which she could bring against the 
 character of Casimir are for errors of gayety ; the 
 evil effects of which are for the most part confined 
 to the offender, and which, consequently, though 
 most will regret, many Will defend, and few will 
 altogether condemn. Besides, offences of this kind, 
 not being committed on " house-tops," can seldom 
 be fully brought home to the delinquent, and even 
 the confession of candour will be received but as a 
 plea of guilty to a trifling count in scandal's lengthy 
 indictment, to evade conviction on others of more 
 importance and enormity. But virtue will not dis- 
 own one of her favourite sons for a venial error ; 
 the benevolence, justice, and prudence of Casimir 
 would cover a hundred times more sins; and the 
 small voice of detraction is drowned in the unani- 
 mous acclamations of his people, who, having best 
 experienced his character and felt his goodness, 
 concur in styling him the " Great" 
 
LOUIS. 41 
 
 On the death of Casimir, which occurred iu 1370, 
 there being no immediate heirs, his sister's son, 
 Louis, King of Hungary, was called to the Polish 
 throne. 
 
 As Louis was the sovereign of another kingdom, 
 the Polish nobles, apprehending that their interests 
 would be compromised to those of his other sub- 
 jects, made him agree to certain stipulations as a 
 safeguard, before they would allow him to take pos- 
 session of the insignia of authority. There had 
 always been some form of this kind on the accession 
 of the preceding kings, but it was merely a formal 
 coronation oath, binding the new monarch to pre- 
 serve the interests of his people. In the present 
 case, it became something more than a mere matter 
 of form, being made in fact a " corner-stone" of the 
 Polish constitution. This bond between the king 
 and his subjects was called the Pacta Conventa ; and 
 has continued to be administered to the monarchs 
 on oath ever since,* and is the Magna Charta of 
 Poland. The conditions required of Louis were as 
 follows : He was obliged to resign all right to most 
 of the extensive domains annexed before to the 
 crown, and make them the benefices of his officers 
 or starostas; whom he could not remove without 
 consulting the senate or assembly of nobles. He 
 was not to exact any personal service, to impose any 
 taxes, or wage war without their consent. Nor was 
 he to interfere with the authority of the lords over 
 their serfs. The power of the king was thus limited 
 to little more than that of a guardian of the laws. 
 
 Louis agreed to these demands, but his conduct 
 afterward proved that it was not with an intention 
 of observing them. He fixed his residence entirely 
 in Hungary, and, regardless of the complaints of the 
 Poles, rilled all the principal offices with Hungarians. 
 Great disturbances ensued, and the neighbours of 
 
 * Subject to the alterations made by the diets, as will be mentioned 
 hereafter. 
 
 D2 
 
HISTORY OF POLAND. 
 
 Poland, taking advantage of the discord, made fre- 
 quent incursions. Happily, however, death removed 
 the author of these troubles, after he had reigned 
 twelve years ; and having no male heirs, Louis ter- 
 minated the dynasty of the Piasts in the year 1382. 
 
 In this first period were laid the foundations of all 
 the most important Polish institutions, its laws, diets, 
 orders ; and not only political establishments, but 
 those of learning also. 
 
 The laws, we have seen, were formed into a regu- 
 lar code by Casimir ; Wladislas first assembled his 
 nobles in a diet in the year 1331, and his successor 
 Casimir followed his example. These convocations 
 were riot merely assemblies of one order, but were 
 formed by the kings on the very principle of balance 
 of power between the aristocracy, consisting of the 
 influential nobles, and the numerous barons who pos- 
 sessed the title of noblemen, but, in fact, constituted 
 a separate interest. This is a distinction of no small 
 importance ; all the army, at least those who fought 
 on horseback, were styled nobles, for miles and 
 nobilis were synonymous. 
 
 The commercial classes were not admitted to any 
 great privileges, since at that time they consisted 
 chiefly of foreigners and Jews. The latter people, 
 indeed, had obtained possession of most of the ready 
 money in Poland, as well as elsewhere. Boleslas 
 II. granted them a charter in 1264, and the same 
 protection was extended to them by Casimir the 
 Great. It was said that this prince was interested 
 in their favour by Esther, a young Jewess, of whom 
 he was enamoured. Cracow was in his time one of 
 the Hanse Towns in alliance with forty other cities 
 in Europe. The exchange, still standing, impresses 
 us with a high idea of the commerce of this age, 
 thus intrusted to the Jews. So sedulously did this 
 industrious people avail themselves of their advan- 
 tages, that at the marriage of Casimir's grand- 
 daughter Elizabeth, Wierzynck, a Jewish merchant 
 
POLISH HISTORIANS OF FIRST PERIOD. 43 
 
 of Cracow, requested the honour of being allowed to 
 make the young bride a marriage present of 100,000 
 florins of gold, an immense sum at that time, and 
 equal to her dowry from her grandfather. 
 
 With regard to the learning of this period, we first 
 meet with the monkish historian Gallus, who wrote 
 between the years 1110 and 1135. His history com- 
 mences in 825, and extends to 1118. According to 
 the custom of his order, he wrote in bad Latin verse. 
 He was followed by Matthew Cholewa, bishop of 
 Cracow, and Vincent Kadlubek. This latter writer 
 was also diocesan of the same see, and was born 
 about the year 1160. He wrote in the time of Casi- 
 mir the Just, and in his history attempts to penetrate 
 the mysteries of the Polish origin. But the circum- 
 stance which most conduced to the promotion of 
 learning in Poland was the foundation of the Uni- 
 versity of Cracow, by Casimir the Great, in 1347. 
 It was regulated in imitation of that of Paris ; and 
 such eminence had its professors attained in a short 
 time, that Pope Urban V. estimated it, in 1364, as 
 equal to any of the universities of Europe, 
 
44 HISTORY OF POLAND. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Hedwiga marries Jagellon, Duke of Lithuania Jagellon Dynasty com- 
 mences 1386 Lithuanians Their Origin, Religion, and History- 
 Union with Poland Union of the Romish and Greek Churches 
 Jagellon defeats the Teutonic Knights Wladislas succeeds, 1433 
 Defeats the Sultan Amurath Is killed in the Battle of Vama Casi 
 mir IV. Subdues the Teutonic Knights Polish Prussia added to the 
 Kingdom Origin of the Polish Diets, 1468 State of Learning in 
 Poland under Casimir Printing introduced John Albert, 1492 
 Ascendency of the Nobles Alexander Sigismund I. Annihilation 
 of the Teutonic Knights Sigismund Augustus Order of the Livo- 
 nian Knights suppressed Union with Lithuania consolidated State 
 of Learning under Sigismund Copernicus Zaluzianski, the Polish 
 Linnaeus Religious Toleration Trade of the Jews Termination 
 of the Jagellon Dynasty, 1572 Remarks on this Period. 
 
 Louis having no male heirs, the Poles called his 
 daughter Hedwiga to the throne in 1384. Between 
 the death of Louis and the accession of Hedwiga 
 there was an interregnum of two years, occupied in 
 opposing the pretensions of Sigismund, Marquis of 
 Brandeburg, who had married the elder daughter of 
 Louis. It was stipulated, however, that she should 
 follow the will of her new subjects in the choice of 
 a husband, and that he should constantly reside in 
 Poland. Many candidates offered themselves for 
 that hand which was dowered with a kingdom ; but 
 William, her cousin, a prince of the house of Aus- 
 tria, found most favour in the lady's eyes. He was 
 handsome in his person, elegant in his manners, and 
 magnificent in his retinue. 
 
 The Poles, however, would not consent to an alli- 
 ance which would immediately subject them to the 
 power of the encroaching Austrians, but fixed on 
 Jagellon, Duke of Lithuania. His offers were most 
 tempting to the Poles : he promised to unite his ex- 
 tensive and adjacent dominions to Poland inseparably 
 
JACELLON MARRIES HEDWIGA. 45 
 
 under one government, and pledged himself for 
 the conversion of his Lithuanian subjects to Chris- 
 tianity: Jagellon was accordingly invited to come 
 and take possession both of his wife and crown. 
 Hedwiga, however, still remained faithful to her first 
 love, and secretly invited William to Poland. Their 
 affections were nipped in the bud ; for the Polish no- 
 bility, being apprized of their clandestine interviews, 
 surrounded the palace, sent William home, and kept 
 the queen under the strict surveillance of military 
 guards. She at first refused to give Jagellon an 
 audience ; but the entreaties of the nobility and the 
 coercion of confinement shook her constancy, and 
 the handsome Lithuanian soon completed the oblite- 
 ration of her former affection. Jagellon was bap- 
 tized by the name of Wladislas ; anT'FoTand and 
 Lithuania were henceforth united under one crown. 
 This dutchy was an immense accession to the geo- 
 graphical magnitude of Poland. It extended from 
 Poland on the west, beyond the Dnieper or Borys- 
 thenes on the east, and from Livonia on the north. 
 The Lithuanians and Samogitians, who are different 
 clans of the same origin, are now generally believed 
 to have sprung from a different stem from the Poles. 
 They spoke a language widely dissimilar to the 
 Polish or the Russian.* Their religion was a sin- 
 gular medley of idolatry : they believed in a supreme 
 god or Jupiter, whom they called the omnipotent and 
 all- wise spirit. They worshipped the god of thunder 
 under the name of Perkunas ; they paid homage to 
 a god of the harvests : there were also maintained 
 priests who were continually feeding a sacred fire in 
 
 * See Chap. xiii. of Malte Bran's Tableau, on the Lithuanian Lan- 
 guage. There are scarcely any traces of this tongue remaining even 
 in Lithuania. It bears a singular resemblance to the Greek and Latin, 
 not only in a few words, but in its construction. An affinity to some 
 word in either one or other of these languages will be traced in the fol 
 lowing list: Mienou (the moon), giaras (good or honourable), ugnis 
 (fire), dienas (day), wiras (man), dantis (tooth), saule (sun), akie (eye), 
 unguris (a snake), &c. 
 
46 HISTORY OF POLAND. 
 
 honour of Parni, the god of the seasons ; and their 
 flamen was called Ziutz. Trees, fountains, and 
 plants, all came in for a share of their veneration. 
 They had sacred serpents called Givo'ite, and believed 
 in guardian spirits of bees, cattle, &c. As to their 
 government, it was,like that of all other barbarous 
 nations, despotic ; and the nobles were less numerous 
 and more tyrannical to the lower orders than in Po- 
 land. Ringold was the first who united the various 
 provinces, and assumed the title of grand duke of 
 Lithuania in 1235. 
 
 In 1320 we find the famous Gedymin on the ducal 
 throne. He wrested Volhynia, Severia, Kiovia, and 
 Czerniechovia* from the Russians. He divided his 
 dukedom between his sons, but Olgerd made him- 
 self the sole possessor. Jagellpn, one of his thirteen 
 sons, succeeded him in 1381. /When raised to the 
 throne of Poland, he appoint^9'"his cousin Witold 
 to the government of Lithuanian 
 
 This province did not so readily coalesce with 
 Poland as was expected. Jagellon did not find the 
 people very docile disciples ; for though the Romish 
 faith was partially disseminated in Lithuania Proper,f 
 and Wjlna made the s^ea^f~a4jishop, the districts 
 whicfi had been subject to Russia had long adopted 
 the doctrines of the Greek church, and obstinately 
 adhered to their tenets ; while the Samogitians re- 
 fused to accept any modification of the Christian 
 religion; and though the episcopal city Miedniki 
 was built at this time, they clung firmly for a long 
 period to their own strange and wild superstitions.^ 
 In the latter part of this reign (in 14^4), however, 
 the union of the Roman and Gree|^hurches look 
 place laFtlie cDtrveiit of Florence; an3 the Bishop of 
 
 * Kiovia and Czerniechovia compose the Ukraine, properly so called. 
 
 t Consisting of the modern palatinates Troki and Wilua. 
 
 \ Even at the present day, the peasants of Samogitia preserve some 
 traces of their ancient superstitions, and for a long time obstinately 
 refused to use ploughs or other agricultural instruments furnished with 
 iron, for fear of wounding the bosom of mother-earth. 
 
WLADISLAS. 47 
 
 Kiow adopted the Roman ritual, but the Greek 
 clergy were allowed the privilege of marriage. 
 
 Nor was the political union effected without oppo- 
 sition. The Lithuanian nobles were afraid of losing 
 their ascendency over their serfs by their connexion 
 with the less despotic Polish barons ; and Witold, 
 urged on by the emperor Sigismund, who was jea- 
 lous of the growing power of Poland, revolted, and 
 was making preparations for his coronatioti7~when 
 he suddenly died in 1430. 
 
 Jagellon established the Polish law on a firmer 
 foundation in tire- diets of 1422" and 1423, and gave 
 an additional sanction to the code of Wislia, which 
 Casimir had begun. To him the Poles are indebted 
 for their famous law that no individual is to be im- 
 prisoned until convicted.* 
 
 This monarch was obliged to fight as well as 
 preach and legislate : he was in the early part of his 
 reign continually occupied in checking the encroach- 
 ments of the Teutonic knights. He defeated them 
 in a great battle at Granewala in 1410, and they were 
 happy to obtain pEaceT urT^ST*^ffisvmg thus laid 
 the foundation of Poland's greatness, he died in 
 1433.f 
 
 His son Wladislas, was not much more than nine 
 years old when the crown of Poland was placed on 
 his head. His another and some of the nobles were 
 his guardians during 1 his nonage. Scarcely had he 
 escaped from his pupilage, when he served his 
 maiden campaign against the Turks. The descend- 
 ants of Otlmian, not content wttll their conquests in 
 
 * Neminem captivabimus, nisi jure victum aut in crimine deprehcn- 
 sum. 
 
 t Jagellon seems to be no favourite with Salvandy ; this historian not 
 only attacks his character and administration, but even his person. 
 (" Petit, laid," &c.) He also makes him the author of the degradation 
 of the lower classes. This point has been justly disputed in the critique 
 on his work in an excellent article of the Revue Encyclopedique for 
 August, 1820, written by P'Herbelot. See Histoire de Pologne avant 
 ft sous le roi Jean SoMeafci, par N. A. do Salvandv. Paris, 1829, 
 Tom. i. p. 91, &c. 
 
4g HISTORY OF POLAND. 
 
 Asia, had crossed 1 
 
 tering Eastern empire. - -.-- , ^ ^ _ 
 
 and a great portion of Hungary ,^ d their ^ own on 
 
 opposing them ^^V-Uelv took the field. Amtt- 
 Wiadislas, who ^f^^^niy, and Wladislas the 
 rath headed the Moslem an . ^^ 
 
 treat was Hungarian crown, 
 
 ^^^ 
 
 s 
 
 this 
 
 But the 
 
 with service, were now 
 for once the Moslem cr 
 eain 
 
 with r 
 
 er the banll er of jus- 
 
 ce slem crescent the plams of 
 
 ice Amurath regained his laure wlad islas fell 
 
 lives 
 
4 DANTZIC POLISH DIET. 49 
 
 wearied with the oppression of these fanatical bri- 
 gands, rebelled against them, and placed themselves 
 under the protection of : (Jasimir, m 1451. The 
 knights did not surrender their conquests without a 
 struggle, and the war was prolonged twelve years. 
 The Poles overran all the Prussian temtory which l 
 continued to side with the oppressors. So great was 
 the devastation, that out of twenty-one thousand 
 villages which are said to have existed before this 
 time in Prussia, scarcely more than thirteen thou- 
 sand survived the flames, and nearly two thousand 
 churches were destroyed.* The knights were at 
 length obliged to submit; and a treaty was con- 
 cluded, by which they^urrendered all Polish Prussia, 
 and held the remaining ponton as"~a"~fiel l of FolafTd. 
 Casimir formed this new addition of territory into 
 four palatinates, under 1 *th^ M Sctnre government as the 
 resfbf his kingdom, excepting certain commercial 
 privileges granted to the trading towns. Dantzig, 
 Thorn, Elbing, and Jjulrn were importariT Ufqili- 
 sttiTTrTs, being of great"** mercantile consequence. 
 pantzig was one of the prlftclpa 1 ! Haii^fi Towns, 
 commanding the commerce of the Baltic ; and Oasi- 
 mir conferred on it the exclusive privilege of navi- 
 gation on the Vistula. Moldavia, also, was now 
 tributary to Poland ; so that this kingdom had then 
 the means of uniting the commerce of northern 
 Europe with that of the south. 
 
 The system of internal policy was also undergoing 
 several changes. Inlfie early part of this reign the 
 senate confirmed the decree that the king' was not to 
 make war without their permission. In the year 
 HG7, the foundation of the Polish fliet or parliament 
 >as- MflrnSeiore trTat 'perfoTTlKe^enate consisted 
 only of the bishops and great officers of the kingdom, 
 who formed the king's council, subject also to the 
 interference of the nobility. 
 
 * Tableau de la I'ologuc. AlcUte Brun; auginuiitc par Leonard 
 C'liodzko. Tom. i. IK 255. 
 
50 HISTORY OF POLAND. 
 
 Learning began to be cultivated by the Polish gen- 
 tlemehinthis reign, and the Latin language was now 
 generally introduced. It is said, that in a conference 
 with the King of Sweden, Casimir, being addressed 
 in Latin, was obliged to employ a monk as inter- 
 preter ; and, ashamed of his ignorance, he enjoined 
 the study of that language among the gentlemen of 
 Poland by an edict. It has continued ever since 
 almost a living language in that country. 
 
 The first piirjJLin^grjess was erected at Cracow in 
 -4- 1474.* The Polish language began to be cultivated 
 ' and used by authors, and even written elegantly. 
 Schools were generally established, to which the sons 
 of the citizens, or even serfs, had the same access as 
 the nobles. Kromer, the historian, called the Livy of 
 Poland, son of a peasant, and raised to the bishopric 
 of Warmie, and Janicki, of the same origin, noted for 
 his Latin poems, and crowned with the laurel-wreath 
 by Pope Clement VII., were among the numerous 
 authors who lived in this reign. The name of Gregory 
 of Sanok, the Polish Bacon, must not pass unnoticed. 
 He was bom about the year 1400, and died in 1417. 
 He held a professorship in the university of Cracow 
 some time, in which office he introduced a spirit of 
 liberal and independent inquiry, for which we could 
 scarcely give the age credit. He hated the scholas- 
 tic dialect, says his biographer, ridiculed astrology, 
 and introduced a simple mode of reasoning. He 
 was also a great admirer and patron of elegant learn- 
 ing, and was the first who introduced the works of 
 Virgil into notice in Poland. 
 
 The .<Jietjs up to this period had been general assem- 
 blies of all the nofcles, that is, of the army; but the 
 inconvenience of holding meetings of more than a 
 hundred thousand hcrsemen obliged the Poles to 
 
 * It is reported that there is a work extant bearing date, Cracow, 
 1465; but Salvandy says, the press in the monastery of Oliva was the 
 first. The statement above is from Podczaszynski. Fragmews &ur la 
 Litterature Ancienne de la Polognc, 
 
DEPUTIES JOHN ALBERT. 51 
 
 adopt the form of representation which had become 
 almost universal in Europe, pie.tirjfis, or colloquia, 
 had long been held by each of 'the palatines in their 
 palatinates for the administration of justice, and these 
 now began to appoint ..deputies, for the management 
 of the public business. In the course of time every 
 district assumed the same privilege, and at length, in 
 1468, sent two deputies to a general diet. This first 
 diet was convened to debate on the propriety of 
 renewing the war against the Teutonic knights, of 
 which we have already seen the conclusion. The 
 system, however, was only gradually introduced. 
 The nobles of many of the provinces refused to give 
 up their rights to a deputy ; and Regal Prussia, in 
 particular, was so tenacious of this privilege, that it 
 has reserved even to modern times the power of 
 sending as many nobles to the diet as it pleases. The 
 deputies also were bound to act precisely according- 
 to the instructions of their constituents, and the 
 nobles still maintained their custom of general meet- 
 ings or confederations when occasion required. The 
 towns also at this time enjoyed the elective fran- 
 chise. 
 
 Casimir, having thus spent nearly forty-eight years* 
 in the service of his kingdom, extending its territoryA 
 conquering its enemies, framing its constitution, and 
 civilizing it with arts and learning, left it to the care) 
 of his third son, J^hn Albert, A. D. 1492. 
 
 Good fortune and faction raised'Jorm Albert above 
 his two elder brothers, but courage and policy main- 
 tained him in his elevation. The latter of these car- 
 dinal virtues in a king was not, however, always ex- 
 hibited in the present monarch's councils. He had 
 admitted an Italian, Buonacorsi, formerly his tutor, 
 into his confidence, and showed much deference to 
 his opinions. According to his advice, he attentpted 
 to lessen the preponderance of the nobility in the 
 political scale. The plan was prudent ; and if it could 
 have been effected, and their power withheld till the 
 
52 HISTORY OF POLAND. 
 
 tiers-etat was sufficiently strengthened with wealth 
 and arts to counteract its undue influence, Poland 
 might, like England, have enjoyed a firmly-balanced 
 constitution, in which the dissentient ranks are so 
 well adjusted, that disorder and its remedy are always r 
 produced simultaneously. 
 
 Albert impoliticly gave publicity to a design in 
 which concealment was the principal requisite to en- 
 sure success. Unfortunately, a circumstance which 
 happened shortly after the disclosure rendered the 
 king still more an object of suspicion to the nobles. 
 The Polish troops were waylaid by an ambuscade 
 during a campaign against the Walachians, and a 
 great number of nobles, who almost entirely com- 
 posed the army, were put to the sword. This event, 
 coupled with the king's denouement, engendered a 
 suspicion of treachery, and made the nobles the more 
 on the alert, not only to preserve their privileges, but 
 to intrench on those of the king and people. The 
 Lithuanian nobles, in particular, were strenuous in 
 their opposition to the king's design ; their principles 
 had always been more exclusive than those of the 
 Poles, but the danger which threatened their privi- 
 leges united both in the common cause. From this 
 time we may date their despotism over the serfs, who, 
 not having allies in the commercial classes, were 
 obliged to submit quietl". The influence of the 
 trading classes was checked by two causes. In the 
 first place, every gentleman who had a house and a 
 few acres of land could enjoy all the privileges of 
 nobility ; hence none but the lower order t or foreign- 
 ers, would engage in mercantile pursuits : and, 
 secondly, the towns were composed chiefly of Ger- 
 man strangers, Jews, and even Armenians, who had 
 been long considered almost out of the pale of the 
 law, and could not be admitted to the rights of natu- 
 ralization. From this time, therefore, we may date 
 thejorigin of the exclusive influence of the nobles ^ 
 they became resolute in maintaining arbitrary author 
 
EXPULSION OF THE TEUTONIC KNIGHTS. 53 
 
 ity over their serfs; the commercial class were in- 
 cluded in the proscription of rights, being interdicted 
 by the diet in 1496 from becoming proprietors of 
 land or possessors of church preferment. 
 
 But what Albert unintentionally pulled down from 
 one part of the constitution he rebuilt in another; 
 and to make amends for having thus weakened the 
 political power of the people, he fortified their juridi- 
 cal rights. In his time the law-courts were sub- 
 mitted to more fixed regulations, and corruption and 
 oppression of the people exposed and punished. 
 
 In the reign of his successor, Alexander, who came 
 to the throne 1501, the crown was still more debased. 
 The king was jprohibiteft*from raising any money or 
 using the revenue without the consent of the diet. 
 This law, called Statutum Jllexandrinum, is saicTto 
 have passed to check Alexander's prodigality to mu- 
 sicians, to whose art he was passionately attached. 
 All the Polish laws were revised and corrected at 
 this period by the chancellor Laski, after whom the 
 code is named. 
 
 When Sigismimd I. came to the throne in 1507, 
 he found "mat it was" not a bed of roses. Faction 
 rose up against him as a many-headed monster ; and 
 it required a powerful and long arm to decapitate the 
 ever-growing heads, and perseverance with resolu- 
 tion to sear the wounds. But the Polish monarch 
 was not to be soon intimidated; he defeated the 
 Lithuanians who had revolted, and routelrtfrer Rus- 
 sian auxiliaries of the rebels. The latter success 
 was in a great measure owing to the artillery which ^ 
 was now introduced into the Polish army,' Or rather 
 among their Bohemian allies and fellow-subjects. 
 
 Albert, Marquis of Brandeburg, and nephew of 
 SigisnTon^ had been elected Master of the Teutonic 
 order, in the hope that his connexion with the Polish 
 kings might be the means of advancing their interest. 
 No sooner was he invested with this authority, than 
 he renounced all allegiance to Poland, and refused to 
 -"" E2 
 
64 HISTORY OF POLAND. 
 
 submit to his liege-lord Sigismund. He was, how- 
 ever, soonJteowght- *e obedience, and obliged to 
 resign his authority as master. This resignation was 
 the knell of the Teutonic knights; they were now r 
 deprivecTbf all standing ground in Prussia, and were 
 obliged to retire to Mariendal in Franconia. The 
 Poles were thus delivered from one enemy ; but little 
 did they imagine that the successors whom they ap- 
 pointed to the vacated authority would eventually be 
 their destroyers. Sigismund formed Eastern Prussia 
 into a dutchy in 1225, and intrusted it to Albert as a 
 fief. Polish or Western Prussia was hence called 
 Regal Prussia, to distinguish it from the dutchy. 
 
 But when the king had quelled all foreign troubles, 
 he found others at home of a more insidious and less 
 tractable nature. His wife, Bona, was the prime 
 mover of these intrigues ; she had obtained a com- 
 plete ascendency over the mind of her husband, who 
 was now no more than a puppet which played her 
 own game. The nobility, being summoned by the 
 king to assemble atX^eopol, or Lemberg,in Gallicia, 
 obeyed his orders, but it was to make universal com- 
 plaints against the queen and the administration. 
 This confederation they styled Rokosz, in imitation 
 of the Hungarians, who, in cases of public emer- 
 gency, held their assemblies in the plain of Rokosz, 
 near the city Pest. The confederation was not 
 formed of 'very stubborn materials ; for they were all 
 dispersed, we are told, by a shower of rain. This 
 assembly and protest, however trifling in themselves, 
 were of much importance as establishing a prece- 
 dent which was but too often and obstinately imi- 
 tated in following times.* 
 
 No sooner had Sigismund Augustus, the son of 
 the preceding monarch, ascended the throne, than 
 factions were formed against him, because he had 
 
 * Paulus Jovius, an Italian writer, and bishop of Nocera at that time, 
 says there were then but three heroes living, Charles V., Francis I., and 
 
 KifficiYiiirxl on,! that aithoi- nf thaiv. <1aaoi-irorl tr. i-ulo oil Plirnno 
 
TEUTONIC KNIGHTS OF LIVONIA. 55 
 
 concurrence of the 
 
 The object of his choice was 13arba Radziwill, 
 widow of a Lithuanian noble of no great consequence. 
 This marriage had been contracted secretly before 
 his father's death, but he publicly acknowledged it on 
 coming to the crown. Firm in his affection, and 
 faithful to his vows, he would not break his domestic 
 ties, although his constancy 'might cost him a king- 
 dom.* The contest did not, however, come to this 
 crisis ; for the king dexterously turned the attention 
 of the nobles to their own interests, and heard no 
 more objections to his marriage. But Sigismund 
 did not long enjoy the domestic happiness which he 
 so well deserved; for, in the course of six months, 
 death made him a widower. 
 
 Sigismund was not entirely freed from war, but he 
 found time to cultivate the arts of peace very suc- 
 cessfully. In this rp.icrn~T ( jvftflT'a anri j 
 
 to the Polish crown. The 
 
 annexed to the Polish crown. The order of the 
 knights of Christ, having the same statutes as the 
 Templars, was founded in 1202 by the Bishop of 
 Ffrga, who conferred on them the right to a third part 
 of Livonia, which they were to conquer and convert 
 to Christianity ; and this grant was also confirmed by 
 the pope. The first grand-master was Winno, who 
 denominated the order Ensiferi. In 1238 they 
 formed a solemn compact with the Teutonic knights, 
 and adopted their statutes. They reduced Livonia 
 and Courland, and in 1521 purchased their inde- 
 pendence of the grand-master of the Teutonic order. 
 The Reformation began now to spread in Livonia, and 
 greatly weakened the power of the knights. At this 
 time they had imprisoned the Bishop of Riga, Sigis- 
 mund's cousin, and massacred the envoys whom he 
 sent to demand the release of his kinsman. Sigis- 
 
 * The Archbishop of Gnesne was very earnest in pressing him to 
 divorce his wife ; and the Bishop of Przemysl is said to have quoted the 
 following lines of Euripides, in defence of the injustice he would do 
 to her. 
 
 Enrtp ydp adiKctv xPVi rvpavviSos irfyi 
 KdAArrov d&Keiv.Euripid. Phcen. v, 527 
 
50 HISTORY OF POLAND. 
 
 mund was arming to wreak vengeance on them, 
 when, dreading the encounter, they submitted and 
 formed an alliance with Poland. The Czar of 
 Moscow, provoked at this step, invaded Livonia ; and f 
 the knights, not able to defend themselves, sued for 
 assistance from Sigismund, who repelled the Rus* 
 sians. Livonia was surrendered to Poland in 1561 ; 
 and Kettle r, the grand-master, was invested wkh the 
 dutchy of Courland as a fief. He was bound as vassal 
 to furnish the king with 200 horse or 500 infantry, 
 and was not allowed to maintain more than 500 
 regular troops. 
 
 The wai in which Sigismund was engaged with 
 the Russians led to a consolidation of the union be- 
 tween Poland and Lithuania. At the commencement 
 of hostilities the czar was victorious, and even in- 
 vaded Lithuania. The Polish nobles refused to 
 march to the assistance of their fellow-subjects, but 
 under the condition that the union should be con- 
 summated. This was readily granted, and in 1569_ 
 the desired arrangement was definitely concluded in 
 a diet of both provinces at Lublin, Lithuania was 
 united to Poland under the same laws, privileges, 
 and government. It was agreed that the diets com- 
 posed of representatives of both these countries 
 should meet at Warsaw, which is a central town, and 
 neither in Poland Proper nor Lithuania, but in 
 Mazovia. 
 
 The genius of Copernicus, the great precursor of 
 Newton, had lately shone forth, 
 
 velut inter ignes 
 
 Luna minores. 
 
 He was born in 1473, at Thorn; where his father, a 
 citizen of Cracow, had settled after the accession of 
 Polish Prussia to Poland. At the age of nineteen he 
 was sent to the university of Cracow,* where he pur- 
 
 * It was there that, under the tuition of Albert Brudzewski, Coper- 
 nicus pursued his mathematical studies. Even at this early period astro- 
 nnmir.al calendars were annually uublished at this university : and. to the 
 
PRINTING RELIGIOUS TOLERATION. 57 
 
 sued his mathematical studies under the noted Brud- 
 zewski. Adam Zaluzianski is the Polish Linnaeus; 
 and in this same age published a work entitled Me- 
 thodus Herbaria, in which he exhibits his sexual 
 arrangement of plants. There were perhaps more 
 printing-presses at this time in Poland than there 
 have ever been since, or than there were in any other 
 country of Europe at the time. There were eighty- 
 three towns where they printed books ; and in Cracow 
 alone there were fifty presses. The chief circum- 
 stance which supported so many printing houses in 
 Poland at this time was the liberty of the press ; which 
 allowed the publication of writings of all the con- 
 tending sects, which were not permitted to be printed 
 elsewhere. 
 
 Nor were the Poles less advanced in that most en- 
 lightened feeling of civilization, religious toleration. 
 When almost all the rest of Europe was deluged 
 with the blood of contending sectaries; while the 
 Lutherans were perishing in Germany ; while the 
 blood of above a hundred thousand Protestants, the 
 victims of the war of persecution, and the horrid 
 massacre of St. Bartholomew, was crying from the 
 ground of France against the infamous Triumvirate, 
 and the hypocritical Catharine de Medicis; while 
 Mary made England a fiery ordeal of persecution, 
 and even the heart of the " virgin queen" was not 
 entirely cleansed of the foul stuff of bigotry, but 
 dictated the burnings of the Arians ; Poland opened 
 an asylum for the persecuted of all religions, and 
 allowed every man to worship God in his own way. 
 "Mosques," says Rulhiere,* "were raised among 
 churches and synagogues. Leopol has always been 
 
 sense. The " Calendriers Cracoviens" are even still in great repute in 
 Austria. 
 
 It is rather a singular coincidence, though perhaps scarcely worth 
 remarking, that Copernicus as well as Newton was concerned with the 
 coinage of his country. He wrote a treatise, " Sur la Maniere d'orga- 
 niser lesMonnaies Polonaises," which is stiU in being. 
 
 * Histoire de 1'Anarchie de Pologne. 
 
58 HISTORY OF POLAND. 
 
 the seat of three bishops, Greek, Armenian, and 
 Latin ; and it was 'never inquired in which of theii 
 three cathedrals any man, who consented to submit 
 to the regulations of government, went to receive 
 the communion. Lastly, when the Reformation was 
 rending so many states into inimical factions, Poland, 
 without proscribing her ancient religion, received 
 into her bosom the two new sects." All parties 
 were allowed a perfect liberty of the press : the 
 Catholics printed their books at Cracow, Posen, 
 Lublin, &c. ; while the followers of the Confession 
 of Augsburg published theirs at Paniowica, Dom- 
 browa, and Szamotuly ; the Reformers at Pinczow, 
 Brzesc, Knyszyn, and Nieswiez; the Arians at 
 Rakow and Zaslaw; and the Greek sectarians in 
 Lithuania at Ostrow and Wilna. 
 
 In 1540 it was ascertained that there were not in 
 the whole of Poland more than 500 Christian mer- 
 chants and manufacturers ; while there were 3200 
 Jewish, who employed 9600 artisans in working gold, 
 silver, &c., or manufacturing cloths. In the reign of 
 Sigismund Augustus, the Jews were prohibited from 
 dealing in horses or keeping inns. 
 
 Such was the state of his kingdom when Sigis- 
 mund died, iaJ572. With this monarch ended the 
 line of kings of* the house of Jagellon. 
 
 Having thus arrived at another era in our historical 
 narrative, let us cast a brief view on the tract we 
 have travelled over. Under the dynasty of the Jagel- 
 lons, which lasted 186 years, Poland had attained its 
 perfect growth and dimensions, and its constitution 
 had also arrived at equal maturity. Jewel after jewel 
 has since been stolen from the crown, till it has be- 
 come but a simple badge of official distinction. There 
 being no third order whom the kings could raise up 
 against the nobles, which would have rendered the 
 monarchy limited, but shielded it from total subjec- 
 tion to the aristocracy, there was no alternative but 
 to make the government a perfect despotism as in 
 
POLAND AN ELECTIVE MONARCHY. 59 
 
 Russia, to preserve the regal authority. This was 
 attempted, as we shall see, in after-years ; but the 
 kings who undertook it had not sufficient genius or 
 perseverance, and the aristocracy had attained too 
 great an ascendency by the diet and confederation. 
 Besides, the chief military forces of the kingdom were 
 not composed of a distinct order, who might be won 
 over to the regal side, but of the nobility and their 
 retinues ; nor had the king that powerful engine, 
 wealth, in his power, all the revenue being at the 
 disposal of the diet, which was composed of the aris- 
 tocracy. Under these circumstances, the king could 
 only be "a judge," as one of the future monarchs* 
 expressed himself; and the state that anomaly, a 
 republic of aristocrats.f 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 "eland becomes an elective Monarchy Religious TolerationHenry 
 of Anjou elected Henry absconds Stephen Batory Introduces the 
 Jesuits Disciplines the Cossacks Origin, Manners, <fcc. of the Cos- 
 sacks Sigismund III., Prince of Sweden, elected Swedes revolt, and 
 expel Sigismund Demetrius, the Russian Impostor War wi.h Rus- 
 siaThe Poles take Moscow, and carry the Czar Prisoner to Warsaw 
 A Pole Czar of Russia Zolkiewski War with Gustavus Adol- 
 phus Wladislas VII. The Revolt of the Cossacks Casimir III. 
 Charles Gustavus overruns Poland Is repelled Treaty of Oliva 
 Project of Partition Revolts of the Nobles Casimir abdicates the 
 Throne Liberum Veto. 
 
 SIGISMUND'S funeral bell was the tocsin of anarchy 
 in Poland. Being without a male heir, this last of 
 the Jagellons restored the crown to his subjects for 
 their disposal ; a trust which occasioned them much 
 
 * Henry. 
 
 t The state of Poland at the time of Sigismund's death is accurately 
 described in a curious Italian manuscript in the Harleian Collection. It 
 is entitled, " Relazione di Polonia ;" and the author was an ambassador 
 from Venice to Poland at this period, as he states himself (pen-he io sono 
 
60 HISTORY OF POLAND. 
 
 perplexity. The nobles, among whom had sprui 
 up that spirit of equality and jealousy which had 
 intrenched on the regal authority, would not bend 
 a rival of their own order ; and with the same fee 
 ing which has made them in late years rathei subn 
 to the domineering and treacherous interference < 
 foreign powers than bear any stretch or even appes 
 ance of power in their peers, they preferred to lo< 
 abroad for a king. The Polish crown thus be'can 
 a prize of competition for foreign prjnces, and it st 
 possessed sufficient temptations to have many ca 
 didates ; for besides the opportunity that a monan 
 backed with extraneous forces might have of e 
 tending the authority, there remained still mai 
 important privileges like interstices between the e 
 closures of the laws. The neighbouring pptentat 
 now began a struggle for Poland, and at length tl 
 unhappy country became the prey of their confliclii 
 interests in addition to the evils of civil dissensio 
 During the interregnum which succeeded the dea 
 of Sigismund, the Archbishop of Gnesne, on who 
 the authority devolved at such times, convoked tl 
 diet to debate on the choice of a new king. In th 
 meeting, which was held in 1573, the laws we 
 passed which regulated the elections. The motic 
 made by John Zamoyski, representative of Belz, 
 Gallicia, thai all the nobles should have a voice 
 the nomination7was*curried ; and it was agreed th 
 they should meet in a plain near Warsaw. In Ih 
 diet also the coronation-oath, or pacta conventa, w; 
 revised. The 'principal articles were the same < 
 have been ever since administered to the kings-elec 
 stripping the monarch of all active power, makir 
 the crown elective, and requiring regular convoc 
 tions of the diet every IAVO years. They bound hi 
 
 stato Ambasciadorc, <fcc.) He gives an exact description of the geogi 
 phy, hustory, commerce, &c., as a preface to the account of the electk 
 which we shall describe in the next chapter. To prevent an intern 
 lion of the narrative, we will throw our extracts into the Appendix. 
 
ELECTION OF HENRY. 61 
 
 also to observe perfect toleration oi leligious prin- 
 
 ciples, promising among themselves (inter nos dissi- 
 dentes de religione), as well for themselves as their 
 posterity, never to take up arms on account of diver- 
 sity in religious tenets. The Roman Catholic, how- 
 ever, remained the state religion, and the kings were 
 bound to be of that profession of faith. 
 
 The nobles accordingly assembled at Warsaw, 
 armed, and with all their pomp of retinue. Several 
 candidates were nominated, among whom were Er- 
 nest, son of the Emperor Maximilian of Austria, and 
 Henry, Duke of Anjou, son of Catharine de Medicis, 
 and brother of Charles IX., the reigning king of 
 France. The latter was the successful competitor, 
 and an embassy was sent to Paris to announce the 
 decision. We cannot refrain from inserting, at full 
 length, the description given of this Polish deputa- 
 tion by an eyewitness then living at Paris : 
 
 " It i impossible to express the general astonish- 
 ment when we saw these ambassadors in long robes, 
 fur caps, sabres, arrows, and quivers ; but our admi- 
 ration was excessive when we saw the sumptuous- 
 ness of their equipages, the scabbards of their swords 
 adorned with jewels, their bridles, saddles, and horse- 
 cloths decked in the same way, and the air of con- 
 sequence and dignity by which they were distin- 
 guished. One of the most remarkable circumstances 
 was their facility in expressing themselves in Latin, 
 French, German, and Italian. These four languages 
 were as familiar to them as their vernacular tongue. 
 There were only two men of rank at court who could 
 answer them in Latin, the Baron of Millau and the 
 Marquis of Castelnau-Maurissiere. They had been 
 commissioned expressly to support the honour of the 
 French nation, that had reason to blush at their igno- 
 rance in this point. They (the ambassadors) spoke 
 our language with so much purity, that one would 
 have taken them rather for men educated on the 
 banks of the Seine and the Loire, than for inhabit- 
 F 
 
62 HISTORY OF POLAND. 
 
 ants of the countries which are watered by the Vis- 
 tula or the Dnieper, which put our courtiers to the 
 blush, who knew nothing, but were open enemies of 
 all science ; so that when their guests questioned 
 them, they answered only with signs or blushes."* 
 
 Thus was Henry called to the throne, and he who 
 was engaged at the very moment of his election in 
 fighting against the Protestantsf now took the oath 
 of toleration to all dissenters and sectaries. He ac- 
 cepted the crown reluctantly ; for, although all was 
 ready for the king's departure to Poland, this prince 
 did not hurry to set out. However honourable the 
 object of his voyage, he regarded it as an exile. J 
 But no sooner had he reached Poland than he was 
 informed of the death of his brother, and the vacancy 
 of the French throne. Not choosing to forfeit his 
 hereditary right and the substantial authority of the 
 crown of France, and knowing that the Poles would 
 not allow him to swerve from his oath, which bound 
 him to reside in Poland, he took the singular resolu- 
 tion to abscond, and leave the country by stealth. 
 He was overtaken a few leagues from Cracow by 
 one of the Polish nobles, but resolutely refused to 
 return. 
 
 This singular and unexpected event renewed the 
 factions, some of which called Maximilian of Austria 
 to the throne, but were at last obliged to yield to the 
 opposite party, who chose Anne, the sister of Sigis- 
 mund, and Stephen Batory, Duke of Transylvania, 
 for her husband, A. D. 1575. 
 
 This prince was possessed of rare qualities and 
 high talent, having raised himself by his valour, and 
 
 * Histoire de J. A. De Thou, &c. 
 
 t He was besieging Rochelle, which was in the possession of the 
 Huguenots. 
 
 t De Thou, vol. iv. liv. 22. 
 
 The Relazione di Polonia, mentioned in the preceding chapter, con- 
 tains a full account of this proceeding, which, as the author says, is so 
 singular, that " non si trova in alcuu istoria antica d moderna un casa 
 tale." 
 
BATORY JESUITS COSSACKS. 63 
 
 without the least violence or collusion, to the duke 
 dom of Transylvania ; and he was now called spon- 
 taneously to the Polish throne. Nor did he degen- 
 erate after his exaltation, vanquishing the Russians 
 in a series of battles, distinguished by striking fea- 
 tures of barbarity on the side of the enemy, and 
 valour, chastened with mercy, on that of Batory. 
 Peace was at length concluded by the interposition 
 of Posse vin, the Jesuit, and legate from the pope. 
 
 This was the circumstance which gave the Jesuits 
 an introduction into Poland. Their order was then 
 only noted for its learning ; and Batory, imagining 
 he was acting for the improvement of his people, 
 intrusted to them the care of the university of Wilna, 
 which he had just founded. Succeeding years, how- 
 ever, showed them in a very different character in 
 Poland from teachers and peacemakers. 
 
 But the most politic act of this king was the 
 addition to the strength of the nation, effected by 
 establishing a standing army, and introducing an 
 improved discipline. He now also brought the Cos- 
 sacks under some military order. It was that Cos- 
 sack tribe called ZaporOg (Cosaci Zaporohenses) 
 that was thus rendered serviceable to Poland. They 
 inhabited, or rather frequented, the islands and 
 swamps of the Dnieper, which formed a barrier 
 against their warlike neighbours. In the reign of 
 Sigismund I. they were first armed against the Tar- 
 tars, and a Polish officer, Daszkiewicz, was appointed 
 their governor ; but no further notice was taken of 
 them till the time of Batory. The absurd and mon- 
 strous descriptions of this people and their manners, 
 which were founded on rumour, have been fully 
 credited by modern writers; and Voltaire, who is 
 one of the greatest among fabulists, does not fail to 
 magnify the wonders.* We shall endeavour to 
 throw a little clearer light on the manners of this 
 
 f See History of Russia, and Charles XII., book 4. 
 
S4 HISTORY OF POLAND. 
 
 tribe, from old authors of credit. The first is Chev- 
 alier, who wrote a history of a war of the Cossacks, 
 which will shortly come under our notice, prefaced 
 with remarks on their manners and government 
 gleaned from actual experience.* The Cossacks 
 were the southern borderers of Poland, and, like r all 
 other people similarly situated, were continually 
 carrying on an irregular and predatory war ; hence 
 their name, which implies plunderers.^ The Ukraine 
 also means frontier country, and, in course of time, 
 all its inhabitants were designated Cossacks. " They 
 were," says Chevalier, " only a military body, and 
 not a nation, as some have imagined. We cannot 
 compare them better than to the ' Francarchers' 
 formerly established in France by Charles VII." 
 They made periodical naval expeditions every season 
 against the Turks, and have even advanced within 
 two leagues of Constantinople. Their rendezvous 
 was in the islands of the Dnieper ; and when winter 
 approached, they returned to their homes. They 
 generally mustered 5000 or 6000 men ; their boats 
 were sixty feet long, with ten or twelve oars on each 
 side, but this must be understood only of their war- 
 boats. 
 
 The other author whom we shall quote was one 
 who lived at that period, and frequently had the com- 
 mand of the Cossack troops, no less than the father 
 of the famous Sobieski. Even then, it seems, they 
 were the subject of curiosity and fable. J " I will 
 describe," says he, " their origin, manners, and cus- 
 
 * The editor of the Tableau de la Pologne seems to imagine he is the 
 first who has noticed Chevalier's work ; in this, however, he is mis- 
 taken, for the author of that heterogeneous compilation, The History of 
 Poland, vol. xxxiv. of the Universal History, quotes it, or rather mis- 
 quotes it. See Tableau de la Pologne, Chodzko's edition, vol. i. p. 464, 
 and Univ. Hist. vol. xxxiv. p. 155. Chevalier's book was published at 
 Paris in 1663. 
 
 t Other interpretations are given by some authors, but seemingly far- 
 fetched. 
 
 t One of his expressions is, quandoquidem hactemis longe latZqu* 
 ver varias gentes fa-mam eorum pervagari cognoscamus 
 
POLISH COSSACKS. 65 
 
 toms, which I am acquainted with by hearsay, and 
 have myself witnessed. They are chiefly of Rus- 
 sian origin, though many criminal refugees from 
 Poland, Germany, &c. are to be found among them. 
 They profess the religion of the Greek Church. 
 They have fixed their residence in those naturally 
 fortified places which are watered by the Dniester. 
 Their business is war, and when they are shut up, as 
 it were, in their nest (tanquam nidulo aliquo qffixi), 
 they consider it illegal to neglect athletic sports for 
 any other pursuits. They live sparingly, by hunting 
 and fishing. They support their wives and fami- 
 lies with plunder.* They are governed by a praefect 
 (hetman), whose sceptre is a reed, and who is chosen 
 by acclamation in a tumultuous manner. He has 
 absolute power of life and death. He has four 
 town counsellors. The Poles have given them the 
 Trychtymirow, in Kiovia. Long habit has fitted 
 them for maritime warfare. They use boats, on 
 the sides of which they can occasionally fasten flat 
 bundles of reeds, to buoy them up, and resist the 
 violence of the waves and winds. With these boats 
 they sail with great rapidity, and very often take the 
 laden Turkish vessels. Not many of them use 
 lances (frameis), but they are all furnished with 
 arquebuses (sclopetis) ;f and in this kind of warfare 
 the kings of Poland can match the infantry of all the 
 monarchs in the world. They fortify their camps 
 with wagons ranged in several rows ; this they call 
 tabor, and make them their last refuge from an 
 overbearing enemy. The Poles were obliged to fur- 
 nish them with arms, provisions, and forage for 
 
 *Parta toties pr<cda locupletati, rei tantum economicse cum uxoribus 
 et Hberis operam navant. P. 1 12. Comment. Chotin. Be.ll. How different 
 is this from Voltaire's account, " Us ne souffrent point de femrnes chez 
 eux, mais ils vont enlever tous> les enfants ill vingt et trente lieues A la 
 ronde, &c." Hist, of diaries XII. book 4. 
 
 t This, it must be remembered, was in the time of James Sobieski, aftar 
 Bator y had disciplined them. 
 
 F2 
 
66 HISTORY OF POT. AND, 
 
 their horses."* Such were the men whom Batory 
 enlisted in the Polish service. In the year 1576 he 
 divided them into six regiments, and appointed supe- 
 rior and subordinate officers over them. "They 
 were then only infantry," says Chevalier, "but 
 Batory joined to them 2000 horse, and in a short 
 time they consisted chiefly of cavalry." Their chief 
 was called hetman, or attaman ; and the king pre- 
 sented him with the following articles as ensigns of 
 authority, a flag, a horse-tail, a staff, and a mirror. 
 Rozynski was their first hetman appointed by Batory. 
 
 It is said that the king had formed the design of 
 extending the regal authority, but death frustrated 
 it in 1586. Few monarchs are more respected by 
 the Poles than the one whom we have just described ; 
 and, compared with many of the Polish sovereigns, 
 he certainly deserved the title conferred on him, 
 " In republic^ plus qudm re.r." 
 
 Violent factions, in consequence of this event, were 
 formed at the diet of election, and both Maximilian 
 of Austria, and Sigismund, Prince of Sweden, were 
 next elected to the throne. Sigismund's party pre- 
 vailed, and took Maximilian prisoner, A. D. 1587. 
 The successful competitor did not make an un- 
 generous use of his advantage, but liberated him, 
 and rejected the offered ransom, saying, "I will not 
 add insult to misfortune. I shall give Maximilian 
 his liberty, and not oblige him to buy it."f 
 
 * Commentariorum Chotinensis Belli Libri Tres, Auctore Jacobo 
 Sobieski. Dantisci, 1646. We had almost claimed the credit of being 
 the first to make known these accounts of the Cossacks, and expose the 
 fabulous stories about them, when we perceived that Salvandy had been 
 before us in quoting Sobieski's book, and he particularly scouts Voltaire's 
 fables. We must take the liberty of noticing one little mistranslation 
 and anachronism. The Cossacks' "sclopeta* were not " pistolet s." 
 Salvandifs Hist, de Pologne avant et sous le Roi Jean Sobieski. 1829. 
 Vol. i. p. 205. 
 
 t Ciampi has published at Florence a Latin manuscript on the struggle 
 between Maximilian and Sigismund. It is aScairorog ; but the editor 
 attributes it to John Michael Bruto, the Venetian, who was engaged by 
 Batory to write a history of Poland The narrative unfortunately break* 
 off at the captivity of Maximilian 
 
SIUISMUND LOSES SWEDEN. 67 
 
 Sigismund's family_was ..related to the Jagellons 
 HI the fe'male side, which reconciled the Poles to his 
 iccessibn. His reign commenced with war; for the 
 Turks, continually harassed by the Cossacks, and 
 not being able to revenge themselves on that vagrant 
 people any more than if they were an annoying 
 swarm of locusts, called the Poles to account for 
 the actions of their dependants. After considerable 
 slaughter, which was interesting only to the victors 
 and the victims, and of no service but to rid the 
 Ukraine of a few thousand cut-throat robbers, 
 peace was effected by the intervention of an English 
 ambassador. 
 
 Sigismund's father dying about this time, the 
 Swedish crown was bequeathed to the Polish king; 
 but the Swedes, who had adopted the reformed 
 religion of Luther ever since the time of Gustavus, 
 were apprehensive of the government of a Roman 
 Catholic, as Sigismund was, and as he was obliged 
 to declare himself before he could ascend the Polish 
 throne. Nor were their fears groundless, for his 
 very first acts were a bad omen for the Protestant 
 religion.* He was accompanied by a popish legate, 
 by whose advice he demanded that there should be 
 a Roman Catholic chapel in every town, and ex* 
 pressed his determination to be crowned by the pope's 
 deputy. This was borne with impatience ; but when 
 the king attempted to enforce his will with Polish 
 troops, the murmur of discontent was raised to the 
 shout of rebellion, and all the attempts of the bigot 
 king to trample down the Swedes to obedience were 
 of no avail. 
 
 Sigismund's attention was now directed to the 
 singular events which occurred at this time in 
 Russia; and he furnished Demetrius, a young 
 claimant of the czarship, with assistance to obtain 
 his pretended rights. The story of this impostor 
 
 * I uffendorf. 
 
C8 HISTORY OF POLAND. 
 
 (for such he seems to be now generally confessed) 
 forms another chapter for the Romance of History. 
 The czar, John IT. of Russia, left at his death a son, 
 Demetrius, only nine years old, and another of the 
 name of ^Theodore, twenty. The latter succeeded 
 his father, and Demetrius was intrusted to the care 
 of his mother, who devoted herself to his education 
 in the retired castle of Uglitz. Theodore married 
 the sister of Boris, one of his chief officers, whom 
 he loaded with favours. The ingrate's ambition 
 was only sharpened by his exaltation, and on the 
 death of his master there would be no obstacle to 
 his ascent to the throne but Demetrius. This was 
 soon removed ; there was no difficulty in finding 
 
 " A fellow by the hand of nature marked, 
 Quoted and signed to do a deed of shame ;" 
 
 and the youth disappeared. Boris at length obtained 
 the crown, but found it a crown of thorns. The 
 dreadful visions which " murder the curtained sleep" 
 of guilt haunted the royal assassin, and something 
 more than a phantom " shouted in his ear" Deme- 
 trius ! The king was told that he was still alive, and 
 that another child had been the victim of his am- 
 bition. A Demetrius was at this time in Poland, and 
 he armed against Boris enemies more powerful over 
 a villain than remorse of conscience. This young 
 man merely repeated the comedy, or rather tragedy, 
 of errors which was played by the slave Clemens in 
 the time of Tiberius,* and by Perkin Warbeck in 
 the reign of Henry VII. It seems that he was 
 originally a monk of the same age that his prototype 
 would have been ; and, as the story runs, he also 
 resembled him in two singular particulars, one arm 
 shorter than the other, and a wart on his cheek 
 This coincidence probably first urged him to com- 
 mence the imposture, and the unsettled state of 
 
 * The description of this singular imposture is given in Tacitus, 
 Ann. lib, ii. cap, 39 and 40. 
 
THE RUSSIAN DEMETRIUS. C9 
 
 Russia and the difficulty of being detected might 
 have encouraged him in the design. He in course 
 of time took refuge with Mniszech, palatine of San- 
 domir in Poland, who was a designing, bad char- 
 acter, and promised him assistance provided he would 
 tolerate the Roman Catholic religion in Russia, and 
 marry his daughter Mariana. Sigismund could not 
 openly advocate the cause of the impostor, but 
 allowed his nobles to do so ; and by their aid Deme- 
 trius was seated on the Russian throne. His reign 
 did not last long, for the Russians rebelled and 
 murdered him with a great number of his Polish 
 adherents. But the soul of Demetrius had a second 
 and even a third* metempsychosis ; and the last 
 impostor was equally defended and patronised by the 
 Poles as the first. Mariana received him as a resti- 
 tution from the grave,f and Mniszech as another 
 stepping-stone to power to supply the place of the 
 former. Sigismund, urged on by the Jesuits, who 
 were now in his full confidence, and further stimu- 
 lated by the ambition of conquering Russia, invaded 
 that country, pretending that he came as an avenger 
 of his murdered subjects. Zolkiewski,J who, as his 
 kinsman writes, was made both chancellor and 
 grand-general (06 sua insigniain rempublicam menVa), 
 commanded the troops, and entering Moscow, took 
 prisoner Basil Schouisky, the new czar, and his 
 brother. The king's son, Wladislas, was set on the 
 throne, and thus Poland was once the disposer of 
 that crown which is now worn by its despot. He 
 was, however, soon deposed, and Sigismund did not 
 attempt to reinstate him. Zolkiewski had the honour 
 of entering Warsaw with a Russian czar in his train, 
 
 * This farce was acted even the fourth time. 
 
 t This circumstance exposes more than any thing else the deception 
 of the Mniszech family. Ciampi, to whom we have before alluded, has 
 published an " Esame Critico," with unedited documents concerning the 
 history of Demetrius, but as our limits do not allow any digressions, we 
 must leave the reader to form his own opinion on its merits. 
 
 I The maternal great-grandfather of John Sobieski. 
 
70 HISTORY OF POLAND. 
 
 and leaving monuments of his victories, which have 
 been the objects of the petty spite of Peter the Great 
 and Catharine.* 
 
 Sigismund had not abandoned his plan of regain- 
 ing the crown of Sweden, and with this view he 
 joined with Ferdinand, the Emperor of Germany, 
 and assisted him against the voyvode of Transyl- 
 vania, who opposed him. The Transylvanian was 
 in alliance with the sultan, and urged him to make 
 a diversion on the side of Moldavia, which at that 
 time was under the power of the Turks. The Pala- 
 tine of Moldavia had invited the Poles to his assist- 
 ance, and accordingly the famous Zolkiewski, the 
 conqueror of Russia, marched into that country with 
 8000 regular troops, and irregular forces of Cossacks 
 and Moldavian refugees amounting to about 20,000. 
 The Turkish army was chiefly composed of Tartars, 
 and numbered nearly 70,000. Zolkiewski, notwith- 
 standing the disparity of forces, obliged the Tartars 
 to give way; but being almost abandoned by his 
 auxiliaries, and his little band being reduced to little 
 better than 5000, he was obliged to retreat. Like all 
 experienced generals, Zolkiewski could play the 
 losing as well as the winning game ; and an eight 
 days' march in the face of a numerous army, used 
 to irregular warfare, must have required some tactics 
 
 * In the chapel at Warsaw, formerly belonging to the Dominicans, 
 were deposited the remains of these illustrious captives. The ashes 
 were given up to the Russians at the peace of 1634, but the monument 
 still remained. In the reign of Stanislaus Augustus, Catharine ordered 
 her ambassador Repnin to break the marble tablet bearing the invidious 
 inscription following : 
 
 Jesu Christi Dei Filii 
 
 Regis regum Dei exercituum gloriae, 
 
 Sigismundus III., rex Poloniae et Suecise, 
 
 Exercitu Moschovitico ad Clusinum caeso, Moscovise Metropoli deditione 
 accepta, Smolensco Reipublicae restitute. 
 
 Basileo Szuyscio magno duci Moscoviae, et fratri ejus Demetrio militia 
 prsefecto, captivis jure belli receptis, et in arce Gostinensi sub custodia 
 habitis, ibique vita functis, &c. 
 
 In the Chateau Royal of Warsaw there was a painting representing 
 the captivity of the same persons, which Peter caused to be destroyed hi 
 the time of Augustus II. 
 
ZOLKIEWSKI GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. 71 
 
 and management. Historians compare this retro 
 vmcle movement to " the Retreat of the Ten Thou- 
 sand ;" and no doubt the Polish grand-general, if he 
 had boasted a Greek tongue and a Greek sword 
 would have made as wonderful a narrative as Xeno- 
 uhon. But Zolkiewski was to suffer a different fate ; 
 for when the troops had reached the Dniester, they 
 were panicstruck at the sight of the enemy, and 
 fled in disorder. " Zolkiewski," says the Polish 
 historian,* " like Paulus jEmilius, disdained to sur- 
 vive his defeat, and with the same valour which had 
 marked his life he fell fighting for his country, and 
 covered with wounds, on the banks of the Dniester, 
 near the town of Mohilow." His son was taken 
 prisoner, but both bodies were redeemed and buried 
 in the same grave, with this inscription : 
 
 Exoriare aliquis nostris ex ossibus ultor. 
 
 This voice from the tomb urged their descendant 
 Sobieski to exact retribution from the Turks.f 
 
 This was only the signal for fresh war : the sultan 
 now headed his troops in person, but was eventually 
 obliged to make peace.J 
 
 While the Poles were thus engaged in the south, 
 the Swedes were making inroads in the north. 
 Sigismund had not quietly given up the crown of 
 Sweden ; but although his exertions were fruitless, he 
 still cherished the hope of recovering it. The Polish 
 king found an opponent in Gustavus Adolphus, who 
 was now on the throne, and who withstood, not 
 merely the Poles, but almost all continental Europe, 
 at least the Catholic part. Livonia, the point of 
 junction between the two kingdoms, was the seat 
 of war. After some trifling struggles, Gustavus 
 took the field in 1626, and laid siege to Riga. This 
 
 * James Sobieski. 
 t Coyer, Vie de Sobieski. 
 
 } The particulars of this war arc recorded by James Sobieski in tho 
 work before <juoted. 
 
72 HISTORY OF POLAND. 
 
 town surrendered in six weeks, and the Swedish king 
 drove out the Jesuits, who were its perpetual tor- 
 mentors. But Sigismund was too stubborn to be 
 taught the inutility of resisting the great Gustavus ; 
 he would not see in him any thing but a young hot- 
 headed competitor, and not the determined cham- 
 pion of the " Thirty Years' War." Battle lost after 
 battle increased the demands of the Swedes, and 
 lessened the power of the Poles. The Polish king was 
 also the dupe of the courts of Vienna and Madrid,whose 
 interest it was to make him divert Gustavus from the 
 rest of Europe, and in consequence they promised to 
 assist him with money and troops. These promises 
 were never kept, and Sigismund continued obsti- 
 nately to gnaw the file. The city of Dantzig, how- 
 ever, defended itself very vigorously ; the Swedish 
 admiral was killed, and Gustavus obliged to raise 
 the siege. But the continued run of ill-fortune at 
 length opened the eyes of the Poles to their own 
 folly and the treachery of their pretended allies ; 
 and Sigismund was happy to make peace for six 
 years, by which he resigned Livonia and part of 
 Prussia, in 1629. 
 
 Sigismund terminated this reign of trouble in 1632. 
 Ever the dupe of the Jesuits, who were in his per- 
 fect confidence, he lost one kingdom and weakened 
 another which was so unfortunate as to continue 
 under his power. Poland, the land of toleration, 
 was now the scene of religious contest, and the 
 Protestants were deprived of all places of trust and 
 power. General dissatisfaction resulted, and the 
 nobles had formed a confederation against their king 
 in 1607 ; but not being very resolute, they failed in 
 carrying their point. In 1609 these confederations 
 were authorized by law. The spirit of contention, 
 however, still continued to divide house against 
 house, and the father against his son ; intolerance 
 added to the serf's chains, and put an embargo on 
 commerce. Such were the effects for which Poland 
 
REVOLT OF THE COSSACKS. 73 
 
 was indebted to Sigismund III. He not only com- 
 mitted actual injury, but sowed fresh seeds by in- 
 trusting- great power to the Jesuits. " He had, in 
 short," says a French writer, " two faults, ; which 
 generally occasion great misfortunes, he was very 
 silly, and very obstinate." 
 
 Some time after the accession of Wladislas VII., 
 son of Sigismund, to the throne, died Gustavus 
 Adolphus, which event enabled the Poles to oblige 
 the Swedes to resign their conquests, and make a 
 firmer peace in 1635, at Stumsdorf. Had all the 
 acts of the new king been dictated by the same good 
 policy, Poland would have been saved much loss of 
 strength and influence. 
 
 The Polish nobles were jealous of the independ- 
 ence of the Cossacks, so different from the state of 
 their own serfs; the Jesuits could not bear to tolerate 
 them in their adherence to the doctrines of the Greek 
 church, and longed to make them Catholics; the 
 king, perhaps, was swayed by both reasons ; so that 
 the sovereign, nobles, and Jesuits all united to prune 
 the almost lawless freedom of that wild but useful 
 tribe, and from this time may be dated their aliena- 
 tion from the Polish interest. Wladislas ordered 
 forts to be erected in the Ukraine to awe them ; and 
 the Cossacks armed in defence of their right, but 
 were defeated. In defiance of treaties, the Poles 
 villanously butchered their hetman and many other 
 prisoners. A compact made after this, binding the 
 victors to withdraw their troops and restore the 
 Cossacks to their full liberty, was as soon broken ; 
 the diet ordered the number of forces in the Ukraine 
 to be increased, and that they should be reduced to 
 the same state of subjection as the serfs. The 
 Polish nobles seemed to imagine that oaths and en- 
 gagements were not binding with uncivilized people ; 
 for they committed all kinds of outrages on them, 
 both personal and general : at length an act of intol- 
 erable injustice drove the Cossacks again to rebel 
 G 
 
74 HISTORY OF POLAND. 
 
 and they were obtaining many advantages when 
 death carried off their tyrant, Wladislas, in 1648. 
 
 But the former bigot was succeeded by another : 
 John Casimir, younger brother of the late king, was 
 called to occupy the throne just vacated. Casimir 
 was a Jesuit by principle, education, and character ; 
 and the pope gave him a cardinal's hat, to free him 
 from his religious ties that he might assume the crown. 
 
 Under this king the Cossacks were as badly treated 
 as under his predecessor. The Polish nobles con- 
 tinued to oppress them, and Casimir connived at 
 the injustice ; at length, however, a notorious act of 
 villany roused them to revolt. Chmielnicki, a man 
 of some influence in the Ukraine, was deprived of 
 a small tract of land by the Polish governor ; and 
 resenting the oppression, asserted his right, and 
 taunted that officer as a tyrannical upstart. The 
 governor, incensed at his resistance, imitated the 
 violence of the other Polish nobles, carried off 
 Chmielnicki's wife, and set fire to his house, in which 
 his infant child perished. Chmielnicki drew his 
 sword to revenge his wife's dishonour and his child's 
 death, and joined the rebel Cossacks, who made him 
 their leader. It was about this time that Casimir 
 came to the throne, and feeling that the Cossacks 
 were the aggrieved party, he refused to prosecute 
 the war, but endeavoured to conciliate them by 
 writing to the hetman and confirming him in his 
 office. The Cossack chief withdrew his forces, and 
 negotiations were in progress ; but the nobles, con- 
 federating at the instigation of the aristocrats, put 
 an end to these pacific measures with the sword. 
 The Cossacks taught the Poles that they could de- 
 fend their own liberty as well as that of their former 
 allies and present oppressors. The rebel forces left 
 behind them a wake of blood and devastation. They 
 advanced into Poland, and even invested the king in 
 his camp at Zborow. The Cossacks were credu- 
 lous ; and believing a people who had deceived them 
 
WAR WITH THE COSSACKS. 75 
 
 so often, consented to negotiate. It was then agreed, 
 in 1649, that they should have the free use of their 
 privileges and religion.* 
 
 This treaty did not satisfy the nobles, who were 
 both foiled in their undertaking and humiliated by 
 their defeat ; they therefore determined to pay no 
 more attention to it than the preceding agreements. 
 Before the end of the year, the diet announced its 
 intention of reducing the Cossacks to obedience. 
 Casimir made the expedition quite a crusade, and 
 received a sacred helmet and sword from Pope In- 
 nocent X. His preparations were on as great a 
 scale as if he designed the subjugation of a powerful 
 nation, instead of a few thousand rebels, as they de- 
 nominated the Cossacks ; besides an army of 100,000 
 nobles, he assembled a body of 50,000 of the foreign 
 troops who had fought in the thirty years' war. The 
 hetman, not terrified at this gigantic armament, allied 
 himself with the cham of the Tartars, and encoun- 
 tered the Poles. Victory declared in favour of the 
 oppressors, and the Cossacks were dispersed ; but 
 the hetman had yet sufficient resources to obtain a 
 peace in 1651. Submission to despotism is a dis- 
 tasteful lot, and happily cannot, under any circum- 
 stances, be made a duty by the strictest treaties or 
 vows, according to the well-known principle of 
 moral philosophy, that improper promises are not 
 binding ; so thought the Cossacks without the aid 
 of a system of ethics, and submitted to the Rus- 
 sians in 1654. Alexis was then czar : he gladly re- 
 ceived his new subjects ; and assigning, as a pretext 
 for war, an omission which the Poles had made in 
 one of his titles, marched two armies into Poland, 
 one towards Smolensko, and the other towards Kiow. 
 
 While the Russians were ravaging the east, an- 
 other and no less formidable enemy was arming on 
 
 * The history of this war is given by Chevalier m the work before 
 quoted. 
 
76 HISTORY OF POLAND, 
 
 ' vhe north. Casimir, who sunk beneath the burden 
 of one crown, would not resign the family preten- 
 sions to another, that of Sweden; and when Chris- 
 tina, abdicating about this time, appointed her cousin, 
 Charles Gustavus, her heir, he protested vehemently 
 against the succession. Charles Gustavus armed in 
 defence of his right ; and perceiving that in one of 
 the letters from Casimir, only two et ceteras were 
 used after his titles, instead of three, made it a pre- 
 text for declaring war. It is supposed that he was 
 also instigated by the Polish vice-chancellor, whose 
 wife the cardinal-king, Casimir, had seduced ; and 
 who was afterward banished, and took refuge at 
 Stockholm. Charles Gustavus marched into Poland 
 with 60,000 troops ; discontent and revolt increased 
 their number with Poles, and the Swede entered 
 Warsaw. The contemptible John Casimir fled to 
 Silesia, and Charles Gustavus was master of Po- 
 land. But the nobles were soon disgusted with 
 their new tyrant; and in 1656 they confederated in 
 Gallicia, and Casimir joined the confederacy. For- 
 tune smiled still more favourably: Alexis, jealous of 
 the growing power of Sweden, withdrew his troops ; 
 and even the hetman, who had received an envoy 
 from Casimir, was satiated with revenge, and retired 
 to the Ukraine. Charles was obliged to retrace his 
 steps, and Casimir reached Warsaw again. It is pre- 
 tended that Charles Gustavus now proposed a par- 
 tition of Poland between Prussia and Austria; but, 
 fortunately for the kingdom, the czar declared war 
 against Sweden, and diverted the conqueror from his 
 design. The Elector of Brandeburg concluded a 
 treaty of peace at Wehlau on the 19th of September, 
 1657, satisfied with obtaining the independence of 
 Ducal Prussia. Austria offered assistance now the 
 danger was over ; and the treaty of Oliva was con- 
 cluded on the 3d of May, 1660, between Poland, 
 Prussia, and Sweden. Casimir resigned all preten- 
 sions to the Swedish crown, and ceded Livonia to 
 
TREATY OF OLIVA. 77 
 
 Sweden. It must not be forgotten, that the et ceteras 
 of the King of Sweden's title were arranged to his 
 satisfaction in one of the articles of this treaty. Part 
 of the third article runs, " Dictis vero titulis et insig- 
 nibus non utentur ad serenissimos reges regnumque 
 Sueciae in literis aliisve diplomatibus aut scriptis, sed 
 observabitur ab utrinque receptus hactenus modus 
 abbreviandorum titulorum cum et caeterationibus, ita 
 ut post verba Magnus Dux Lithuania tres et caetera- 
 tiones in titulo serenissimi moderni Regis Polomas et 
 vicissim post verba Magnus Princeps Finlandiae, tres 
 et caeterationes in titulo serenissimi Regis Sueciae 
 adficiantur." 
 
 Thus was Casimir freed from this terrible coalition 
 which had threatened to forestall the fate of his un- 
 fortunate kingdom.* But even before the treaty of 
 Oliva was concluded, the Poles, instead of conciliat- 
 ing all parties, passed a decree in the diet against 
 
 * Rulhtere tells us that a Swedish ambassador was employed to pro- 
 pose secretly a treaty between Austria, Sweden, and Prussia, to divide 
 Poland between them. " I have discovered," says he, "this important, 
 and till now unknown circumstance, in the archives of foreign affairs in 
 France." He does not, however, give his authorities ; and the following 
 extracts from the French ambassador's despatches expose a rather dif- 
 ferent combination of circumstances. 
 
 "They (the Poles) wish to get rid of the aid of Austria, which gives 
 them much more trouble than advantage. They know that the emperor 
 and the Elector of Brandeburg wish for a continuation of the war, with, 
 the view that Poland must necessarily fall into their hands," since 
 Charles Gustavus would be engaged in opposing Russia. 
 
 " From the camp before Thorn, 
 " 2 Nov. 1658." 
 
 " The Austrian ministers will take every opportunity to throw new 
 difficulties in the way of the treaty, and the Russians to break that which 
 they made at Wilna, and to ally themselves with the Swedes. What 
 gives the Poles the more apprehension is, the information they have 
 received that the czar has a treaty in hand with Sweden. The house of 
 Austria, which advises this nomination (the succession of the czar to the 
 Polish throne) which it would not wish to take place, flatters itself with 
 the hope of then seeing the Poles obliged to submit to it for protection 
 against the grand-duke, or that he will be reduced to the necessity of 
 sharing the kingdom with her, and will be contented with a part, not 
 being able to have the whole. 
 
 " From the camp before Thorn, 
 " 26 Oct. 1658." 
 
 From the despatches of De Lumbres, the French ambassador to Po- 
 land ; among the Harleian Manuscripts. 
 G2 
 
78 HISTORY OF POLAND. 
 
 the Arians, most of whom had sided with Sweden, 
 and persecuted them with confiscation, exile, and 
 death. Another rupture also broke out with the 
 Cossacks ; the haughty nobles infringed on the treaty 
 they had made with them in 1658, and the Ukraine 
 again submitted to Russia. " Since then," sa^s Sal- 
 vandy, " Warsaw has seen them keeping guard at the 
 gates of her palace." 
 
 The Poles kept the Russians at bay, and the famous 
 John Sobieski distinguished himself in these cam- 
 paigns ; but they were obliged to make peace in 1667. 
 By the treaty, Severia and the Ukraine, on the east 
 of the Dnieper,- were ceded to Russia ; the Cossacks 
 (Zaporierises) were to be under the joint dominion of 
 both states, ready to serve against the Turks when 
 required, and were to have the free exercise of their 
 religion. 
 
 This reign was as unfortunate in its internal policy 
 as in its foreign relations. The king was entirely at 
 the mercy of his queen, his mistresses, and the Jesuits. 
 Many of the nobles, during the Swedish invasion, 
 had urged the necessity of choosing a successor to 
 the throne who might be able to fight their cause ; 
 and many went so far as to wish the monarchy to 
 become hereditary.* The emperor was proposed by 
 many; but the queen, Maria Louisa, exerted herself 
 to ensure the succession to the French prince Conde, 
 and in the diet of 1661 the king himself made the pro- 
 posal. This unconstitutional proceeding produced 
 great murmurs among the nobles ; the diet was dis- 
 solved; and the seeds of serious revolt were thus 
 
 * " I have seen some of the Polish ministers, who have stated, that if 
 the war continues with Sweden, &c., they shall be obliged to elect a 
 successor who will be capable cf re-establishing their affairs, and they 
 see none who is more able to do so than the Archduke Leopold. Besides, 
 the vice-chancellor, who follows this party, did not hesitate to say that 
 the liberty of the Poles was prejudicial to them, and that it was desirable 
 they should have an hereditary king." De Lumbres, 21 Feb. 1657, MS. 
 Despatches. 
 
CASIMIR ABDICATES. 79 
 
 sown which harassed Casimir during the rest of his 
 reign.* 
 
 Casimir, worn out by these and other troubles, 
 took the resolution of resigning the sceptre which he 
 could not wield, and resuming his religious habit. 
 He had been told in the diet " that the calamities of 
 Poland could not end but with his reign;" and he 
 addressed that diet in the following words : 
 
 " PEOPLE OF POLAND, 
 
 " It is now two hundred and eighty years that you 
 have, been governed by my family. The reign of my 
 ancestors is past, and mine is going to expire. Fa- 
 tigued by the labours of war, the cares of the cabinet, 
 and the weight of age ; oppressed with the burdens 
 and solicitudes of a reign of more than twenty-one 
 years ; I, your king and father, return into your 
 hands what the world esteems above all things a 
 crown ; and choose for my throne six feet of earth, 
 where I shall sleep in peace with my fathers." 
 
 After his abdication he retired to France, where he 
 was made abbot of the monastery of St. Germain- 
 des-Pres. 
 
 It was in this king's reign that the Uberum veto, or 
 privilege of the deputies to stop all proceedings in 
 the diet by a simple dissent, first assumed the form 
 of a legal custom. " The leaven of superstition and 
 bigotry," says Rulhiere,f "began to ferment and 
 
 * In this diet Casimir pronounced these remarkable words, which have 
 been construed as a singular prophecy of the dismemberment of Poland: 
 " I hope I may be a false prophet in stating that you have to fear the dis- 
 memberment of the republic. The Russians (Moscus et Russi) will 
 attempt to seize the grand-dutchy of Lithuania as far as the rivers Bug 
 and Narew, and almost to the Vistula. The Elector of Brandeburgwill 
 have a design on Greater Poland and the neighbouring palatinates, and 
 will contend for the aggrandizement of both Prussian. The house of 
 Austria will turn its attention to Cracow and the adjacent palatinates." 
 Rulhie"re pretends that Casimir had the mysterious treaty in his eye when 
 he spoke these prophetic words ; but a more natural solution of the ques^ 
 tion is found in the letters before mentioned, which show that the appre- 
 hensions Casimir expresses were not confined to him. 
 
 t Histoire de 1' Anarchic de Pologne, vol. i. p. 42. 
 
80 HISTORY OF POLAND. 
 
 blend itself with all the other vices of the constitu- 
 tion; they then became closely united, and their 
 junction defied all remedy. It was then that in the 
 bosom of the national assembly sprung up this sin- 
 gular anarchy, which, under the pretext of making 
 the constitution more firm, has destroyed in Poland 
 all sovereign power. The right of single opposition 
 to general decrees, although always admitted, was 
 for a long time not acted upon. There remained but 
 one step to complete the destructive system, and that 
 was taken in 1652, under the reign of John Casimir. 
 A Polish noble named Sizinski, whom his contempo- 
 raries have denounced to the indignation of posterity, 
 having left the diet at the period allotted for its reso- 
 lutions, and by his voluntary absence preventing the 
 possibility of any unanimity, the diet considered that 
 it had lost its power by the desertion of this one 
 deputy." A precedent so absurd, but so easily imi- 
 tated, could not fail to have the most pernicious 
 effects. 
 
 There can only be one opinion on this king's reign : 
 he deserves any character rather than that of " the 
 Polish Solomon ;" nor can we agree with the whole 
 of the assertion that 
 
 " He made no wars, and did not gain 
 New realms to lose them back again, 
 And (save debates in Warsaw's diet) 
 He reign'd in most unseemly quiet."* 
 
 His reign, unfortunately for Poland, was any thing 
 but an "unseemly quiet," and has added another 
 proof of the bad effects of ingrafting the sceptre on 
 the crosier. 
 
 The introduction of the Jesuits by Batory had a 
 great effect on the progress of learning in Poland. 
 The curious, however, count up 711 Polish authors 
 in the reign of Sigismund III. The Polish language 
 became more generally diffused in Lithuania, Gal* 
 
 * Mazeppa. 
 
JOHN SOBIESKI. 81 
 
 licia, Volhynia, &c., where formerly the Russian 
 was the prevalent dialect. The close intercourse 
 which commenced with France during- the unfortu- 
 nate administration of John Casimir introduced many 
 of the comforts of civilization; travelling was im- 
 proved in Poland, inns were built on the high roads, 
 and carriages came into general use. But sadly did 
 learning languish in this stormy reign. The incur- 
 sions of the Swedes, Cossacks, and Tartars swept 
 away the libraries, broke up all literary society, and 
 commerce shared the same fate. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Michael Wiecnowegki elected Intrigues against him War with Tur- 
 keyTreaty of Buczacz Royal Confederation Treaty broken Death 
 of Michael Battle of Chocim Election of Sobieski Sobieski's Ances- 
 try-^Life, &c. Battle of Leopol Coronation Sobieski's Danger 
 Treaty of Zuranow Alliance with Austria Siege of Vienna Sobi- 
 eski succours Vienna and defeats the Turks Leopold's Ingratitude 
 Sobieski defeated by the Turks Consequences of this War Intrigues 
 War renewed Complaints of the Diet Religious Persecution 
 Sobieski takes the Jews into favour Disorders of the Government 
 Sobieski dies. 
 
 MANY were found ready to take up the crown 
 which Casimir had laid down; and among other can- 
 didates appeared the eldest son of the czar, the Duke 
 of Neuburg, Prince Charles of Lorraine, and the 
 Prince of Conde. But neither of these was consid- 
 ered an eligible person; and faction, which makes 
 nations the dupes of trivial circumstances and feeble 
 individuals, raised an obscure monk to the sovereignty. 
 This event seems to have disappointed more than the 
 ostensible competitors. The " famous" John Sobi- 
 eski, who was now both grand-general and grand- 
 marshal, which offices gave him almost absolute 
 power both in civil and military affairs, 
 
82 HISTORY OF POLAND. 
 
 " thought one step higher 
 
 Would set him highest," 
 
 and was secretly clearing the way to take this de- 
 cisive step. He succeeded so far as to persuade the 
 Poles to reject the foreigners and choose a Piast ;* 
 but not the individual whom the great general wished 
 to introduce. " If at this juncture," says his biog- 
 rapher,! " he flattered himself with the hopes of the 
 crown, the illusion was of short duration." A tu- 
 multuous movement, which was of uncertain origin, 
 called to the throne a Polish gentleman, obscure, un- 
 known, and deformed, who was not invested with 
 any office, who had never transacted any public 
 ousiness, and who himself rejected this unexpected 
 honour with a shudder of apprehension. Michael 
 Koribut Wie9nowieeki was descended from the Ja- 
 gellons ; but shrinking from the field of strife which 
 had led his ancestors to the throne, he shut himself 
 up in a monastery of Warsaw, in hope that he might 
 live unmolested, and go down to the grave unob- 
 served. He was almost dragged to the throne, and 
 wept at being obliged to bear what so many were 
 longing for, 1669. Casimir, on being informed of 
 his late subjects' choice, said, "What! have they 
 set the crown upon the head of that poor fellow ?" 
 Subsequent events proved that the ex-king was right 
 in his hinted apprehensions. 
 
 The senators, foiled by this nomination of the in- 
 ferior nobles, took every opportunity of exhibiting 
 the king's weakness. Michael too gave them many 
 grounds for complaint; he paid no regard to the 
 pacta conventa, and married an Austrian princess, 
 the archduchess Eleanora, without consulting the 
 diet. The Cossacks, revolting, and being beaten by 
 Sobieski, sued for aid from Turkey. 
 
 At this time numerous intrigues were secretly 
 
 * The party in favour of a native Pole was already formed by the 
 Bobles, who were enraged at the intrigues of the late queen with Franoa. 
 t Coyer. 
 
ROYAL CONFEDERACY. 83 
 
 fomenting, and among others one with Sobieski at 
 its head, to depose Michael and set a French prince 
 on the throne. This was a faction of the aristocrats 
 against the inferior nobles (la noblesse); Sobieski 
 carried on a correspondence with Louis XIV., and 
 invited him to name a king for Poland, to curb the 
 license of the diet, in fact, to use his own words, " to 
 deliver the republic from the absurd tyranny of a 
 plebeian nobility."* 
 
 The approach of Mahomet suspended these in- 
 trigues for a time. Sobieski, the champion of Po- 
 land, again took the field ; but in vain did he rally his 
 little army. Kamieniec, a strong town and fortress 
 in Podolia, in fact the only well-fortified place the 
 Poles possessed, fell into the hands of the Turks on 
 the 27th of August, 1672 ; and in September Maho- 
 met encamped under the walls of Leopol, the capital 
 of Gallicia. The pospolite, whom Michael had 
 hastily assembled, imagining that the aristocrats 
 were treacherously concerned in this invasion, con- 
 federated at Golembe to defend their king. Michael, 
 alarmed at having the Moslems in such close vicinity, 
 made proposals to the sultan for peace, which were 
 accepted. This disgraceful treaty of Buczacz alien- 
 ated from Poland the Ukraine and Podolia, and made 
 Michael a tributary vassal of Mahomet ;f who, satis- 
 fied with this success, and harassed by Sobieski, 
 withdrew his troops. The aristocratical party pro- 
 tested vehemently against this treaty, and the breach 
 of privilege committed by the king in signing it 
 without consent of the diet, although they were the 
 very persons who had lately planned the abolition 
 of the elective and inert monarchy. The confede- 
 rates, however, firmly defended the act; and so violent 
 were they, that they condemned a hundred of the 
 most illustrious nobles to death, and enjoined all 
 
 * Sobieski's letter to Louis XIV. of the 14th July, 1672. See Rul 
 re, vol. i. p. 53. 
 t He was to pay 22,000 ducats annually. 
 
84 HISTORY OF POLAND. 
 
 others to subscribe to the confederacy under the 
 same penalty. They summoned Sobieski to appear 
 before them ; but with difficulty could he save the 
 messengers from the vengeance of his soldiers, who 
 swore to a man to defend their favourite leader. 
 Winter advanced and dispersed the confederacies ; 
 and in the beginning of 1673, all parties agreed to a 
 meeting for the object of pacification. 
 
 At the opening of the assembly, an obscure indi- 
 vidual announced that he had an important commu- 
 nication to make, no less than that Sobieski had sold 
 his country to the sultan for twelve millions. Hun- 
 dreds of voices immediately demanded vengeance 
 on the man who dared to calumniate their great 
 general ; but he came in person to Warsaw to defend 
 himself. The entrance of the illustrious culprit into 
 the city was a triumph ; the king, hating him as he 
 did, sent to compliment him, and the convocation 
 looked upon him with that reverence which master 
 minds always exact from ordinary intellects. Ac- 
 cording to his advice, the convocation dissolved into 
 a regular diet ; and even those now crouched before 
 him who had lately impeached him. The accuser 
 was condemned to capital punishment; but Sobieski's 
 authority and clemency arrested the sentence. The 
 diet declared for war. 
 
 Michael indeed still wore the crown, but Sobieski 
 wielded the sceptre. He set out to encounter the 
 ' Turks, who came to claim the tribute, payment of 
 which was neglected ; and came up with them near 
 Chocim, in November, 1673. " My comrades," said 
 he, as he beheld their immense and gorgeous camp, 
 " in half an hour we shall lodge under those gilded 
 tents ;" and he kept his word. " The day of Cho- 
 cim," says Salvandy,* " was too great to be counted 
 
 * Histoire de Pologne avant et sous le Roi Jean Sobieski, par N. A. de 
 Balvandy, vol. ii. p. 153. 
 
 This attractive work, if read with the restrictions contained in an 
 excellent critique in the Revue Encyclopedique, vol. xliii. p. 438, will 
 
ELECTION OF SOBIESKI. 85 
 
 in this sad reign." Disease, which had long preyed 
 on Michael, carried him off on the very eve of 'the 
 battle. In framing our opinion of this king's charac- 
 ter, we must do him the justice to remember, that 
 even a great man would have found it difficult to 
 hold a consistent course in the midst of circum- 
 stances so trying as those in which he was thrown. 
 The Poles, too, had no reason to complain ; they 
 had forced the crown on his head in spite of his un- 
 willingness to accept it. 
 
 Sobieski now played his part well ; he took every 
 precaution to throw obstacles in the way of his com- 
 petitors ; and at length, when the elective diet was 
 In a state of hesitation, he took them by surprise and 
 carried his point. His friend and partisan, Jablo- 
 nowski, palatine of Polish Russia, thus addressed 
 the assembly : 
 
 " Having arrived at the close of this stormy dis- 
 cussion, we have all agreed what kind of a king our 
 present circumstances demand. We know that the 
 crown is a heavy burden, and it remains to see who 
 has most strength to bear it. We can have a chief, 
 a companion and judge of our labours, a citizen of 
 our country. I demand that a Pole shall reign over 
 Poland. Among us is a man who, having saved the 
 state ten times by his counsels and his victories, is 
 regarded by all the world, as well as by ourselves, 
 as the greatest, the first of the sons of Poland. One 
 last consideration affects me. Poles, if we deliberate 
 here in peace on the election of a king, if the most 
 illustrious powers solicit our suffrages, if our strength 
 is increased, if our liberty is in existence, if even we 
 have a country, to whom are we indebted for it? 
 Recall to mind the wonders of Slobodisza, Podhaice, 
 Kalusz, and, above all, Chocim, immortal names, and 
 take for your king John Sobieski !" 
 
 This harangue had the desired effect, and Sobieski 
 
 fiirnish a rich treat for those admirers of Sobieski who are acquainted 
 with him only from the writings of Connor, Coyer, or Palmer. 
 
 H 
 
86 HISTORY OF POLAND. 
 
 \vas elected King of Poland on the 19th of May, 
 1674. 
 
 This great man was not merely one of Fortune's 
 minions. He had not, like many indeed, to contend 
 with the disadvantages of an obscure birth or $ con- 
 tracted education. His immediate ancestry were 
 not only illustrious, but powerful ; and he had from 
 childhood every opportunity that Europe afforded to 
 acquire the most recent information as regards the 
 useful arts of war and policy, and at the same time 
 to cultivate science and elegant learning. His father 
 and grandfather were distinguished in Polish history; 
 the former was castellan of Cracow, the chief secu- 
 lar senator of Poland, and four times marshal of the 
 diet under Sigismund III. He was a skilful and re- 
 nowned general; nor were his talents confined to 
 war ; we have before had occasion to allude to one 
 of his literary compositions, the Commentaries of 
 the Chocim War (Commentariorum Chotinensis 
 Belli Libri Tres, Auctore Jacobo Sobieski), which is 
 in -much better Latin than the moderns have gene- 
 rally written. He married the granddaughter* of the 
 great Zolkiewski, who defeated the Russians at Mos- 
 cow in the reign of Sigismund III., and took the czar 
 prisoner. We have recorded this great man's death 
 as it is described by his relative. 
 
 Sobieski first studied the art of war in France ; 
 where he was sent in his youth, accompanied by his 
 elder brother Mark. " My children," said their 
 father, at parting, " apply yourselves in France only 
 to the useful arts ; as to dancing, you will have an 
 opportunity of accomplishing yourselves in that 
 among the Tartars." This was during the minority 
 of Louis XIV. The embryo hero of Poland was ther. 
 enrolled among the grand musketeers, a company 
 which had been established by Louis XIII. On 
 
 * Coyer calls her his daughter, but he is mistaken; nor is this the 
 only instance. See Coyer, p. 67, London edition, 1762. Compare with 
 Salvandy, vol. i. p. 165 
 
EARLY LIFE OF SOBIESKI. 87 
 
 leaving France, the brothers visited England, Italy, 
 and Turkey. When they returned to Poland, they 
 found Casimir on the throne and involved in the 
 troublesome war with the Cossacks and Turks. 
 Their father was now dead, but their mother well 
 supplied his place as a guardian to her sons. John, 
 however, soon lost his brother in a conflict with the 
 Tartars ; and his mother, with whom he was not a 
 favourite, retired to Italy. Sobieski had incurred the 
 displeasure of his mother by fighting two duels, in 
 the latter of which he was wounded and prevented 
 from being present at an affray with the Cossacks 
 at Batowitz, in 1652, which proved fatal to Mark. 
 The first of these was fought with one of the Pac,s, a 
 powerful Lithuanian family, and originated in a dis- 
 pute at the election of John Casimir. The Pa^s were 
 from that time his declared enemies for life, and 
 often did their intrigues cause him to regret, in his 
 manhood, the impetuosity of his youth. Various 
 charges of youthful gayety and thoughtlessness 
 during his sojourn in France were also brought 
 against him ; and John Sobieski was now considered 
 but a young debauchee, and the degenerate descend- 
 ant of a noble family. But soon did he " falsify 
 men's hopes," and throwing off the mask of revelry, 
 came forth in the character of the greatest warrior 
 of his age. He was instrumental in defeating the 
 Cossacks and Tartars, for which service Casimir 
 made him successively standard-bearer and grand- 
 general. He also held with the last office that of 
 grand-marshal, a place of great importance. 
 
 Besides his merit, Sobieski availed himself of other 
 roads to distinction and power. His marriage with 
 Marie de la Grange, one of the maids of honour to 
 the. wife of Casimir, strengthened his influence at 
 court. She was the widow of Zamoyski, Palatine 
 of Landomir, and daughter of the Marquis d'Anquien, 
 and a confidant of her mistress. " She was very 
 
88 HISTORY OF POLAND. 
 
 ingenious and beautiful," says Connor ;* " but John 
 was not very willing to marry her till Casimir prom- 
 ised he would give him considerable places and 
 make him grand-general." And this, says the same 
 author, was the cause of his being made king. ( 
 
 It has been already seen how impatient Sobieski 
 was under the reign of Michael, and how he plotted 
 his dethronement. That act of open defiance to his 
 sovereign, the infringement of the treaty with the 
 Turks, rendered him a great favourite with the sol- 
 diers ; he seemed to them another Camillus, throw- 
 ing his sword into the scale which was to weigh the 
 tribute. 
 
 Before the coronation ceremonies were performed, 
 he determined to prosecute the war with the Turks. 
 His object in deferring the solemnity of inauguration 
 seems to have been that he might retain the office of 
 grand-general for a time. Sobieski appears to have 
 fought with the stimulus of personal animosity; 
 every Moslem whom he killed was another libation 
 of atonement to appease the manes of his slaughtered 
 relatives. Every enemy whom he laid low might 
 have been the murderer of his uncle or his brother, 
 and at least revenge was satisfied with the blood that 
 was shed. After various skirmishes the Polish 
 troops encountered the Turks and Tartars near 
 Leopol in Gallicia ; the former mustered only 15,000, 
 while they had to contend with above 60,000.f Al- 
 though it was in the month of August there was a 
 heavy fall of snow, which fortunately served to in- 
 commode the enemy. The superstitious Poles ex- 
 claimed, " a miracle !" the writers of the times record 
 
 * Connor was an Irish physician of some note, and was engaged in 
 that capacity by Sobieski. He :aas written a " History of Poland," which 
 is the work referred to. 
 
 t These numbers are multiplied by Connor more than fourfold ; but 
 as the Turkish troops were only an advanced guard, we adhere to the 
 number given by Coyer. The doctor pretends too that Sobieski's troops 
 amounted only to 5000. 
 
WAR WITH TURKEY. 89 
 
 it as one, and Sobieski had too much good sense to 
 undeceive them. 
 
 Trusting that they had God on their side, they 
 fought with the firm belief that they should conquer, 
 and most probably every one of the 10,000 dead 
 bodies which the Turks are said to have left on the 
 field was in their eyes a confirmation of their faith. 
 The enemy fled in one night as many leagues as they 
 had marched in three days before. 
 
 The vizier in the course of his retreat invested 
 Trembowla, a small town strongly fortified, in Podo- 
 lia, which was defended by Samuel Chrasonowski, a 
 renegade Jew. He first tried negotiation, but the 
 brave Jewish governor returned this answer : " Thou 
 art mistaken if thou expectest to find gold within 
 these walls: we have nothing here but steel and 
 soldiers ; our number indeed is small, but our cour- 
 age is great." The Turkish general then ordered 
 the place to be cannonaded ; but all to no purpose. 
 The wife of the Jewish commander was as resolute 
 as her husband, and assisted with her own hands to 
 supply ammunition. The Polish nobles who were 
 stationed there did not, however, emulate the ex- 
 ample of their female general, but began to plan a 
 surrender. They were overheard by the heroine, 
 who ran through the thickest of the fire to inform 
 her husband; and he, by dint of threats and per- 
 suasion, induced them to hold out. 
 
 The attack was carried on with increased vigour ; 
 the sturdy walls of Trembowla trembled/ and the 
 governor began to fear that the Lord of Hosts had 
 abandoned him. His wife perceived his anxiety, and 
 seizing two poniards, said to her husband, " One of 
 these is destined for thee, if thou surrenderest this 
 town ; the other I intend for myself." 
 
 But the Jew was not fated to become a modern 
 
 Paetus ; for almost at this very crisis the Polish army 
 
 headed by Sobieski appeared in sight, and gave the 
 
 Turks more important matters to engage their atte* 
 
 H2 
 
90 HISTORY OF POLAND. 
 
 tion. The Moslem forces were again routed with 
 the loss of seven or eight thousand men, and retreated 
 to Kamieniec, the chief town of Podolia, where they 
 made their stay during the winter. 
 
 Sohieski spent the interim in the ceremonies of 
 coronation, which were of great importance" in 
 Poland, where the king was little more than a rex 
 designatus till that form had taken place. The 
 funeral of the deceased king was always deferred till 
 his successor had been appointed to succeed him ; 
 so particular were the Poles to avoid an appearance 
 of interregnum and anarchy in a country whose very 
 government was a tissue of insubordination. On the 
 present occasion, by a singular coincidence, it hap- 
 pened that two kings were to be committed to the 
 grave. Casimir had lately died in France, and one 
 dirge was sung at the obsequies of both him and 
 Michael. This was really a practical method of 
 teaching new monarchs, that 
 
 " within the hollow crown 
 
 That rounds the mortal temples of a king 
 Keeps Death his court." 
 
 The ceremony* is then concluded with a singular 
 form. Every new king is obliged to appear in the 
 Stanislas-Kirche, where Boleslas murdered the 
 prelate. But, as if he were the perpetrator of the 
 deed, John went to the spot on foot, and declared, 
 as was the custom, that "the crime was atrocious, 
 that he was innocent of it, detested it, and asked par- 
 don for it, by imploring the protection of the holy 
 martyr upon himself and his kingdom."! 
 
 When all these pageants were concluded, John was 
 again obliged to take the field in September, 1676, 
 as usual with an inferior force. He had 38,000 
 
 * The coronation medals bore the device of a naked sword passing 
 through several crowns of laurel, and at the point a regal crown witfi 
 this inscription, " Per has adistam." 
 
 t Zaluski. 
 
DANGER AT ZURAWNO. 91 
 
 against 200,000 Turks and Tartars ; yet he made a 
 stand at Zurawno, a little town in Pokucia on the 
 west of the Dniester, and fortified his camp with in- 
 trenchments. The Turkish army were encamped 
 on the other side of the river, and had besides cut off 
 the communication behind the Poles. The fate of 
 Sobieski and Poland seemed now to hang by a hair. 
 The king even condescended to send messengers to 
 the Tartar prince with proposals of peace, but with- 
 out any concessions. "What brought us here," said 
 the envoy to the cham, " is the love of peace, which 
 you yourselves stand in need of. We bring neither 
 the petitions nor the looks of suppliants, but a cour- 
 age that is proof against every thing ; and our swords 
 shall procure us peace if our negotiations cannot." 
 As he spoke these words he drew his sword half out 
 of its sheath, which greatly provoked the cham, 
 though no further notice was taken of the imperti- 
 nence ; but the Polish embassy was dismissed. 
 
 The Turks now made an attempt to pass the river, 
 but were repulsed with great loss ; and Ibrahim, the 
 vizier, seeing the danger of bearding the lion in his 
 den, determined to annoy him at a distance. He 
 opened trenches as if he was besieging a town, and 
 the artillery was brought to bear on the Polish camp. 
 A ball went through the king's tent ; but he refused 
 to take any precaution for his own safety, feeling 
 that the crisis demanded personal hazard, to let the 
 soldiers see that they bore no more than their general. 
 
 Ibrahim still remembered the terrible havoc So- 
 bieski had made among the gigantic Turkish forces, 
 and feared even what he considered the dying 
 strength of the formidable Pole ; he therefore sent 
 deputies with proposals of peace. They demanded 
 the performance of the treaty made by Michael, and 
 swore "by their beards and mustachios, to ensure 
 the safety of the Polish army, offering to continue 
 hostages till it had passed the Dniester, after signing 
 a more solid peace than the former." To these 
 
92 HISTORY OF POLAND. 
 
 conditions John refused to submit, and determined 
 rather to try the vast odds of so unequal a battle. 
 
 There were only provisions for four days in the 
 Polish camp, and the king gave orders for an attack 
 on the following- morning. This was an awful night 
 for Sobieski; it was one of those periods when f even 
 the gigantic mind labours under the burden of its 
 own mighty efforts to achieve what seems impossible 
 to ordinary men. He confessed that he never felt 
 any solicitude and anxiety equal to this ; but when 
 he thought of the disgraceful treaty of Michael, he 
 resolved to conquer or to die. 
 
 Day, however, dawned with a brighter prospecf 
 on the Poles. Sedition had sprung up in the Moslem 
 camp; the janizaries were dissatisfied, and the Tar- 
 tars, tired of this unprofitable kind of war, threatened 
 to desert. Besides, news arrived that the Russians 
 were advancing to the aid of the Poles ; and the 
 French and English ambassadors were already 
 arrived at Leopol, and demanded passports to go to 
 the king's camp. These circumstances obliged Ibia- 
 him to lower his authoritative tone, and he consented 
 to make peace on acceptable terms. Two-thirds of 
 the Ukraine were given up to Poland ; the other third 
 was to remain in the hands of the Cossacks, under 
 protection of the sultan. Podolia also was re- 
 stored except Kamieniec, which was still retained. 
 
 John returned to Poland with the credit of having 
 finished the campaign honourably. He then gave 
 the French ambassador an audience, and was invested 
 with the order of the " Holy Ghost," by order of 
 Louis XIV. This rather nettled the Poles ; " It was 
 stooping to the pride of France," said they, " to wear 
 its livery." 
 
 John "had now an interval of five years' peace, 
 though he could not be said to enjoy any of its 
 sweets, for he was continually harassed by the petty 
 warfare of political intrigues carried on by his 
 wife and the Jesuits. Although the pacta convent* 
 
POLITICAL INTRIGUES OF THE QUEEN. 93 
 
 expressly forbade all female influence in the polity of 
 the kingdom, Mary contrived to manage Sobieski 
 and his diet according to her own will. " Her sweet 
 temper," says Connor, " refined sense, and majestic 
 air gained her such affection with the Poles, such 
 influence over the king, and such a sustained interest 
 in the diet, that she managed all with a great deal 
 of prudence." She was present at all the debates, 
 not in public, but in a private situation, where she 
 could hear without being seen. She had one day a 
 matter of personal interest, the increase of her allow- 
 ance, before the diet, but the king endeavoured to 
 defer it till the assembly were in a better humour. 
 The queen, however, would not be put off, and sent 
 her chancellor to the king with a message to that 
 purpose. The king was incensed, and though he 
 was obliged to obey, felt probably the more ready to 
 do so as he was certain the demand would be re- 
 jected. In this, however, he was mistaken, and was 
 shown the extent of his wife's influence, for she had 
 covertly gained over the deputies, and not the slight- 
 est opposition was made to the proposal. 
 
 Sobieski managed the Jesuits better. It was ru- 
 moured that a ghost had appeared in the house of a 
 Polish gentleman in Volhynia, and had also made 
 very serious remarks on the king and his govern- 
 ment. Pasquinades of all kinds were laid to the 
 charge of the scurrilous spirit; and a Jesuit, Gnie- 
 vosz, chaplain to the grand-general, bore witness to 
 the reality of the apparition. The king, who was 
 not to be frightened by shadows, and was not to be 
 made a dupe of the designing or the credulous, sent 
 an intelligent officer to have a colloquy with the 
 ghost, and demand his credentials from the king on 
 the other side of the grave. The spirit was soon 
 laid, and the king readily understood who were the 
 plotters of the trick ; nor did he forget to retaliate. 
 Seeing his Jesuitical confessor at court, he said to 
 him, after mentioning the ghost story, " Well, what 
 
94 HISTORY OF POLAND. 
 
 does your rascal, Gnievosz, say to that?" The 
 Jesuit imagined this but a prelude to further dis- 
 grace, and was so affected that he actually died in 
 consequence before the expiration of eight days. 
 
 The same order took the liberty of encroaching on 
 some of the queen's lands by means of interpolated 
 or confused title-deeds ; but the king soon stopped 
 this aggression also, resolutely but mildly. In writing 
 to the general of the Jesuits, he said, " I shall not 
 summon your brethren at Jaroslaw to appear before 
 the diet, where I should have on my side both jus- 
 tice and the respect that is due to me. I am afraid 
 of increasing by this means the hatred which is 
 already borne you. I only advise you to be upon your 
 guard against those who have the management of 
 your houses, &c." This quickly produced a restitu- 
 tion of the purloined property, and the Jesuits were 
 in future more on their guard in affronting Sobieski. 
 Had this king acted with the same good sense and 
 determination in other matters of a similar kind, he 
 would have made his reign much more happy and 
 glorious. 
 
 John had long wished to renew the war with the 
 Turks ; and in addition to his inveterate and family 
 hatred to that nation, the reproaches of the Pac,s and 
 their party, continually reminding him that Kamiem'ec 
 was in their hands, spurred him on, and an opportu- 
 nity now offered to do so. Leopold, Emperor of 
 Germany and King of Hungary, had driven his Hun- 
 garian subjects to revolt by infringements on their 
 national liberties. The noted Tekeli, one of the 
 principal nobles of that oppressed country, was their 
 leader; and they then entered into an alliance with 
 the Turks. Mahomet sent notice to Leopold, that 
 the Hungarians were now the allies and subjects of 
 the Porte, and that all the Austrian troops must be 
 withdrawn from Hungary, unless he chose to be con- 
 sidered the infringer of the peace. Leopold earnestly 
 begged the aid of the Poles, but Sobieski seemed at 
 
ALLIANCE WITH AUSTRIA. 95 
 
 first disinclined to assist the proud and tyrannical 
 emperor. But he next turned to a more favourable 
 listener in the queen. Several reasons made the 
 proposal agreeable to her; she was piqued with 
 Louis XIV. for his neglect of her family, and was 
 glad to thwart him in his attempts to subject Leopold 
 to Turkish invasion ; besides, the emperor promised 
 to marry the archduchess to her son, and to ensure 
 the succession to the Polish crown in her family. 
 Sobieski could not withstand Mary's artifices ; and, 
 perhaps, he was in fact glad of the opportunity to 
 break a lance with the Turks. He agreed .to have 
 48,000 men in readiness to assist Leopold whenever 
 they might be required ; but a trifle almost deprived 
 the emperor of this invaluable ally. Leopold agreed 
 to give up his pretensions to the salt mines of 
 Wieliczka, which had been pledged to the emperor 
 by Casimir as a security for 5,000,000 florins, and to 
 advance 1,200,000 florins for the expenses of the 
 expedition; but John refused to sign the treaty, 
 unless the emperor styled him His Majesty, which 
 for a long time he obstinately refused. This demand 
 was, without doubt, made at the instigation of Mary, 
 who was piqued because Louis would not give her 
 husband that title. Leopold was at last obliged, 
 though reluctantly, to yield assent, and John Sobieski 
 became his ally. 
 
 Louis, in the mean time, had not been idle in 
 attempting to counteract these designs. His am- 
 bassador succeeded in attaching a strong party to 
 his interest ; but the vigilance of Sobieski frustrated 
 the plan, and the French ambassador, nettled at his 
 defeat, returned to amuse and deceive Louis with 
 telling him that the Polish king was grown too fat 
 and gouty to be able to make a single campaign. In 
 a few weeks, however, all Europe was told a very 
 different story. 
 
 The sultan's forces were ready in April, 1683, 
 but as the truce was not expired, he did not take 
 
96 HISTORY OF POLAND. 
 
 advantage of the unprepared state of Leopold's army* 
 He thus sacrificed interest to truth and good faith) 
 but he was a Barbarian, and had not been schooled 
 in European sophistry. His opponents would have 
 been, and in fact had been, less scrupulous. Sobieski 
 had broken the treaty with the Porte in Michael's 
 reign, and Leopold had trampled on all engagements 
 to which he had pledged himself with the Hungarians. 
 If the God of the Christians did not make his sun 
 shine on the evil as well as the good, the Turks would 
 have been right in expecting that He " would soon 
 deliver them up to the faithful Mussulmans as a just 
 punishment upon the Christians for their wanton 
 violation of treaties." 
 
 In the beginning of May, 1683, the Moslem army 
 set out on its march. The troops amounted nearly 
 to 300,000 men, but above two-thirds of them were 
 Hungarians and Tartars. They were well provided 
 with ammunition, and had more than three hundred 
 immense pieces of artillery. Their general was 
 Kara Mustapha, the grand vizier, who was invested 
 with plenary power by the sultan. 
 
 The route through Hungary was open to the 
 Turks, who came as the allies and defenders of that; 
 country, so that no hopes remained for the Austrian? 
 but in their own resistance. The Duke of Lorraine,, 
 Leopold's brother-in-law, who had been one of So- 
 bieski's competitors for the Polish crown, com- 
 manded the imperial troops, who barely mustered 
 37,000 men. 
 
 The vizier inarched his army from Belgrade along 
 the western side of the Danube, and proceeded almost 
 without a blow to Vienna. The emperor became 
 now as timid and crouching in his adversity as hs 
 had been proud and overbearing in his prosperity. 
 The haughty Leopold was to be seen running away 
 before the Tartars from town to town, an edifying 
 picture of humiliated tyranny. To add to his 
 troubles, the empress, who accompanied him, was 
 
SIEGE OF VIENNA* 97 
 
 then pregnant, and even in this state she was obliged, 
 one night during their retreat, to sleep in a wood on 
 a bundle of straw. This was a time for the bleak 
 night-winds to whisper to Leopold that monition, 
 " Take physic, pomp !" Behind him he could see the 
 farms and cottages of his poor subjects in flames, of 
 which his tyrannical pride was the incendiary, as con- 
 science, no doubt, too plainly told him. But though 
 he was the cause of all these troubles, he did not 
 hazard a hair of his head to remove them, but left his 
 capital to defend itself against the immense host of 
 Turks pouring down upon it. 
 
 Vienna is protected on the north by the Danube, 
 and was at that time pretty strongly fortified on the 
 other sides. On the south there is a plain of nearly 
 three leagues in extent ; and it was here that the 
 vizier pitched his camp, which almost covered that 
 surface.* The Duke of Lorraine threw a part of 
 his infantry into the city, and stationed the rest in 
 Leopolstat, an island of the Danube to the north of 
 Vienna. It was on the 8th of July that the Turkish 
 artillery began to play on the walls, and the Austrians 
 to tremble for the result. 
 
 Count Starembourg commanded the garrison, 
 which consisted of little more than 11,000 men, 
 and in addition to them he armed the university and 
 citizens.f He received no further aid from the 
 Duke of Lorraine, who now retired from the island of 
 Leopolstat, and was engaged in continual skirmishes 
 with the Tartars. The siege went on with vigour, 
 and by the 22d of July the Turks had made very 
 near approaches to the walls. 
 
 At this juncture the garrison received news from 
 
 * The Turkish army encamped before Vienna amounted to 191,800 
 men, as appeared from a list found in the vizier's tent. Connor. 
 
 The author of a Journal of the Siege of Vienna states that the muster- 
 roll contained only 168,000, and that even this was purposely overrated. 
 Journal of the Siege of Vienna. Harleian MSS. 
 
 t The above manuscript rates them at 16,000, besides 2,382 armed 
 citizens. 
 
 I 
 
98 HISTORY OF POLAND. 
 
 the Duke of Lorraine. He promised them speedy 
 succour, though this was most probably done merely 
 to inspirit them. The bearer of the message had 
 swum across the four arms of the Danube, and had 
 to return with his answer the same way. The bold 
 messenger was not so fortunate this time, being taken 
 by the enemy. The letter with which he was 
 intrusted was sent back into the city, with another 
 on the point of an arrow. The purport of the latter 
 epistle was, " that all letters were now useless, for 
 that God would soon deliver up Vienna to the faithful 
 Mussulmans as a just punishment upon the Christians 
 for their wanton violation of treaties." They re- 
 proached the emperor for breaking a treaty which 
 followed the battle of St. Gothard; with infringing 
 on the privileges of the Hungarians, and violating 
 two treaties made with Tekeli. They reproached 
 the Poles for taking up arms without being attacked, 
 and in defiance of the oaths they had sworn at 
 Buczacz and at Zurawno. 
 
 The siege was continued with increased vigour, 
 and to add to the alarm of the citizens, reports were 
 raised that traitors were making a subterraneous 
 entry for the enemy, and that incendiaries increased 
 the fires caused by the Turkish red-hot balls. 
 
 The Duke of Lorraine sent repeated messengers 
 to Sobieski to beg him to bring speedy succour ; but 
 the Polish troops could not be assembled till towards 
 the end of August, and even then they amounted 
 only to 24,000 men.* Before Sobieski began his 
 march he received a letter from the emperor, which 
 shows how adversity can lower the pride of little 
 minds. " We are convinced," said Leopold, " that 
 by reason of the vast distance of your army it is 
 absolutely impossible for it to come time enough to 
 contribute to the preservation of a place which is in 
 
 ! " The king, with his son Prince James, Prince Lubomirski, and 
 most of the Polish grandees, came with an army only, as they assured 
 me, of 24,000 men to relieve it (Vienna)." Connor. Let. 4. 
 
SIEGE OF VIENNA. 99 
 
 the most imminent danger. It is not, therefore, 
 your troops, sire, that we expect, but your majesty's 
 own presence ; being fully persuaded that if your 
 royal presence will vouchsafe to appear at the head 
 of our forces, though less numerous than those of 
 the enemy, your name alone, which is so justly 
 dreaded by them, will make their defeat certain."* 
 
 The queen accompanied him to the frontiers, and 
 the following letter, which he wrote to her on the 
 day after their parting, will make us more intimately 
 acquainted with the champion of Vienna : 
 
 " Only joy of my soul, charming and beloved 
 
 Mariette ! 
 
 " I have passed a very bad night here. One 
 of my arms is numbed ; I have also suffered great 
 pain in the spine of my back. I shall have an attack 
 of rheumatism after this. 
 
 " Dupont has given me still more pain; he returned 
 from you at nine in the evening, and has told me 
 that the violent agitation you feel may probably 
 affect your health. I beg you, my dear soul, to 
 compose yourself and submit to the will of God. 
 He will deign to grant me his guardian angels, and 
 allow me to return to my friends safe and sound."f 
 
 Thus Sobieski, fifty-four years old, and in such a 
 state of health, so weak and debilitated as to be 
 obliged to be almost lifted on his horse, was the only 
 man whom the empire could look to for aid. 
 
 As Sobieski was on his march with his little army, 
 he saw, one day, an eagle flying by them from the 
 right, and availing himself of the superstition of the 
 Poles, he took the opportunity of encouraging them 
 by interpreting it as a good omen. On another 
 
 * This letter was to be seen in Coyer's time in the archives of Poland. 
 Coyer, 
 
 t Histoire dePologne avantet sous le Roi Jean Sobieski, par N. A. De 
 Salvandy, torn. iii. p. 53. There is also a collection of Sobieski's 
 letters, translated by Count Plater, and published by the above author. 
 
100 HISTORY OF POLAND. 
 
 occasion he perceived some singular atmospheric 
 phenomena, which he turned to the same favourable 
 account. 
 
 The Polish forces marched along the banks of the 
 Danube without any resistance, and were J9ined 
 there by the Duke of Lorraine and some other 
 German forces hastening to the rescue of Vienna. 
 The German generals expressed some anxiety as to 
 the result of the conflict, but Sobieski cut them short 
 by saying, " Consider the general you have to deal 
 with, and not the multitude he commands. Which 
 of you, at the head of 200,000 men, would have 
 suffered this bridge to be built within five leagues 
 of his camp? The man has no capacity." He 
 alluded to the bridge at Tuln, which the Duke of 
 Lorraine had erected for the passage of the troops. 
 
 As the Polish army crossed the bridge they were 
 particularly admired for the fineness of their horses, 
 their uniform and general appearance ; but one bat- 
 talion seemed a sad exception, being very badly 
 accoutred. One of the generals expressed his 
 opinion to the king that it was a disgrace to the 
 rest ; but Sobieski thought otherwise. " Look at it 
 well," said he, as it was passing the bridge, " it is an 
 invincible body, that has sworn never to wear any 
 clothes but what it takes from the enemy. In the 
 last war they were all clad in the Turkish manner." 
 
 The Turks offered not the least opposition to the 
 Poles as they crossed the bridge, and all the imperial 
 troops were safely assembled on the western side of 
 the Danube by the 7th of September, and amounted 
 to about 70,000 men. 
 
 They could hear from Tuln the roar of the Turkish 
 cannon. Vienna was, in fact, reduced almost to its 
 last gasp. Most of the garrison were either killed 
 or wounded, and disease was making even greater 
 ravages than the enemy's balls. " The grave con 
 tinued open without ever closing its mouth."* As 
 
 * Coyer. 
 
SOBIESKI RELIEVES VIENNA. lOl 
 
 early as the 22d of August the officers had estimated 
 that they could not withstand a general attack three 
 days. If the vizier had pursued his advantage, 
 Vienna must have fallen into his hands. But it was 
 his object to avoid taking it by storm, in which case 
 the plunder would be carried off by the soldiers, 
 whereas, if he could oblige it to surrender, he might 
 appropriate the spoil to his own use. So careless 
 was he, too, in his confidence, that he had not yet 
 ascertained that the Poles were arrived, till they 
 were in his immediate vicinity ; and when the news 
 was afterward brought to him that the King of Poland 
 was advancing, " The King of Poland !" said he, 
 laughing, " I know, indeed, that he has sent Lubo- 
 mirski with a few squadrons." 
 
 The governor, Starembourg, who had assured the 
 Duke of Lorraine that " he would not surrender the 
 place but with the last drop of his blood," began 
 himself to despair of being longer able to hold out. 
 A letter which he wrote at this period contained 
 only these words : " No more time to lose, my lord, 
 no more time to lose." 
 
 The imperial army set out on the 9th of September 
 for Vienna, but they had a march of fourteen miles 
 to make across a ridge of mountains over which the 
 Germans could not drag their cannon, and were 
 therefore obliged to leave them behind. The Poles 
 were more persevering, for they succeeded in getting 
 over twenty-eight pieces, which were all they had 
 to oppose to the 300 of the enemy. 
 
 On the llth of September they reached Mount 
 Calemberg, the last which separated them from the 
 Turks. " From this hill," says Sobieski's biographer, 
 " the Christians were presented with one of the finest 
 and most dreadful prospects of the greatness of hu- 
 man power; an immense plain and all the islands of 
 the Danube covered with pavilions, whose magnifi- 
 cence seemed rather calculated for an encampment 
 of pleasure than the hardships of war ; an innume- 
 12 
 
102 HISTORY OF POLAND. 
 
 rable multitude of horses, camels, and buffaloes ; 
 200,000 men all in motion ; swarms of Tartars dis- 
 persed along the foot of the mountain in their usual 
 confusion ; the fire of the besiegers incessant and 
 terrible, and that of the besieged such as thejr could 
 contrive to make ; in fine, a great city, distinguish- 
 able only by the tops of the steeples and the fire and 
 smoke that covered it."* But Sobieski was not im- 
 posed on by this formidable sight. " This man," said 
 he, " is badly encamped : he knows nothing of war ; 
 we shall certainly beat him." The eagle eye of the 
 experienced warrior was not mistaken. 
 
 On the eve of the battle, he wrote to the queen in 
 these words : " We can easily see that the general 
 of an army who has neither thought of intrenching 
 himself nor concentrating his forces, but lies en- 
 camped there as if we were a hundred miles from 
 him, is predestined to be beaten." 
 
 To add to the weakness of the Turkish army, 
 great dissatisfaction had sprung up among the troops ; 
 the length of the siege, disease, and, above all, a super- 
 stitious presentiment of bad fortune, arising partly 
 from the denunciations which the mufti had pro- 
 nounced against the sins of the vizier, and partly 
 from a conviction that they were transgressing the 
 law by being the aggressors, was general among the 
 forces. The flower of the Moslem army too, the 
 janizaries, began to murmur against their general's 
 apparent cowardice : " Come on, infidels," they ex- 
 claimed, " the sight of a hat will put us to flight !" 
 Such was the ominous state of the troops who were 
 to withstand John Sobieski. 
 
 The vizier called a council of war on this day, 
 which showed him the disaffection of his officers, as 
 well as the soldiers. Most of them advised a retreat ; 
 they had engaged in the expedition reluctantly, and 
 in opposition to their own counsel. Kara Mustapha, 
 
 * Coyer. 
 
BATTLE OF -VIENNA. 103 
 
 however, was indignant at the thought of flight : he 
 declared his intention of renewing the assault of the 
 city, at the same time while the body of his army 
 kept the allied army in check. 
 
 Sunday, the 12th of September, 1683, was the im- 
 portant day, " big with the fate" of Leopold, that was 
 to decide whether the Turkish crescent was to wave 
 on the turrets of Vienna. The cannonade on the 
 city began at the break of day, for which purpose 
 the vizier on his part had withdrawn from his army 
 the janizaries, all his infantry, and nearly all his 
 artillery. The light cavalry, the Spahis, the Tartars, 
 and other irregular troops, were the forces destined 
 to encounter the enemy ; so egregiously did Kara 
 Mustapha miscalculate the strength of his opponents. 
 They were commanded by Ibrahim Pacha, who was 
 regarded by the Turks as one of the greatest generals 
 of the age ; but, unfortunately for them, he was one 
 of those who disapproved the war, and particularly 
 the present plan of it. At eight in the morning there 
 was some warm skirmishing ; at eleven the Christian 
 army was drawn up in array in the plain ; and Kara 
 Mustapha, beginning to apprehend that the allies 
 were more formidable than he anticipated, had 
 changed his design, and came to command his troops 
 in person. He was stationed in the centre, and So- 
 bieski occupied the same situation in his army. 
 
 It was nearly five in the evening, and the engage- 
 ment had only been partial ; for Sobieski's infantry 
 had not come up, and the vizier was to be seen under 
 a superb crimson tent, quietly sipping coffee, while 
 the King of Poland was before him. At length the 
 infantry arrived, and Sobieski ordered them to seize 
 an eminence which commanded the vizier's position. 
 The promptitude and gallantry with which this 
 manoBuvre was executed decided the fate of the day. 
 Kara Mustapha, taken by surprise at this unexpected 
 attack, ordered all his infantry to his right wing, and 
 
104 HISTORY OF POLAND. 
 
 the movement put all the line in confusion. The 
 king cried out that they were lost men ; he ordered 
 the Duke of Lorraine to attack the centre, which was 
 now exposed and weakened, while he himself made 
 his way through the confused Turks straight for the 
 vizier's tent. He was instantly recognised by the 
 streamers which adorned the lances of his guard, 
 " By Allah !" exclaimed the cham of the Tartars, 
 " the king is with them !" An eclipse of the moon 
 added to the consternation of the superstitious Mos- 
 lems. At this moment the Polish cavalry made a 
 grand charge, and at the same time the Duke of 
 Lorraine with his troops added to the confusion ; and 
 the rout of the Turks became general. The vizier 
 in vain tried to rally them. " And you," said he to 
 the cham of the Tartars, who passed him among the 
 fugitives, "cannot you help me?" "I know the 
 King of Poland !" was the answer. " I told you that 
 if we had to deal with him, all we could do would 
 be to run away. Look at the sky ; see if God is not 
 against us." The immense Turkish army was 
 wholly broken up, and Vienna was saved. 
 
 So sudden and general was the panic among the 
 Turks, that by six o'clock Sobieski had taken pos- 
 session of their camp. One of the vizier's stirrups, 
 finely enamelled, was brought to him. " Take this 
 stirrup," said he, " to the queen, and tell her, that the 
 person to whom it belonged is defeated." Having 
 strictly forbidden his soldiers from plundering, they 
 rested under the Turkish tents. 
 
 Such were the events of the famous deliverance 
 of Vienna as they were seen by the looker-on ; and 
 the outline of the narrative is filled up by one who 
 was the best informed, and not the least impartial, no 
 less than the great hero himself. " The victory has 
 been so sudden and extraordinary," he writes to the 
 queen, " that the city, as well as the camp, was in 
 continual alarm, expecting to see the enemy return 
 
BATTLE OF VIENNA. 105 
 
 every moment.* Night put an end to the pur- 
 suit, and besides, the Turks defended themselves with 
 fury (acharnement) in their flight. All the troops 
 have done their duty well ; they attribute the victory 
 to God and us. At the moment when the enemy 
 began to give ground (and the greatest shock was 
 where I was stationed, opposite the vizier), all the 
 cavalry of the rest of the army advanced towards 
 me on the right wing, the centre and the left wing 
 having as yet but little to do. The emperor is 
 about a mile and a half distant. He is coming down 
 the Danube in a chaloupe ; but I perceive he has no 
 great wish to see me, perhaps on account of the eti- 
 quette. I am very glad to avoid all these ceremonies ; 
 we have been treated with nothing else up to this 
 time. Our darling (fanfan) is brave in the highest 
 degree."f 
 
 Among the spoil a large standard fell into the hands 
 of the victors; and it was mistaken for that of 
 Mahomet. It was sent as such to the pope, and sus- 
 pended in the church of Loretto, "Where," says 
 Connor, " I have seen it." The real standard is 
 enclosed in an ark of gold, with the Koran and the 
 prophet's robe, and is carried by a camel before the 
 sultan or vizier. When it is displayed in battle, an 
 officer is appointed to carry it off on the slightest 
 
 * The passage which follows here offers a singular illustration of So- 
 bieski's mind, which, in the midst of the exultation of a glorious victory, 
 could turn its attention to inquiries into natural phenomena. " I have 
 witnessed this night," he says, " a spectacle which I have long wished for. 
 Our wagon-train set fire to' the powder in several places ; the explosion 
 was like that of the last judgment ; notwithstanding, nobody was 
 wounded. / had an opportunity of seeing on this occasion in what way 
 the clouds are formed in the atmosphere; but it is a mischance : it is 
 certainly a loss of more than half a million (florins)." Of Sobieski's 
 philosophy we shall take orcasiui to say more hereafter. We cannot 
 help remarking, too, another characteristic trait in this epistle ; Sobieski 
 seems more delighted at the large booty he has made than the importance 
 or glory of the victory. Almost the very first word he addresses to his 
 wife is about the riches of the Turkish camp, and nearly the whole of the 
 long letter is more like an appraiser's valuation, than a hero's description! 
 of a momentous battle. 
 
 t Letter ix. of Salvandy's collection. 
 
106 HISTORY OF POLAND. 
 
 reverse that may threaten the Turkish army. This 
 was the case in the present instance, but many writers 
 still maintain that it was the real standard that was 
 taken. 
 
 The loss on the side of the victors was very trifling, 
 notwithstanding the importance of the victory ; nor 
 does it appear from any of the statements to have 
 been very great on that of the Turks. Immense 
 treasures were found in the enemy's camp ; so much 
 so, that Sobieski had for his share some millions of 
 ducats. 
 
 On the following day John made his entrance into 
 Vienna. The breach made by the Turks, and through 
 which they expected to march to the destruction of 
 the city, was the road which admitted its deliverer. 
 The citizens received him with undisguised expres- 
 sions of gratitude ; and even the stern warrior So- 
 bieski shed a tear or two of joy at receiving the 
 thanks and acclamations of the victims whom he had 
 rescued from destruction. " Never," said he, " did 
 the crown yield me pleasure like this !" The people 
 could not nelp comparing him with their own dis- 
 graceful sovereign, and exclaiming, " Ah ! why is 
 not this our master?" With difficulty could the 
 stern looks of the emperor's officers check these 
 natural expressions of feeling. But Sobieski did not 
 arrogate to himself only the glory of the victory ; 
 he went to the cathedral to return thanks, and began 
 to sing the Te Deum himself. A sermon was after- 
 ward delivered, and the preacher, in the taste of 
 that age of conceits and far-fetched puerilities, chose 
 the following text for the occasion : " There was a 
 man sent from God, whose name was John"* So- 
 bieski found upon the towers of this church the 
 Turkish crescent which had been erected there by 
 the great Solyman in 1529, and was to be left as a 
 monument of his unfinished expedition according to 
 
 * Salvandy calls this " Peloquente inspiration " 
 
LEOPOLD'S INGRATITUDE. 107 
 
 the Conditions upon which he agreed to raise the 
 siege. He ordered this memento of Austrian dis- 
 grace to be torn down and trampled under foot.* 
 
 But the low-minded Leopold, who had descended 
 to such adulation and entreaty when danger threat- 
 ened, could not bear to witness the triumph of his 
 deliverer. Every report of the cannon, which an- 
 nounced a fresh tribute of applause to Sobieski, fell 
 like a reproach on his ears. He lingered on his 
 journey on the banks of the Danube, unwilling to 
 add by his presence to the honour of his rival and 
 his own shame. " It was the weakness of the coun- 
 sels that you had a share in," said he, turning spite- 
 fully to one of his ministers, " that occasions me 
 this disgrace." 
 
 Leopold's weak mind sunk under the burden of 
 such a favour; and envy and spleen, together with a 
 sense of his own littleness, would not allow him to 
 magnify his benefactor and the object of his jealousy 
 with expressions of gratitude. " A man who re- 
 minds us of a favour cancels it," says a pithy apho- 
 rist ;f and to this we might add, that he who receives 
 a kindness ungraciously doubles the obligation. Rut 
 not so thought the emperor. In this moment, when 
 the heart should have been eager to pour forth its 
 gratitude, he was deferring the evil day by disgrace- 
 ful quibbles about the ceremony with which he was 
 to receive Sobieski. He inquired whether an elect- 
 ive king ever had an interview with an emperor, and 
 how he was received. " Receive him," said the Duke 
 of Lorraine, who had been one of Sobieski's unsuc- 
 cessful competitors for the Polish crown ; " receive 
 
 * This story ig otherwise paraphrased by the author of the manu- 
 script " Journal of the Siege of Vienna" before quoted ; but we are 
 rather skeptical about this work, as well as the published " Journal," and 
 not the less about the latter, because the distinguished author of the 
 *' Annales de PEmpire," Voltaire, gives credit to some of its exaggerated 
 statements. 
 
 t Roche foucault. 
 
108 HISTORY OF POLAND. 
 
 him with open arms, since he has preserved the em-* 
 pire." The emperor, however, refused to give his 
 benefactor the right hand, and John was too good- 
 natured and unceremonious to urge this point of un- 
 meaning and trumpery etiquette. At lengthr it was 
 agreed that the interview should take place on horse- 
 back in the open plain, and that they should remain 
 facing each other, which would not allow much 
 punctilio in the mode of salutation. 
 
 At the appointed hour, John Sobieski rode up to 
 the emperor in the same armour which he had worn 
 in the defence of Vienna, and accosted him with the 
 ease of conscious but unassuming rank. The em- 
 peror, on the contrary, was very distant and ceremo- 
 nious, and began to recount in a very ungracious 
 manner the services the Germans had rendered the 
 Poles at different periods. At length he wrung from 
 his lips the word gratitude for the deliverance of 
 Vienna ; at which Sobieski merely remarked, " Bro- 
 ther, I am glad I have done you that small service." 
 The young Polish prince James came up at this mo- 
 ment, and his father presented him to Leopold, with 
 these words, " This is a prince whom I am educating 
 for the service of Christendom." The emperor 
 merely nodded, although this was the young man 
 whom he had promised to make his son-in-law. 
 One of the Polish palatines, stepping forward to kiss 
 the haughty emperor's boot, was checked by So- 
 bieski, exclaiming, " Palatine, no meanness." The 
 interview was then at an end. 
 
 Sobieski was no doubt much disgusted with this 
 treatment, and felt inclined to return to Poland, but 
 his animosity to the Turks and the hope of uniting 
 his son to the house of Austria, made him " digest 
 the venom of his spleen." He also kept in mind the 
 adage of an old Polish poet, which he quotes in one 
 of his letters to the queen : " He who cannot con- 
 eeal his vexation makes himself a laughingstock 
 
LEOPOLD'S INGRATITUDE. 109 
 
 for his enemies:" and he determined to prosecute 
 the war.* 
 
 Sobieski thus describes this singular meeting : 
 " I had my interview with the emperor the day be- 
 fore yesterday, that is, on the 15th. He arrived at 
 Vienna some hours after my departure-! We sa- 
 luted each other politely enough ; I paid my com- 
 pliments to him in Latin, and in few words. He 
 answered me in the same language in picked terms. 
 I presented my son to him, who approached 
 and saluted him. The emperor only put his hand to 
 his hat. He treated the senators and hetmans, 
 and even his relation the Prince Palatine of Belz, in 
 the same way. To avoid the scandal and comments 
 of the public, I again addressed a few words to the 
 emperor, after which I turned my horse ; we saluted 
 each other, and I rode back to my camp. The Pala- 
 tine of Russia showed our army to the emperor as he 
 had desired him; but our people are very much 
 piqued, and complain highly that the emperor did not 
 deign to thank them, except by touching his hat, for 
 so many pains and privations. After this separation, 
 every thing is suddenly changed ; it is as if they did 
 not know us any longer. They give us no more 
 forage or provision." 
 
 Nor was Sobieski the only one who experienced 
 such treatment: " Ingratitude," says Salvandy, " was 
 the soul of the imperial court. Generals, vassals, 
 and allies saw their services condemned to the same 
 
 * Connor gives a different account of the interview. " Next day after 
 his entry," says he, " the emperor came to meet him, and made him his 
 acknowledgments with the most endearing expressions imaginable, 
 while King John received his compliments with a modesty equal to his 
 courage." Vol. i. let. iv. This is, however, one of the unmeaning 
 passages which are so frequent in the doctor's meager narrative, and he 
 places the interview on the wrong day ; he afterward says that the 
 Poles " were highly disgusted at the ill treatment they received from 
 the Germans." The " Journal of the Siege" gives nearly the same ac- 
 count, as might be expected. 
 
 t Sobieski here describes, among other things, all the minutiae of the 
 emperor's dress. 
 
 K 
 
110 HISTORY OF POLAND. 
 
 neglect." All but Sobieski began to desert the 
 cause. 
 
 But Fortune was now going to check for a mo- 
 ment his honourable and triumphant career. A rem- 
 nant of the Turkish troops was stationed at f the 
 bridge of Barcan, on the Danube, and John attempted 
 to dislodge them without the assistance of the impe- 
 rial troops ; in fact, they were not very speedy in 
 following him. But the Moslems rushed on unex- 
 pectedly, and the Poles suddenly became disordered 
 and fled. Sobieski was exposed to great danger, and 
 while carried away by his unmanageable horse, 
 bruised and tired in the scuffle, he saw through the 
 cloud of dust a young man who was caught by his 
 cloak by a Turkish soldier : this was no other than 
 his son. For a moment he was in awful suspense, 
 expecting that he should be the eyewitness of his 
 child's death ; but the young, prince fortunately es- 
 caped with only the loss of his cloak. 
 
 The imperial troops came up and saved the Poles 
 from further slaughter, and the great John Sobieski, 
 the deliverer of Vienna, was now to be seen lying, 
 overcome with fatigue and vexation, on a bundle of 
 hay. His son was brought to him, and that served 
 in some degree to lighten his sorrow. He however 
 addressed the German generals, who had come so 
 opportunely to his rescue, with his characteristic af- 
 fability and candour. " T confess I wanted," said he, 
 " to conquer without you, for the honour of my own 
 nation. J have suffered severely for it, being soundly 
 beaten ; but I will take my revenge with you and for 
 you. To effect this must be the chief employment 
 of our thoughts." He also wrote to the queen that 
 " he was advancing towards the enemy, and that she 
 must expect they would be defeated, or bid him fare- 
 well for ever." 
 
 John soon came up with the Turks again, and 
 wiped off his late disgrace ; after which, the winter 
 being far advanced, he proceeded over the Carpathian 
 
CHRISTINA'S LETTER TO SOBIESKI. Ill 
 
 mountains, and took up his quarters at Cracow on 
 the 24th of December, 1683. 
 
 He was disgusted with the continual petty attacks 
 of jealousy from all quarters ; of kings, generals, 
 and politicians. How strikingly are his bitter feel- 
 ings poured out in the following words, which were 
 written to the queen a short time before he began his 
 march to Cracow. " How knowingly these states- 
 men speak in their chimney-corners ; and when they 
 happen to find themselves mistaken in their calcula- 
 tions, what does it signify to them 1 They will re- 
 cant, and that is all ! Oh ! I renounce altogether for 
 the future the whole of these alliances and their 
 commands, even if they were of all Europe!" 
 Louis XIV., who, with all his weakness and all his 
 tyranny, was considered as a sort of deity in the 
 eyes of the humble disciples of legitimacy, was also 
 a "jealous god," and devoutly did all his servants 
 keep his commandment, "Thou shalt have none 
 other gods but me !" Most studiously did the French 
 official gazettes avoid the name of Sobieski; but 
 glory like his cannot be " hidden under a bushel." 
 While they attempted to decrease the honour of the 
 victory, by ascribing it to a panic of the Turks, they 
 own that this terror arose from their hearing the king 
 was there in person. " Such," says Salvandy, " was 
 the petty war of the French politicians against John 
 Sobieski. This is a strange way of depressing his 
 glory. Flattery, with all its invention, would in vain 
 strive to equal this compliment." 
 
 How different was the spirit of the letter written 
 to Sobieski by Christina, the notorious ex-queen of 
 Sweden, then resident at Rome ! " I am tormented 
 with the passion of envy, a trouble which is the less 
 tolerable, as it is new to me. I never envied any of 
 my contemporaries till to-day. Your majesty alone is 
 an object of envy to me, and teaches me that I am 
 subject to that feeling of which I thought myself 
 entirely incapable." 
 
112 HISTORY OF POLAND. 
 
 Pope Innocent II., who was too insignificant to 
 excite the envy either of Louis or Leopold, was made 
 the hero of the grand day of Vienna. To his prayers 
 and money the two monarchs attributed the glorious 
 victory. Leopold, as if to inflict on himself the bit- 
 terest irony, caused medals to be struck of himself, 
 with arms in his hand, saving the empire. He also 
 ordered a statue to be erected to the pope, the libe- 
 rator of Christianity. The silly old man absolutely 
 ordered a grand triumphal procession, in which ban- 
 ners were exhibited, bearing the portraits of himself 
 and the emperor. 
 
 Glory was the only advantage the Poles obtained 
 by this memorable campaign. Sobieski wrung the 
 title of Majesty, as above mentioned, from Leopold, 
 and received the unwilling compliments of most of 
 the European princes. Poland gained the alteration 
 of the title inclyta respublica to serenissima, and 
 thus were Sobieski and his kingdom rewarded for 
 saving Austria and Eastern Europe, by two empty 
 titles. The king's thanks were really affront, inso- 
 lence, and breach of promise ; and Poland saved a 
 serpent from death which afterward turned and 
 stung her for the kindness.* 
 
 But these were not the only ill consequences of 
 this glorious expedition, as we shall see in the course 
 of the history. The victory was indeed one of those 
 grand convulsions in the polity of Europe which are 
 felt for ages. From the famous 12th of September, 
 the Turks never gained an inch of ground. The 
 effects it had on Poland were very different from 
 what might be at first anticipated. " This famous 
 deliverance of invaded Germany," says one who 
 thought long and deeply on the subject,! " became a 
 continual source of troubles : not only had it given 
 
 * Some striking comments on Sobieski's policy, or rather impolicy, to- 
 wards the court of Vienna, may be seen in Salvandy's Histoire de Po- 
 logne avant et sous le Roi Jean Sobieski, torn. iii. p. 276. 
 
 t Rulhtere, torn. i. p. 63. 
 
POLITICAL TROUBLES. 113 
 
 rise to a war which the republic was not in a state to 
 carry on, but it also produced an alliance which 
 eventually became more fatal than the war itself." 
 The truth of this will be soon seen. 
 
 The king attempted in the following year, 1684, 
 to make a more profitable campaign. Kamieniec- 
 Podolski had long been a bone of contention to the 
 Poles and Turks, and was so still. The latter people 
 had been its masters some years, as there has been 
 occasion to mention before in the course of this his- 
 tory. It stands in the south of Podolia, on the craggy 
 banks which form, as it were, the joints of the Dnies- 
 ter and one of its tributary streams. It was from its 
 strength and situation a place of great importance to 
 the Poles ; but Sobieski contented himself with erect- 
 ing a small fort at three miles' distance from it, and 
 returned to enjoy the sweets of peace. 
 
 He now rather incurred the displeasure of his sub- 
 jects by taking a Jesuit of the name of Vota into his 
 familiarity ; and though it cannot be supposed from 
 John's treatment of that order it was from any par- 
 tiality to the intriguing society, he allowed him in 
 conjunction with the queen to attain great influence 
 over him. Vota was a man of the world, well in- 
 formed, and a much more agreeable companion than 
 Sobieski was accustomed to meet at his court in that 
 age of limited information. This preference gave 
 great umbrage to the Poles, and was probably the 
 cause of much opposition which John now met with. 
 They expressed their displeasure in every possible 
 way, and, among others, by a caricature of a long 
 procession drawn up by a Jesuit beating time with 
 the king and two other Jesuits, who were holding a 
 music-book, to which he seemed to pay great atten- 
 tion. This silly burlesque nettled Sobieski extremely, 
 but an opposition of a more substantial nature was 
 now preparing for him. 
 
 This great king imagined that his privileges ought 
 to be somewhat extended by reason of his talents, 
 K2 
 
114 HISTORY OF POLAND. 
 
 and occasionally took the liberty of overstepping the 
 laws ; but this could not be allowed by a people so 
 devoted even to the shadow of liberty, and it gave 
 rise to frequent contention. In one instance the king 
 convened the diet at Warsaw in February, 1685, 
 although the law appointed it to meet that year at 
 Grodno in Lithuania. The Lithuanians, however, paid 
 no regard to his summons, and held a separate diet 
 in their own province, while the Poles assembled at 
 Warsaw. Sobieski was obliged to temporize, and 
 adopted an expedient, with the consent of the non- 
 contents to hold the diet in Poland as a subordinate 
 dietine. 
 
 But he was again called to order in this very as- 
 sembly. He had illegally disposed of the office of 
 grand-chancellor of Lithuania without announcing 
 it to the diet, and the Lithuanians were much nettled 
 at this stretch of prerogative. Pag, a senator, and 
 who had expected to succeed to the vacant post, was 
 so vehement in" his complaints, that Sobieski, for- 
 getting every thing in his rage, laid his hand on his 
 sword, and half-drawing it, exclaimed, " Do not 
 oblige me to make you feel the weight of my arm." 
 Pag was not to be daunted by this gesture or ebul- 
 lition of rage, and imitating the threatening action, 
 retorted, " Remember, that when we were equals you 
 knew by experience how capable I am of dealing with 
 you in that way." This was in allusion to a duel 
 which they had fought in their youih. It must have 
 been a humiliating admonition to John Sobieski. 
 Nor was this the only fracas of the kind that oc- 
 curred this session, for the queen, who was perpetu- 
 ally intriguing in this way, made her husband the 
 constant butt of his nobles. 
 
 John was no doubt glad of an opportunity to es- 
 cape from this scene of vexatious wrangling. Peace 
 was to him no peace ; in the camp he had thousands 
 at command, whereas in his own palace he could 
 scarcely give his orders to a menial without asking 
 
WAR WITH TURKEY. 115 
 
 leave from the diet ; on the field of battle he was an 
 absolute lord and the admiration of all, but in his 
 council the most illiterate and vulgar of the " plebeian 
 nobility" was his superior, could ridicule his policy, 
 and cross all his designs. He therefore renewed the 
 war against the Turks for the recovery of Kamieniec. 
 But the first campaign passed, and the crescent still 
 waved on the walls of the town. 
 
 Mahomet now offered, on condition that Sobieski 
 would secede from the league, to restore Kamieniec 
 and defray the expenses of the war. As the recovery 
 of this place was the only ostensible cause of the war, 
 had justice and policy guided the councils of the Po- 
 lish king, he would have accepted the offer ; but the 
 artifices of his wife and the Jesuit Vota, backed by 
 the hopes that Leopold held out of making Walachia 
 and Moldavia hereditary sovereignties in the Sobieski 
 family, overbalanced the king's solicitude for the in- 
 terest of his people, and he rejected the proffered 
 restitution. This unfortunate and interested deter- 
 mination was, probably, one of the chief causes that 
 led the way to the destruction of Poland, as it ulti- 
 mately obliged John to enter into an alliance with 
 Russia. 
 
 The war went on, and the several conflicts of this 
 campaign were a series of studies which taught Prince 
 Eugene, then abbot of Savoy, the art of war. They 
 were, however, of no advantage to Poland. The 
 only interesting occurrence was the king's halt at 
 the burying-place and fatal battle-field of his great an- 
 cestor Zolkiewski. What must have been his feel- 
 ings when he gazed on the pyramid that covered his 
 bones, and read one of the inscriptions, " Learn of me, 
 how sweet and how honourable it is to die for one's 
 country !" 
 
 After this excursion, or rather military tour, So- 
 bieski retired to Leopol, the capital of Gallicia, where 
 the Russian envoys were awaiting him. In this year, 
 168C, on the 6th of May, he concluded a treaty with 
 
116 HISTORY OF POLAND 
 
 the czar, by which he confirmed the alienation from 
 Poland of Sraolensko, Czerniechow, Kiow, and Se- 
 veria.* The king had not the permission of the 
 diet to do so, although it was required by law ; but 
 he was paid down one million of money, and prom- 
 ised a further remittance, an irresistible offer to 
 Sobieski. The ambassadors were in high credit with 
 the queen, and she most probably exerted her influ- 
 ence also on the occasion. This disgraceful treaty, 
 which will ever be a damning blot on Sobieski's 
 character, yielded to the Russians the finest part of 
 the Ukraine and the beautiful cities watered by the 
 Dnieper.f 
 
 When the diet assembled in the year 1688, great 
 complaints were made of the intrigues of the king 
 and his wife to get their son James nominated suc- 
 cessor to the crown; but the queen had provided 
 against this and other demurs which were to be ex- 
 pected, by engaging Dombrowski, one of her parti- 
 sans, to dissolve the meeting by his veto. This was 
 done without the king's knowledge; and he convened 
 a senatorial assembly, or the upper house, to debate 
 on the emergencies of state. But the discussion took 
 a very different course from what he wished : the 
 senators inveighed most bitterly against the queen's 
 intrigues and the interested policy of the king, and 
 called him "an infringer of the laws, an oppressor of 
 the people, and an enemy to his country." This was 
 strong language, but too much like the truth; and 
 Sobieski was glad to dissolve the meeting. 
 
 * These, it will be remembered, had been only provisionally ceded 
 by John Casimir in 1667. 
 
 t This scandalous breach of privilege did not go unnoticed by the 
 Poles, but " in vain did the nobility reject such a shameful treaty, and 
 wish to investigate the business with severity. The diet which followed 
 having been broken, a year was lost; and when in a subsequent year 
 another diet wished to enter into the inquiry, death had carried off the 
 two statesmen whose informations they were to take. The republic, dis- 
 owning this treaty, never named any commissioner to regulate the 
 ancient limits ; and until latter days they have remained undetermined, 
 a continual subject of dispute between the two people, which dates its 
 origin from this treaty of perpetual peace." Rulhitre, torn. i. p. 62 ^ 
 
POLITICAL TROUBLES. 117 
 
 Nor did his subjects without the walls of the 
 senate-house couch their sentiments in more dis- 
 guised language. A clergyman was preaching before 
 the queen on confession, and had the boldness to use 
 the following language : " Kings confess only small 
 sins, and say nothing of great; it is well known 
 there is a prince in the world who thinks it no crime 
 to sell offices of state, and to sacrifice his country 
 to his blind complaisance for a wife." Surely Po- 
 land must have been the head-quarters of candour. 
 
 Another diet was convened in the following year, 
 and the deputies were as refractoiy as before. They 
 reproached him with the treaty of 1686, and debated 
 whether they should retract it. Raphael Leszczyn- 
 ski,* palatine of Posnania, made very severe remarks 
 on the queen. " She is exalted," said he, " above 
 the rest of her sex in spirit and abilities ; but a mere 
 woman in intrigue and artifice," &c. Another sena- 
 tor addressed the king, " Either cease to reign at all, 
 or reign with justice." This was the Bishop of 
 Culm, whom Sobieski ordered to apologize ; but he 
 refused, and was supported by his brother senators. 
 John threatened to abdicate, but soon forgot to put 
 his threat into execution. 
 
 It was on one of these occasions that the great 
 man, enraged at the petty annoyance of factions, 
 burst forth in this eloquent appeal : " It is true they 
 have told me there was a remedy for the troubles of 
 the republic; that the king should not divorce 
 liberty, but re-establish it. * * * Has he then vio- 
 lated it ? Senators, this holy liberty in which I was 
 born, and in which I grew up, rests on the faith of 
 my oaths, and I am not a perjurer. I have devoted 
 my life to it ; from my youth, the blood of all my 
 family has taught me to found my glory on this de- 
 votion. Let him who doubts it go visit the tombs 
 of my ancestors ; let him follow the path to immor- 
 
 * He was the father of the future king Stanislas. 
 
118 HISTORY OF POLAND. 
 
 
 tality which they have shown to me. He will find, 
 by the traces of their blood, the road to the countiy 
 of the Tartars, and the deserts of Walachia. He 
 will hear issuing from the bosom of the earth, and 
 beneath the cold marble, voices which cry, Let them 
 learn from me how honourable and sweet it is to die 
 for our country ! I could invoke the memory of my 
 father, the glory he had, of being called four times 
 to preside in the assemblies in this sanctuary of our 
 laws, and the name of buckler of liberty which he 
 deserved. * * * Believe me, all this tribunitial elo- 
 quence would be better employed against those who, 
 by their factions, invoke upon our country that cry 
 of the prophet which I seem, alas ! already to hear 
 resounding over our heads : ' Yet forty days, and 
 Nineveh shall be destroyed!'" 
 
 The most remarkable circumstance that occurred 
 in this session was the trial of Lysinski, a Lithuanian 
 nobleman, for atheism. He was, in fact, a religious 
 and benevolent man, but sufficiently intelligent to 
 ridicule some of the current superstitions. He was 
 unfortunately rich, and that was the principal wit- 
 ness against him. The ground of accusation was a 
 note which he had made on a book written by a stupid 
 German, to prove the existence of a Deity. The 
 reasoning was inconclusive ; which Lysinski observ- 
 ing, wrote on the margin, ergo non est Deus. He 
 was tried by some bigoted Catholic bishops, and 
 found guilty, " not only of having denied the exist- 
 ence of a God, but the doctrine of the Trinity, and 
 the divine maternity of the Virgin Mary." 
 
 Zaluski was one of those villains who were con- 
 cerned in the torment, an office which even the most 
 degraded systems of theology have allotted to devils. 
 We will let him condemn himself out of his own 
 mouth. " The convict was led to the scaffold," he 
 says, " where the executioner first, with a red-hot 
 iron, tore his tongue and his mouth, with which he 
 had been cruel towards God; then they burnt his 
 
POLITICAL CORRUPTIONS. 119 
 
 hands, instruments of the abominable production, at 
 a slow fire. The sacrilegious paper was thrown 
 into the flames, himself last : that monster of the 
 age, that deicide, was cast into the flames of expia- 
 tion, if such a crime could be atoned !" To prevent 
 his escape, they even violated one of the laws, that 
 no nobleman is to be apprehended till convicted. 
 The king did not interfere to stop the hellish execu- 
 tion, but allowed the annals of Poland, till that time 
 so free from the disgrace of persecution, to be now 
 sullied. Even the pope discountenanced the inhu- 
 man and unjust cruelty. 
 
 Nor were the reproaches of his diet the only vex- 
 ations John had to endure ; his sons, imitating the 
 intrigues of their father, gave him perpetual uneasi- 
 ness. " It will be easier for me," said he, when 
 setting out for his last campaign in 1691, " to get 
 the better of the enemy I am going in quest of than 
 of my own sons." This was the last time he un- 
 sheathed the sword, and it was again to no purpose. 
 He was now sixty-one years old, and two-thirds of 
 that time had been spent in " the tented field." His 
 health was broken with vexation, and his frame 
 shattered with his wounds. 
 
 Sobieski had outlived his glory; he was now 
 nothing but a sick dotard, nursed and managed by 
 his wife. She was continually rendering her hus- 
 band and herself more and more obnoxious to the 
 people. She intrusted the care of the king's health 
 to a Jesuit, a physician of the name of Jonas, and 
 engaged another of the same persuasion to farm his 
 estates. The latter, whose name was Bethsal, 
 besides extorting great sums from the Poles, had 
 the audacity to enter into a traffic of offices with the 
 queen's connivance. This excited the greatest in- 
 dignation ; and a petty war of brochures and carica- 
 tures was begun to the great annoyance of the 
 government. One of the pictures represented a 
 Foreign negotiator counting out money to Bethsal, 
 
120 HISTORY OF POLAND. 
 
 who was examining it very carefully ; the king com- 
 pleted the group, and was busied in secreting a por- 
 tion of the treasure in the corner of his robe. In 
 another print, John appeared feeble and childish, sit- 
 ting on the lap of a young woman, and suckled by 
 an old one. He seemed to be shrinking under the 
 weight of many crowns, which were, however, made 
 to appear tarnished, and stripped of their ornaments. 
 
 But the public did not content themselves with 
 these harmless attacks; frequent attempts were 
 made to assassinate the hated publican, which he 
 frustrated by having in pay a guard of thirty Polish 
 nobles. His time came at last ; he was disgraced, 
 and died in poverty. 
 
 Under such a government every thing was fast 
 verging to decay; the diets were no sooner assembled 
 than dissolved, that Truth might not be allowed a 
 hearing; riots and fights were substituted for debate ; 
 the soldiers were clamouring for their arrears, and 
 levying contributions on the people. The generals 
 set at defiance all authority, and were engaged only 
 in their own aggrandizement. " All the departments 
 of government which require strict superintendence, 
 such as the command of the troops and the manage- 
 ment of the revenue, intrusted to generals and minis- 
 ters independent of all authority but that of the diet, 
 were without control."* Happily for Sobieski, he 
 was not doomed to witness the consequences of this 
 villanous administration; death came kindly and 
 laid low his gray locks with their withered laurels, 
 before the rude hand of rebellion had succeeded in 
 tearing them from his brow. 
 
 The 17th of June, 1696, was his last day of trouble. 
 He revived for a few moments from his insensibility 
 only to regret that, he was alive again. " I was then 
 well," said he ; a sad confession of misguided hero- 
 ism, effete renown, and disappointed ambition ! 
 
 * Rulhtere. 
 
DEATH AND CHARACTER OF SOBIESKI. 121 
 
 When the mighty is fallen, the most low and das- 
 tardly will stride over his body to see " where his 
 great strength lay," and descant on his weakness. 
 
 -- aXoi (5f rrepWpapiov vie? 'A%ai5i/, 
 Ol KOI OrjrjoavTO 0uiV Kai eldos ayrjrov 
 "EKTOpoj* ou6' apa 01 rtj avovrrjrt ye napfffTij" 
 
 The vulture will feed on the dead lion, and the car- 
 rion crow will peck at the stranded whale. The 
 corpse of Sobieski furnishes the same treat for those 
 birds of prey, the petty critic and the musty moral- 
 ist. But Fame puts her finger on her lips as she 
 points to the death-bed of John Sobieski. Those 
 tattered Turkish banners, as they sprinkle their dust 
 on the cold corpse of the hero beneath, awaken more 
 thought and solemn reflection in one glance, than 
 the tongue could exhaust in hours. 
 
 In his person, says his physician,* " he was a tall 
 and corpulent prince, large-faced, and full-eyed, and 
 went always in the same dress with his subjects.''! 
 His character is portrayed in his political career, and 
 his actions speak for themselves. In war he was a 
 lion, but in peace he was the plaything of others. 
 Had he lived in the age of barbarous heroism, he 
 would have been a Hercules bending before an Om- 
 phale. 
 
 Glorious as the reign of Sobieski had been in 
 many particulars, it has had a most pernicious effect 
 on the destiny of Poland. This is, fully exemplified 
 in the preceding pages, and the melancholy truth 
 will but too often present itself to the thinking mind 
 
 * Connor. 
 
 t " The king was a well-spoken prince, of very easy access, and 
 extremely civil, and had most of the good qualities requisite in a gentle- 
 man ; he was not only well versed in military affairs, but likewise in 
 all polite and scholastic learning ; besides his own tongue, the Sclavo- 
 nian, he understood the Latin, French, Italian, German, and Turkish 
 languages; he delighted much in natural philosophy, and in all parts 
 of physic ; he used to reprimand the clergy for not admitting in the 
 universities and schools the modern philosophy ; he loved to hear oer- 
 sons discourse of these matters." Connor, let. iv 
 
 L 
 
122 HISTORY OF POLAND. 
 
 in the subsequent narrative. Similar remarks are 
 applicable to the state of learning in this period. 
 More books, perhaps, were printed now than in the 
 two preceding reigns, and there were more literary 
 names ; but it was all the conventual learning of the 
 Jesuits. Sobieski himself was a patron of learning, 
 and many are found who extol his talents and spirit 
 of inquiry; but his philosophical conversations, 
 which they adduce in proof,* are evidences indeed 
 of his love of knowledge, but neither of a very free- 
 thinking nor free-spirited mind. It would scarcely 
 be going too far, perhaps, to say that this would also 
 give a tolerably just estimate of the literary and sci- 
 entific character of the whole of the Polish nation 
 under his administration. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 iugustns II., Elector of Saxony, raises himself to the Throne De- 
 tains his Saxon Troops in Poland Makes Peace with Turkey At- 
 tempts to seize Livonia Forms an Alliance with Peter the Great of 
 Russia Defea by Charles XII. of Sweden Dethroned by Charles 
 XII. Stanislas raised to the Throne Augustus resumes the Crown, 
 and is again deposed Charles defeated at Pultowa Augustus reas- 
 cends the Throne Charles XII. Prisoner in Turkey Returns to 
 Sweden Attempt to assassinate Stanislas Death of Charles Op- 
 pression of the Protestants Death of Augustus. 
 
 SOBIESKI and his intrigues, so long a stumbling- 
 block of offence in the eyes of the Poles, were no 
 more ; but the rancour and vehemence of contention 
 still survived. A people in this dissentient state of 
 feeling were not likely to be calm, impartial adjudi- 
 cators. While the most powerful Polish and foreign 
 interests were nullifying each other by opposition, a 
 noble of inferior rank and influence started a new 
 
 * One of these metaphysical discussions is given by Connor 
 
AUGUSTUS DECLARED KING. 123 
 
 candidate, and carried his point. This was no other 
 than John Przependowski, Castellan of Culm, who 
 had first united with the Prince of Conti, one of the 
 most popular of the candidates for the Polish crown. 
 But he wished to derive some profit from his vote,* 
 and finding the prince's finances exhausted, he looked 
 round the different courts for 'another patron. He 
 was bold and born for intrigue, and therefore well 
 adapted for his present purpose. He had married the 
 daughter of General Flemming, who was then in high 
 favour with Frederic Augustus, Elector of Saxony, 
 and afterward his prime minister. This connexion 
 brought him in contact with the elector, whom he 
 found just suited for his design. Augustus was a 
 young, wealthy, ambitious monarch : " No prince 
 was ever more generous," says Voltaire, "gave 
 more, or accompanied his gifts with so much grace." 
 His religion, professedly the Lutheran, stood in the 
 way ; but there is something that will remove more 
 mountains than faith, and it was opportunely remem- 
 bered that the young elector had recanted the re-v, 
 formed belief two years before, during a sojourn at 
 Rome, and he was now as good a Catholic as the 
 Poles or the pacta conventa could rec$$:e. 
 
 Money purchased Augustus plenty of votes, but as 
 he was late in the field, there were some too firmly 
 engaged by the Prince of Conti to be decently trans- 
 ferred. The consequence was, that on the 27th of 
 June, 1697, both were elected by their different par- 
 tisans, the archbishop declaring Conti king, and the 
 bishop of Kuiavia Augustus. But notwithstanding 
 the informality of the latter election, nothing was to 
 be said to the 10,000 Saxons, with whom he came to 
 take possession of his kingdom ; he was acknow- 
 ledged king, and the Prince of Conti sailed back to 
 France unanointed. 
 
 * See Hist, des Revolutions de Pologne, par M. I'Abbe Fontaine*, 
 torn. U. p. 128. 
 
124 HISTORY OF POLAND. 
 
 But Augustus had not yet been crowned, a cere- 
 mony essentially requisite to invest him with full 
 authority ; and he was anxious that it should take 
 place. There was some difficulty even in this; 
 all the regalia were locked up in the treasury at 
 Cracow in the keeping of officers in Conti's in- 
 terest. The law forbade breaking open the doors, 
 but the Saxons " laughed at locksmiths" and broke 
 down the wall. It was also necessary that the arch- 
 bishop should perform the ceremony, but he also 
 was in the other interest ; the diocess was therefore 
 declared vacant, and newly filled. There was still 
 another impediment ; the funeral of the late king 
 ought to precede the inauguration, and the corpse 
 was in the hands of Conti's party at Warsaw ; but 
 the Saxons substituted an effigy, and the coronation 
 was solemnized, and the elector proclaimed king 
 under the title of Augustus II.* It was observed 
 that the king fainted during the formalities, as if 
 his heart failed him at the thoughts of the charge he 
 was taking on himself. 
 
 This forced election was the first of the disgrace- 
 ful series of events which laid the yoke on the necks 
 of the Poles, and at last rendered them mere bonds- 
 men. Since this period Poland has always received 
 her kings under the compulsion of foreign arms.f 
 The czar and the King of Sweden even offered to 
 support the present election ; but Augustus found 
 that he and his Saxons were sufficiently strong to 
 fight their own battles. 
 
 The pacta conventa required Augustus to dismiss 
 his own troops ; but he was too prudent to trust 
 himself to subjects who were not yet reconciled to 
 his " usurpation," and looked about for a pretext to 
 retain them. This was readily found ; he employed 
 them against the Turks, and the Poles were satisfied. 
 
 * The first Augustus was Sigismund Augustus. 
 tRulhi&re. 
 
ALLIANCE WITH PETER. ] 25 
 
 But this war was ended by the treaty of Carlowitz,* 
 in January, 1 699, and the king was obliged to find them 
 another occupation. This also too soon presented 
 itself. Sweden was now under the government of 
 a minor,t and as Poland had long looked with a 
 lingering eye on Livonia, which had been ceded 
 by the treaty of Oliva, in John Casimir's time, he 
 thought it would be a favourable juncture to at- 
 tempt its recovery ; and the service of the Saxons 
 in that undertaking would make the Poles forgive 
 their intrusion. He attempted it entirely at his own 
 risk, without the concurrence of the Poles, and in 
 fact in direct opposition to some of their representa- 
 tions. The bishop who had crowned him told the 
 king, " his attack on Sweden was a gross violation 
 of the rights of nations and of equity, which the 
 Almighty would not fail to punish ;" a judgment, 
 says the historian, which seems to be dictated by 
 the spirit of divination. 
 
 His first attempt was not so successful as he had 
 anticipated, and he engaged Peter the Great, Czar of 
 Russia, to assist him. Peter entered very willingly 
 into the plan ; he wished to found a port on the east 
 of the Baltic ; Ingria, the north-east part of Livonia, 
 seemed just adapted for it, and he thought it would 
 pay him very well for his share of the enterprise. 
 The meeting took place on the 26th of February, 
 1701 at Eirze,J a small town in the palatinate of 
 Wilna in Lithuania. But the monarchs did not 
 devote the time solely to business ; drunkenness and 
 debauchery seemed a fit preparative for such in- 
 iquitous treaties. For fifteen days Peter the Great, 
 the civilizer of Russia,^ and Augustus were in a con- 
 tinued state of intoxication. The contract was 
 
 * By this treaty the Poles regained Kamieniec, but gave up their en- 
 croachment in Moldavia, &c. 
 
 t Charles XII., then not eighteen. 
 
 i Commonly known by the name of Birzen. 
 
 $ " The czar," says Voltaire, " who could reform his nation, could 
 never correct in himself his dangerous propensity to debauchery." 
 
 Li 
 
126 HISTORY OF POLAND. 
 
 made in the midst of such a scene ; an unjust war, 
 which deprived thousands of their husbands, fathers, 
 brothers, and sons, was made the freak of a drunken 
 revel. 
 
 But Charles, the young Swedish monarch, although 
 only eighteen, was not to be made the tame victim 
 of such flagrant injustice. He was apprized of their 
 designs, and chose to anticipate them. He had 
 routed the Russians at Narva in the preceding year, 
 and made even Moscow tremble. But Justice fought 
 for him, and his soldiers were animated by the ex- 
 ample of their youthful hero. These were the troops 
 whom the Russian savages called" terrible, insolent, 
 enraged, dreadful, untameable destroyers."* He 
 then marched against the Saxons in Livonia, and 
 came up to them on the banks of the Dwina. The 
 river was very wide at the spot and difficult to pass, 
 but Charles was never to be daunted. He caused 
 large boats to be prepared with high bulwarks to pro- 
 tect the men, and observing that the wind was in the 
 enemy's face, lit large fires of wet straw, and the 
 smoke spreading along the banks of the river, con- 
 cealed his operations from the Saxons. He directed 
 the passage himself, which was effected in a quarter 
 of an hour, and he was much mortified at being only 
 the fourth to land. He rallied his troops and routed 
 the Saxons. He did not stop till he arrived at Birze, 
 the town where Augustus and the czar had planned 
 the expedition. He felt, he owned, a satisfaction at 
 entering Birze as a conqueror, where the leagued 
 monarchs had conspired his ruin some few months 
 before. 
 
 What a different scene was the court of the water- 
 drinker Charles from that which the drunken Peter 
 had held here ! and the difference did not pass unno- 
 ticed. As the young warrior was sitting in this place 
 one day at table, observing his usual sobriety, and 
 
 * See the public prayer used by the Russians after their defeat. 
 VoJtaire, Hist of Charles XIL 
 
REVERSES OF AUGUSTUS. 127 
 
 apparently buried in his grand designs, a German 
 colonel, who wa? in waiting, remarked in his hearing, 
 that the feasts which the czar and Augustus had 
 made here were very unlike his majesty's. " Yes," 
 said the king, starting up, " and I shall make them 
 digest them less easily." From that moment the 
 dethronement of Augustus was fixed. 
 
 The news of Charles's approach was nearly as 
 agreeable to most of the Poles as it was terrible to 
 Augustus; they considered him as their champion 
 against the tyrannical and intruding Saxons. The 
 primate wrote to the Swedish king, assuring him of 
 this feeling; and Charles expressed himself as the 
 friend of Poland, although the enemy of their sove- 
 reign. Augustus was aware of this, and dismissed 
 the Saxon troops, to regain the favour of his subjects. 
 This step had the desired effect for a time: the 
 primate, traitor as he was to both parties at heart, 
 pretended to rouse the king's awakening popularity 
 which he could not check ; and the people were so 
 gratified by the concession, that most of the influ- 
 ential palatines swore to defend their sovereign to the 
 death. This adherence to their falling monarch was 
 daily increasing, when unfortunate dissensions in 
 Lithuania once more severed the bond of union. 
 That province had been divided into two contending 
 factions ever since the death of Sobieski ; and party- 
 spirit had run so high that the contest became quite 
 a civil war. The family of Sapieha, the great 
 general of Lithuania, and that of Oginski, the great 
 standard-bearer, were the leading interests. As 
 long as the Saxons remained in Lithuania, Sapieha 
 was protected from the violence of Oginski, who was 
 backed by most of the nobility ; but after their de- 
 parture, he and his adherents were left exposed, so 
 that their only alternative was to make the Swedes 
 their protectors. Under these circumstances Au- 
 gustus could offer but little opposition to Charles, and 
 a deputation was sent to the Swedish monarch, with 
 
128 HISTORY OF POLAND. 
 
 proposals for peace. " I will make peace at War- 
 saw," was the young but firm warrior's answer; and 
 at the same time he added, that he came to make war 
 on Augustus the usurper, and his Saxons, and not 
 against the Poles. < 
 
 Augustus now saw the tide was against him, 
 and despaired of gaining his point by direct sailing; 
 he therefore tried another tack. He felt the inutility 
 of ministerial persuasion on the Swedish monarch ; 
 but Charles was young, and youth, he thought, might 
 listen to the wiles of beauty, although it turned a 
 deaf ear to the arguments of bearded lips. The 
 Countess of Konigsmark* seemed eminently quali- 
 fied to try the experiment of laying siege to the 
 inflexible warrior's heart. She was beautifuL 
 talented, and witty, mistress of foreign languages, 
 and well skilled in the tact of conversation. She 
 was, besides, of Swedish birth, had considerable 
 estates in Sweden, and was familiar with that court ; 
 so that she seemed to have a claim on the entree to 
 Charles's audience-chamber. She accordingly re- 
 paired to the enemy's camp in Lithuania ; but had the 
 mortification to find that all her beauty and accom- 
 plishments were lost on the Swedish monarch, for 
 he obstinately refused to see her. She waylaid him, 
 pursued him, dodged him in his rides, but the rough 
 Adonis still escaped from his artful Venus. At 
 length, one day, she plotted so well that she pounced 
 upon him in a narrow lane, and was at his feet before 
 he was aware of it : the insensible king saluted her 
 without speaking a word, turned his horse's head, 
 and was out of sight in an instant. 
 
 His last and most sanguine hope being blighted, 
 Augustus felt that all was lost, and that his kingdom 
 had departed from him. But he yet fought up against 
 fortune : he had privately recalled his Saxons, and 
 then assembling all the troops he could, mustered 
 
 * She was one of the mistresses of Augustus, and mother of Marshal 
 Saxe. 
 
SUCCESS OF CHARLES XII. 129 
 
 nearly 34,000 men. Augustus now found himself in 
 that perplexing dilemma in which all kings who 
 thrust themselves upon a people by force are always 
 at some period deservedly placed. The Poles, at 
 best only lukewarm in his cause, were converted into 
 ardent enemies by this recall of the Saxons. While 
 Augustus was engaged in marching from palatinate 
 to palatinate, to canvass his partisans, Charles 
 pushed on unopposed to Warsaw, which capitulated 
 on the first summons, on the 5th of May, 1702. Au- 
 gustus, however, marshalled his troops in the plain 
 of Klissow, and waited for the arrival of the Swedes 
 to fight for his crown. Even now his army doubled 
 that of Charles ; but the Poles, who composed the 
 greater part of it, did not engage willingly. Au- 
 gustus indeed fought bravely; but in vain did he rally 
 his troops : three times they again recoiled. Fortune 
 still frowned on the Polish monarch, and he fled 
 towards Cracow. An accident favoured his escape, 
 and prolonged the struggle : Charles had a fall from 
 his horse as he was pursuing him, and was detained 
 in bed six weeks on his march. Augustus made 
 good use of this respite, reassembled his troops, and 
 prepared for another battle; but discontent and rebel- 
 lion thinned his ranks: the Poles dreaded further 
 opposition to the formidable invader, and began to 
 fall into his will, in consenting to raise to the throne 
 James Sobieski, the eldest son of their late monarch. 
 Against such numerous enemies, no resistance could 
 be offered: protraction of the war was useless, 
 for difficulties only stimulated the Swedish hero. 
 "Should I have to stay here fifty years," said he, 
 " I will not go till I have dethroned the King of 
 Poland." Augustus therefore fled to Saxony, taking 
 however the precaution to secure the persons of 
 James Sobieski and his brother Constantine. 
 
 The throne being thus vacated, it only remained 
 for Charles to fill it ; but he was for some time unde- 
 termined who should be the chosen person. His 
 
130 HISTORY OF POLAND. 
 
 counsellors advised him to step into it himself; but 
 fate, in the shape of military glory, diverted him from 
 that design. He first fixed on Alexander, Sobieski's 
 third son. He, however, only wished for the enlarge- 
 ment of his brothers, and to revenge them, having 
 none of the libidinem dominandi ; and it was in vain 
 that the King of Sweden and the nobles entreated 
 him to change his mind ; he was immoveable. The 
 neighbouring princes, says Voltaire, knew not whom 
 to admire most, the King of Sweden, who at the age 
 of twenty-two years gave away the crown of Poland, 
 or the Prince Alexander, who refused it. 
 
 But kingdoms do not long go begging; and all 
 men are not so disinterested as Alexander Sobieski. 
 When Charles told young Stanislas Leszczynski, the 
 Polish deputy, that the republic could not be de- 
 livered from its troubles without an election ; " But 
 whom can we elect," said Stanislas, "now James 
 and Constantine Sobieski are captives ?" The king 
 looked with an eye of scrutiny at his interrogator, 
 and thought to himself, " Thou art the man !" He, 
 however, deferred that answer until he had further 
 examined his young protege. 
 
 Stanislas was descended from an illustrious Polish 
 family ; his father was crown-treasurer and Palatine 
 of Posnania, to which latter office his son succeeded. 
 He added to innate talent the polish of education, 
 and commerce with society both at home and abroad. 
 "Stanislas Leszczynski," said one of his contem- 
 poraries, "the son of the grand-treasurer of the 
 crown, is regarded among us as the honour of our 
 country. A happy facility of manners makes him 
 win his way to all hearts." He was courageous, 
 and at the same time mild in his disposition, and had 
 a very prepossessing appearance. In fact, Charles 
 was so much struck with him, that he said aloud he 
 had never seen a man so fit to conciliate all parties. 
 He was also sufficiently hardy and inured to service 
 to please the rough king in that respect ; and after 
 
ELECTION OF STANISLAS. 131 
 
 the conference the Swedish monarch exclaimed, 
 " There is a man who shall always be my friend !" 
 and Stanislas was King of Poland. 
 
 But the formality of election was observed, al- 
 though it was, in fact, nothing but a ratification of 
 Charles's choice. Many other candidates were also 
 nominated ; and though Stanislas was the most popu- 
 lar among them as well as the nominee of the lord 
 of the ascendant, the primate, Radzieiowski, objected 
 to him, ostensibly on account of his youth. " What ?" 
 said Charles. "He is too young," answered the 
 primate. " He is not so young as myself,"* replied 
 the king, impatiently, and he sent the Swedish count, 
 Horn, to Warsaw to enforce the election. Horn 
 met, however, with some resistance from the inde- 
 pendent Poles. "Are we assembled," said one of 
 the nobles, " to act in concert for the ruin of Poland, 
 whose glory and safety depend wholly on the free- 
 dom of the people and the liberty of the constitu- 
 tion ] Let our independence be our first care, then 
 let us think of an election. Shall we call that 
 revolution legitimate which springs from fear of 
 being hewn down by the troops of armed foreigners 
 who surround us, and insult the dignity of the republic 
 with their presence?" Several nobles, roused by 
 this appeal, entered their protests, which, according 
 to law, would check the election; but this trifling 
 opposition was disregarded, the Swedes shouted, 
 " Long live Stanislas Leszczynski, King of Poland !" 
 and the election was registered. The constitution 
 was certainly infringed by the Swedish influence, 
 but Augustus was not a fit person to complain of 
 unconstitutional acts. 
 
 Stanislas was no sooner seated on the throne, and 
 enjoying the honeymoon of royalty at Warsaw, 
 than the alarm-bell sounded, arid Augustus, with an 
 army of 20,000 Saxons, was seen marching to regain 
 
 * Charles was twenty-two, and Stanislas twenty-seven 
 
132 HISTORY OF POLAND. 
 
 his capital. The city was unfortified, and the new 
 king was obliged to flee with his family to their 
 protector, Charles. The work of dethronement was 
 now to he all done over again. The Swedish 
 monarch had not lost any of his activity; he pver- 
 took Augustus unexpectedly in Posnania, and a battle 
 was fought at Punitz, on the borders of Silesia. 
 The Saxon army consisted almost entirely of foot, 
 whereas the enemy were all cavalry. Augustus 
 now first showed modern tacticians that it is not 
 impossible for infantry to withstand the charge of 
 cavalry. Schullemburg directed the evolutions, and 
 he was not unworthily supported by the king, although 
 he had received five wounds. The Saxons found 
 the utility of that military disposition which British 
 generals have adopted in late wars, and on which 
 they have so much prided themselves. They formed 
 themselves into solid bodies, presenting on all sides 
 a hedge of bayonets. The Swedish cavalry in vain 
 attempted to break their ranks; the Saxons stood 
 their ground till night-fall, although inferior in num- 
 ber, and made good their retreat. This was cer- 
 tainly no contemptible specimen of the military 
 talents of Augustus, although a great portion of the 
 credit is of course to be given to the skill of 
 Schullemburg. 
 
 The Saxon army retreated, and the Swedes fol- 
 lowed and overtook them again on the banks of the 
 Oder. Charles now imagined they must fall into 
 his hands, as they were unprovided with pontoons 
 or boats to effect the passage, but in this he was 
 mistaken. Schullemburg passed his whole army 
 over during the night with a very trifling loss ; and 
 Charles himself was obliged to own that " To-day 
 Schullemburg has the better of us." 
 
 Notwithstanding all this display of courage and 
 tactics, Augustus could not support his falling for- 
 tune, and again withdrew to Saxony. Charles, tired 
 of having to fight his battles over'again so often in 
 
ABDICATION OF AUGUSTUS. 133 
 
 Poland, resolved to put an end to the Saxons' occa- 
 sional excursions, by carrying the war into their 
 own country. Augustus now began to tremble ; the 
 Swedish king could as easily appoint a new elector 
 as a new king. To avoid these consequences he 
 submitted to the conditions Charles imposed. These 
 were, to resign all pretensions to the crown of Poland, 
 to break off all treaties against Sweden, and to set at 
 liberty the two Sobieskis. 
 
 After these preliminaries were settled, Charles 
 and the ex-king had an interview at a place called 
 Guttersdorp, or Gutersdorf. The Swedish king \vas 
 as usual in his military uniform, a coarse blue coat 
 with gilt buttons and jack-boots. The conversation, 
 as may be imagined, was not very lively; they were 
 not so friendly disposed to each other as to chat 
 without reserve. Besides, Charles was no talker, 
 and most probably his taciturnity was a cover for 
 his want of information. The only subject he started 
 for the amusement of Augustus was his jack-boots. 
 These he gravely assured him had never been off 
 his legs for six years, except when he lay down. 
 That men who can find nothing to talk about but 
 jack-boots should rule the destinies of millions ! 
 
 But at length the Swedish monarch began a 
 theme even more distasteful to Augustus than jack- 
 boots. He required him to write Stanislas a letter 
 of congratulation on his accession to the throne : this 
 was, indeed, making the ex-king feel his debase- 
 ment. The letter ran as follows : 
 
 " SIRE AND BROTHER, 
 
 " We have not considered it necessary to enter 
 into a private correspondence with your majesty; 
 nevertheless, to please his Swedish majesty, and that 
 they may not charge us with any disinclination to 
 satisfy his wish, we congratulate you hereby on your 
 accession to the crown, and hope that you will find 
 in your country more faithful subjects than those we 
 M 
 
134 HISTORY OF POLAND. 
 
 have left there. Everybody will do us the justice 
 to believe that we have been paid by ingratitude for 
 all our benefits, and that most of our subjects have 
 only exerted themselves to hasten our ruin. We 
 hope that you may not be exposed to like misfor- 
 tunes, recommending you to God's protection. 
 " Your brother and neighbour, 
 
 " AUGUSTUS, King." 
 "Dresden, April 8, 1707." 
 
 To this Stanislas replied, 
 
 " SIRE AND BROTHER, 
 
 "Your majesty's communication is to me a fresh 
 obligation from the King of Sweden. I feel obliged 
 for your congratulation on my ascent to the throne ; 
 I trust that my subjects will never have reason to be 
 wanting in their fidelity to me, as I shall observe the 
 laws of the kingdom. 
 
 " STANISLAS, King of Poland." 
 
 In the mean time Peter the Great was not idle ; 
 he felt much aggrieved that Augustus had capitu- 
 lated without his knowledge ; but he forgave him on 
 hearing how severely he was already punished by 
 the hard conditions of the treaty. The Russians, 
 under the command of Menzikoff, overran Poland in 
 the absence of Charles and Augustus, who were in 
 Saxony ; forming a rallying point for the adherents 
 of the ex-king, and plundering the opposite party. In 
 fact, Peter treated Poland more as a vanquished 
 province than an allied state, ravaging, levying con- 
 tributions, and carrying off all the valuables he could 
 lay hands on. The news that Stanislas and Charles 
 were returning from Saxony soon put a check to 
 this injustice aha obliged him to retreat. 
 
 As Charles's army was on its march to Poland, it 
 passed near Dresden, and the king, who was usually 
 a few hundred steps in advance of his guard, was 
 suddenly missed, and at the moment none could give 
 
' 
 
 BATTLE OF PULTOWA. 135 
 
 any account of him. Being so near the ex-king's 
 residence, he formed a momentary resolution to pay 
 him a passing visit. A horseman, accompanied by 
 two or three officers, had passed the gates under the 
 name of Carl, and hurrying to the palace, presented 
 Augustus with the .unexpected apparition of his con- 
 queror, Charles All. of Sweden, with his coarse 
 blue coat, gilt buttons, and jack-boots. He did not 
 come, however, to make any further demands, but 
 after paying his compliments, which were no doubt 
 very sparing, ended his singular visit, and marched 
 on against the Russians. 
 
 The fate of Stanislas was so completely depend- 
 ent on that of Charles, that the history of the latter 
 is also the history of the former. The Swedish hero, 
 leaving his protege in Poland, pursued the czar, who 
 had retired into Lithuania, although it was in the 
 month of January, 1708. The result of this singular 
 campaign forms one of fame's commonplaces : 
 
 " dread Pultowa's day, 
 
 When fortune left the royal Swede," 
 
 at once stripped Charles of the title of Invincible, 
 the hard earnings of nine years' victories, drove him 
 to seek an asylum in Turkey, and dragged Stanislas 
 from the Polish throne. 
 
 Augustus, on hearing this unexpected news, imme- 
 diately returned to Poland, and resumed the diadem 
 in spite of his oath.* The pope's dispensation sanc- 
 tioned the perjury; Polish inconsistency favoured 
 the new revolution ; and the victorious arms of Rus- 
 sia confirmed all. Stanislas knew it was in vain to 
 resist, and did not wish to shed blood in a useless 
 struggle ; he therefore retired to Swedish Pomerania. 
 He defended that province against the united Rus- 
 
 * The details of all these singular events may be seen in " Memoire* 
 sur les Dernieres Revolutions de la Pologne, par Prebendofski. Rotter- 
 dam, 1710." and in the " Histoire des Revolutions de Pologne. par M. 
 1'Abbe des Fontaines." 
 
136 HISTORY OF POLAND. 
 
 sians, Saxons, Poles, and Swedes, and Augustus 
 wished to put an end to the contest. Stanislas 
 agreed to abdicate, but Charles's consent was re- 
 quired to satisfy the newly-raised king. The Swede, 
 " proud though in desolation," merely answered to 
 all the persuasions, " If my friend will not be king, 
 I can soon make another." Stanislas determined to 
 try what could be effected by a personal interview, 
 and " risking more," says Voltaire, " to abdicate a 
 throne than he had done to ascend it," undertook to 
 travel in disguise through the midst of his enemies 
 to Charles's retreat in Turkey. He stole one eve- 
 ning from the Swedish army which he commanded 
 in Pomerania, and traversing the enemy's lines with 
 a passport under the name of Haran, after many 
 dangers reached Jassy, the capital of Moldavia. He 
 here styled himself a major in Charles's service, not 
 knowing that the king was at that time far from a 
 good understanding with the Porte. On this hint 
 the suspicions of the Turkish officer were awakened, 
 who, being acquainted with the ex-king's person 
 by description, saw through the disguise and arrested 
 him. 
 
 Among other questions which the Turk put to his 
 prisoner was, what rank he had held in the Swedish 
 service. " Major sum" said Stanislas. " Imo maxi- 
 mus es," retorted the officer, confirmed in his con- 
 jecture. He was thenceforth treated as a captive, 
 though as a king, and the Porte ordered him to be 
 conveyed to Bender at the very moment that Charles 
 was removing to his temporary prison. 
 
 " Tell him," exclaimed the inflexible Swede when 
 he heard of his apprehension, "never to make 
 peace with Augustus ; assure him fortune will soon 
 change !"* 
 
 * Even when Charles was confined at Adrianople he persisted ob- 
 stinately in this opinion. In a letter which he wrote to Stanislas from 
 that place, he says, " We must not be intimidated by all that the evil 
 designing can contrive to ruin us. I have that firm reliance on your 
 
CHARLES RETURNS TO SWEDEN. 137 
 
 This prediction seemed about to be verified, when 
 the Turks, stimulated by the intrigues of the Swedish 
 monarch, took up arms against the Russians, and 
 investing Peter on the banks of the Pruth, obliged 
 him to make that famous capitulation in 1711. By 
 this he was bound to withdraw all his troops from 
 Poland, and never interfere in the affairs of that 
 government ; besides which, Charles was to be en- 
 sured an unmolested return to his own kingdom. 
 
 Peter was, however, no sooner out of danger than 
 he forgot his oath, and instead of withdrawing his 
 troops from Poland, reinforced them. In 1712, 
 great complaints were made about this encroach- 
 ment, and the czar pretended to countermand them, 
 but still kept them on the confines of Lithuania. 
 
 In 1714 Charles returned to Sweden, and at the 
 same time Stanislas, resigning all pretensions to Po- 
 land, retired to the little dutchy of Deux-Ponts in 
 Germany, which was presented to him by the King 
 of Sweden, who possessed it by inheritance. He 
 remained there till he was deprived of it by Charles's 
 death. 
 
 The return of the Swedish monarch was a pretext 
 for retaining the Saxon troops in Poland. But even 
 this excuse did not satisfy the justly discontented 
 Poles; they avenged the insults and ravages of 
 these intruders by the lives of many hundreds of 
 them. This was the declaration of open war be- 
 tween the king's troops and the confederated nobles. 
 Augustus in vain opposed his infuriated subjects , 
 and after his army had been ajmost annihilated, 
 called upon the czar for assistance. This induced 
 the confederates to negotiate ; and under the terror 
 of a Russian army, peace was concluded between 
 
 majesty's prudence, that you will continue to defend our common inter- 
 ests with the same courage and with the same constancy that you have 
 done hitherto ; and that by your glorious example, you will animate the 
 Poles to do the same." From the MSS. in the Library at Nancy. See 
 CEuvres choisies de Stanislas, &c., par Mdme. de St. Oufin. 
 
 M2 
 
138 HISTORY OF POLAND. 
 
 the monarch and his people in 1717. It was then 
 agreed that the Saxons should leave the kingdom, 
 -and this engagement was accordingly kept. At the 
 same time the Polish army was decreased to 18,000 
 oien, under the pretence of curbing the influence of 
 he two grand-generals. This was a most perni- 
 cious step to the independence of Poland, as it ex- 
 tended its defence almost entirely to the pospolite, 
 who could never compete with the large standing 
 armies which were now kept up by its neighbours. 
 " Imprudent nation ! which allowed itself to be dis- 
 armed at the very moment when new dangers were 
 about to threaten it ; which almost solely intrusted 
 its defence to the convocations of the pospolite, at a 
 time when all the other nations of Europe had dis- 
 covered the inutility and abandoned the use of that 
 mode of protection."* 
 
 In the mean time Peter had obtained all the Livo- 
 nian territory he aimed at, and was willing to em- 
 brace the schemes of the Swedish minister to enter 
 into a treaty with Charles, to re-establish Stanislas, 
 make a descent on England, and in fact become the 
 arbiter of Europe. The conferences were carried 
 on with the greatest secrecy, but sufficient trans- 
 pired to make Augustus tremble. His minister, 
 Flemming (with or without his master's concur- 
 rence is a question), employed some French mis- 
 creants to carry off Stanislas and bring him prisoner 
 to Dresden. This he thought would be a bar to the 
 inimical designs of the allies. The villains were 
 discovered and taken before the ex-king as assas- 
 sins, expecting summary punishment; but the be- 
 neficent and philosophic Stanislas reproved them 
 mildly, " What injury have I done you, my friends ?" 
 said he; "and if none, why should you attempt 
 iny life 1 Were I to retaliate I should take away 
 yours ; but I forgive you ; live and become better." 
 
 * Rulhtere. 
 
DUTCH Y OF COTJRLAND. 139 
 
 This was acting up to his own aphorism, " We are 
 amply revenged by having the power to pardon;"* 
 and gives him a stronger claim to the title of " be- 
 neficent philosopher" than all his writings, were they 
 a hundred times more voluminous. 
 
 The King of Poland publicly disclaimed all know- 
 ledge of the plot, but we must leave his protestation 
 to plead for itself. At that time it had the effect of 
 shifting the onus of censure to Flemming's shoul- 
 ders, and at any rate the minister was not un- 
 justly scandalized. 
 
 The death of Charles, in 1718, broke the alliance, 
 and averted the danger which threatened Augustus. 
 Such was the termination of the unjust attack on 
 Livonia: Peter was the only gainer, while the King 
 of Poland had been dethroned, plundered of his 
 treasures in Saxony, and had only recovered his 
 crown by breaking his oath, sacrificing his power 
 and becoming almost a mere Russian viceroy. 
 
 Poland now enjoyed for some years a state of 
 comparative peace, but it seemed likely to be dis- 
 turbed, in 1726, by disputes about Courland. The 
 dutchy had been held as a fief of the Poles ever since 
 1561, under the express condition that when the 
 line of succession was extinct it should revert to 
 Poland. The diet held in this year (1726), taking 
 into consideration the old age of the childish duke, 
 who in fact no longer held the reins of government, 
 having been deprived of them by Ann, who was the 
 niece of Peter the Great, and had married the late 
 duke, determined to annex it to the kingdom, and 
 accordingly sent commissioners to divide it into 
 palatinates. But this the Courlanders stoutly re 
 sisted, and elected Count Maurice, of Saxony (Mar- 
 shal Saxe), natural son of Augustus, their duke ; an 
 election that pleased neither the Poles nor the Rus- 
 
 * On est bien veng quand on a le pouvoir de pardpnner. Pensrea 
 Diverges. See Stanislas's " Works of a Beneficent Philosopher." 
 
140 HISTORY OF POLAND. 
 
 sians, and was set aside, the dutchy remaining under 
 the power of Russia till the death of Augustus. 
 
 The same diet held a debate on another singular 
 event, which at the time threatened to be of some 
 importance. Nearly two years before this time the 
 Jesuits were making a public procession with the 
 Host in the streets of Thorn, and some young scholar 
 of the order insisted that the children who were 
 present should kneel. This they refused to do, being 
 Lutherans, as were most of the inhabitants of the 
 city, and a scuffle ensued. The offending Jesuit was 
 taken into custody, and his order, highly incensed, 
 imperatively demanded his release, which being re- 
 fused, they attacked the citizens, and some blood was 
 shed on both sides. The townspeople, enraged at 
 this breach of their privileges, broke open the Jesuits' 
 college, plundered it, profaned all the objects of wor- 
 ship, and among others an image of the Virgin. The 
 Catholics of Poland, fired at the profanation, im- 
 mediately came to the diet almost infuriated with 
 fanatic zeal. A commission was appointed with ab- 
 solute power to examine into the business, and punish 
 the impiety. It was in vain the Lutherans pleaded 
 their grievances ; the magistrates were capitally con- 
 demned for not exerting their authority, seven other 
 citizens suffered the same fate, and numbers were 
 banished or imprisoned. Three persons, accused of 
 throwing the Virgin's image into the fire, lost their 
 right arms, and the whole city were deprived of the 
 freedom of public worship.* 
 
 The persecuted dissidents carried their complaints 
 before all the Protestant princes ; and Prussia, Great 
 Bri and Sweden interested themselves in their 
 behalf. Augustus began to fear the intervention of 
 force ; but the threat was vox et praterea nihil, and 
 the poor Lutherans were left to digest their troubles 
 with prayer and patience* 
 
 arthenay's History of Augustus IL 
 
DEATH OF AUGUSTUS. 141 
 
 The king spent the rest of his reign in attempting 
 to make the crown hereditary, and to stretch its pre- 
 rogatives. The 31st of January, 1733, ended his 
 eventful life, and gave the Poles another opportunity 
 to save their falling country. The biographer of 
 Augustus makes his funeral oration a series of an- 
 titheses, and seems to consider his character a sort of 
 lusus nature, because it was a compound of many 
 qualities. But he was like all other men in whose 
 minds no one passion has established absolute mon- 
 archy over the rest ; he rang the changes of pleasure 
 and repentance, sense and folly, inaction and ex- 
 ertion. He kept a sumptuous court ; and if the first 
 part of his reign undermined the constitution of 
 Poland, the latter part corrupted its morals. But 
 notwithstanding his luxuries and extravagance, he 
 amassed considerable wealth. It is said that he had 
 collected at Dresden* porcelain to the value of 
 twenty-four millions. So fond was he of trumpery 
 of this kind that he gave Frederic William of Prussia, 
 one of his most dangerous neighbours, his finest regi- 
 ment of dragoons in exchange for twelve vases. He 
 left his son twelve millions in his treasury, and an 
 army of thirty-three thousand good troops, to pur- 
 chase or seize the crown of Poland. 
 
 The reign of Augustus hastened the decline of the 
 Polish nation by many conspiring causes, nor was it 
 more favourable to the advance of learning; only 
 luxury and sumptuousness were encouraged by this 
 monarch's example. Many learned men, indeed, 
 might be mentioned ; but none who had any influ- 
 ence on the public mind. The slothful voluptuous- 
 ness of the latter part of this reign, which succeeded 
 the anarchy of the commencement, completed the ruin 
 it had begun ; and Augustus has left behind him the 
 character of one of the most splendid as well as most 
 
 * The Green, Vault (Griine GewGlbe)oC Dresden is still an object of 
 curiosity, with its collection of gaudy but costly trifles. 
 
142 HISTORY OF POLAND. 
 
 athletic sovereigns of Poland, to be balanced against 
 the irretrievable injury he has done both to this king- 
 dom and his electoial dominions.* 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Stanislas re-elected The Russians enter Poland and proclaim the 
 Elector of Saxony King Siege of Dantzig Escape of Stanislas from 
 Dantzig Stanislas abdicates Augustus III. Count Brulh, Prime 
 Minister Intrigues of the Czartoryski Family Frederick the Great 
 invades Saxony The Death of the Empress Elizabeth terminates the 
 War Intrigues of Poniatowski and Catharine Life, Education, &c. 
 of Poniatowski Catharine murders Peter and is proclaimed Empress 
 Poniatowski's Disappointment His Intrigues Factions against 
 Augustus Death of Augustus. 
 
 AFTER the death of Augustus, the Poles turned 
 their eyes towards their ex-king, Stanislas. During 
 his exile, his daughter, Mary Leszczynski, had 
 become Queen of France, and the French king 
 (Louis XV.) interested himself in the election of 
 his father-in-law. But Stanislas had experienced 
 the precariousness of Polish popularity, and felt the 
 influence of Poland's neighbours too keenly to enter 
 into the lists with very sanguine hopes. " I feel," 
 said he, before his departure from France, " that I 
 shall soon be near my enemies, and far from my 
 friends." His reluctance was combated and over- 
 come by persuasion, and the repeated invitation of 
 the Poles; and he consented to wear the diadem 
 once more. 
 
 But the intrigues of the late king to bring in his 
 son as his successor had not been entirely useless : 
 a considerable party supported his pretensions; 
 
 * Many wonderful feats of strength are still related of Augustus, such 
 as that he could lift a trumpeter in full armour in the palm of his hand. 
 His immense cuirass and helmet, which are shown even to the present 
 day in the Rustkammer, or armoury of Dresden, bear at least some par- 
 tial testimony to the truth of these traditions. 
 
STANISLAS RE-ELECTED. 143 
 
 Russia was tempted by the new elector's promises 
 to resign all claim to Courland and to advance his 
 interests ; while Austria, glad of an opportunity to 
 become the arbitress of an adjacent state, deter- 
 mined to ensure her client's election, and thwart 
 their rival, France. These two powers took the 
 most careful precautions to intercept Stanislas on his 
 way to Poland; a Russian fleet was cruising on the 
 Baltic, and the authorities of Germany were on the 
 alert to cut off any approach by land. A stratagem 
 readily frustrated this design ; it was generally an- 
 nounced in France that Stanislas would go by sea, 
 and to add apparent confirmation to the report, the 
 Chevalier de Thianges, who strongly resembled him, 
 embarked at Brest with all the formalities of royalty, 
 and set sail for Dantzig under his name. 
 
 In the mean time the real Stanislas, in disguise, 
 accompanied only by one gentleman, took the route 
 through Germany. They travelled under the title 
 of merchants, and eluded the vigilance of all the 
 guards. They reached Warsaw almost on the very 
 eve of the election ; the announcement of Stanislas 
 stifled all opposition, and on the llth of September, 
 1733, the unanimous suffrages of 60,000 nobles pro- 
 claimed him king. But Russia and Austria were 
 not to be easily foiled ; the latter threatened, and the 
 former marched an army of 60,000 to enforce its will, 
 and make the deluded Poles feel that independence, 
 once forfeited, is not readily to be redeemed. These 
 barbarian troops plundered as they went ; and the 
 armies of the state, which had been so injudiciously 
 decreased during the last reign, amounting now 
 barely to 15,000 undisciplined men, could yield their 
 fellow-subjects no protection ; so that the affection 
 even of the Poles was alienated from a king who 
 was obliged to leave them to the mercy of their 
 enemies. 
 
 The French court endeavoured to oppose the 
 alliance of Turkey and Sweden against that of the 
 
144 HISTORY OF POLAND. 
 
 Russians and Austrians, but their aid was too distant 
 to be of any service. The consequences were felt, 
 indeed, for some years in Europe, but the interests 
 of Poland were not one jot advanced by it, such was 
 the overwhelming power of its enemies. Stanislas 
 was again stripped of his ephemeral honours, and 
 took refuge with his nobles in Dantzig, almost tfre 
 only city in Poland which could stand a siege. 
 
 The Poles "summoned all their energies" to make 
 a last and desperate resistance ; they kept the Rus- 
 sians at bay on the other side of the Vistula till the 
 legal term of election was nearly expired. It was 
 not till the very last day allowed by law that they 
 could force their passage to Warsaw, and they then 
 assembled a small number of Polish nobles, some of 
 whom were brought in chains, to elect Augustus III. 
 King of Poland. This mockery of royalty over, they 
 marched on Dantzig, where Stanislas was expecting 
 them. 
 
 This city defended itself with great obstinacy for 
 more than five months. Eight thousand of the assail- 
 ants perished in one attack ; and one part of the in- 
 trenchments is still called " the Russian cemetery." 
 But no serviceable aid arrived from France ; and Po- 
 land was too enfeebled and intimidated to provoke 
 its tyrants still further. Treachery at length led to 
 the surrender of Dantzig ; the governor of one of the 
 forts capitulated, and " then," says Stanislas, " the 
 city had my permission to do the same." 
 
 This town was no longer a safe place of sojourn 
 for the king, who was the principal or almost sole 
 object of the besiegers' vengeance. Further resist- 
 ance would only serve to involve the Dantzigers still 
 more deeply in trouble ; so that Stanislas resolved to 
 leave the city, and advised it then to submit to una- 
 voidable capitulation while it could obtain favourable 
 conditions. He has himself described his hazardous 
 and singular flight,* and the narrative forms a very 
 
 * Lettre de Stanislas, Roi de Pologne, a la Reine de France sur son 
 Depart de Dantzig. See the Works of Stanislas. 
 
ESCAPE OF STANISLAS FROM DANTZIG. 145 
 
 interesting portion of the works of oyal author* 
 Count Poniatowski, Palatine of Mazovia, who had 
 saved Charles XII. at Pultowa, and served him in 
 Turkey, still adhered to the Swedish monarch's 
 " friend ;" and he was commissioned to announce the 
 kir.g's design to the citizens. One of the deputies 
 of the city came up to the palatine as he was speak- 
 ing, and said to him, " What, sir, do you speak seri- 
 ously ? Are these the true sentiments of the king 
 our master ?" " Yes," replied Poniatowski, " I have 
 heard from his own lips what I have now the honour 
 to announce to you." 
 
 " What !" added the deputy, "does the king him- 
 self exhort us to submit to the will of a conqueror ?" 
 The palatine answered in the affirmative. " Good 
 God !" exclaimed this man again, " our king leaves 
 us then? What is he going to do with himself?" 
 At this instant he staggered, ceased to speak* and 
 fell dead at the feet of Poniatowski. 
 
 It was on the night of the 27th of June that Stan 
 islas left Dantzig, in the disguise of a peasant, and 
 succeeded in passing safely beyond the enemy's lines- 
 He was obliged to take shelter in a hut near the 
 banks of the Vistula, from which, on the following 
 morning, he could see the city walls crumbling be- 
 fore the artillery of the Russians. This, said the 
 king to himself, is the reward of my subjects' fidelity, 
 Stanislas, the man of sorrow, and acquainted with 
 grief, who had so often shaken hands with misfor- 
 tune, was unmanned at the sight, and shed tears. 
 He was afterward in constant danger of falling into 
 the hands of the Russians and Cossacks, and on one 
 occasion his guides were so terrified that they threat- 
 ened to leave him to his fate. " What, you cowards," 
 said Stanislas, " do you mean to abandon me ?" " Do 
 you wish," retorted they, "that we should expose 
 ourselves to be hung in ensuring your safety, which 
 is nothing to HS ?" " Hung or not," exclaimed the 
 king, with an affectation of rage, "you have no, 
 
146 HISTORY OF POLAND. 
 
 longer any time to deliberate ; you have engaged to 
 accompany me, and you shall not quit me until I 
 think I can dispense with your rascally company. 
 Hear, and tremble at the resolution you make me take. 
 If your promises, if your oaths, if the reward r you 
 expect, if the regard you owe me if nothing can 
 stop you, I will that moment call here the Cossacks ; 
 and if I must perish by your flight, I would as soon 
 perish by my own indiscretion, and revenge myself 
 at the same time for your perfidy." Stanislas was 
 not, however, obliged to have recourse to this fatal 
 expedient; his guides changed their tone, and he 
 arrived safe at Marienwerder, a little town on the 
 Prussian frontier. He was afterward kindly received 
 by Frederic I., then king, and well lodged at Kon- 
 igsberg. 
 
 Lewis took up arms against the emperor, one of 
 the princes inimical to his father-in-law. The result 
 of this war was, that a treaty was signed at Vienna, 
 in October, 1735, by which Stanislas was ensured 
 the possession of his hereditary estates, the title and 
 honours of King of Poland, and the dutchies of Lor- 
 raine and Bar, which, after his death, were to de- 
 volve to the crown of France. It was also agreed, 
 that his partisans should be reinstated in their estates 
 and dignities ; and on these conditions Stanislas re- 
 nounced all pretensions to Poland. He then pro- 
 ceeded to his new sovereignty, and devoted himself 
 to literature and philosophy, not forgetting that best 
 philosophy, how to make his people happy.* 
 
 * The goodness of the "beneficent philosopher's" heart is exhibited in 
 numberless instances, but none is more striking than his treatment of 
 the children of the very Augustus who had deprived him of his throne 
 and driven him from his country. When Frederic the Great overran 
 Saxony in 1756, the elector, calculating on the generosity of Stanislas, 
 absolutely confided his children to his protection. " Heaven," said the 
 warm-hearted and forgiving philosopher, " no doubt drove me from my 
 country that 1 might be able to afford you an asylum in misfortune ; it 
 is sweet to me to be able to revenge myself by kindness to you. You 
 shall not be mere visiters in my court ; and until the day when you em- 
 trace your father, I, my friends, I will supply his place. This excel- 
 
ABDICATION OF STANISLAS. 147 
 
 The partisans of Stanislas still continued faithful 
 to him ; and while he was at Konigsberg issued a 
 protestation against the unlawful election of Augus- 
 tus, and confederated themselves at a little village 
 on the confines of Moldavia, on the 6th of August, 
 1735. The document was signed by the bishop of 
 tfiow, Sapieha, grand-treasurer of Lithuania, and 244 
 other Polish senators.* In answer to this, Stanislas 
 addressed a letter to them, entreating them to submit 
 to necessity. "Will you follow," said he, "the 
 counsels of him who will never cease to love you ? 
 Imitate my example, lay down your arms, and do 
 not subject yourselves, by useless obstinacy, to the 
 reproach of wishing to perpetuate trouble among 
 your brothers." 
 
 In 1736 the Poles, in conformity to the wish of 
 their exiled king, united in a diet of pacification. 
 They still preserved the liberty of the tongue, and, 
 even in the presence of Augustus, declared it a 
 capital offence for any one in future to invite the aid 
 of foreign troops. In this session, also, the dissi- 
 dents were stripped even of their small remnant of 
 power, being totally excluded from all share in the 
 government.! 
 
 lent man lived to the advanced age of eighty-nine ; but the extreme part 
 of this long life was imbittered by the death of his grandson, the dauphin, 
 a promising youth, with whose education immense labour and care had 
 been taken, and who profited from his advantages. About six weeks 
 afler this sad event the venerable old king accidentally set fire to his 
 clothes, and was so seriously burnt before assistance could be afforded 
 him, that he died soon afler, on Feb. 23, 1766. 
 
 For once the tombstone speaks the truth in summing up the character 
 of Stanislas: 
 
 Hie jacet Stanislas I. 
 
 Cognomine beneficus, 
 
 Per varias sortis human ae vices jactatus, non fractus 
 
 Ingens orbi spectaculum 
 Ubique vel in exilio, rex beandis populis natus, 
 
 Ludovici 15 generi complex 1 ! exceptus, &c. 
 
 * See Mdme. de St. OuSn's Work, p. 92. where the protestation is copied 
 at full from the MSS. at Nancy. 
 
 t The number and influence of the dissidents, it will be remembered, 
 had been greatly diminished in the last reign, and the diet of 1736 only 
 executed a project which had been long meditated. The dissident noblea 
 
148 HISTORY OF POLAND. 
 
 If peace alone could have restored Poland, it would 
 have been completely regenerated under the reign 
 of Augustus. He devoted himself solely to the 
 amusements of society and hunting; he imitated' 
 his father's luxurious magnificence, but it was more 
 from habit than taste : he ruined himself with ex- 
 travagance, without having any inclination for it, and 
 in collecting pictures, without having any taste for 
 them. He was a moral " good sort of man," and 
 though strikingly handsome, continued inviolably 
 faithful to his wife, the ugliest princess of the age. 
 A habit of familiarity rendered Count Brulh his 
 favourite and prime minister. This servile depend- 
 ant made it his whole business to please the king, 
 and enter into his amusements. But to others he 
 was the proudest of men ; and though his master 
 was simple and unostentatious, he affected the very 
 extreme of magnificence and pomp. In the midst 
 of all the proud feelings of his heart, there lurked a 
 servile superstition, which made him one of the 
 most abject of creatures. This he studiously kept a 
 secret however, till one day two visiters, entering 
 his private apartments hastily, saw with surprise the 
 proud and pompous minister on his knees, with his 
 face to the ground, before an illuminated table, 
 Brulh, rising hastily from his kneeling position, as if 
 ashamed of being detected, said to them, "After 
 having served my temporal master all day, I must 
 give some few moments to eternity." 
 
 To the care of this man did Augustus intrust the 
 interests of his kingdom, that he might pursue with^ 
 out interruption his favourite amusements. Saxony 
 
 were now ensured the possession of their property, and could hold any 
 military or other offices which did not confer executive authority. They 
 also still enjoyed the elective franchise, though they were not allowed to 
 be deputies. They were also declared guilty of high-treason if they 
 attempted to recover their privileges by the aid of foreign princes. These 
 laws, since the cause of so much fatal discord to Poland, passed at the 
 time without opposition, and even under the protection of 
 s. Rulhttre, vol. i. p. 154. 
 
CZARTORYSKI FACTIONS. 149 
 
 was his most agreeable residence, and as he was 
 obliged to return to Poland during the sessions of 
 the diets, he was always pleased to see them sus- 
 pended by the liberum veto, and always contrived to 
 effect the rupture himself, if the deputies happened 
 to be themselves unanimous. It is said that on one 
 occasion, the diet being uncommonly long-lived, not 
 knowing how to force a veto, he turned over the 
 Polish laws, and discovered that it was illegal to 
 debate by candlelight; accordingly he ordered his 
 partisans to prolong the debate till night, and to call 
 for candles. They were brought, and immediately 
 the Poles, who " strain at a gnat," when privilege is 
 concerned, exclaimed against the violation of the 
 laws, and the diet was dissolved. 
 
 This was almost the invariable termination of the 
 sessions, during the thirty years which this reign 
 lasted. The state of affairs may be readily ima- 
 gined : all public business was at an end ; the chief 
 officers were almost uncontrolled, and no ministers 
 were sent to foreign courts. The pospolite neglected 
 all military exercises, and became a mere mass of 
 men, courageous, it is true, but without arms, without 
 discipline, and equally incapable of commanding and 
 obeying.* 
 
 While the generality of the Poles were enjoying 
 this peace in idle voluptuousness, some few of the 
 more powerful nobles were plotting the overthrow 
 of the republic, and the establishment of a virtual 
 monarchy. This party was headed by the princes 
 Czartoryski, who were a branch of the Jagellon 
 family. There were two of them, Augustus and 
 Michael. The former was palatinate of Polish 
 Russia, and had become master of great wealth by 
 marrying a rich widow. This added to his rank and 
 gave him immense influence, and he had thousands 
 of partisans who almost considered him their only 
 
 * Rulhtere, vol. i. p. 185. 
 N2 
 
150 HISTORY OF POLAND. 
 
 monarch. His brother Michael was of a different 
 character, and possessed another kind of influence, 
 but equally powerful. He was a designing states- 
 man, and added to his authority as grand-chancellor 
 of Lithuania a complete mastery in the management 
 of intrigues. It is said that he could count on his 
 list of friends and partisans above a hundred thou- 
 sand nobles, with all of whom he was intimately ac- 
 quainted, and could estimate to a nicety their different 
 interests. Their sister had married the Count Poni- 
 atowski, who distinguished himself as a firm adhe- 
 rent of Stanislas and of Charles XII. His father 
 was an illegitimate son of one of the Sapieha family, 
 and thsough their interest he had been introduced to 
 the notice of the Swedish monarch. 
 
 Each of these three brothers had an eye to the 
 throne, but so warily did they proceed in their de- 
 signs that they avoided all collision. At the same 
 time they conciliated the Russians and were appa- 
 rently in their interest, but it was only with the view 
 of lulling their suspicions to sleep and disarming 
 their opposition. They were also the ostensible ad- 
 herents of Augustus, and had a complete ascendency 
 over his minister Brulh. 
 
 Such was the political state of Poland in 1752, 
 when England and France, on the eve of a war 
 about their American colonies, were employing their 
 envoys to secure the alliance of the different courts 
 of Europe. The English minister contemplated the 
 union of Russia, Saxony, and Poland (which seemed 
 to form but one interest), together with Austria ; and 
 sent Sir Charles Hanbury Williams on a private 
 mission to effect this negotiation at Warsaw, on his 
 road to Russia.* This intriguing agent immediately 
 
 * Rulhiere evidently commits a considerable error in his description 
 of Williams's character. He says, that " He is still notorious in London 
 for having attempted to estabhsh pure deism under the form of a new 
 religion," &c. It was David Williams who did this ; after being a dis- 
 senting minister, he opened a chapel in Cavendish Square, in 1776, on the 
 avowed principles of deism. This same person was one of the strenuous 
 
INTRIGUES OF THE CZARTORYSKIS. 151 
 
 saw the state of politics in Poland, and made the 
 Czartoryskis his confidants. They entered with 
 avidity into his schemes, trusting that the event of 
 the negotiation would lead to a good opening for 
 their designs ; and engaged to support the plan with 
 all their strength in the approaching diet, which was 
 to be held at Grodno in the October of the same 
 year. 
 
 France did not remain an idle spectatress of this 
 intrigue, but employed Count Broglie to counterplot. 
 He had a very difficult part to act ; no faction was 
 ready formed to enlist in his cause, but, on the con- 
 trary, all the Poles were distrustful of an alliance 
 with France, who had always been a useless ally to 
 Poland. In a word, says Rulhiere, he stood alone. 
 But, undaunted, he persevered in his attempt, and 
 waited for circumstances, which he knew are some- 
 times the machines as well as prime movers of 
 society. 
 
 The Czartoryskis employed one of the deputies to 
 dissolve the diet, and at the same time to make a 
 formal protestation against the king's conduct. Their 
 motive in this was, to draw up a defence of Augustus, 
 and under pretence of forming a confederation to 
 defend him from faction, to make it subservient to 
 their own views. 
 
 This plan was frustrated by the opposition of 
 Count Branicki, grand-general of the kingdom, the 
 most respected and powerful person in Poland. He 
 was at the same time the firmest patriot in his coun- 
 try, and had stood up against every oppressor, from 
 the king himself to the meanest noble. The Czar- 
 toryskis had sought his alliance, and trusted, that by 
 marrying him to one of their nieces they had ensured 
 his support. In this, however, they were mistaken ; 
 
 advocates of the French revolution, and, what will be better remembered, 
 he was founder of the "Literary Fund." See Rulhiere, vol. i. p. 206; 
 and compare with Chalmer's Gen. Biog. Diet, and Gentleman's Maga- 
 zine, 1810. 
 
152 HISTORY OF POLAND. 
 
 Branicki was ready to sacrifice all personal consider- 
 ations to the welfare of his country. He did not, at 
 first, perceive the design, and even added his name 
 to the long list of confederates. But Mokranovvski, 
 a dependent Polish noble of the grand-general, pene- 
 trated the scheme, and boldly protested against it. 
 He seized the signed document in the midst of the 
 assembly, and hurrying with it to Branicki, pointed 
 out to him the fatal consequences of allying with 
 their rival Russia. After speaking to this effect, he 
 tore the paper to pieces ; and the astonished grand- 
 general embraced him in a transport of admiration, 
 and swore to him an eternal friendship. 
 
 Branicki now declared for Broglie and France; 
 and Count Brulh seized with avidity this opportunity 
 of escaping from his dependence on the Czartoryskis, 
 and entered into a coalition with this new party in 
 the name of his master. His real motive for this 
 change was, to revenge himself on that powerful 
 family for refusing his proffered alliance by marriage. 
 
 Russia found herself bound both to Augustus and 
 the Czartoryskis, but the authority and wealth of 
 England soon gave the latter interest the prepon- 
 derance in her eyes, and she threatened Poland with 
 an invasion in support of her clients. Three 'years 
 had passed in these intrigues, and France, as faith- 
 less an ally as ever, forgot her promises, and left 
 Augustus to extricate himself from the dilemma into 
 which she had decoyed him. 
 
 But the year 1756 opened with a complete revolu- 
 tion in all the alliances of Europe, and averted the 
 vengeance of Russia from the King of Poland. 
 Austria, bent on recovering Silesia, which had been 
 seized by Frederic the Great, leagued with France 
 and Russia; the admission of France into the league 
 threw her enemy, England, with whom she was at 
 war on account of the American colonies, into the 
 opposite party. Saxony was drawn into the former 
 alliance by many obvious motives. Frederic en- 
 
FREDERIC INVADES SAXONY; 153 
 
 gaged with the English to divert the enemy from 
 their Hanoverian possessions, and overran Saxony. 
 
 Augustus was obliged to abandon his electoral do- 
 minions to their fate, for the bad administration and 
 extravagance of Brulh had rendered them almost de- 
 fenceless. The following is a characteristic incident 
 of the Saxon and Polish court. The king, when he 
 found himself reduced to the necessity of flight, 
 took the greatest care to save his pictures, antiques, 
 and porcelain, and never gave a thought to the state- 
 papers. 
 
 These circumstances reconciled for a time the two 
 factions of Poland ; and Russia was now as warm in 
 the defence of Augustus as she had been before in 
 opposition to him. A hundred thousand Russians 
 marched through Poland on the road to Saxony, and 
 the Empress Elizabeth, in addition to this assistance, 
 resigned her pretensions to Courland, and permitted 
 the king to nominate his third son Charles to the 
 dukedom. 
 
 The Russian troops, after traversing the territories 
 of their ally, and exacting contributions on their 
 road, entered the Prussian dominions. Frederic 
 defeated them at Zorndorf* in 1758, but so obstinately 
 did they stand their ground even when they were 
 butchered without quarter, that he exclaimed, " It is 
 harder to kill them than to conquer them !" They, 
 however, revenged themselves at Zulikaw and Cus- 
 trin, and took possession of Berlin. 
 
 Frederic, surrounded with enemies, was almost 
 reduced to the last extremity ; he began to mistrust 
 the energies of his veteran army of the seven years' 
 war, and carried poison about him as a last resource 
 of escape. Saxony was delivered from its invaders, 
 and Augustus, in fancied security under the shield of 
 Russia, was employing Brulh to engage her to ensure 
 the succession to the Polish crown in his family. 
 
 * A Tillage six miles to the north-east of Custrin, which is built at 
 jtbe confluence of the Wartha and Oder. 
 
1 54 HISTORY OF POLAND. 
 
 But the death of the Empress Elizabeth put an 
 end to all these vain projects. Her successor, Pe- 
 ter III., had long viewed with pleasure the league of 
 Russia against Frederic, for whom he had con- 
 ceived a great admiration, and his first act on coming 
 to the throne was to make peace with him. This 
 entirely frustrated the designs of the allies, as well 
 as of Augustus, whom Peter treated with the greatest 
 contempt, and even refused to give his envoys an 
 audience. 
 
 The emperor and Frederic formed three resolu- 
 tions with regard to Poland. The first was, that the 
 successor of Augustus should be a Pole. This de- 
 termination owed its origin to the intrigues of the 
 Czartoryskis. The second, to protect the dissidents ; 
 and the third, that Russia should resume the posses- 
 sion of Courland. 
 
 Peter's wife, Catharine, adopted nearly the same 
 line of policy as her husband, but with very different 
 motives. Her object was to raise her lover, Ponia- 
 towski, to the throne. This young count was the 
 fourth son of Poniatowski, the brother-in-law of the 
 Czartoryskis, who has already come under our no- 
 tice. Fortune marked him for one of her favourites 
 from his very cradle. At the time of his birth an 
 Italian adventurer, of the name of Fornica, lived in 
 his father's house in the capacity of surgeon ; he was 
 at the same time a pretended astrologer and alchy- 
 inist, and most probably assumed those titles to in- 
 gratiate the favour of his protector, whose character 
 was strongly tinctured with superstition. Aware of 
 the ambitious views of the family, he predicted that 
 the new-born child would wear a crown ; and the 
 parents readily believed what their hopes made pos- 
 sible, and their influence probable. They gave the 
 boy the ominous and regal name Stanislas Augustus. 
 The countess, at the same time, ambitious from pride 
 and credulous from a romantic disposition, applied 
 herself with great care to train up this young scion 
 
STANISLAS PONIATOWSKI. 155 
 
 of royalty. She made him swear to abjure the se- 
 ductions of love and pleasure till he was thirty years 
 old, that nothing might turn his eyes from the crown 
 which she pointed out to him. 
 
 But young Poniatowski was not born to tread the 
 thorny road of ambition ; he was naturally a volup- 
 tuary; and while his mother lectured him on the 
 sciences of war and politics, he hummed over to him- 
 self the licentious songs of the French poets, who 
 were his favourite authors.* He possessed a showy, 
 superficial knowledge of literature, and had some 
 tact in conversation, both in public " and private; 
 but, fortunately for Poniatowski, it was not his 
 mind that was to lead him to the high elevation he 
 aimed at. 
 
 This second-rate intellect was set in a person of 
 the first order of beauty : there was an air of supe- 
 riority in his symmetrical but characteristic counte- 
 nance, and his figure, without being majestic from its 
 height or strength, was marked with that more com- 
 manding and intrinsic majesty of carriage which 
 seems to proceed from gigantic feelings, instead of 
 large bones and rigid muscles. 
 
 But, after all, Poniatowski was one of those men 
 who could be almost any thing, and are absolutely 
 nothing ; he was one of those characters which Na- 
 ture draws out in a neutral-tint of light and shade, 
 ready to take every colour, but which she sends into 
 the world without any. He had pride, but it was not 
 pride of intellect, rank, or. spirit ; ambition, but it 
 was a mere craving after he knew not what, which 
 Was as much satiated by fulsome approval of a dog- 
 gerel sonnet as the proudest success of important 
 schemes ; a kind of philanthropy, but it was a mere 
 love of his species, and did not assume either of those 
 definite characters, patriotism, friendship, or charity; 
 warmth of heart, which, as it was not associated 
 
 * RulhWre. 
 
156 HISTORY OF POLAND. 
 
 with the affections and feelings of any particular ob* 
 ject, had no gratification but sensual passion. 
 
 Such was the state of Poniatowski's mind and 
 character when Sir Charles Williams, the English 
 ambassador, arrived at Warsaw. Some similarity of 
 feeling and disposition led to an acquaintance be- 
 tween these two young men, which grew into firm 
 friendship, and, as may be supposed, did not much 
 tend to renovate the youthful and pliant Pole's prin- 
 ciples. Under the care of this dissolute friend, Po- 
 m'atowski took a butterfly-tour through foreign coun- 
 tries, sipping, as he skimmed along, only the froth 
 of society. He made a short sojourn at Paris, that 
 city of gayety, so congenial to his habits, while Wil- 
 liams proceeded to discharge his diplomatic duties in 
 England. The young Pole was quite intoxicated 
 with the pleasures of the French capital ; gamed, in- 
 trigued, made love, and swore eternal affection to 
 every woman he met. So unguarded was he, and so 
 favourably were his addresses received, that thirty 
 ladies are said to have encountered each other, one 
 day, in his country-house, to lay claim to their gay 
 deceiver. His finances could not bear the extrava- 
 gant drafts which his pleasures and gaming drew 
 upon them ; so that he was involved in debt, and the 
 harpies of the law laid their unhallowed hands on 
 the embryo king. From this dilemma he was de- 
 livered by one of his female friends,* and then made 
 the best of his way to England to rejoin Williams. 
 The only fruits of his visit to Paris were an expe- 
 rience in the wiles of captivating the female heart, 
 and an affectation of kingly deportment, which he 
 studied in Louis XV. The former of these acquire- 
 ments, as will be seen, gained him the throne, and 
 the latter taught him how to fill it. 
 Williams was now appointed ambassador to Pe- 
 
 * It was Madame Geoffrin, wife of a rich glass manufacturer, t e 
 whom Poniatowski was indebted for this kindness. 
 
PONIATOWSKI IN FAVOUR. 157 
 
 tersburg, and the Czartoryskis gladly seized his offer 
 to take Poniatowski to Russia as his secretary. The 
 wily diplomatist threw his young friend in the way 
 of Catharine, who was then only grand-dutchess, and 
 whose heart was opened to any attachment by the 
 contempt she had for her husband Peter. Williams 
 contrived to let them have a private interview in the 
 English consul's house, where Catharine went on 
 foot, and alone, in a Russian winter's night.* Po- 
 niatowski was young,f handsome, and fascinating, 
 Well experienced in the arts of winning woman's 
 affections, and bold enough to seize the decisive mo- 
 ment of victory. What a different language did love 
 now speak to that which Catharine had been ac- 
 customed to hear ! Instead of the coarse jests of a 
 Russian boor, she now listened to the witty and vo- 
 luptuous seductions of French elegance and if the 
 former could find the way to her heart, what resist- 
 ance was to be now expected? The Pole's blan- 
 dishments this night falsified the dogma that love 
 " has no great influence on the sum of life,"J for 
 while they won a woman s affections, they gained a 
 crown which contained within its circumference 
 the destinies of millions, and the sway of Poland. 
 
 When the English ambassador was obliged to 
 leave Petersburg, Poniatowski contrived to prolong 
 his stay, by obtaining a diplomatic commission in 
 the service of Augustus. The French minister, 
 Count Broglie, on hearing that this young emissary 
 of the Czartoryskis was nominated ambassador from 
 the Polish court, said to Brulh, " This complaisance 
 
 *The grand-duke one night detected Poniatowski entering Catha- 
 rine's palace, but fearful of compromising the interest of the court by 
 doing violence to a foreign minister, and being at the same time not the 
 most sensitive of husbands, satisfied himself with committing the in- 
 truder into custody. Catharine did not hesitate to confront her injured 
 husband ; the couple made an amicable arrangement, the lover was 
 liberated, and Catharine promised to give her husband's mistress an 
 annual pension. See Rulhie're's " Anecdotes sur la Russie." 
 
 t Only twenty-three. J Johnson. 
 
 o 
 
158 HISTORY OF POLAND. 
 
 will cost the house of Saxony the throne." This 
 was one of those safe calculations of cause and effect 
 which enable the thinking mind to speak with the 
 true spirit of prophecy. Nor did Poniatowski deviate 
 from the line of conduct which was anticipated ; for 
 so indefatigably di<J he follow up the advantage he 
 had gained over Catharine's heart, that shortly after 
 this time she introduced her lover to some young 
 Poles, with whom she was supping, as their future 
 king. With so little circumspection was the love 
 affair carried on, that even the grand-duke, regardless 
 as he was of his wife, and whose treatment, in fact, 
 had emancipated her from all ties to him, except 
 those which " the church links withal," began to think 
 it was time to open his eyes, and exclaim " non om- 
 nibus dormio!" The grand-chancellor, too, Bestu 
 cheff, who was one of Catharine's confidants, was 
 disgraced about this time, and the loss of his protec 
 tion further exposed Poniatowski to animadversion 
 For some months the overs' embraces were im 
 bittered by the tears of anticipated separation, 
 every meeting was ended with lingering looks of 
 regret. 
 
 "And though they hope and vow, they grieve, 
 As if that parting were the last." 
 
 At length the dreaded day arrived; the Polish 
 minister recalled his emissary, and in vain Catharine 
 and her train supplicated the empress on their knees 
 and with tears ; Poniatowski was sent to Poland to 
 lament over his blighted hopes, and his mistress was 
 left to weep till she could find a new gallant to con- 
 dole with her. The young count carried back with 
 him a letter to his father from the grand-dutchess, 
 containing these words : " Charles XII. distinguished, 
 your merit ; I shall know how to distinguish your 
 son's, and raise him, perhaps, above Charles XII. 
 himself." The old man treasured up this epistle, and 
 always carried the precious document in his bosom. 
 
RUSSIAN ASCENDENCY. 159 
 
 At the same time Catharine cherished an implacable 
 animosity against the Saxon Prince Charles, and the 
 French and Austrian ambassadors, who she fancied 
 had been instrumental in Poniatowski's removal; 
 and she did not fail, as the sequel of the history will 
 show, to retaliate when she had the power. 
 
 All these circumstances tended to increase the Rus- 
 sian influence over the destinies of Poland. When 
 even the proudest of the Polish nobles could so openly 
 recognise the supremacy of their ambitious neighbour 
 as to beg for the crown as a fief, that neighbour must 
 have been conscientious indeed, and more so than 
 any of the more civilized states of Europe, to dis- 
 claim the right thus admitted. Even Turkey now 
 abandoned all resistance to the encroachments of 
 Russia on this devoted republic, as it has been 
 strangely designated. Mustapha was sultan, and hav- 
 ing a taste for war, or rather for military gewgaws 
 and shows, entertained a high opinion of Frederic 
 the Great, and in defiance of the laws of Mahomet 
 kept by him his portrait, which, even to the present 
 day, is the only picture said to be ever admitted into 
 the seraglio. 
 
 Nor did the Prussian king neglect to cherish and 
 make use of this admiration ; he wrote to the sultan, 
 and descended to the fulsome flattery which even he 
 could stoop to when it answered his purpose. " You 
 ought to have been born three ages sooner," ran the 
 letter; but the compliment was thrown away on 
 Mustapha, who in vain consulted all his wise men 
 about the meaning of it.* The sultan, however, gave 
 Frederic the credit of intending to say something 
 polite, and promised in return to enter into an ami- 
 cable arrangement with Prussia, and consequently 
 Russia, in token of which he made his troops set out 
 to attack the Austrians. 
 
 But while Frederic's heart yet beat high with the 
 
 * RulhiSre, vol. i. p. 320. 
 
160 HISTORY OF POLAND. 
 
 hope of his hated rival's ruin, by means of the over- 
 whelming league he had formed against her, an un- 
 expected event falsified all his calculations. In 1762 
 Catharine made the murdered body of her husband 
 her footstool to the throne of Russia, and the death 
 of Peter loosened the bonds of alliance with Prussia. 
 These were tidings of great joy to Poland, which 
 stood trembling between her armed and leagued 
 neighbours, whose mutual jealousy was her only 
 safeguard. But none of the Poles could have received 
 the news more gladly than Poniatowski. 
 
 Count Brulh, who could so conveniently adapt him- 
 self to events, was the first to announce the affair to 
 the young count. His messenger found him in bed, 
 with a picture of the empress on both sides of him, 
 one in the character of Bellona, and the other as 
 Minerva. On hearing the tidings, Poniatowski leaped 
 from the bed almost frantic'with joy, and on his knees 
 addressed Heaven and the pictures in turn. He was 
 already on his flight to the arms of his mistress, but 
 his uncles prudently detained him till they had ascer- 
 tained the posture of affairs. 
 
 Catharine gave Poniatowski's impetuosity plenty 
 of time to cool, for she did not send him a single 
 message or line for more than a month. Rumour in 
 the mean time explained this delay, but not at all to 
 the young count's satisfaction; for she whispered that 
 OrlofF, a young Russian, who had been instrumental 
 in raising the empress to the throne, had stepped into 
 his place. At length the wished-for billet arrived, 
 containing these words concerning her ambassador, 
 " I send Keyserling to Poland with orders to make 
 you, or your cousin Prince Adam Czartoryski, king." 
 To counterbalance this, it contained mention of 
 Orloff 's services, which Poniatowski felt were praised 
 far too warmly for mere gratitude. In the midst of 
 this alternation of hope and fear, joy and perplexity, 
 we will leave the disappointed count weeping, as was 
 his ridiculous custom to do, and proceed to inquire 
 
STRUGGLE OF PARTIES. 161 
 
 what was the result experienced by the rest of the 
 Poles on this change in the dynasty of the Russian 
 empire. 
 
 Catharine immediately tapered the towering hopes 
 of Frederic, by countermBHing her troops, and thus 
 blighted an undertaking which might have been of 
 momentous import to the Polish state. She did not 
 forget her resentment against Prince Charles, Duke 
 of Courland', and informed Augustus, very coolly, 
 that he must depose him. Opposition was in vain, 
 and after some useless demur the order was obeyed, 
 and Biron, the former Russian duke, reinstated. 
 This compliance was exacted by the dread of 15,000 
 Russians in Courland, and 2000, whose stay had been 
 prolonged ever since the late war, at Graudentz, a 
 strong town in the palatinate of Culm. This treat- 
 ment of his son was a heavy blow to Augustus ; Po- 
 land had now no more charms for him, for the small 
 remnant of power which Russia left him was wrested 
 from him by the contending factions. Fortunately, 
 peace now restored to him Saxony, and an asylum 
 from the troubles and vexations of his kingdom, nor 
 did he delay long to avail himself of it. 
 
 But while Augustus was so ready to abandon his 
 throne, there was another who was longing, and lite- 
 rally crying for it. Poniatowski soon found that no 
 competition was to be feared from Adam Czartoryski, 
 who was too modest to aspire to an honour which 
 his father had aimed at and could not attain ; and he 
 then urged him the more earnestly and with the 
 greater show of sincerity to accept the offer of the 
 empress. But there are moments when the heart 
 will make itself heard in spite of the wiliest hypocrite, 
 and in these the count was heard to say, " We must 
 not make fortunes for others which we may make 
 for ourselves." 
 
 The ambassador whom Catharine sent to Warsaw 
 to further her former lover's views was Cp'int Key- 
 serling, an old diplomafist, who had grown gray in 
 02 
 
162 HISTORY OF POLAND. 
 
 intrigues and villany. He had been originally a 
 professor in the university of Konigsberg, and during 
 one of his missions to Poland had seen Poniatowski 
 when a child, and amuse^iimself with giving him 
 instructions in Latin ; in hembrance of which, he 
 now still called him his son and pupil. 
 
 Poniatowski and the Czartoryskis, however, met 
 with opposition; but this, in fact, only served to 
 advance their interest, as it became a pretext for the 
 direct interference of Russia. Prince Radziwill was 
 their mortal enemy, and besides being the richest and 
 most powerful noble in the kingdom, was, in spite 
 of them, appointed Palatine of Wilna, the most im- 
 portant officer in Lithuania. He had even a regular 
 army at his service, which was furnished with artil- 
 lery. With this equipage he went to Wilna to assume 
 the authority of his office, which he proceeded to 
 exercise in investigating the elections of deputies in 
 direct opposition to the intrigues of the Czartoryskis. 
 
 This party, however, backed as they were by the 
 Russian interest, and who had, besides, at their dis- 
 posal the treasure and anny of Lithuania, assembled 
 to check their rival's intention. But they were not 
 sufficiently strong to awe Radziwill, who, although 
 his opponents had confederated and sent for Russian 
 assistance, persevered in his object. Catharine was 
 not yet firmly seated on her throne, and was obliged 
 to concede something to the will of her ministers ; 
 and she did not at first dare to send troops to Poland 
 with the avowed purpose of aiding a faction. 
 
 She therefore pretended that they were only to 
 march through Lithuania, on their route from Cour- 
 land to the Ukraine. Even this, without permission, 
 was an aggression ; but the Poles had too long de- 
 graded themselves in the scale of nations to be able 
 much to resent the insult. Her emissaries privately 
 threatened the Radziwillians, and she more than 
 hinted to the king by letter that she must interfere 
 if he continued to favour that party. 
 
THE PATRIOT BRANICKI. 163 
 
 Eight thousand Russians, who announced them- 
 selves only as a vanguard of a larger body, entered 
 Lithuania and encamped near Wilna. But the Poles, 
 who always reserve theirenergies for the last emer- 
 gency, so far from bein^launted by this army, ex- 
 claimed against the villany of Poniatowski and his 
 party, who were ready to sell their country to its 
 enemies. " Poland," said they, " will have no arbiter 
 but God!" Prince Radziwill, with an increased 
 army, kept watch on the movements of the traitors 
 and their Russian allies, being determined to exter- 
 minate them on the first appearance of violence. The 
 old but excellent Branicki and his band of patriots 
 supported the prince with heart and soul ; and Mok- 
 ranowski was sent to the Russian ambassador, Key- 
 serling, to demand an explanation of his mistress's 
 conduct. 
 
 Keyserling felt that he must temporize, and having 
 in vain tempted the noble envoy with bribes, assured 
 him that Catharine had no inimical design, and that 
 the troops would be soon withdrawn. Frederic of 
 Prussia was rather alarmed at the movement of the 
 Russians ; and the cham of the Crimea, learning that 
 they were approaching the frontiers, where he was 
 encamped, sent their general this message : " If you 
 touch a single Polish hut, in five days I will come to 
 breakfast with you with a hundred thousand Tartars." 
 Afraid of these consequences, Catharine ordered her 
 troops to leave Lithuania. 
 
 Poniatowski wept with rage at seeing his traitorous 
 designs on his country again frustrated. He was 
 present on the daywhen Branicki, his brother-in-law, 
 was leaving Warsaw after the negotiation with Key- 
 serling ; and the old man, espying him, made him get 
 into his carriage, and began to reason with him, in 
 hopes of kindling some sparks of patriotism in his 
 breast. " Your ambition," said the venerable monitor, 
 " misleads you ; it is conducting you to slavery, and 
 perhaps your greatest success will only serve to mark 
 
164 HISTORY OF POLAND. 
 
 the epoch of the entire destruction of your country." 
 Poniatowski answered only with tears. The grand- 
 general, inquiring how he was to interpret them, and 
 receiving no answer but fresh tears and muttered 
 invectives against the housPQf Saxony, stopped ,his 
 carriage for his degenerate relative to alight, drove 
 on, and never spoke to him again. 
 
 Fortune, however, was not so stern towards the 
 count as his brother had been ; for she now drew 
 from her wheel a prize for him, which soon proved 
 to be nothing less than the crown he sighed for. 
 The news arrived that Augustus was dead, and 
 Poniatowski breathed freely again. This event hap- 
 pened on the 5th of October, 1763. He was then in 
 his sixty-seventh year, and had reigned thirty. This 
 monarch was one of those men who have nothing 
 distinct from their species, merely nati consumers 
 fruges. His character is too easily read to require 
 any commentary. These " stupidly good" princes 
 are more fatal to states in dangerous times than 
 despots themselves ; for the latter, in such cases, are 
 not allowed time to misemploy their talents or their 
 cunning. " Augustus," says Solignac,* " had, like 
 his father, all the virtues of peace, but very little mili- 
 tary talent ; the crown of Poland was the cause of 
 misfortune* to boih." The worthy secretary of Stan- 
 islas seems to have overtaxed his candour in the 
 former clause of this sentence ; the combination of 
 " all the virtues of peace" would have made a much 
 greater man than Poland has been fortunate enough 
 to possess for a king. 
 
 This reign was more propitious to the cause of 
 learning than the preceding. Among the followers 
 of Stanislas to France were the Bishops Zaluski, and 
 the Abbe Konarski, who brought back to Poland an 
 
 * Histoire de Pologne, vol. vi. Solignac was secretary to Stanislas 
 Leszczynski, and accompanied him to Lorraine. His history is carried 
 down to 1773, but we cannot give it much credit for accuracy, liberality, or 
 impartiality. It is of some use, however, as a check on the Polish 
 historians. 
 
PROGRESS OF LEARNING. 165 
 
 ardent enthusiasm for studious pursuits, and a wish 
 to elevate their national literature from its debase- 
 ment. Zaluski, Bishop of Kiow, traversed almost all 
 the countries of the Continent in quest of books and 
 manuscripts, devoting the" whole of his revenues and 
 property to this noble purpose. After forming a 
 princely collection of more than 200,000 volumes, he 
 made a present of it to the public. 
 
 The exertions of Konarski were not less praise- 
 worthy. He was of the society of the Piarists, an 
 order which had been introduced into Poland in 1642, 
 on precisely opposite principles to the Jesuits. He 
 established a college at Warsaw (Collegium Nobilium 
 Scholarum Piarum) at his own expense. His pub- 
 lications on learning, politics, and religion were 
 written in the boldest spirit of reform ; he introduced 
 the legitimate drama, and freed education from the 
 conventual shackles of the Jesuits. His exertions 
 were at first " as the small pebble" that " stirs the 
 peaceful lake," but they soon spread wider and wider 
 throughout Poland; and all the glorious attempts 
 since made at enlightened reform in literature and 
 policy, may be said to have owed their existence 
 to him. 
 
166 HISTORY OF POLAND. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Forced Election of Stanislas Poniatowski Bold Resistance of Mokra 
 nowski Confederation The Confederates offer the Crown to Henry, 
 Brother of Frederic the Great Coronation of Stanislas Anecdote 
 of Stanislas Claims of the Dissidents; supported by Russia ; rejected 
 by the Diet Confederacy of the Dissidents Confederacy of the Con- 
 stitutionalists Repnin's Treachery Polish Bishops banished to Si- 
 beria Dissidents confirmed in their Rights Confederacy of Bar 
 Attempt to seize Repnin Bar taken by the Russians Rupture 
 between Russia and Turkey Defeat of the Turks State of the Con- 
 federatesThe Confederates transfer their Council to Eperies Visited 
 by Joseph IL 
 
 NOTHING perhaps awakens more passions, bad and 
 good, than competition, and few things have been 
 sought with more eagerness than a crown. In addi- 
 tion to the stimulus which Poniatowski felt in com- 
 mon with other aspirants to the Polish diadem, his 
 long expectations, which must have almost grown 
 into a claim in his own mind, spurred him on to the 
 contest. His cousin, whose name Catharine had put 
 as a candidate with his, had entirely abandoned the 
 field, and even sent his written determination to the 
 empress to that purport. But the deceitful count, 
 either from the idea of adding effect to his situation, 
 or in conformity with his habit of hypocrisy, affected 
 the greatest sensibility at the thought of the important 
 charge he was about to take on himself, and this too 
 at the very time when he was forging new chains for 
 his country. " I foresee," said he, " that I shall have 
 a difficult reign ; I shall find only the thorns while I 
 leave to others the flowers. Perhaps, like Charles I. 
 of England, I shall suffer a long imprisonment." 
 The amusements which this sentimentalist marked 
 out for himself to while away the tedium of this 
 prophesied confinement, were the care of his toilet, 
 the study of his curls, and the folds of his cravat. 
 
RIVAL CLAIMS TO THE CROWN. 167 
 
 The Poles in general, or at least all those who did 
 not expect any advantage from the enslavement of 
 their country, would not allow themselves to imagine 
 that Poniatowski, one of Catharine's kept men, could 
 ever wear the Polish crown ; and wished their hero 
 Branicki to accept it, in full confidence that he would 
 restore its tarnished lustre. But although age had 
 not chilled Branicki's patriotism, it had curbed hi& 
 spirit of enterprise, and he felt that even were he 
 elected he should be king only of half his people. 
 
 Count Oginski, who had married Michael Czarto- 
 ry ski's daughter, was another and powerful rival to 
 Poniatowski. He went to Petersburg in the hope 
 of subverting his relative's interest with Catharine^ 
 and even Orloff exclaimed in full court when he saw 
 him, " This is the man who ought to be king, and 
 not a poor player like Poniatowski." But the em- 
 press was resolute, and when she was told one day 
 that her lover's grandfather had been a dependant of 
 the Sapiehas, she coloured at the word, but exclaimed 
 imperiously, " Had he been so himself, I wish him ta 
 be king, and he shall be !" 
 
 Nor did Catharine confine herself to mere protesta- 
 tions ; she kept 60,000 troops on the frontiers ready 
 to enforce her will, and sent Prince Repnin to War- 
 saw to urge on the tardy Keyserling. He was a fit 
 agent for such a mistress and such a mission. He 
 said, before his departure, that " his sovereign should 
 give Poland whatever king she thought fit, the 
 meanest gentleman, Polish or foreign ; and that no- 
 power on earth could hinder her." He had been one 
 of Poniatowski's boon companions at Petersburg,, 
 and felt a pleasure in renewing his acquaintance- 
 He brought him 100,000 ducats, and assured him of 
 further support. 
 
 Frederic wished to conciliate Catharine; he 
 seemed to enter into all her views, and signed a 
 treaty to prevent all change in the Polish government,, 
 and to confer the crown on a Piast. He also sent her 
 
168 HISTORY OF POLAND. 
 
 lover the riband of the order of the Black Eagle, as 
 a testimony of his favour. Forty thousand Prussians 
 were on the frontiers, and ten thousand Russians 
 were on their march to Warsaw. 
 
 Branicki and Radziwillwere still firm to their duty : 
 the latter arrived at Warsaw with a considerable 
 number of troops, which, with the other forces of the 
 republicans, amounted to 3000 men. 
 
 On the 7th of May, 1764, which was the stated time 
 for opening the diet of election, the Russians were 
 drawn up without the city, and guarded all the ave- 
 nues. Poniatowski was strongly guarded, and the 
 whole of the senate-house was rilled with soldiers* 
 But only eight senators out of fifty appeared ; and 
 Malachowski, whose duty it was to open the session, 
 as marshal of the last diet, did not for some time 
 make his appearance. Mokranowski was engaged 
 during this interval in registering, in the very building 
 which was invested by his enemies, a manifesto 
 against the legality of the diet, held under the awe 
 of foreign arms. 
 
 When this was done, Mokranowski entered the 
 house, leading the old marshal, who held his staff 
 reversed, which was a sign that the diet was not yet 
 opened. Mokranowski exclaimed, with a high voice^ 
 " Since the Russian troops hem us in, I suspend the 
 authority of the diet." Immediately, the host of 
 soldiers who were present drew their swords, and 
 rushed at the bold patriot. This first outrage was 
 prevented ; and Mokranowski, sheathing his sword, 
 which he had drawn in his defence, and looking round 
 at the deputies, who wore cockades of the Czar- 
 toryski family colours, said to them, " What, gentle- 
 men, are you deputies of your country, and assume 
 the livery of a family ?" 
 
 The old marshal then spoke : " Gentlemen, since 
 liberty no longer exists among us, I carry away this 
 staff, and I will never raise it till the public is de- 
 livered from her troubles." Mokranowski supported 
 
RUSSIAN DICTATION. 169 
 
 the old man, and again drew on himself the ven 
 geance of the villanous soldiers. " Strike," shouted 
 he, crossing his arms, " strike, I shall die free, and in 
 the cause of liberty !" This signal determination 
 arrested the arms raised against him, and his enemies 
 feared to render their cause obnoxious by the mas- 
 sacre of such a justly respected patriot. They 
 turned to the marshal, and ordered him to resign the 
 staff; but he was made of equally impenetrable stuff 
 as his coadjutor. "You may cut off my hand," he 
 said, " or take my life ; but I am marshal, elected by 
 a free people, and I can only be deposed by a free 
 people. I shall retire." This venerable man was 
 eighty years old. They surrounded him, and op- 
 posed his departure; but Mokranowski, perceiving 
 their violence, cried out, " Gentlemen, respect this 
 old man ; let him go out ! If you must have a victim, 
 here am I : respect age and virtue !" At the same 
 time he repelled the attacks on him ; and the crowd 
 reached the door, which the chiefs of the opposite 
 party ordered to be opened, being afraid of the con- 
 sequences. 
 
 The determined conduct of these two patriots de- 
 prived the faction of even a semblance of consti- 
 tutional sanction of their lawless proceedings ; but 
 Poniatowski, who was now growing more expe- 
 rienced in the arts of despotism, prolonged the diet, 
 and ordered the deputies to commence the election 
 of a marshal as if no protest had been made. Prince 
 Adam Czartoryski was chosen, and this junto,* con- 
 sisting scarcely of eighty members, instead of about 
 300, with self-constituted authority, and in defiance 
 of every principle of law, justice, or patriotism, com- 
 menced a proscription of all the leading constitution- 
 alists. 
 
 The patriots, finding that force was to be the 
 
 * It is remarked by Solignac, that most of the nobles present attliia 
 diet were in the German costume; whereas if this had been the ease at 
 any other time ttiey would have been massacred. Hist. voL vfc 
 P 
 
170 HISTORY OF POLAND. 
 
 arbiter, left Warsaw in two bodies ; one, under the 
 grand-general, proceeded to attempt a confederation 
 in Poland, and the other, under Radziwill, to enter 
 Lithuania for the same purpose. When the diet 
 heard this, they deprived the grand-general of his 
 office, and intrusted it to Augustus Czartoryski, who 
 had orders to send against him all the troops, foreign 
 or native, which he could collect. The same instruc 
 tions were issued with regard to Radziwill. 
 
 The small body of men upder Branicki decreased 
 daily, and they were obliged to take refuge on the 
 borders of Hungary. Radziwill on his road encoun- 
 tered a detachment of Russians and gave battle. 
 His wife and sister, both young and beautiful, accom- 
 panied him. Such a cause, and such an emergency, 
 have before now nerved the delicate female to tread 
 the field of warfare, and in the present instance these 
 fragile, lovely creatures were to be seen on horseback, 
 with sabres in their hands, animating their brothers in 
 arms to revenge their betrayed country. Among the 
 Poles there was one individual who particularly 
 attracted their notice by his hardihood and beauty, 
 and they honoured him with their personal approba- 
 tion. He was a poor and obscure gentleman, named 
 Moraski ; but one of Radziwill's sisters had con- 
 ceived such an admiration of him, which his beauty 
 had fostered into love, that within eight days after the 
 fight she conferred on him her hand, dowered with 
 an immense fortune. Hireling barbarians could not 
 at first resist enthusiasm like this, and some hun- 
 dreds of them were left on the field. But strong as 
 patriotism is, it is not irresistible ; and traitors' arms 
 are of the same metal and temper as those wielded 
 by the warmest lovers of their country ; Radziwill 
 was obliged to fly, and sought refuge in Turkey. 
 
 The constitutionalists now turned to Prussia as a 
 last resource, and Mokranowski flew to Berlin to have 
 a conference with Frederic. He pointed out to him 
 the gross violation which the Russians had made of 
 
MEANNESS OF PONIATOWSKI. 171 
 
 fheir constitution, and the danger of their encroach- 
 ments. Frederic pretended that the republicans had 
 attempted to make the crown hereditary in the house 
 of Saxony. "Besides," said he, "you are the 
 weakest; you must submit." The Pole replied, 
 " Your majesty did not set us such an example ; you 
 resisted, single-handed, all Europe." "Without a 
 favourable juncture," observed the king, " I should 
 have been undone." " One presents itself," returned 
 Mokranowski ; "and your majesty's talents have 
 directed fortune's junctures." Frederic observed 
 that they were accustomed to receive their kings 
 from Russia. "She has only given us one, and 
 we wish no more from her. But will your majesty 
 never appear except as a secondary character among 
 us 1 Assume the part that becomes us : give us 
 a king; give us your brother, Prince Henry." 
 " He will not turn Catholic." " At least, sire, pre- 
 serve our liberty." The king assured Mokranowski 
 that he had no other intention, and turning the con- 
 versation on the Poles, attempted to persuade him to 
 enter his service, so justly did he appreciate merit. 
 This offer was declined, and they parted. 
 
 The field was now entirely clear for Poniatowski, 
 and the Russians allowed no time for new opposition. 
 Keyserling, the ambassador, was enlisted in the 
 count's service by more than one motive. The de- 
 generate Pole threw himself at his feet, in tears, 
 and swore that he would never exert his regal au- 
 thority but according to his directions, and that under 
 the name of Poniatowski Keyserling would rule. On 
 the 7th of September, 1764, barely 4000 nobles, in- 
 stead of the usual number of 80,000, assembled in the 
 field of election, and the count beheld the consumma- 
 tion of his wishes. 
 
 No prince, says Rulhiere, ever ascended the throne 
 under more perplexing and unfortunate circumstances 
 than Stanislas Augustus. To this we may add, none 
 was ever less qualified to remedy them, and few hare 
 
172 HISTORY OF POLAND. 
 
 , been afflicted with them more deservedly. He had no 
 longer the support of Catharine;. her jealousy had 
 been roused by rumours of his gallantries, and her 
 good sense most probably saw through the showy 
 disguise of his imbecility, and began to be ashamed 
 of her former admiration. With so little satisfaction 
 did she receive the news of his election from Count 
 Oginski, that she said, coolly, "I congratulate you 
 on it," and withdrew. The majority of the Poles 
 submitted unwillingly, and even those who had been 
 most earnest in his election must have regarded the 
 traitorous intrigue, now it was divested of its bustle 
 and excitation, in its natural deformity. 
 
 The coronation took place on the 25th of Novem- 
 ber, and, as if to observe a consistent opposition to 
 the laws, it was performed at Warsaw, instead of 
 Cracow.* Stanislas, ashamed of the Polish costume, 
 which he would in fact have only disgraced, refused 
 to sacrifice his long black curls to appear with his 
 head cropped, as was customary, dressed himself in 
 a theatrical style with a helmet, and presented him- 
 self in this garb to receive the sacred unction, amid 
 the sneers of his subjects. 
 
 The Czartoryskis availed themselves of the oppor- 
 tunity offered by the coronation-diet to reform the 
 laws, so as to render the constitution virtually mo- 
 narchical.! The change was insidious, but time ren- 
 dered it too apparent. This same assembly decreed 
 two statues, one to Augustus, the other to Michael 
 Czartoryski. On the same night placards were posted 
 in different parts of the city with this merited sarcasm: 
 
 " Erect two gibbets ; that is their fit monument." 
 
 Stanislas bore his honours as might be expected ; 
 
 * Solignac. 
 
 t Justice, however, obliges us to mention that many of the changes 
 were really beneficial, such as those relating to the coinage, and weights 
 and measures. Whether the tariff, which was now for the first time 
 introduced into Poland, deserves the same character, is at least a ques- 
 tionable point. 
 
PONIATOWSKI MADE KING. 173 
 
 frivolity, show, and extravagance now exhibited 
 themselves under royal protection. He p.elt-nded to 
 turn his attention to military matters, and raised 
 several regiments ; but he ordered the cadets tj wear 
 such immense helmets and such high plumes, that a 
 gust of wind blew downhis young army. The count, 
 however, sometimes made his chameleon character 
 assume the show of a stern moralist on showy follies 
 and extravagance, and on this account we can readily 
 believe an anecdote told by Solignac.* He one day 
 went to pay the voyvode of Kiow a visit, and saw 
 among the company a nobleman very conspicuous by 
 the sumptuousness and costliness of his dress. The 
 king had the impertinence to ask hirn why he was 
 decked out so finely; and was answered that it was a 
 token of respect to his majesty. " You are mis- 
 taken," said Stanislas, with disgusting affectation, " a 
 Pole ought to be distinguished only by courage and 
 talent." 
 
 Even now Stanislas Augustus was but a viceroy 
 of Russia. The ambassador Repnin remained at 
 Warsaw, boasting that " it was he who had put the 
 crown on his head," and ready to make him feel that 
 it was he also who kept it on. More than 20,000 
 Russian troops were scattered over the kingdom, and 
 though Branicki and his party had been allowed to 
 return to Poland, and did not offer any resistance to 
 the existing authority, they could not actively support 
 it. The king had also destroyed the slight check of 
 jealousy which Frederic might have presented to 
 the encroaching influence of Russia, in displeasing 
 that monarch by proposals to Catharine to enter into 
 an alliance with Austria, Prussia's mortal enemy. 
 Stanislas Augustus did this from the views he had of 
 forming a matrimonial alliance with an archduchess. 
 Frederic discovered the plot, and exclaimed, with 
 a burst of rage, " I will break his head with his 
 crown I" 
 
 * Histoire de Pologne, vol. vi. 
 P 2 
 
174 HISTORY OF POLAND. 
 
 All parties regarded the approaching diet of 1766 
 as the crisis which was to determine their fate. The 
 dissidents looked forward to it for the restitution of 
 their privileges under the protection of Catharine. 
 Poland, formed by the junction of states professing 
 different religions, was naturally tolerant, but still the 
 Roman Catholic was predominant. The next power- 
 ful sect, the Greek church, was united to the papists 
 in the enjoyment of offices and privileges. Those 
 properly called dissidents, such as the Lutherans and 
 Calvinists, were chiefly of the lower orders in the 
 towns of Polish Prussia, and numbered but very few, 
 and those the poorer nobles, in their sect. The 
 Catholics have always been "exclusives;" and, as we 
 have already seen, on the accession of Augustus III. 
 they deprived the dissidents, that is, the few nobles 
 who still lingered in that sect, of all personal share 
 in the government. They had still the privileges of 
 holding military offices, and the right of election, but 
 could not be deputies themselves. At the same time, 
 when the diet decreed these disabilities, they declared 
 those dissidents guilty of high-treason who im- 
 plored the protection of foreign powers. These 
 Protestants had presented a petition to the diet of 
 election that they might be reinstated in their former 
 rights ; but the bigoted Catholics had treated the re- 
 quest with contempt, torn the paper in pieces, and even 
 deprived the dissidents of the right of holding offices.* 
 They renewed the application at the coronation-diet, 
 but with the same want of success. In imitation, 
 therefore, of the other party, they determined to 
 sacrifice the general good, which in fact was now 
 severed from theirs, to particular interest, and obtain 
 from Russian interference what their own nation 
 refused them. The battle of hostile creeds always 
 
 * We use nearly the same words as a Catholic historian. Even 
 he terms such outrageous zeal " fanaticism." See Rulhi^re, torn, ii 
 p. 318 and 270. 
 
RELIGIOUS PARTIES. 175 
 
 elicits the same bad passions ; bigotry, jealousy, and 
 revenge are ever the three furies, ready to kindle 
 the flame of religious discord. Catharine listened 
 to their memorial, and informed the Polish ambas- 
 sador that their demands must be granted, adding, 
 " I forewarn you if you do not yield to me what I 
 now request, my demands shall be without bounds."* 
 Repnin also presented a memorial to the diet, stating, 
 that " his mistress wished to re-establish the dissi- 
 dents, whether Greeks, Lutherans, or Calvinists, in 
 all their former privileges ; and that if she met with 
 any opposition which resisted persuasion, she should 
 be obliged to employ force, and that she was resolved 
 upon it." The following declarations sound strangely 
 in a Russian despot's mouth. " It would be shutting 
 one's eyes to proofs, not to admit, as a principle, that 
 the constant refusal to listen to their representations, 
 and to do justice to their grievances, must neces- 
 sarily produce the effect of freeing them from their 
 ties to an association in whose advantages they 
 would no longer participate ; and that, restored fully 
 to the condition of the community of freemen, they 
 will be authorized, without any law, divine or human, 
 forbidding such a step in their case, to choose among 
 their neighbours judges between them and their 
 equals, and to avail themselves of their alliance if 
 they cannot in, any other way defend themselves 
 from persecution."! The Russians, too, had suffi- 
 cient forces at hand to support their authority ; more 
 than 20,000 were still in Poland, and there were 
 40,000 on the frontiers. 
 
 Stanislas Augustus had further weakened his 
 authority by alienating from himself the support of 
 his uncles ; so that the deputies for the approaching 
 diet were divided into two separate parties. Eight 
 
 * An official defence of the cause of the dissidents was published at 
 Petersburg in Dec. 1766. See " Exposition des Droits des Dissidents." 
 
 t See " Exposition des Droits des Dissidents," to which this " Decla- 
 ration" is appended. 
 
176 HISTORY OF POLAND. 
 
 only were of neither faction, but conscientious pa 
 triots ; these were, Malacho wski, who has before come 
 under our eyes in such an honourable point of view 
 his'son, Count Wielhorski, Count Czazcki, and four 
 Prussian deputies. 
 
 In this dilemma the king found himself obliged to 
 conciliate his uncles, and the two parties were thus 
 united in determined opposition to all concession to 
 the dissidents. In pursuance of the advice of his 
 new counsellor, Stanislas Augustus convoked the 
 bishops, and other senators who might be expected 
 to be warmest against the Protestants, and nearly all 
 pledged their oaths to support him in his resistance. 
 Thus reassured, he told the Russian ambassador, 
 " that he was determined to defend his holy religion." 
 The diet opened on the 6th of October, and after 
 the pacta conventa were rea'd, according to custom, 
 before the united bodies of senators and deputies, 
 that they might protest against any infringement 
 which might have been made, Soltyk, the patriotic 
 bishop of Cracow, remarked that the first article was 
 concerning the defence of the established religion, 
 and he felt himself bound to complain of the dissi- 
 dents for having sought the aid of foreign powers, 
 contrary to the laws. He then moved that they 
 should never grant them any concessions, but con- 
 firm the penal statute. The Poles, who had been so 
 disunited in their country's cause, rose now with one 
 heart and voice at the call of intolerance, and the 
 diet re-echoed the sentiments of the bishop with a 
 general shout of acclamation. But Poniatowski's 
 courage began to fail at the thought of such open 
 defiance to Russia, and he deferred this subject for a 
 future day. This meeting, however, carried one 
 good resolution ; namely, that the elections in the 
 dietines should be decided by plurality of suffrages, 
 instead of unanimous acclamation, which had been 
 the cause of great confusion and delay. 
 The Russian ambassador, in the niean time, wag 
 
VIOIENCE OF CATHARINE. 177 
 
 making a counterplot. He now addressed himself 
 to the constitutionalists, and all the former oppo- 
 nents of Poniatowski. He told them that now was 
 the time to escape from the yoke that had been 
 forced on them. The Radziwillians and the par- 
 tisans of Saxony also listened to his temptations. 
 One of Russia's most active agents was Podoski, a 
 man admirably suited to carry on such an intrigue. 
 Although an ecclesiastic, and educated for the church 
 from his infancy, he appeared at Warsaw as an ad- 
 vocate of the dissidents. The reason of this seem- 
 ing anomaly was a passion he had long felt for a 
 Lutheran widow. The most upright patriots fell 
 into his snares ; to all remonstrances from the court 
 party they answered, that their object was to recover 
 tiieir lost liberty, and overthrow a hated dynasty, 
 and that it was allowable to make even Russians 
 eonduce to this end. 
 
 The king still further thinned the ranks of his par- 
 tisans by attempting to carry a law to make all 
 motions in the diet concerning the military forces 
 and taxes carried by a plurality instead of a una- 
 nimity of votes. He expected that this would enable 
 him to obtain some power over the diet, since he 
 could ensure a majority although he could not stop 
 every patriot's mouth. This attempted innovation, 
 however salutary it might have eventually proved, 
 alarmed the deputies, and they received the proposal 
 with shouts of indignation. Many of those who 
 had been most devoted to the king but a few mo- 
 ments before, now showed themselves his adversa- 
 ries, the more openly as they had to regain the con- 
 fidence of the new party they then adopted.* 
 
 Catharine only increased her demands in favour of 
 the dissidents, and 40,000 Russians entered Poland. 
 The dissidents confederated at Thorn, on the 20th 
 of March, 1767 ; but notwithstanding old men and 
 
 * Rulhidie. 
 
178 HISTORY OF POLAND. 
 
 even children were pressed into the service, the list 
 of confederates contained the names of only 573 
 gentlemen of the Lutheran or Calvinistic profession; 
 artisans and peasants composed the majority.* This 
 was the party which the Russians represented as a 
 great portion of the nation, and which the Poles 
 magnified into an enemy so formidable as to require 
 such determined resistance. But still the malecon- 
 tents would not make common cause with these 
 dissidents, although they disowned all allegiance to 
 the king. 
 
 Repnin's agent, Podoski, however, planned a con- 
 federation of the constitutionalists. He held out to 
 them the hope of crushing the Czartoryskis, pre- 
 serving the constitution from the encroachments of 
 Poniatowski, and promised in Repnin's name that 
 he should be deposed. All the old patriots rallied 
 at the promise, and more than 60,000 nobles signed 
 their names to the confederacy. They were in sus- 
 pense on whom to confer the office of marshal ; but 
 Catharine anticipated their wishes, and ordered them 
 to choose the patriot prince Radziwill, whom they 
 accordingly sent for. He reached Wilna the capital 
 of his province on the 3d of June, and was reinstated 
 in all his former authority and possessions. The 
 marshals of 178 particular confederations met at 
 Radom, a town fifteen miles from Warsaw. 
 
 Repnin showed the king the list of confederates, 
 
 * This is the number stated by Rulhiere, but the printed list of con- 
 federates contains only 304. 
 
 The following are the grievances complained of in the act of confede- 
 ration : prohibition of public worship, exclusion from offices, corporations, 
 and incapacity of being witnesses in law-cc arts, &c. 
 
 A deputy duly elected, named Pietrowski, was expelled disgracefully 
 from the diet of 1718, only for being a dissident. Many were accused 
 of blasphemy, their property was confiscated, and they were obliged to 
 escape from the kingdom. One of them, of the name of Unruk, having 
 accidentally lost his portfolio containing religious extracts from differ- 
 ent authors, was accused of blasphemy, and sentenced to lose his head 
 The tragedy at Thorn was too bloody' to have been forgotten. The act 
 concludes by calling for the protection of Russia, Sweden, Great Britain 
 Denmark, and Prussia. Goltz. Staro$ta of Tuchel Marshal, 
 
RUSSIAN PERFIDY. 179 
 
 and said to him, exultingly, " You see I am your 
 master ; you can retain your crown only by submis- 
 sion." The king now began to make some conces- 
 sions, and the Russian was less decided about his 
 dethronement. 
 
 The confederates were now made to feel their 
 folly in trusting to Russian faith. A detachment of 
 Catharine's troops encamped near Radom, and a 
 Russian colonel, who accompanied Radziwill, being 
 desired to withdraw, produced an order from his 
 ambassador to be present at all deliberations of the 
 confederates. He also pulled out a list of conditions, 
 which the empress required to be unanimously agreed 
 to. They were surprised to find, that besides en- 
 suring the privileges of the dissidents, they required 
 Erotestations of fidelity to the king, and an aeknow- 
 jdgrnent of Catharine's right of interference. The 
 high and threatening tone of the colonel immediately 
 disclosed to them the snare they had been decoyed 
 into, and they wished to abjure the confederacy and 
 disperse. Six marshals only, put of 178, were will- 
 ing to submit, and the Russian, under pretext of 
 giving them guards of honour, kept them in custody 
 till he could receive further instructions from Rep- 
 nin. The next day he drew up a battery in front 
 of the town-hall, where the Polish nobles were 
 assembled, and while his men stood to their guns, 
 with lighted matches, he ordered the marshals to 
 sign the manifesto. Podoski, who had just arrived 
 from Warsaw, where Repnin had ensured him the 
 archiepiscopal see, which was then vacated, was the 
 first to sign. The marshals then affixed their names 
 also, but with written reservations, which, in fact, 
 annulled the meaning. Radziwill was declared 
 marshal, and the confederates, entirely at the mercy 
 of the Russians, remained in suspense to see the 
 result. 
 
 The king's resolution entirely forsook him, and 
 he submitted to Repnin at discretion. All parties 
 
180* HISTORY OF POLAND. 
 
 were now in Russia's power; Radziwill was kept 
 guarded, and the ambassador was sole despot. He 
 overruled the dietines in the election of deputies for 
 a diet, and obliged most of them to sign a paper 
 drawn up in these words ; " I subscribe and .pledge 
 myself to Prince Repnin, ambassador plenipotentiary 
 of her majesty the empress of all the Russias ; and 
 promise him that I will have no connexion or corres- 
 pondence, that I will not even converse with any 
 senator, minister, or deputy, with any ambassador 
 or other foreign minister, or with any one whatever 
 whose sentiments are contrary to the projects pro 
 posed by the said ambassador, to be received and 
 passed into a law in the diet ; moreover, I promise 
 him that I will not introduce to the diet any thing 
 of all that has been enjoined and recommended in 
 my instructions from the nobles of my district ; and 
 that, in a word, I will not oppose in any way the will- 
 of this ambassador; and in case of infraction of 
 this engagement, I submit myself to the penalty of 
 degradation of rank, confiscation of property, death, 
 or any such like punishment it may please the said 
 ambassador to inflict." Let this speak for itself. 
 
 The diet was opened on the 5th of October, 1767; 
 and Repnin, having some few days before assured the 
 bishops and those from whom he expected the great- 
 est resistance, "that whosoever persisted in his 
 obstinacy should repent it," expected implicit obe- 
 dience. The first proposal was to establish a legisla- 
 tive commission, which would be entirely under the 
 control of Russia. Some few patriots yet raised 
 their voices against the gross oppression ; the bishop 
 of Cracow was among the foremost, and his exam- 
 ple animated others. But Russian despotism is not 
 accustomed to bear such opposition with impunity ; 
 and the ambassador determined to arrest the prin- 
 cipal ringleaders of this patriotic sedition, and sent 
 them to Siberia. These were the bishop of Cracow, 
 the bishop of Kiow, the palatine of Cracow r and his 
 
PERSECUTION OF THE PATRIOTS. 181 
 
 son* The king, who could not forgive the recent 
 opposition he had experienced, even urged Repnin to 
 take this villanous step, particularly as it included 
 the bishop of Cracow. On the 13th of October, 
 while Soltyk, the bishop of Cracow, was supping 
 with his friend, the marshal of the court, the Russian 
 soldiers invested the house, and entered by three dif 
 ferent ways. There was, however, still one unob- 
 served passage by which he could escape and take 
 refuge with the Prussian ambassador. This he dis- 
 dained to do ; and when the soldiers broke into the 
 room where he was, he rose, and approaching the 
 fireplace, threw into the flames the papers contain- 
 ing the secret plans of the patriots, which he always 
 carried on his person. Then turning to the officer, 
 he said to him, " Do you know me ? Do you know 
 that I am a sovereign prince,* a senator, and a priest ? 
 The Russian answered, his orders were to arrest 
 him ; and Soltyk followed him without the slightest 
 emotion. 
 
 On the same night the other marked patriots 
 shared the same fate. The venerable Zaluski, bishop 
 of Kiow, was the restorer of learning in Poland, and 
 had devoted an immense fortune, besides his reve- 
 nue, to that purpose. By his own exertions he had 
 formed a library of 200,000 volumes, and presented 
 it to the public ; but these services did not shield him 
 from the despotism of Russia, and he was arrested 
 with his brother patriots. They were conducted by 
 a military guard with the greatest rigour and bar- 
 barity towards the frontier, nor were they allowed 
 even the liberty of speaking. Catharine offered 
 them their liberty if they would promise to desist 
 from their opposition ; this proposal was made to 
 each separately in their dungeons, but rejected with 
 disdain by every one. They were then transferred 
 to Siberia, and the empress, wishing to erase even 
 
 * He was sovereign duke of Sevens. 
 
 Q 
 
183 HISTORY OF POLAND. 
 
 the memory of such patriotism, forbade all mention 
 even of their names. 
 
 This scandalous violation of all national and indi- 
 vidual right made a great sensation among the Poles, 
 and the senate and deputies went in a body to the 
 king to protest against it. They found this effigy of 
 royalty seated quietly in his study, and amusing 
 himself with sketching designs of pageants for the 
 anniversary of his coronation. The only redress 
 they could obtain from him was a message to the 
 ambassador demanding an explanation of the late 
 proceeding. Repnin answered that he was respon- 
 sible only to his mistress ; but that the prisoners had 
 been guilty of disrespect to the empress, had en- 
 deavoured to attach suspicion to her intentions, and 
 that they should not be set at liberty until the busi- 
 ness of the diet was entirely settled. He also 
 threatened to give the city up to pillage, if any fur- 
 ther opposition was made to the proposal of a legis- 
 lative commission, and that he would bring all male- 
 contents to the scaffold. 
 
 At the next assembly of the confederated diet, 
 Radziwill, as marshal of the confederacy, demanded 
 if they agreed to the motion. Six voices only an- 
 swered the first inquiry, three the second, and the 
 third produced but one assent. Sixty commission- 
 ers, however, were appointed from the senate and 
 deputies, with sovereign authority to decree what- 
 ever regulations seemed fit with regard to the re- 
 ligion, the laws, government, frontiers, and privi- 
 leges of the nation. Their resolutions, propo* 
 the Russians, were to be brought before a reg; 
 diet, who were to have only the right of ratir/mg 
 them without any discussion. None of these com- 
 missioners were to absent themselves without per- 
 mission from Repnin ; fourteen of them were a suf- 
 ficient number to act ; and thus a majority of eight 
 persons had it in their power to decide the fate of 
 the constitution. 
 
NEW CONSTITUTION. 183 
 
 Repnin was now uncontrolled dictator; he had 
 the disposal of all offices; Poniatowski submitted 
 quietly to his orders, and amused himself with wit- 
 nessing the reviews and evolutions of the Russian 
 troops a worthy employment for such a king. He 
 strove to win Repnin's favour by outdoing even his 
 former agents in servile submission. 
 
 The conferences of the commissioners were held 
 alternately at the ambassador's and the prima^'s 
 houses. The affair of the dissidents was the first 
 that was laid before them, and eight deputies of that 
 sect were present as its advocates. The ministers 
 of the foreign Protestant courts, England, Prussia, 
 Sweden, and Denmark, were also admitted, to add 
 weight to the cause. Repnin even here played the 
 dictator, and checked all freedom of discussion. 
 This business was concluded on the 19th of Novem- 
 ber ; the dissident nobility were then admitted to the 
 same privileges as the Catholics, excepting that they 
 were not eligible to the crown. 
 
 The commission next proceeded to the reform of 
 the constitution. The liberum veto was re-estab- 
 lished in all its absurd extent, and Poland was thus 
 continued in its primitive impotence, incapable of 
 aggregate exertion, and consequently at the mercy 
 of its ambitious neighbour. Some few laudable re- 
 forms were mixed with these ; the serfs were some- 
 what emancipated, the nobles being deprived of the 
 right of life and death over them ; and pecuniary 
 compositions for crime, which still disgraced Poland, 
 
 re now abolished. 
 
 The diet was then convened to ratify this new 
 constitution. It was the most scanty assembly ever 
 known ; most of the senators were absent, and not a 
 single Lithuanian deputy made his appearance. But 
 even this small body was not unanimous in submis- 
 sion to Russian despotism, one of the Prussian 
 deputies protested against the forced diet and ab- 
 sconded. The diet was then virtually dissolved; 
 
184 HISTORY OF POLAND. 
 
 but although the Russians had themselves enacted 
 the law of unanimity, they obliged the meeting to 
 continue their session, and give their sanction to the 
 new laws. The diet was dissolved on the 5th of 
 March, and the confederation of Radom broken^up. 
 
 But the spirit of Polish independence was not en- 
 tirely annihilated ; while the Russians were lording 
 ,t so despotically at Warsaw, patriotic confederacies 
 were secretly forming, and at the very time when the 
 diet broke up, rumours reached Repnin's ear that 
 they were already matured. The bishop of Kamie- 
 niec, Krasinski,had entered into the spirit which ac- 
 tuated Soltyk in opposing the Russian subjugation, 
 but habit and character made him adopt more wary 
 expedients. He had been long known as an upright 
 member of society, but had been always considered 
 timid and undetermined. Constitutional weakness 
 made him shudder at the report of a gun, and faint 
 at the sight of a drawn sword; but a courageous 
 spirit tenanted this feeble body, and even when his 
 nerves trembled with fear, his mind laughed at the 
 weakness, and remained undaunted. This tempera- 
 ment, however, made him always prefer the long 
 course of wary perseverance which requires strength 
 and determination of mind, to the dashing style of ac* 
 tion which demands animal spirit and strong nerves. 
 
 While the bishop of Cracow was declaiming in the 
 diet, he was negotiating with Turkey for aid against 
 Russia. He obtained a promise of support from the 
 sultan, provided Austria would remain neuter, and 
 his next object was to ensure this proviso. But 
 cautious as he was, his known connexion with Sol- 
 tyk rendered him an object of Repnin's suspicion, 
 and he would have been arrested at the same time as 
 the other patriots had he not eloped. In the disguise 
 of a physician he eluded the strictest vigilance, and 
 was even called on to prescribe for one of the officers 
 who was pursuing him. On another occasion, when 
 in imminent danger of being discovered, he escaped, 
 
PATRIOTIC CONFEDERACIES. 185 
 
 concealed in an old chest, which served as a seat in 
 a peasant's sledge. When he had arrived in a place 
 of safety, where several of his attendants had orders 
 to await him, he assumed the Prussian uniform, as 
 well as the rest of his little troop; and in this disguise 
 passed several Russian detachments, and even ap- 
 proached Warsaw, where, having made some com- 
 munication with his party, he set out for Silesia on 
 his route to Vienna to obtain the promise of neu- 
 trality. 
 
 But all the bishop's wary designs were frustrated 
 by the impatience of one of his partisans : Joseph 
 Pulawski, starosta of Warka, had been an emissary 
 between the bishops of Kamieniec and Cracow, and 
 entered eagerly into their projects. He had long 
 followed the profession of the law, and was chosen 
 for one of the counsellors of the confederation of 
 Radom. Repnin had a contemptible opinion of him, 
 and made no demur at the choice ; but the bishop of 
 Cracow read his character better, took him into his 
 confidence, and lodged him in his palace. From 
 this moment he incurred the suspicion of Repnin, 
 who, one day, even threatened to strike him, be- 
 cause he put on his cap in his presence, though he 
 had done the same. This personal insult added 
 fresh fuel to Pulawski's patriotic fire, and made him 
 impatient to revenge himself on the enemies of him- 
 self, as well as his country. The bishop of Kamie- 
 niec was so much too tardy for him, that he resolved 
 to act for himself, and communicated his design to 
 several of the nobles at Warsaw, from some of 
 whom he obtained money, and from others orders 
 for their domestic troops. Michael Krasinski, the 
 bishop's brother, entered promptly into his schemes, 
 and these two left Warsaw to traverse the country 
 and raise confederates. 
 
 Pulawski was accompanied by three sons and his 
 nephew. Notwithstanding their youth, he took 
 them to one of his estates near Warsaw, communi- 
 Q2 
 

 186 HISTORY OF POLAND. 
 
 eated his designs, and employed them as agents. 
 Leopol, the capital of Polish Russia, was the first 
 place proposed for a rendezvous ; but finding them- 
 selves too narrowly watched there, they fixed on 
 Bar, a little town in the palatinate of Podolia, five 
 leagues from Kamieniec, and seven from the Turkish 
 frontier. Eight gentlemen only formed the first 
 assembly of the confederacy. Pulawski, his four 
 relatives, Count Krasinski, and two other nobles, but 
 more than three hundred had pledged their word. 
 The 29th of February, 1768, was the memorable day 
 which dates the commencement of this famous con- 
 federation. Their first step was to sign an act by 
 which they renewed the confederation of Radom 
 under the Marshal Radziwill. Their manifesto was 
 a protest against the imposition of the Russian 
 yoke.* 
 
 In a very short time the confederates mustered 
 8000 men ; they sent deputies to Turkey, Saxony, 
 and Tartary, and now openly invited all to join them. 
 But they found that they had reason to apprehend 
 that they were premature ; the whole country was 
 occupied by the enemy, and most of the nobles were 
 without arms. When the bishop of Kamieniec was 
 informed of the confederation, he was so enraged at 
 their rash impetuosity, that for a moment he wa- 
 vered whether he should discountenance them ; but 
 patriotism was predominant in his mind, and he 
 hastened to Dresden, Vienna, and Versailles to sue 
 for support. 
 
 Repnin was violently provoked at the proceedings 
 of the patriots, and perhaps more so by a personal 
 attack in their manifesto. He threatened to mas- 
 sacre them all without delay, but he was not bold 
 enough to issue the order ; the Turks reminded him 
 of his engagement to withdraw his troops, and he 
 was obliged to devise some semblance of a just pre- 
 
 *See Appendix. 
 
CONFEDERATES DECLARED REBELS. 187 
 
 text for their retention. The king, afraid of his 
 subjects, readily countenanced this design, and a 
 small number of servile senators requested the Rus- 
 sians' protection against the rebels, as they termed 
 them. The Russian troops, therefore, were set in 
 motion against the confederates, and intercepted all 
 their communications with Poland. Several skir- 
 mishes took place, always to the advantage of the 
 patriots ; Pulawski assembled his soldiers, and fur- 
 ther animated them with harangues. 
 
 The senate, in the mean time, tried what could be 
 done by negotiation, and Mokranowski was ap- 
 pointed emissary to the confederates. This patriot 
 himself mistrusted the confederation, and feared it 
 was but a badly concerted and useless rebellion. 
 He, however, freely accepted the commission, wish- 
 ing to ascertain the state of affairs with his own 
 eyes, and trusting, that if he found them strong 
 enough to deliver their country, he should be able to 
 draw the king into the design ; and if not, that he 
 could save them from massacre by negotiation. 
 The king even assured him that none could be more 
 ready than himself to throw off the Russian yoke. 
 Before his departure, Mokranowski obtained from 
 the senate written credentials, in which the patriots 
 were recognised as a confederation, and thus shielded 
 from the consequences of illegal rebellion. 
 
 Repnin in the interim had received his orders 
 from Russia. Catharine declared the confederates 
 rebels and enemies to their country and king, and 
 that she would lay waste the whole kingdom unless 
 he united his troops with hers. Notwithstanding an 
 armistice had been declared during the conference, 
 the Russians marched seven regular regiments, and 
 5000 Cossacks, towards Bar, burning, pillaging, and 
 murdering through the whole course of their route, 
 and attacked small parties of the confederates by 
 surprise. Pulawski was, told that his three sons had 
 perished in these skirmishes ; his answer was, " I 
 
188 HISTORY OF POLAND. 
 
 am sure they have done their duty." But, on the 
 contrary, young Casimir Pulawski was still living, 
 and had repulsed the Russians three different times, 
 with the determination and experience of a veteran, 
 although he was but twenty-one years of age. < 
 
 Mokranowski was thus made the apparent instru- 
 ment of a perfidy ; but such was the uprightness of 
 his character, that even the victims themselves ex- 
 onerated him from all suspicion of connivance in the 
 villany. He returned to Warsaw and told the king, 
 " Sire, either they deceive you, or you have deceived 
 me. Be the case which it may, I cannot serve you 
 any longer." He left Poland for France, and en- 
 deavoured to obtain the support of the French court 
 in favour of his unfortunate countrymen. 
 
 Notwithstanding the threats of Russia, fresh con- 
 federations were daily forming. Count Joachim Po- 
 locki was at the head of a party of patriots in Gal- 
 licia, and others were only waiting for an opportu- 
 nity to aid him in all parts of the kingdom. The 
 Russians were the objects of almost universal de- 
 testation; Repnin was execrated, and a plan was 
 formed, even under the secret sanction of the king, 
 to seize him. The daring individual who undertook 
 this hazardous scheme was Dzirzanowski, one of the 
 chamberlains. Fortune -had thrown him into the 
 strangest vicissitudes of life ; he had fought in the 
 French armies in the East Indies, and organized the 
 sepoys in the European manner ; chance then took 
 him to America, Portugal, and Spain, and at last he 
 found himself in Poniatowski's palace, where his 
 vivacity and anecdote made him a great favourite 
 of the king ; but a violent love for his country still 
 formed one of the ingredients of his anomalous 
 character, and he advocated the patriotic cause wiljh- 
 out much disguise. His attempt miscarried, and 
 flight alone saved him. The discovery only served 
 to irritate Repnin and increase his activity against 
 the confederates. Polocki's little army was obliged 
 
SIEGE OF BAR BALTA. 189 
 
 to take refuge in Turkey, and the Russians prepared 
 to exterminate the confederation of Bar. The Cos- 
 sacks of the Ukraine took advantage of the Polish 
 troubles, and committed the most barbarous atroci- 
 ties under the Russian direction. 
 
 While Pulawski was absent from Bar, and at- 
 tempting to rally Polocki's routed army, the Rus- 
 sians, conjointly with the king's troops, attacked the 
 town. The fortifications were very trifling; a few 
 embankments of earth, a dry ditch, and palisades. 
 For a time the confederates made a stubborn resist- 
 ance : a monk, named Mark, animated with fanati- 
 cism, exhorted them, and reminded them that they 
 were fighting for their religion. He mounted the 
 ramparts at the very moment when the Russians 
 were about to fire their first gun, and made a sign of 
 the cross. The cannon burst, an accident which 
 was then very common from the badness of the 
 Russian artillery. The besieged cried out that it 
 was a miracle, and imagined that the hand of God 
 was stretched forth in their defence. But dissen- 
 sions among the confederates counteracted the good 
 effects of this enthusiasm ; in a few days the town 
 was taken by assault, and 1200 prisoners were car- 
 ried in chains to Russia. 
 
 New confederations were formed in Lithuania, at 
 Lokroczim near Warsaw, and at Cracow. The lat- 
 ter place became, from its situation, the rallying 
 point of the patriots, and resisted the enemies' at- 
 tacks six weeks. But an event happened about this 
 time, more serviceable to the cause than all these 
 feeble and partial efforts. On the frontiers of Podo- 
 ia there stands the little town of Balta, within the 
 Turkish limits, and separated from Poland only by 
 a rivulet. The Tartar governor, Jakoubaga, an in- 
 veterate enemy of Russia, had long sought an occa- 
 sion to embroil that country in a war with Turkey. 
 By the persuasion of the French ambassador, he 
 urged a small remnant of the scattered confederates 
 
190 HISTORY OF POLAND. 
 
 to attack the Russians, and decoy them into the 
 Turkish territory. The enemy pursued them to 
 Balta, took the town, and slaughtered a considerable 
 number of Mussulmans : the place was fired, as sup- 
 posed, by the Tartar himself; and the Russians, 
 thinking the confederation was entirely quelled, 
 withdrew. Jakoubaga sent information of the affair 
 to Constantinople, and the grand vizier summoned 
 the Russian ambassador to an audience. In the 
 winter of 1768 the Turks and Tartars entered New 
 Servia, a province which the Russians had unjustly 
 seized, and took back 35,000 prisoners. 
 
 This news revived the spirits of the confederates. 
 Pulawski returned from his refuge in Moldavia, but 
 trusting imprudently to a Tartar governor, he was 
 arrested. Confederations were daily forming in 
 Lithuania, under Radziwill, Count Pa, and others. 
 There were also other spectators interested in the 
 approaching contest between Russia and Turkey: 
 Austria and Prussia kept each other in check, each 
 with 200,000 men in marching order, and waited for 
 the result. 
 
 The opening of the campaign in 1769 was inaus- 
 picious: the Russians entered Moldavia, drove the 
 Turks before them, and took Chocim. This, how- 
 ever, was but a temporary success, and their retreat 
 was as rapid as their inroad had been impetuous. 
 The skirmishing recommenced with the confederates, 
 but without any advantage. Of all the family of 
 Pulawski Casimir alone survived, and he saved him- 
 self by a retreat to Hungary, with an escort of only 
 ten men. 
 
 Three hundred thousand troops, the main body of 
 the Turkish army, entered Moldavia, in the direction 
 of Poland. The Poles dreaded the Turks for visiters 
 as much as they did the Russians ; and the bishop 
 of Kamieniec wrote from his retreat at Tesohen, in 
 Austrian Silesia, which was now the head-quarters 
 of the confederates, to Count Polocki, that " to bring 
 
TURKISH POLICY. 191 
 
 in the Turks to drive away the Russians, was like 
 setting fire to a house to drive away vermin." 
 Polocki went himself to the Turkish camp to endeav- 
 our to direct their operations against the Russian 
 frontier. The grand vizier, who commanded the 
 army, was named Mahomet Emin ; he had raised 
 himself from the station of a wandering silk mer- 
 chant to his present lofty office ; but his talents had 
 not been directed to the study of war, for this was 
 the first military expedition he had ever been en- 
 gaged in. He expressed an animosity against 
 Poland as decided as Russia ; and his policy was to 
 ruin it irrevocably, " to make a desert there, that it 
 might be no more a subject for ambition, jealousy, or 
 war ; that the system of protecting Poland, and en- 
 tering into an alliance with her, for the object of 
 using it as a rampart against the Russians, might be 
 good for the Christian courts, which, by unstable 
 alliances which they make and unmake at will, 
 change and rechange the face of all Europe. It 
 pleases them; but such a plan could never enter 
 among the counsels of an empire which makes its 
 operations depend only on its will and power, and 
 whose policy has always been to surround itself on alt 
 sides with deserts." 
 
 Such a man did not bid fair to be a very favour- 
 able auditor, and when Polocki represented that the 
 confederates flattered themselves, " that in this un- 
 toward conjuncture Poland would meet with the 
 same aid that the Porte had granted her in so many 
 instances, and that the arms of the Turks would 
 assist her to recover her liberty;" Mahomet re- 
 joined, " He thinks we are not acquainted with our 
 history. Teach him that the Porte has never sup- 
 ported infidels, and that it remembers how often it 
 has had reason to complain of the Poles. He imagines 
 that he is treating here with a Christian power, accus- 
 tomed to sport with truth and falsehood. Do you 
 know," added he, turning to his officers, "what these 
 people call their liberty ? It is the urht of living with* 
 
192 HISTORY OF POLAND. 
 
 out laws." When his wrath had effervesced, the cham 
 of the Tartars added his influence to that of Polocki ; 
 and it was agreed that a detachment of Turks and 
 Tartars, under the command of the cham, should 
 march towards the Dnieper, and at the same f time 
 the confederate's, with an auxiliary army, should 
 proceed to the deliverance of their country, while 
 the grand vizier, with the main body, should advance 
 as far as Bender, to watch the issue of the enemy's 
 design. 
 
 Peremptory orders in the mean time reached the 
 Russian army, to take Chocim, on the Dniester. 
 The confederates and their Turkish detachment had 
 the same destination, and thus the two armies daily 
 approached each other, although such was their want 
 of precaution and intelligence, that neither was 
 aware of it until close at hand. A rencounter took 
 place ; but the Turks fled precipitately at the first 
 discharge of artillery. They were mostly raw sol- 
 diers, and were so startled at the enemy's facility in 
 managing their great guns, that they imputed it to 
 magic; and one of the pachas, who was taken 
 prisoner, requested to see " those enchanted cannon, 
 which were moved," said he, " by a word, and fired 
 more than a hundred times without being reloaded." 
 Fifteen thousand of the fugitives threw themselves 
 into Chocim, where they were joined by the confede- 
 rates under Polocki. 
 
 The Russians invested the town on the 14th of 
 July, and turned the siege into a blockade ; but the 
 courage and prudence of Polocki made it hold out 
 three weeks, at the expiration of which time the 
 siege was raised by a Turkish pacha, Moldavangi, at 
 the head of 4000 men, and the cham soon arrived, 
 having made a countermarch on receiving news of 
 the Russian inroad. The enemy repassed the Dnies- 
 ter in the night, and cut down the bridges. At 
 this very time the vizier lost his head, and the Pacha 
 Moldavangi was elevated to his important office. 
 He constructed a temporary bridge, and before cross- 
 
DEFEAT OF THE TURKS. 193 
 
 ing it, published a manifesto of a very different spirit 
 from what might have been expected from his pre- 
 decessor, and which completely reconciled the Poles 
 to the Turks' entrance into their country. On the 
 16th of September the Turks passed the river to the 
 number of 60,000, and attacked the Russians with 
 some advantage. But a rumour had for some days 
 prevailed in the Turkish army that the bridge was 
 endangered by the rapid current of the river, swollen 
 by continual rains: a panic struck them, when they 
 looked back for a moment, at the sight of the unsafe 
 but only means of retreat ; the battle was at an end, 
 and they rushed in an immense mass towards the 
 tottering bridge ; the weight of the cannon was too 
 much for the temporary structure, the rafts gave 
 way, and left 6000 or 7000 men on the side nearest 
 to the enemy. These were mostly cut to pieces ; 
 sedition and discontent sprung up in the Turkish 
 army, and one general rout ensued ; Chocim was 
 deserted, and the road into Moldavia was open to the 
 Russians. 
 
 Thus were the fond hopes of the confederates 
 again blighted. During the successes of the Turks 
 the confederation had become nearly general, and one 
 decisive victory only Avas wanting to arm all Poland. 
 Still, however, a small party held up their heads, and 
 "hoped even against hope." In the beginning of 
 November the marshals and deputies of the district 
 confederacies met at Biala, or Bilitz, a town on the 
 frontiers of Silesia, half of which is in Poland and 
 half in Silesia, and proclaimed Count Krasinski 
 marshal-general of the kingdom, and Count Polocki 
 commander-in-chief of the forces. Count Pag was 
 appointed locum tenens, in the absence of these two* 
 
 The king still remained a mere cipher ; he had 
 7000 troops, but they acted only as his own guards. 
 His former tyrant and keeper, Repnin, was recalled ; 
 but his policy still continued his influence, and the 
 only liberty which the court party could obtain, at 
 R 
 
194 HISTORY OF POLAND. 
 
 spirit, 
 tween 
 
 the expense of an extraordinary display of 
 was to remain neuter, and watch the struggle bet' 
 the Russian oppressors and the Turkish champions 
 of their country. 
 
 The winter drove the Russians back to Poland ; 
 and, wearied with their campaign, they seemed to 
 relax from their former vigilance and cruelty to the 
 confederates. The Russian ambassador, Volkonski, 
 who had succeeded Repnin, was a shade or too less 
 bloody ; old age had somewhat blunted his tyrannical 
 spirit, and he sat down, contented for the present 
 with cutting off the confederates' communication 
 with their council at Bilitz. The state of the patriots, 
 so long accustomed to skirmishing warfare, may be 
 readily imagined. Hunted like wild beasts, many 
 were almost become so; persecuted like outlaws, 
 some began to think legal ties were no longer bind- 
 ing; the confederate soldiery "wandered without 
 plan, without restraint, without discipline ; issuing 
 from the depths of woods to seize their subsistence 
 in the villages with armed force ; without ammuni- 
 tion, and obliged even to steal lead from the churches 
 to make balls."* 
 
 Finding that their retreat at Bilitz was not so safe 
 from the Russians as they could wish, and that the 
 communication with Poland was restricted, the con- 
 federates removed their council to Eperies, in Hun- 
 gary, and troops of patriot soldiers occupied the 
 passes of the Carpathian mountains. They were 
 visited here by the emperor Joseph II., who held 
 some conversation with Count Pa9 and other chiefs; 
 and Pag, seized the moment to request an audience 
 for the next day, which was granted. The confer- 
 ence, however, was fruitless. In the month of 
 February, 17*70, the confederates made an attack on 
 Petrickau, a town forty leagues from Warsaw, and 
 even approached the capital, but were obliged to 
 
 * Rulhtere. 
 
PLAN OF THE RUSSIAN CAMPAIGN. 195 
 
 disperse. A continued series Of skirmishes then 
 ensued among the Carpathian mountains, where the 
 patriots took refuge. All this, however, was merely 
 the ebullition of the spirit which was working un- 
 seen in Poland, and which only waited for a single 
 favourable opportunity to burst forth; The little 
 council of Eperies sat watching, impatiently, the 
 progress of spring to hear the signal for the renewal 
 of hostilities between Russia and Turkey, trusting, 
 that in the struggle some fortunate crisis, of which 
 they might take advantage, would present itself. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 Grand Plan of the Russian Campaign in 1770 Insurrection of Greece- - 
 Elphinston sails into the Dardanelles Russian Fleet in the Levant 
 Defeat of the Turks by Land State of the Confederates French 
 Agents, M. de Taules, Dumourier, and Viomenil Valiant Defence of 
 Czenstochowa Viom^nil's Account of the Confederates Saldern, and 
 Russian Cruelties The Austrians seize Zips The Prussians enter 
 Poland Attempt to carry off Stanislas from Warsaw. Decline of the 
 Confederacy Treachery of Zaremba Treaty between Russia, Aus- 
 tria, and Prussia Dispersion of the Confederates. 
 
 THE Russian plan for the campaign of 1770 was 
 on a grand and almost romantic scale. Two armies 
 were to enter Turkey on the north, one by Moldavia, 
 the other by New Servia; two fleets were to set 
 sail, one to scour the Mediterranean, and the other 
 from the Black Sea; the Dardanelles were to be 
 forced, and all these armaments, military and naval, 
 meeting from the north, east, south, and west, at 
 Constantinople, were to overthrow the throne of the 
 sultans. Another and a nobler scheme formed also 
 a part of the design ; Greece was to shake off her 
 chains and aid the destruction of her tyrants. 
 
 This project is ascribed to the gigantic genius of 
 Peter the Great ; and it must be confessed that its 
 
196 HISTORY OF POLAND. 
 
 marked features and character give it a very probable 
 affinity to the towering offspring of that great man's 
 mind.* In February, one Russian fleet under Admiral 
 Spiritoff was on the coasts of the Peloponnesus ; and 
 by the beginning of May another squadron reinforced 
 it. The latter was commanded by Elphinston, a 
 Scotchman, who staked his head to the empress 
 that he would force the Dardanelles. So confident 
 was he of success, that, during his stay in London, 
 where he put in on his passage, he freely stated 
 his plan to bombard Constantinople. "A naval 
 fight," said he, "will take place; we shall gain it 
 with God's good-will, and then we shall pass these 
 famous Dardanelles as easily as I drink this pot of 
 beer." The Peloponnesus, Thessaly, and the " Isles 
 of Greece" rose up in arms at the sight of the 
 Russian Ships. On the 5th of July the Russians 
 burnt the Turkish fleet of above twenty-five ships in 
 the straits of Scio, and Elphinston sailed to the 
 Dardanelles. The Russians, either through fear or 
 jealousy, refused to accompany him ; he sailed alone 
 into the midst of the channel, without firing a single 
 gun, cast anchor, ordered a flourish of trumpets and 
 drums, drank tea, and rejoined the fleet. But so 
 disgusted was he at his disappointment that he 
 left the service, and returned home. There is no 
 doubt that the Russians might have struck a decisive 
 blow, the Turks being almost entirely unprepared. 
 So chimerical did the project appear to the Turkish 
 minister when the French ambassador warned him 
 of it, that he took up a map, and pointing out Peters- 
 burg, said to him, " Show me how a fleet can sail 
 from there to here ! We have never had any Rus- 
 sians on the south ; we can only fear them on the 
 north." But such indecision and discord prevailed 
 in the Russian fleet, that they took up their winter- 
 quarters in the island of Paros without having struck 
 
 * The idea was not exclusively Peter's own, for Sobieski, inferior aa 
 his mind was to the czar's, had proposed this scheme to Leopold. 
 
PROSPECTS OF THE CONFEDERATES. 197 
 
 any effective blow. The seeds of liberty, however, 
 which were now sown in Greece were not " cast by 
 the road-side, but had taken root," and already borne 
 fruit. Thus was this year, which " paved the way 
 to villain bonds" for one nation, the first dawn of 
 liberty to another.* 
 
 The Russian armies had taken the field about the 
 end of June, and marched on their destined routes. 
 That which proceeded from New Servia invested 
 Bender on the Dniester. The other, consisting only 
 of 17,000, entered Moldavia, and encountered the 
 Turks on the banks of the Danube. The Moslem 
 troops amounted to 150,000; but notwithstanding 
 the immense disparity of numbers, victory declared 
 on the side of the Russians. On the 26th of Sep- 
 tember Bender was taken by assault; Ismail also 
 fell into the Russians' hands in October; and thus 
 the campaign again broke up unfavourably to 
 Turkey. 
 
 All this argued ill to the cause of the confederates ; 
 and to add to their alarm, an ominous amity seemed 
 to be springing up between Prussia and Austria. 
 Frederic and the Emperor Joseph had interviews, 
 both on the 25th of August, 1769, and again on the 
 3d of September, 1770. This latter conference would 
 have alarmed the patriots still more, had they known 
 that a messenger from Turkey was present at it, to 
 request the mediation of the two powers to effect a 
 peace with Russia. France was the only nation 
 which continued to uphold the confederates. The 
 consistent policy of the French minister, the Due de 
 Choiseul had armed the Turks in their cause, and 
 still continued covertly to lend them some feeble 
 aid. M. de Taulesf had been employed, towards the 
 
 * The interesting history of the Greek insurrection and the Russian 
 expedition is given in Rulhi^re's valuable work. Histoire de P Anarchic 
 de Pologne, vol. iii. p. 287. 
 
 t This gentleman is the author of a work on the Man in the Iron 
 Mask, in which he satisfactorily solves that historical riddle. 
 
 R2 
 
198 HISTORY OF POLAND. 
 
 latter part of 1768, to negotiate with the council, and 
 convey them a considerable sum of money; but 
 found their cause so hopeless that he returned as he 
 went. Ten or twelve French officers had been 
 enrolled among the confederates in the last' cam- 
 paign.* During the present year the French minister 
 allowed them a subsidy of 6000 ducats a month ; and 
 M. Durand, the resident agent at Vienna, had the 
 charge of transmitting it. M. Dumourier was com- 
 missioned, in July, by the government to confer and 
 act with the council. He reached Eperies in August, 
 and endeavoured to establish unanimity between the 
 confederates. Kis reports of their military strength 
 are contradictory, and in fact their forces were very 
 fluctuating ; but at this time they seem to have been 
 as follows, namely about 1500 men under Walewski, 
 the palatine of Sieradz, 1000 under another partisan, 
 and 4000 or 5000 more under Zaremba and Pulawski. 
 Zaremba was chosen marshal of Great Poland, into 
 which province he contrived to make frequent in- 
 cursions. 
 
 The council had formally proclaimed the throne 
 vacant ; and the act was registered in all the public 
 offices of Poland. Three confederates went to 
 Warsaw, entered the palace, and in observance of 
 the legal form, one of them presented to the king a 
 summons to appear before the council of the con- 
 federation. Poniatowski took the paper, thinking it 
 a petition ; and while he was casting his eyes over 
 
 * Among these was the Chevalier Thesby de Belcour, who has given 
 us a picture of the state of the patriots at that time. " Our marshals 
 were living on the worst terms with each other. I must do that justice 
 to the Poles which they deserve; they are brave and courageous $ but, 
 unfortunately, they depend too much on their valour ; they have neglected 
 to instruct themselves; and their neighbours, more enlightened and 
 better disciplined, have derived from their knowledge of the art of war 
 every possible advantage. The spirit of cabal and self-love, so out of 
 place, particularly in such circumstances, spoils all. The Poles had the 
 best opportunities to distinguish themselves. We may say the Poles 
 have destroyed themselves." See Memoire de M. Le Chevalier Thesby 
 de Belcour," Colonel au Service des Confederes de Pologne, p. 67 of 
 *' J ettres Particulieres du Baron de Viomenil, &c." 
 
TURKEY MAKES PEACE. 199 
 
 it, the three confederates, lost in the crowd, were 
 soon out of sight. 
 
 In the latter part of August, 1770, Pulawski came 
 down from the mountains and seized the fortified ab- 
 bey of Czenstokow, on the banks of the river Warta. 
 Four thousand Russians laid siege to it in Jan. 1771. 
 The patriots were so badly supplied with clothes, 
 that even at this season of the year the sentinels 
 were obliged to leave their dresses for those who 
 relieved guard ; and in case of an attack, many were 
 obliged to fight in their shirts. Every assault fur- 
 nished them with a new supply of dress, and by the 
 end of the siege all the garrison was dressed in Rus- 
 sian uniforms. The enemy were obliged to raise 
 the siege, leaving 1200 men dead. 
 
 The confederates were never more formidable 
 than in the winter of 1770 and the beginning of 1771. 
 They occupied all the advantageous posts, and were 
 abundantly supplied with ammunition and pro- 
 visions. 
 
 The year 1771 brought the patriots no brighter 
 prospects on the side of Turkey. The campaign 
 opened in April ; and the Russians being still victo- 
 rious, the Turks grew weary of a war which was 
 only a series of defeats and losses. Proposals of 
 peace were made formally by the 30th of May, and 
 the negotiation continued, under the mediation of 
 Austria and Prussia, till the next year. The naval 
 expedition effected nothing of consequence ; in fact 
 it served only to ruin the trade of the Levant, as well 
 that of the Christian nations as of the Turks. 
 
 In the beginning of 1771 the confederates under 
 Pulawski had about 5000 horse in the palatinate of 
 Cracow on the confines of Hungary ; 4000 horse un- 
 der Zaremba in Great Poland on the west of the 
 Warta ; 800 foot garrisoned in the abbey of Czen- 
 stokow, and other scattered troops not under subor- 
 dination. There were also nearly 3000 confederates 
 armed in Lithuania. Dumourier had introduced 
 
200 HISTORY OF POLAND. 
 
 stricter discipline among these troops, which ren- 
 dered them more formidable the present year than 
 when their numerical strength had been much 
 greater. This agent, however, was no longer acting 
 under the direction of the French minister, the" Due 
 de Choiseul having been superseded in December, 
 1770, by the Due d'Aiguillon ; and it was observed 
 that Dumourier began to stretch his brief authority, 
 and dictate to the council. Pulawski had been sur- 
 prised by the Russian general Suwarow, at the head 
 of more than 3000 men, and obliged to retreat ; and 
 Dumourier took on himself to pass on that distin- 
 guished patriot the censure of cowardice. But the 
 censor met with a reverse himself at Landscow* 
 immediately after. His own account of this affair, 
 which he gives in his Memoirs, shifts all the blame 
 on the Pole's shoulders,! and mentions his own share 
 of the transaction with much self-satisfaction. This 
 happened on the 22d of June, and from this time 
 Dumourier's ardour in the patriotic cause was en- 
 tirely extinguished. He represented the confederates 
 as unworthy of any protection, and advised a speedy 
 termination of the contest.J About this time the 
 Baron de Viomenil was deputed by the French 
 
 * Or Lanckrona, near Cracow. 
 
 t " II (Dumourier) veut se mettre a la tte des Lithuaniens d'Orsowsko, 
 avec le Prince Sapieha ; ces laches fuient, massacrent eux m6mes Sa- 
 pieha, jeune prince plein de courage. Orsowsko et quelques autres sont 
 tires. II court aux hussards de Schutz, qui au lieu de sabrer, font une 
 decharge des carabines et prennent la fuite, &c." Vie de Dumourier. 
 
 i " An end must absolutely be put to this war. The diversion of Po- 
 land occupies but very few Russians ; it enriches them, and gives them a 
 legitimate pretext to augment and strengthen their army at the ex- 
 pense of the country. The confederation has no military resources. 
 Nothing remains but the negotiation of the patriotic powers to save Po- 
 land from the slavery to which disgraceful manners, cowardice, insub- 
 ordination, disorder, and the incapability of its defenders are dragging 
 it." " botice sur le General Dumourier," prefixed to "Lettres particu- 
 lires du Baron de Viomenil." 
 
 This is the same Dumourier who was so notorious in the French 
 revolution, and who afterward recanted and came to England, when he 
 was taken into the minister's pay. He died near Henley in 1823. See 
 Ilia Life written by himself. 
 
RUSSIAN ATROCITIES. 201 
 
 minister to succeed Dumourier.* He says he found 
 " the troops ruined, undisciplined, and without any 
 consistency or order; the soldiers without pay, 
 almost naked, badly fed, badly armed, and still worse 
 trained. The troops of the confederation, which 
 amount to 6200 horse, and 1800 infantry, occupy in 
 the two Polands a line of 140 French leagues from 
 the frontiers of Hungary at Nowitarg, as far as the 
 Warta, a little beyond Posen. The Russians oppose 
 to these troops in these two provinces a force of 
 10,500 infantry and cavalry, and 5000 of the king's 
 troops ; there are about 3000 Russians in Lithuania, 
 and as many armed confederates."! 
 
 The Russian ambassador, this year, resident al 
 Warsaw, was Saldern ; a man whose character may 
 be summed up in the few words, that he was a 
 worthy successor of the preceding. He designated 
 the confederates " brigands and rascals," and ordered 
 the commanders not to treat them as prisoners of 
 war, but as criminals. 
 
 These orders were readily obeyed ; and, in fact, 
 the preceding campaign Lad been carried on too 
 much in this spirit. Belcour, the French officer be- 
 fore mentioned, tells us, that the Russians "plundered, 
 ravaged, and committed the most barbarous and 
 revolting atrocities ;" and that he himself saw 500 
 wagon-loads of booty carried off to Russia. Dre- 
 witz, a colonel in the Russian service, made himself 
 most notorious for cruelty to the confederates. He 
 used to enjoy sights of torment, like an Indian 
 savage. " He used to cause," says Belcour,t " the 
 hands of some, the feet, &c. of others, to be cut off, 
 and put into their mouths ; he used to order those 
 wnose figure did not please him to be cut in pieces : 
 all these brutalities were executed in his presence, 
 
 * He set out in August, 1771, with several French officers, to the aid 
 of the confederates, 
 t Lettres de Viomenil, let. i. J P. 83. 
 
202 HISTORY OF POLAND. 
 
 and he seemed to take delight in them."* This 
 fiend in human shape found too many imitators 
 among the Russian officers. Clemency is one of the 
 virtues which has always been banished by the me- 
 nials of despotic governments ; but it is pleasing to 
 find, that although the sufferings of slaves are known 
 not to awaken much fellow-feeling and sympathy 
 for others, the privates were much more merciful 
 than their leaders. One exception was found among 
 the horde of savages in Weymaon, the commander- 
 in-chief ; but the bloody Saldern contrived to have 
 him removed from his office. 
 
 The patriots were branded with opprobrious names 
 by more persons than Saldern. Poniatowski, abject 
 as he was, had flatterers, who couched their compli- 
 ments to him in invectives against his enemies. 
 " The kingdom," says Solignac, one of this train, 
 " was inundated with writings against Stanislas Au- 
 gustus ; and who were the authors of these libels, 
 which thus traduced -virtue? Brigands, stained with 
 blood, leagued with the enemies of the state." We 
 will let the confederates themselves protest against 
 this, in the following words : " To qualify with the 
 odious title of rebels the inhabitants who wish to 
 shake off the yoke of oppression ; to name those who 
 exert themselves to defend their laws and liberty, 
 disturbers of the public peace ; to treat as an inso- 
 lent mob an assembly composed of the most en- 
 lightened and respectable persons among the Poles ! 
 is this acting generously on the part of people 
 from whom we ought with justice to expect assist- 
 ance?" &c.f 
 
 " All hope," wrote Viomenil, at the latter part of 
 
 * The editor of this " M&noire" insinuates that this picture of bar- 
 barity is over-drawn by Belcour, whose spleen was affected by his being 
 made prisoner and sent to Siberia for two or three years ; he says, also, 
 that these cruelties were not sanctioned by the authorities. This, how- 
 ever, is incorrect. 
 
 t Manifesto du Comte Oginski, Grand-General de Lithuanie. Du 18 
 Sept. 1771, 
 
CONSPIRACY TO SEIZE THE KING. 24)3 
 
 the year 1771, " depends on the continuation of the 
 war between the Turks and Russians." As early as 
 1770, the Austrians had shown the confederates that 
 no protection was to be expected from that quarter ; 
 and an ominous seizure of the little starosty of Zips* 
 had called forth, even from Poniatowski, a letter of 
 protestation against the injustice. Maria Theresa 
 answered this very unsatisfactorily in January, 1771, 
 and the Austrians advanced, instead of withdrawing. 
 The Prussians, too, impatient to be let loose on this 
 devoted kingdom, made similar encroachments on 
 the north-west ; and, entering from Silesia, advanced 
 as far as Posen and Thorn. Four thousand Prus- 
 sian cavalry, under pretence of seeking horses, had 
 advanced to the Dniester, and taken up their quarters 
 on its banks. Such were the prospects of the Polish 
 patriots at the close of the year 1771. 
 
 An attempt to seize the king, which was made 
 about this time by some of the confederates, and 
 failed, brought much discredit on their cause. The 
 friends of the patriots represent their design to have 
 been merely to obtain his person ; whereas the other 
 party industriously disseminated the report that their 
 object was assassination. Strawinski was the framer 
 of 'the plan, and he proposed it to Pulawski ; but he, 
 wishing to avoid the odium, and yet not altogether 
 opposed to the scheme, refused his sanction, while 
 he withheld his dissent. " 1 give you no orders," 
 said he ; " but I forewarn you that I shall approve the 
 plan, only as you respect the life of the prisoner whom 
 you are going to seize." " Twenty times," replied 
 Strawinski, " I could have killed him in Warsaw, and 
 I abstained from it for the interest of the confedera- 
 tion. Why should you suspect me of wishing to dis- 
 credit, when I seek only to serve it ? It is Ponia- 
 
 * This is a little district, consisting of sixteen (owns, situated among 
 the Carpathian mountains. It had formerly been in the possession of 
 Hungary, but had been mortgaged in 1387 to Poland. More will be said 
 of this seizure in the following chapter. 
 
204 HISTORY OF POLAND. 
 
 towski living that I have resolved to deliver up 
 to it."* 
 
 Notwithstanding this pretended refusal of conni- 
 vance, Pulawski fixed the time for the attempt, which 
 was the 3d of November. He also employed himself 
 in making diversions of the Russian troops from 
 Warsaw, so that 200 only were left in the city. 
 Strawinski had ascertained that the king would be 
 passing from his uncle's house to the palace that 
 evening ; and accordingly, at half past nine, the king 
 was seen to come out, attended by two persons, in his 
 carriage, two pages, two outriders, and followed by 
 two guards, and two valets on foot. Strawinski had 
 divided his men into three bands. The first came up 
 as Russian patrols, and stopped the advanced guard, 
 while the second attacked the carriage, and the third 
 was stationed at the entrance of the wood of Bielani, 
 without the town. The two guards resisted and were 
 killed ; and Poniatowski, after some trouble, was 
 dragged on horseback, without any injury, but a little 
 rough handling in the hurry : and the confederates 
 rode on with their prize towards their place of des- 
 tination. 
 
 The alarm, in the mean time, was given by the ser- 
 vants, but in the confusion of the moment, no steps 
 were taken to stop the fugitives. Not far from War- 
 saw the troop met with a ditch, which they were 
 obliged to leap, and in so doing the king's horse broke 
 its leg, and the delay which this caused separated 
 the second company from the first. Attempting to 
 find them, they lose their way in the dark, get into a 
 marsh, lose each other, and Poniatowski is soon left 
 with only one man. This confederate's name was 
 Kosinski, who, from being before one of the boldest 
 conspirators, now becomes the most timid. This 
 man had been especially charged by Strawinski to 
 seize the king, and take charge of him ; but, falling 
 
 * Rulhire's Histoire de 1'Anarchie de Pologne, torn. ir. j> 231 
 
ESCAPE OF THE KING. 205 
 
 on his knees, he declared himself his prisoner. The 
 king- conducted him to a mill that was at hand, wrote 
 to Warsaw for a guard of forty men, and was in the 
 city early in the morning. The conspirators were 
 pursued by the Cossacks, and one of them killed ; 
 while Kosinski, for being either a coward or traitor, 
 was rewarded as the preserver of the king's life. 
 
 It was immediately rumoured in Warsaw that 
 Poniatowski had escaped assassination, nor did he 
 discredit the assertion, although he was a living proof 
 that his death was not intended. He said, in his usual 
 strain, that he even regretted he had not accompanied 
 the confederates to the fortress of Czenstokow, be- 
 cause he would have harangued and converted the 
 malecontents, and that this triumph of his eloquence 
 would have been the most glorious event of his reign. 
 
 Foreign courts congratulated Poniatowski on his 
 escape from murder, and gave further currency to 
 the report. Two of the conspirators were afterward 
 taken and executed, and the rest, among whom Pu- 
 lawski was comprehended, were condemned by the 
 same sentence to capital punishment.* 
 
 The odium which was studiously attached to this 
 attempt still further injured the cause of the patriots. 
 They were denounced as rebels, assassins, and bri- 
 gands. Every thing conspired to render the approach- 
 ing year, 1772, the last of Polish independence. 
 Viomenil and his little band, indeed, still urged on the 
 confederates to make a dying struggle ; Pulawski, 
 
 * Solignac, and others of the same party, represent this attempt in the 
 most odious light. They even pervert the facts with the greatest auda- 
 city, pretending to give a most circumstantial account of the wounds 
 (some call them bullet-grazes, others sword-cuts) which they say Stan- 
 islas received from the confederates. Solignac relates another story ; he 
 says a gunpowder plot was discovered, and that the powder was really 
 laid under the palace, that the match was lit, and that in ten minutes 
 more the explosion would have taken place. The reader will judge what 
 degree of trust is to be given to this author's impartiality, when he finds 
 him talking of the "odious" name of the confederates, of the "virtue" of 
 Stanislas, and calling the patriots " brigands stained with blood, and 
 leagued with the enemies of the state." See Solignac's Hist., vol. vi. 
 p. 167, &c. 
 
 3 
 
206 HISTORY OF POLAND. 
 
 Kossakowski, and Zaremba formed a line with their 
 little armies, amounting to about 6,000 men, from 
 Czenstokow to Widawa in Great Poland ; Choisi, a 
 distinguished French officer, seized the castle of 
 Cracow on the night of the 1st of February, and 
 bravely defended himself : but all proved of no avail. 
 On the 18th of March the council issued orders for 
 the troops in Great Poland to unite and attack a de- 
 tachment of the Russians at Peterkow. Zaremba 
 refused to obey the command, in consequence of 
 which the troops in that province were almost entirely 
 broken up. The Prussians continued to advance in 
 Great Poland as far as the W,arta, and gave the con- 
 federates notice to evacuate-i many of their posts.* 
 The present conduct of Zaremba was suspicious, and 
 the event showed that the fear of his treachery was 
 too well founded. "His extraordinary conduct," 
 wrote Viomeniljf " can be imputed only to designs 
 very fatal to the republican party ; and we may ex- 
 pect every moment that he is going to make his own 
 peace, or that he will allow all his troops to be taken 
 uncollectively by the Prussians. In either case I 
 can only foresee the loss of all his corps, and conse- 
 quently the entire destruction of the confederation. 
 
 * The following is a copy of the letter addressed by the Prussian 
 general to the authorities of the confederate troops. 
 
 Hemstadt, March 22, 1772. 
 
 I have had the honour to receive the letter which you have been pleased 
 to address to me of the 16th of the present month. To satisfy you, sir, I 
 must tell you it is by command of the king, my master, that I have 
 ordered the seizure of the forage in question, in the vicinity of Szduri, 
 Koblin, &c. Hi .- rn ijesty, having determined to advance his troops as far 
 as Warta, has at the same time commissioned me to inform the gentle- 
 men of the confederation, that they will be acting prudently to withdraw 
 their forces from the towns and the environs of Frauenstadt, Lissa, 
 Rawitz, &c. This is tlie will of the king, my master, which I beg you 
 sir, to convey to Marshal Zaremba ; and I hope, that to avoid the dis 
 agreeable consequences, of which the confederation would be the sol 
 cause, they will not delay to evacuate this territory. 
 
 I have the honour to be, &c. 
 
 (Signed) CZELTZITZ. 
 
 ToM. Sierazowski. 
 
 t LettresParticulieres de Viomenil, let. ix. p, 236. 
 
FATE OF THE CONFEDERATION. 207 
 
 M. Pivvinicki, who has just arrived from Great 
 Poland, assures me that the Prussians on the 2d and 
 3d of this month (April) have attacked Zaremba's 
 troops, who occupied the little towns of Frauenstadt, 
 Lezno, and Szduri. This, sir, is the decisive moment ; 
 to all appearance the Prussian forces will soon have 
 their right on Cracow, and their left on Dantzig." 
 A few days afterward Zaremba announced his resig- 
 nation to the council, and applied to Saldern, the 
 Russian ambassador, for an amnesty. About the 
 same time, too, the confederates were informed by 
 Prince Jablonowski, their deputy at Vienna, that an 
 alliance was signed between Austria, Russia, and 
 Prussia, and that the} designed to seize some pa- 
 latinates. On the 22d of April, the castle of Cracow 
 was obliged to surrender, and nearly at the same time 
 10,000 Austrians under Count Esterhazy entered Po- 
 land from Hungary. The council was broken up ; 
 all the posts were deserted, and the confederation 
 was at an end. The chiefs dispersed into foreign 
 countries. Pulawski retired to America, and fell in 
 the cause of freedom near Savannah ; while a few 
 of the patriots, assembled at Braunau in Bavaria, 
 made a useless protestation against the invasion, and 
 sent it to the different courts of Europe. 
 
 Such was the fate of the famous confederates of 
 Bar. Like all other unfortunate enterprises, theirs 
 has been repeatedly the object of vituperation and 
 scandal. They have been viewed as bigots and law- 
 less rebels, by the jaundiced eye of power ; and even 
 those who think for themselves havd' deemed it use- 
 less to defend a cause that no longer existed, for the 
 , sake .of abstract argument on general principles. 
 -But that must be short-sighted reasoning indeed 
 91 which sees in the affair of the dissidents the only 
 cause of the confederacy, or, in fact, any thing more 
 than one of the ostensible grounds of complaint. 
 The grievances which rankled in the breasts of the 
 confederates form the burden of their manifestoes, 
 
208 HISTORY OF POLAND. 
 
 and are, "suspension of the liberty of the diets, 
 foreign encroachment, seizure of the principal men of 
 the nation, &c." That they were not lawless rebels 
 is well proved by Count Oginski, the grand-general 
 of Lithuania, in his manifesto of the 12th of Sep- 
 tember, 1771. " One of the most ancient rights 
 of the Polish state," he says, " is, that whenever 
 foreign troops enter the country, the generals should 
 assemble the army of the republic," &c.* No syllo- 
 gistic reasoning fortunately is requisite to draw the 
 line between right and wrong in this case of political 
 oppression; every feeling of indignation at the 
 tyranny of Russia rises up in evidence to aid the 
 justice of the cause of the Polish confederation. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 Origin of the Plan of Partition Prediction of Stanislas Relations of the 
 three Powers Frederic Maria Theresa Kaunitz The Emperor 
 Joseph has an Interview with Frederic at Neiss Interview at Neu- 
 stad Frederic's Encroachments and Tyranny in Polish Prussia 
 The Austrians seize Zips Prince Henry's Visit to Petersburg Prince 
 Henry proposes the Partition The three Powers sign the Treaty of 
 Partition Division " Defences" of the three Powers " Deduction," 
 &c. The Diet of Partition Patriots, Reyten, Korsak, &c. Poninski, 
 the Marshal Reyten's bold Resistance The Diet appoint Commis- 
 sioners The Treaty is ratified Permanent Council Inaction of 
 Foreign Powers. 
 
 THE fulness of time was now come to show the 
 Poles the accomplishment of the prophecy which 
 had been so often shouted in their ears to no purpose 
 by the true friends of the republic, that the mutual 
 jealousies of their neighbours was not a sufficient 
 safeguard from foreign encroachment and oppression. 
 They seemed to forget, that even supposing the 
 
 * See ViomeruTs Letters, p. 16Z 
 
ORIGIN OF THE PARTITION. 209 
 
 sfrwtes of Europe were able to counterpoise each 
 other, the balance of power was constantly vibrating; 
 and that the equilibrium might be preserved, as well 
 by making the Polish shares to be taken by the 
 several powers proportionate, as by keeping- to their 
 own boundaries. 
 
 One who was the most competent to judge of the 
 interests and prospects of Poland, from having been 
 its sovereign, had exhorted them many years before, 
 in the plainest and most forcible terms, to open their 
 eyes to their danger. " I reflect," said the royal and 
 beneficent philosopher, Stanislas Leszczynski, " with 
 dread upon the perils which surround us ; what force 
 have we to resist our neighbours ? and on what do 
 we found this extreme confidence which keeps us 
 chained, as it were, slumbering in disgraceful re- 
 pose ? Do we trust to the faith of treaties 1 How 
 many examples have we of the frequent neglect of 
 even the most solemn agreements ! We imagine 
 that our neighbours are interested in our preserva- 
 tion by their mutual jealousy a vain prejudice, which 
 deceives us ; ridiculous infatuation, which formerly 
 cost the Hungarians their liberty, and which will 
 surely deprive us of ours, if depending on such a 
 frivolous hope we continue unarmed ; our turn will 
 come, no doubt ; either we shall be the prey of some 
 famous conquerors, or, perhaps, even the neighbouring 1 
 powers will combine to divide our states."* In vain 
 were this and similar appeals made to the Poles ; sad 
 experience only was to convince them of their truth. 
 
 The whole of the preceding history has been an 
 exposition of the course of events which finally left 
 Poland so entirely at the mercy of the adjacent 
 powers ; and it now remains for us to solve that sin- 
 gular problem, how the three states, Russia, Prussia, 
 and Austria, agreed to forget for a time their mutual 
 jealousies to portion out this unfortunate country. 
 
 * " Observations on the dangers to which Poland is exposed by the 
 abuses .ofits government." See " GEuvres Clioisies de Stanislas." 
 S2 
 
210 HISTORY OF POLAND. 
 
 Some writers, possessed with the love of reducing 
 political transactions to one rigid scale of cause and 
 effect, and at the same time of exhibiting their 
 acumen by threading the mazes of events up to re- 
 mote circumstances, pretend to trace the design of 
 the partition of Poland for more than a century back. 
 Rulhiere seems to plume himself on the idea : " The 
 projects executed in our days against Poland," he 
 observes, " were proposed more than a hundred years 
 ago. I have discovered this important and hitherto 
 unknown circumstance in the archives of foreign af- 
 fairs of France." This point had been canvassed 
 under the reign of John Casimir ; and it only remains 
 to be remarked, that such very subtle analysis of the 
 motives and progress of actions generally overshoots 
 the mark, since no men can act always according to 
 rule, but are in some degree influenced by circum- 
 stances and caprice. It would be equally absurd to 
 imagine that Frederic, in the complicated intrigues 
 which preceded the first partition, was actuated by 
 one deeply laid scheme of policy to arrive at one 
 end, the possession of Polish Prussia. It was, in- 
 deed, absolutely essential for him to obtain this 
 province, to consolidate and open a communication 
 between his scattered dominions, which then, as 
 Voltaire says, were stretched out like a pair of 
 gaiters ; but it remained a desideratum rather than a 
 design,* since he knew that neither Russia nor 
 Austria would be inclined to permit the aggression ; 
 for the former had evidently marked out the whole 
 of Poland for herself, and would consider Frederic 
 an unwelcome intruder; while Austria, which had 
 lately experienced the Prussian king's encroach- 
 ments, was more jealous than ever of his obtaining 
 the slightest aggrandizement, and had openly de- 
 
 * Frederic had some distant hopes in the early part of his reign 
 "Quatre points principaux s'offroientd mes yeux; la Silesie, la Prusse 
 Polonaise, la Gueldic Holandoise, et la Pomeranie Suedoise. Je me fixai 
 A la Silesie, et je laisse au terns le soin d'executer mes projets sur les 
 autres points." MatinetwTun Roi, p 32. 
 
VIEWS OF THE GREAT POWERS. 211 
 
 clared, that she would not allow the seizure of the 
 least Polish village. His views, however, widened 
 as he advanced, and no doubt he spoke with sin- 
 cerity, when he told the Emperor Joseph that " he 
 had never followed a plan in war, much less any 
 plan in policy, and that events alone had suggested 
 all his resolutions." Admitting the truth of this, we 
 proceed to trace out the circumstances which pro- 
 duced this crisis. 
 
 The relations of the three courts, at the commence- 
 ment of the war between Russia and Turkey, did 
 not portend any thing like a coalition; Frederic, 
 indeed, was in alliance with Russia,* but also secretly 
 favoured the sultan ; Austria was all but an open 
 enemy of both Russia and Prussia. Circumstances, 
 however, obliged Austria to forget her hatred to 
 Prussia, and Frederic thus became the mediator 
 between the courts of Vienna and Petersburg. 
 Frederic had every reason to wish to lull the sus- 
 picions and jealousies of Austria, that he might be 
 left in undisputed possession of Silesia; and that 
 power, moreover, was no longer an object of dread 
 or jealousy to him, for the seven years' war had 
 reduced its resources to the lowest ebb.f The dis- 
 positions of the court of Vienna cannot be comprised 
 in so few words ; its situation was much more com- 
 plicated, its policy more embarrassed, and the persons 
 who governed it will be much more difficult to make 
 known.J 
 
 Maria Theresa was now not very far from the 
 tomb, and after all the arduous struggles she had un- 
 dergone for the defence of her states, the vicissitudes 
 she had experienced, and the exhaustion of her 
 resources, she determined to end her days in peace. 
 She devoted almost the whole of her time to super- 
 
 * This treaty was concluded in April, 1763, after the peace of Huberts- 
 burg, and was to be in force eight years, 
 t Rulhtere, torn. iv. p. 158. 
 J Rulhiere gives a laboured analysis of the court of Vienna. 
 
212 HISTORY OF POLAND. 
 
 stitious devotions in a gloomy chamber hung round 
 with death's heads, and a portrait of her late husband 
 in the act of expiring. She yet cherished, however, 
 some of the feelings of mortality, implacable hatred 
 to Frederic, and contempt mingled with hate for 
 Catharine, of whom she never spoke but with dis- 
 dain, calling her " that woman." Besides, she could 
 sometimes also silence the reproaches of conscience, 
 so as to seize for the public use the bequests of the 
 pious for religious purposes, and to confiscate the 
 revenues of rich monasteries apparently without any 
 compunction. Men fancied, says our author,* that 
 they could foresee in all this conduct that if this just 
 and religious princess had power enough over her- 
 self to silence her generosity and even sometimes 
 her piety, she might perhaps be capable in some state 
 crisis of incurring still greater remorse, and silence 
 justice. Her minister, Kaunitz, to whom she in- 
 trusted all the management of affairs, is not the least 
 important personage in this drama, nor did he under- 
 rate his own consequence. " Heaven," said he, " is a 
 hundred years in forming a great mind for the restora*- 
 tion of an empire, and it then rests another hundred 
 years ; on this account I tremble for the fate which 
 await-s this monarchy after me." Throughout a long 
 and arduous ministry he had shown himself the 
 most subtle and refined politician, unfettered in his 
 schemes by any remorse or feeling, and making a 
 boast that he had no friends. Such a man was well 
 fitted to play the part allotted to hii. After the 
 conclusion of the long war, he had made it his policy 
 to repair the damages the empire had sustained by 
 alliances, and even his opposition to Frederic daily 
 subsided. 
 
 But it was another agent who commenced the con- 
 nexion between Austria and Prussia. Joseph, Maria 
 Theresa's son, and co-regent with his mother, de* 
 
POLICY OF THE GREAT FREDERIC. 213 
 
 tested this pacific policy, and longed for war. He 
 was, however, obliged to submit ; for Maria dreaded 
 the effects of this warlike propensity, and kept the 
 government in the hands of her ministers. He had 
 continual contentions with the empress, and urged 
 her to improve her finances by conquest; or aggression ; 
 but all the power he could obtain was the command 
 of the troops, which he augmented to 200,000 men, 
 and organized them under the counsel of his field- 
 marshal, Lasey. In his mania for military matters, 
 he visited, in 1768, all the fields of battle of the last 
 war, and after traversing Bohemia and Saxony, and 
 learning from his generals the causes of the defeats 
 and victories, he approached in the course of his tour 
 the borders of Prussian Silesia, where Frederic was 
 engaged in his annual reviews. The king sent a 
 polite message, and expressed a great desire to be 
 personally acquainted with him. The young prince 
 could not pay a visit to the former enemy of his 
 family without previously consulting his mother, the 
 empress ; and the interview was deferred till the next 
 year ; when it took place on the 25th of August, at 
 Neiss, a town in Silesia. 
 
 At this period the war between Russia and Turkey 
 engrossed general attention, and seems to have 
 formed the principal subject of the conference ; but no 
 resolutions of any importance were agreed to. The 
 flattering manner in which Frederic received the 
 young prince must have made a great impression on 
 his mind ; and the extravagant compliments which 
 were lavished on him were highly gratifying to 
 youthful vanity, from such a great man. Frederic 
 frequently repeated that Joseph would surpass Charles 
 V.; and though it has the appearance of irony 
 to those acquainted with the denouement of this 
 youthful monarch's character, it was probably not 
 intended so, for Frederic, we have seen before, could 
 stoop to the most servile adulation when it answered 
 his purpose. Be that as it may, the effect on Joseph 
 
214 HISTORY OF POLAND. 
 
 was the same, for on his return he spoke of the 
 Prussian monarch with the highest enthusiasm. 
 
 Maria Theresa was growing old, and the Austrian 
 ministers began to turn to the rising sun ; the eyes 
 of Kaunitz were opened to the policy of cultivating 
 a friendship with Prussia ; and the correspondence 
 between the two courts became every day more fre- 
 quent. This led to another conference between the 
 two princes at Neustadt, in Moravia, which was htld 
 on the 3d of September, 1770, and at which Kaunitz 
 was present. The king was more courteous than 
 ever ; he appeared in the military uniform of Austria, 
 and continued to wear it as long as he remained in 
 the Austrian territory. He made use of every species 
 of compliment ; one day, as they were leaving the 
 dining-room, and the emperor made a motion to give 
 him the precedence, he stepped back, saying, with a 
 significant smile and double entendre, not lost on 
 Joseph, " Since your imperial majesty begins to ma- 
 noeuvre, I must follow wherever you lead." Nor did 
 he spare his civilities to Kaunitz, with the view of 
 removing the rankling feeling which had often made 
 that conceited minister exclaim, "The King of 
 Prussia is the only man who denies me the esteem 
 which is due to me." Kaunitz insisted on the ne- 
 cessity of opposing the ambitious views of Russia, 
 and stated that the empress would never allow Catha- 
 rine to take possession of Moldavia and Walachia, 
 which would make her states adjoin those of Austria ; 
 nor permit her to penetrate farther into Turkey. He 
 added, that an alliance between Austria and Prussia 
 was the only means of checking Catharine's over- 
 bearing power. To this Frederic replied, that being 
 in alliance with the court of Petersburg, his only 
 practicable measure was to prevent the war from 
 becoming general by conciliating the friendly feel- 
 ings of Catharine towards Austria. On the day after 
 this conference, a courier arrived from Constant!- 
 jiople, with the news of the destruction of the Turkish 
 
MOTIVES OF THE COALITION. 215 
 
 fleet, and the route of their army, and to request the 
 mediation of the courts of Vienna and Berlin. To 
 this both readily assented, but without agreeing upon 
 any terms. 
 
 Frederic did not forget to follow up his former 
 mode of tactics with the emperor ; he pretended to 
 make him the confidant of all his designs, a species 
 of; flattery most gratifying to a young prince. On 
 hi&return to Berlin, also, the king affected to imitate 
 the Austrian manners, and uttered several pompous 
 panegyrics on the talents of Joseph, who had recited 
 to him some of Tasso's verses, and nearly a whole 
 act of the Pastor Fido. 
 
 Thus did Frederic avail himself of circumstances 
 to commence an amicable correspondence with 
 Austria, and he thus became the medium of commu- 
 nication between the hostile courts of Vienna and 
 Petersburg. No more direct intelligence, however, 
 existed between these two states than before ; for 
 great as was Theresa's hatred against Catharine, 
 Catharine's was no less violent ; and even when Aus- 
 tria made friendly overtures, through Frederic, con- 
 cerning mediation between Turkey and Russia, she 
 desired Frederic to desist, and rejected the inter 
 ference. 
 
 A channel of communication, however, was opened 
 between the three conspiring powers ; and the next 
 step was for one of the triumvirate to broach the 
 iniquitous partition plot. It is made a matter of 
 much dispute which of them started the project, and 
 they all equally disclaim the infamy of being its 
 author. The fact, no doubt, was, that in this, as in 
 all other unjust coalitions, they did not, in the first 
 instance, act on a preconcerted plan ; but each indi- 
 vidual power cherished secretly its design, and like 
 designing villains, who understand one another, 
 almost 
 
 " Without eyes, ears, and harmful sound of words," 
 
216 HISTORY OF POLAND. 
 
 the conspiring parties were naturally drawn together 
 by the similarity of reckless atrocity in their designs. 
 
 It cannot be imagined that the scheme of partition 
 originated with Catharine; she had long been the 
 real mistress of Poland, the king was nothing more 
 'than her tenant at will, and it required only a little 
 time for the whole kingdom to sink into a Russian 
 province. The intentions of the other powers began 
 to evince themselves more plainly in 1770. Frederic 
 began to throw out hints of claims on certain Polish 
 districts ; he obliged the Polish Prussians to furnish 
 his troops with horses and corn, in exchange for 
 debased money, which was either forged Polish silver 
 coin, only one-third of its nominal value, or false 
 Dutch ducats, seventeen per cent, under the proper 
 value.* By this disgraceful species of swindling, it 
 is calculated, he gained 7,000,000 of dollars. The 
 young Poles were enrolled in the armies by force ; 
 and every town and village in Posnania was taxed 
 at a stated number of marriageable girls, who were 
 sent to stock the districts of the Prussian dominions 
 depopulated by the long wars. Each girl's portion 
 was to be a bed, two pigs, a cow, and three ducats 
 of gold. It is said that one town alone was obliged 
 to furnish the Prussian general, Belling, with fifty 
 girls. Under pretence that the magistrates of Dantzig 
 prevented the levies, troops were marched into the 
 territory of the city, a contribution of 100,000 ducats 
 was exacted, and 1000 young men were pressed for 
 the Prussian service. Frederic's military possession 
 of Posnania, as well as the greater part of Polish 
 Prussia, seemed to be but too consonant with his 
 hinted claims, and his arbitrary levies evinced, not 
 merely intended, but actual possession. 
 
 Austria, too, was playing a similar part on the 
 south. In the spring of 1769 Birzynski, at the head 
 of a small troop of confederates, entered Lubowla, 
 
 * He published an edict on the 29th of October, 1771, commanding all 
 persons to take the money offered by his troops. 
 
VIEWS OF AUSTRIA. 217 
 
 one of the towns in the starosty or district of Zips, 
 or Spiz, with the intention of levying contributions, 
 as he was accustomed, in a disorderly manner. This 
 little district is situated to the south of the palatinate 
 of Cracow, among the Carpathian mountains, and 
 had been originally a portion of the kingdom of 
 Hungary. The confederates were followed by the 
 Russians, and took refuge in Hungary, as was their 
 custom. This near approach of the Russians to the 
 imperial frontiers was made a pretext by the court 
 of Vienna for concentrating a body of troops there ; 
 and at the same time hints were thrown out of Aus- 
 tria's claims, not only to this, but some of the adjacent 
 districts. Researches were ordered to be made into old 
 records, to establish these pretensions ; the Austrian 
 troops seized the territory of Zips, and engineers 
 were employed by the empress to mark out the 
 frontier. They advanced the boundary line along 
 the districts of Sandecz, Nowitarg, and Czorsztyn, 
 and marked it out with posts furnished with the im- 
 perial eagle. Stanislas had complained of this pro- 
 ceeding in a letter of the 28th of October, 1770 ; to 
 which the empress returned for answer, in January, 
 1771, that she would willingly make an amicable 
 arrangement, after peace was established, to settle 
 the disputed frontier, but that she was determined to 
 claim her right to the district of Zips, and that for 
 the present it was requisite to pursue the operation 
 of demarcation. The empress seems to have been 
 instigated not only by the characteristic avidity of 
 Austrian policy, but by jealousies awakened by the 
 near approaches of the Russian troops. Besides, it 
 is a point of some consequence to be remembered, 
 though it seems to have escaped the observation of 
 most historians, that she had before her eyes a fearful 
 proof of the danger of an uncertain frontier in the 
 affair of Balta, which was the ostensible cause of the 
 war between Turkey and Russia. This open en- 
 croachment on the Polish territory, however, was a 
 T 
 
218 HISTORY OF POLAND. 
 
 fatal precedent ; Catharine and Frederic could ad- 
 vance, as excuses for thsir proceedings, that they were 
 solely intended to restore tranquillity to Poland ; and 
 that their possession was only temporary, whereas 
 Theresa's was a permanent seizure. Frederic, there- 
 fore, endeavours strenuously in his writings to ex- 
 onerate his intentions from censure, and shifts the 
 odium of this step on Austria; but whether he is 
 absolutely innocent of the " injustice," as he him- 
 self calls it, or adds to his guilt by the height of 
 hypocrisy and cant, is a question not very difficult 
 of solution. 
 
 The three powers could now readily understand 
 each other's designs ; but the first communication 
 which took place between them on the subject oc- 
 curred in December, 1770, and Jan. 1771. In the 
 former month Catharine invited Prince Henry, Frede- 
 ric's brother, who had before been a personal ac- 
 quaintance, tp her court; and the wily despot of 
 Prussia urged him earnestly to accept the invitation. 
 He reached Petersburg in the midst of the public 
 festivities and rejoicings for the victories over the 
 Turks ; and having, like his brother, abundant flattery 
 at will, he seized the opportunity of loading Catharine 
 with compliments. It would be absurd to suppose 
 that the empress, masculine as her mind was, could 
 be insensible to this species of attack ; she, like all 
 other followers of ambition and conquest, made the 
 applause and admiration, even of the vulgar, the aim 
 of her life ; and it can only be affectation in those 
 who pretend to despise the adulation which they so 
 eagerly labour for. Henry was admitted to confi- 
 dential conferences, and so well did he avail himself 
 of his opportunities and influence, that he succeeded 
 in persuading the empress to accept the mediation 
 of Austria between Turkey and Russia, a commis- 
 sion with which he was charged by his brother. It 
 was in these conferences that the fate of Poland was 
 decided ; while Catharine was hesitating about 
 
IXTRIGTTES OP PRUSSIA. 219 
 
 accepting the terms Austria proposed, which were 
 that she should renounce her design upon Moldavia 
 and Walachia, the news arrived at Petersburg that 
 the Austrian troops had taken possession of Zips. 
 Catharine was much astonished at the proceeding, 
 and remarked, that if Austria seized the Polish terri- 
 tory, the two other neighbouring powers must 
 imitate her example until she desisted. This hint 
 suggested to Henry a mode of removing those objec- 
 tions of Austria which impeded the negotiation. 
 He knew that the court of Vienna was as eager for 
 aggrandizement as Russia, and that all her jealousies 
 would be allayed by a similar accession of territory ; 
 that at the same time she would never consent to 
 have the Russians as her neighbours in Moldavia 
 and Walachia, but would have no objection to their 
 making an equal increase to that immense empire 
 elsewhere. Frederic's consent, also, must be pur- 
 chased by an equal allotment; where then, he 
 thought, were there three such portions to be found 
 but where Austria pointed out. Catharine approved 
 of the plan after a few moments' reflection, but men- 
 tioned two impediments ; first, that when her troops 
 had entered Poland she had solemnly declared that 
 she would maintain the integrity of the kingdom ;* 
 and next, that Austria would not receive such a pro- 
 posal from her without suspicion. These difficulties 
 were readily removed, the first by breaking the en- 
 gagement, and the second by making Frederic the 
 negotiator with the court of Vienna. 
 
 Frederic's admirers pretend that he was unac- 
 quainted with this intrigue, and when the plan was 
 made known to him, opposed it strenuously ; " but 
 that on the following day, having reflected on the 
 misfortunes of the Poles, and on the impossibility of 
 re-establishing their liberty, he showed himself more 
 tractable." It is to be hoped, that for the sake of 
 
 * The 9th section of the code of 1767 stated, " that no part was ever 
 to he dismembered." 
 
220 HISTORY OF POLAND. 
 
 Fredeii 's remnant of character, this is not true; 
 after the singular manner in which he had evinced 
 his concern for " the misfortunes of the Poles," and 
 his solicitude for their " liberty" in Polish Prussia, 
 such pretensions would have been the very height of 
 hypocrisy. His scruples, at any rate, if any such 
 existed, were soon dispelled; and he exerted himself 
 in persuading the court of Vienna to enter into the 
 plot.* 
 
 Austria was but too ready to fall into the design ; 
 the conflicting views, indeed, between Maria Theresa, 
 Joseph, and their minister Kaunitz gave rise to 
 some complication of politics and consequent delay. 
 Frederic, strongly as he is said to have disclaimed 
 the plan in the present instance, was now the only 
 party impatient to conclude it. " The slowness and 
 irresolution of the Russians," he says in his Me- 
 moires, " protracted the conclusion of the treaty of 
 partition ; the negotiation hung chiefly on the pos- 
 session of the city of Dantzig. The Russians pre- 
 tended they had guarantied the liberty of this little 
 republic ; but it was in fact the English, who, jealous 
 of the Prussians, protected the liberty of this mari- 
 time town,f and who prompted the Empress of Russia 
 
 * The nature of a negotiation of such a character as the above ren- 
 dered it profoundly secret ; the principals transacted the business as 
 much as possible without the intervention of agents, and would not, of 
 course, be the persons to expose their own iniquitous proceedings ; conse- 
 quently, much mystery is thrown over the early stages of the plot. Rul- 
 hiere and all those writers who have had the greatest facilities for 
 investigation agree that the partition was planned at the period of 
 Henry's visit to Petersburg. The above version of the story is taken 
 chiefly from Prince Henry's own statement. See the " Souvenirs," 
 p. 87, in " Lettres particuli^res du Baron de Viomenil sur les Affaires de 
 J'ologne en 1771 et 1772, &c." It differs in a few points from Rulhire'a 
 account. Histoire de 1 'Anarchic de Pologne, vol. iv. p. 202. 
 
 t The Russians did not merely pretend to have guarantied the liberty 
 of Dantzig. There was a formal treaty signed by Russia, Great Britain, 
 Denmark, Sweden, and Prussia, with Dantzig, in 1767, which promised 
 to protect the commerce of that city. The English, too, were bound to 
 interpose in favour of Dantzig, having made similar treaties ih 1655 and 
 1707. These may be seen in the Appendix to " Letters concerning the 
 Present State of Polaad," by J. Liud. London, 1772. 
 
TREATY OF PARTITION. 221 
 
 not lo consent to the demands of his Prussian 
 majesty. It was requisite, however, for the king to 
 determine ; and as it was evident that the master of 
 the Vistula and the port of Dantzig would, in time, 
 subject that city, he decided that it was not necessary 
 to stop such an important negotiation, for an ad- 
 vantage which in fact was only deferred ; therefore 
 his majesty relaxed in this demand. After so many 
 obstacles had been removed, this secret contract was 
 signed at Petersburg, 17th Feb. 1772. The month 
 of June was fixed on for taking possession, and it was 
 agreed that the empress-queen should be invited to 
 join the two contracting powers and share in the par- 
 tition." 
 
 It now remained to persuade Austria to join the 
 coalition. Joseph and Kaunitz were soon won over, 
 but Maria Theresa's conscience made a longer re- 
 sistance. The fear of hell, she said, restrained her 
 from seizing another's possessions. It was repre- 
 sented to her, however, that her resistance could not 
 prevent the other two powers from portioning out 
 Poland, but might occasion a war which would cost 
 the valuable lives of many ; whereas the peaceable 
 partition would not spill a drop of blood. She was 
 thus, she imagined, placed in a dilemma between two 
 sins ; and forgetting the command, " do not evil that 
 good may come," she endeavoured to persuade her- 
 self that she was doing her duty in choosing the least. 
 She yielded at length with the air of some religious 
 devotee, who exclaims to her artful seducer, "may 
 God forgive you !" and at the same time sinks into 
 his arms. The contract was signed between Prussia 
 and Austria on the 4th of March, and the definite 
 treaty of partition which regulated the three por- 
 tions was concluded on the 5th of August, 1772. 
 
 Russia was to have, by this first partition, the 
 
 palatinates of Polock, Witebsk, and Mscislaw, as far 
 
 as the rivers Dvvina and Dnieper, more than 3000 
 
 square leagues; Austria had for her share Red 
 
 T2 
 
222 HISTORY OF POLAND. 
 
 Russia (Gallicia), and a portion of Podoiia and Little 
 Poland as far as the Vistula, about 2500 square 
 leagues ; and Prussia was to be contented with Po- 
 lish Prussia (excepting Dantzig and Thorn with 
 their territory), and part of Great Poland as far as 
 the river Notec (or Netze), comprising about 900 
 square leagues. All the rest of the kingdom was to 
 be ensured to Stanislas under the old constitution. 
 
 All the three powers thought it necessary to pub- 
 lish some defence of their conduct ; and, in separate 
 pamphlets, they attempted to prove that they had 
 legitimate claims on Poland, and that their present 
 violent seizures were only just resumptions of their 
 own territory, or equivalent to it. 
 
 Rulhiere says that Catharine only made her claim 
 as a just indemnification for the trouble and expense 
 which she had devoted to Poland ; this, however, it 
 will be found, by referring to her defence,* is not the 
 case. She sets forth the great kindness she had 
 shown the republic by ensuring the election of a Piast 
 (Stanislas), and uses these remarkable words on the 
 subject, " That event was necessary to restore the 
 Polish liberty to its ancient lustre, to ensure the 
 elective right of the monarchy, and to destroy 
 foreign influence, which was so rooted in the state, 
 and which was the continual source of trouble and 
 contest." She then exclaims against the confede- 
 rates : " Their ambition and cupidity, veiled under 
 the phantom of religion and the defence of their 
 laws, pervade and desolate this vast kingdom, with- 
 out the prospect of any termination of this madness 
 but its entire ruin." She then proceeds with her 
 " Deduction," endeavouring to prove, from old au- 
 thors, that it was not till 1686 that the Polish limits 
 were extended beyond the mouth of the Dwina and 
 
 * Expose de la conduite de la rour imperiale de Russia vis-a-vis de 
 la serenisshne Republique de Pologne, avec la deduction des litres sur 
 lesquels elle foude sa prise de possession d'un equivalent de ses droits 
 et pretentions a la charge de cette puissance. Petersburg, 1773. 
 
RUSSIAN HYPOCRISY. 223 
 
 the little town of Stoika on the Dnieper, five miles 
 below Kiow. The following is a specimen of the 
 lawyer-like sophistry which the empress employs to 
 establish her claim to the Russian territory, which 
 remained in the hands of the Poles after the treaty 
 in 1686.* " The design of such a concession being 
 only to put an end to a bloody war more promptly, 
 and by a remedy as violent as a devastation (aussi 
 violent qu'une devastation) to ensure tranquillity of 
 neighbourhood between two rival and newly-recon- 
 ciled nations, it necessarily follows that every act 
 on the part of the subjects of the republic of Poland, 
 contrary to such intention, has, ipso facto, revived 
 Russia's indisputable and unalienated right to all 
 that extent of territory. It must be observed, also, 
 that this arrangement about the frontier was only 
 provisional and temporary, since it is expressly said, 
 that it shall only remain so until it has been otherwise 
 amicably settled. The object was, therefore, to give 
 the nations time to lay aside their inveterate hatred ; 
 and to remove immediate causes of dispute between 
 the different subjects, and consequent rupture be- 
 tween the two states. Russia sacrificed for a time 
 the possession of the territory which extends from 
 the fertile town of Stoika to the river Tecmine, and 
 from the right bank of the Dnieper, fifty werstes in 
 breadth along the frontiers of Poland. There is no 
 idea of cession here on the part of Russia ; it is a 
 pledge (gage) which she advances for the solidity of 
 the peace, which ought to be returned to her when the 
 object of it is effected. This is the only reasonable 
 construction which can be put upon the stipulation, 
 * until it has been otherwise amicably settled.'' Russia 
 is not to be a loser because the confusion of the in- 
 ternal affairs of Poland has never allowed that 
 country to come to a definite agreement on this 
 subject notwithstanding the requests of Russia." 
 
 * See RuUue-re. 
 
224 HISTORY OF POLAND. f 
 
 It does not demand much acumen to unveil sucfi 
 impudent sophistry as this. The assertion that the 
 arrangement was only provisional and temporary 
 is false ; the treaty, indeed, left the detail of the 
 boundary line to be drawn out by commissioners, as 
 must always be the case in arrangements of this 
 kind, and as was meant to be implied by the words 
 which the Russian minister transforms into " until it 
 has been otherwise amicably arranged." 
 
 Such was the weak manner in which the Russian 
 diplomatists imagined to deceive Europe ; their de- 
 fence indeed is as triumphant a proof of the badness 
 of their cause as the most earnest friend of Poland 
 could desire. Our surprise may well be excited at 
 the weakness of the argument, particularly when 
 we remember that Catharine's servants had long 
 been trained in glossing over the basest and most 
 shameful transactions ; " The ministers of Peters- 
 burg," said a contemporary writer,* " are accustomed 
 to appear without blushing at the tribunal of the 
 public in defence of any cause ; the death of Peter, 
 and assassination of Prince John, inured them to it." 
 Such a work hardly requires refutation.! Every 
 sophism and every falsehood is a damning argument 
 against the Russian cause. Truth, in fact, is outraged 
 in every page of the writing ; and one striking in 
 
 * See Letters concerning the Present State of Poland, by J. Lind. 
 London, 1772. These letters, written by one who had such excellent 
 facilities to arrive at information, would be valuable if not debased by a 
 mere cynic's love (ambiguous at the best) for the good cause. 
 
 t This will be found, however, in " Les Droits des trois Puissances 
 Alliees sur plusieurs Provinces de la Republique de Pologne. Les re- 
 flexions d'un gentilhomme Polonais sur les Lettres patentes et preten- 
 tions de ces trois Puissances. Londres, 1774." This work was originally 
 written in Polish by Felix Loyko ; it contains an elaborate refutation 
 of all the historical quibbles of the three partitioning powers. 
 
 Notwithstanding the force of truth and justice, it is surprising how 
 even some great minds can be warped. Malte Brun makes the follow- 
 ing remark in his Precis de Geographic. " The partition of Poland was, 
 on the part of Russia, much less an invasion than a reprisal of former 
 invasions. If the Russian manifestoes, in 1772, had developed this his- 
 torical fact with energy, tlie pity of Europe for Poland would be con- 
 siderably lessened." 
 
AUSTRIAN MODERATION. 225 
 
 stance will suffice. Catharine states that the Polish 
 government would never make any arrangement 
 about the frontier ; but the fact is, that even as late 
 as 1764 commissioners were appointed at the diet of 
 coronation for this very purpose ; but the Russians 
 refused to nominate theirs : again in 1766, when 
 Count Rzewinski, Polish ambassador at Peters- 
 burg, made a similar application, he was answered 
 that the affairs of the dissidents must be first 
 settled. 
 
 The Austrian pretensions were even more elabo- 
 rately drawn up than those of Russia. In the first 
 place, the district of Zips, the first sacrifice to Aus- 
 trian rapacity, came under consideration.* Sigis- 
 mund, who came to the Hungarian throne in 1387, 
 mortgaged this district to Wladislas II. (Jagellon), 
 King of Poland, in 1412, for a stipulated sum of 
 money, f It is commonly called The Thirteen 
 Towns of Zips, but the district contains sixteen. 
 No reclamation of it had been made till the present 
 time ; it had then been in the undisputed possession 
 of Poland nearly 360 years. The chief demur which 
 the Austrians now made to the mortgage was, that 
 the King of Hungary was restricted by the consti- 
 tution, as expressed in the coronation-oath, from 
 alienating any portion of the kingdom. But even 
 this plea, weak as it is under such circumstances, is 
 not available ; since it is proved that this article was 
 never made a part of the coronation-oath until the 
 accession of Ferdinand I. in 1527. 
 
 The Austrian minister endeavoured also to estab- 
 lish the right of his mistress to Gallicia and Po- 
 dolia, as Queen of Hungary, and the dutchies of 
 Oswiecim and Zator,J as Queen of Bohemia : "What 
 
 * See " Deduction sur I'Hypoth&jue de Zips, 1773." 
 
 f " 37,000 soixantaines de gros de Hohe'me." This sum has been esti- 
 mated from between 206,360 to 209,440 Polish ducats, present worth. 
 
 i See " Les Droits de la Couronne de Hongrie sur la Russie-Rouge 
 (Gallicia) et sur la Podolie ainsi que de la Couronne de Boheme sur lea 
 Duchcs d'Oswiecim et Zator." 
 
226 HISTORY OF POLAND. 
 
 lastly establishes indisputably the ancient claim of 
 Hungary to the provinces in question is, that in 
 several seals and documents of the ancient kings 
 of Hungary preserved in our archives, the titles and 
 arms of Gallicia are always used." After exhaust- 
 ing the records,* and stating that the crown of Hun- 
 gary has never in any way renounced its rights and 
 pretensions, the author modestly winds up his argu- 
 ments in the following way : " Consequently, after such 
 a long delay, the house of Austria is well authorized 
 in establishing and reclaiming the lawful rights and 
 pretensions of her crowns of Hungary and Bohe- 
 mia, and to obtain satisfaction by the means which 
 she now employs ; in the use of which she has ex- 
 hibited the greatest moderation possible, by confining 
 herself to a very moderate equivalent for her real 
 pretensions to the best provinces of Poland, such as 
 Podolia, &c." 
 
 Frederic argues his cause on the general prin- 
 ciples of civil law.f " Since, then," he says, " the 
 crown of Poland cannot prove express cessions, 
 which are the only good titles between sovereigns 
 to confer a legitimate possession of disputed prov- 
 inces, it will perhaps have recourse to prescription 
 and immemorial possession. We all know the 
 famous dispute among the learned on the question 
 of prescription and natural right, whether it obtains 
 between sovereigns and free nations.J The affirma- 
 tive is founded only on that very weak argument, 
 
 * The involved arguments and abstruse researches concerning Gal- 
 licia amount to very little more than the statements, 
 
 That Mary, the eldest daughter of Louis (King of Poland and Hun- 
 gary), whom she succeeded in Hungary, tranquilly possessed Red Russia 
 (Gallicia); and 
 
 That this kingdom was seized by her sister, Hedwiga, with vio- 
 lence. 
 
 t See " Les Droits de sa majesle le Roi de Prusse comme Marquis de 
 Brandeburg sur le duche de Pomerillie (Pomerania) et plusieurs autres 
 Districts du Royawne de Pologne, avec les Pieces Justificatives." 
 
 t Grotius, Puffendorf, Wolff, &c. have supported the affirmative ; 
 Pu Puy, Breuning, &c. the negative. 
 
PRUSSIAN RIGHTS. 227 
 
 that he who for a long time has not made use of his 
 rights is presumed to have abandoned them ; a pre- 
 sumption which is at best doubtful, and cannot 
 destroy the right and established property of a 
 monarch. Besides, even this presumption altogether 
 vanishes when the superior strength of a usurper 
 has prevented the lawful proprietor from claiming 
 his rights, which has been the case in the present 
 instance. Time alone cannot render a possession 
 just which has not been so from its origin; and as 
 there is no judge between free nations, no one can 
 decide if the time past is sufficient to establish pre- 
 scription, or if the presumption of the desertion (of 
 rights) is sufficiently proved. But even leaving this 
 point undetermined, the prescription which the re- 
 public of Poland could allege in the present case 
 has not any of the qualities which the advocates of 
 prescription require, to render it valid between free 
 states."* We do not imagine that our readers 
 will coincide with Frederic in the following opinion: 
 " We flatter ourselves that when the impartial public 
 has weighed without prejudice all that has just been 
 detailed in this expose, they will not find in the step 
 which his majesty has taken any thing which is not 
 conformable to justice, to natural right, to the gene- 
 ral use of nations, and, lastly, to the example which 
 the Poles themselves have given in seizing all these 
 countries by simple matter of fact.f We trust also 
 that the Polish nation will eventually recover from 
 its prejudices; that it will acknowledge the enor- 
 mous injustice which it has done to the house of 
 Brandeburg, and that it will bring itself to repair it 
 by a just and honourable arrangement with which 
 
 * The " Expose" refers us to Grotius de Jure Bell, et Pacis, lib. ii. 
 c. 4, &c. 
 
 t It is hardly requisite to point out tne strange and absurd oversight 
 which the learned civilian and politician has committed here. Truth, 
 however, will peep out in spite of all Frederic's cunning. Those half 
 dozen words obviate the necessity of a formal refutation. 
 
228 HISTORY OF POLAND. 
 
 his majesty will willingly comply, sincerely wishing 
 to cultivate the friendship and good-fellowship of 
 this illustrious nation, and to live with the republic 
 in good union and harmony."* 
 
 We have thus given the three monarchs liberty 
 to plead for themselves ; and no one can rise from 
 the perusal of their " Defences" without feeling ad- 
 ditional conviction of their injustice, and resentment 
 at their hypocrisy. We must own we are almost 
 inclined to interpret Frederic's appeal as a sneering 
 parody on the cant of diplomacy in general ; but, in 
 whatever light it he viewed, it gives additional in- 
 sight into the heart and head of that military despot 
 and disciple of Machiavelli.f 
 
 Iniquity almost always pays virtue the compliment 
 of attempting to assume her semblance; and the 
 three wholesale plunderers, therefore, Russia, Aus- 
 tria, and Prussia, determined to give some show of 
 justice to their violent seizure, by wringing from 
 their victims a ratification of their claims. But 
 " the children of this world" with all their wisdom 
 cannot invariably preserve consistency, and cunning 
 as the villain may sometimes be, he will at some 
 time or other make the most disgraceful mistakes. 
 By requiring further ratification, the three powers 
 
 * This and Frederic's other numerous manifestoes and defences are 
 answered by Felix Loyko in the collection of pamphlets before quoted. 
 He does not forget to remind Frederic that he praises the honour of 
 his father for refusing to seize Polish Prussia, when he was instigated 
 by France to do so in 1734, replying that it would be unjust. See Mi- 
 moires de Brandeburg. 
 
 I Frederic's character is even yet more deeply implicated, if the fol- 
 lowing statement is correct ; and we have no reason to doubt it. " I can 
 positively assure you, that a member of the diet, who had reluctantly 
 signed the constitution which rejected the demands of the dissidents, 
 
 ng c 
 
 The bishop, laying his hand gently on the member's shoulder, answered, 
 ' Be persuaded, sir, I should not have counselled you to this step if I 
 had not the most positive assurances from the King' of Prussia that he 
 would be harmless iu it.' " The author states that this passed in his 
 hearing. See Lintfs Letters, let. ii. 
 
EXECUTION OF THE PLOT. 229 
 
 admitted that their anterior claims were not well 
 founded ; and common sense ought to have told them, 
 that if the former claims were not just, the latter, 
 depending- on the same title, were rendered still less 
 so by aggravated violence. Every show of justice 
 in a villanous action rises up in -sterner judgment 
 against the perpetrator, inasmuch as" it evinces de- 
 sign, and makes him responsible for the motive. 
 These remarks might be applied to Catharine, Fred- 
 eric, Maria Theresa, or Joseph ; for though they 
 may shield themselves from personal accusation by 
 acting under the vague titles of powers, states, or 
 governments, the evasion is mean and cowardly; 
 for particularly in such despotic governments as 
 theirs the passions and wills of the rulers are the 
 directors of every political scheme.* 
 
 The three powers fixed on the 19th of April, 1773, 
 for the opening of a diet at Warsaw to ratify their 
 claims. Their troops were in possession of all Po- 
 land ; the capital in particular was strongly invested; 
 and Rewiski, Benoit, and Stakelberg, the Austrian, 
 Prussian, and Russian ministers, were on the spot to 
 overrule and direct all the debates. They declared' 
 that every deputy who opposed their proposals should 
 be treated as an enemy of his country, and of the 
 three powers. Frederic himself states, in his de- 
 scription of this transaction, that the deputies were 
 informed if they continued refractory that the whole 
 kingdom would be dismembered ; but, on the contrary, 
 that if they were submissive the foreign troops 
 would evacuate by degrees the territory they in- 
 tended to leave to the republic. The diet was to be 
 confederated, that the Poles might be deprived of 
 their last resource, the liberum veto. 
 
 * Segur says, and it has been said a hundred times before, that " We 
 may solve nearly all the enigmas of politics by first studying both the 
 good and bad qualities of those who direct them; for the passions and 
 weaknesses of governors always have more influence on events than 
 the interests of the governed." Decade Historique nu Tableau Politiqu* 
 <U VEuropc depuis 1786-1796, par M. Le Comte de Segur. 
 
230 HISTORY OF POLAND. f 
 
 Some few patriots still raised their voices, even 
 in the midst of the united armies of Russia, Austria, 
 and Prussia ; and among these Reyten was the most 
 distinguished. He was a Lithuanian by descent, 
 had acted a good part in the confederacy of Bar, and 
 had earned a character which made the electors of 
 Nowogrodek select him for their representative in 
 the present memorable diet. His colleague was 
 Samuel Korsak, a worthy coadjutor, who did not 
 turn a deaf ear to his father's parting words : " My 
 son, I send you to Warsaw accompanied by my old- 
 est domestics ; I charge them to bring me your head, 
 if you do not oppose with all your might what is 
 now plotting against your country." 
 
 Poninski, a creature of the allied powers, was the 
 marshal of the diet, appointed by the intervention 
 of the ambassadors ; and when the session opened, 
 one of the deputies nominated him, and he was im- 
 mediately proceeding to take the seat, without wait- 
 ing for the election, but several members rose to 
 protest against this breach of privilege, and Reyten 
 exclaimed, " Gentlemen, the marshal cannot be thus 
 self-appointed; the whole assembly must choose 
 him ; I protest against the nomination of Poninski : 
 name him who is to be your president." Some 
 voices instantly shouted, " Long live the true son 
 of his country, Marshal Reyten." Poninski retired, 
 adjourning the session to the next day. 
 
 On the following morning Poninski again made 
 his appearance, merely to postpone the assembly 
 one day more. When this period arrived, he went 
 to the hall with a guard of foreign soldiers, to sta- 
 tion some of his faction at the doors, and to prevent 
 the entrance of the public. Reyten, Corsak, and 
 their little band of patriots were soon at their posts, 
 when Reyten, perceiving that the people were not al- 
 lowed to enter, exclaimed, " Gentlemen, follow me. 
 Poninski shall not be marshal of the diet to-day, if I 
 live !" It was already twelve o'clock, and Poiiinski 
 
A TRUE PATRIOT. 231 
 
 did not appear, but a messenger arrived to state that 
 he adjourned the meeting. " We do not acknow- 
 ledge Poninski for marshal," replied Reyten; and 
 seeing many of the members about to retire, he 
 placed himself before the door with his arms crossed, 
 and attempted to stop the deserters. But his exer- 
 tions proving useless, he threw himself along the 
 doorway, exclaiming, with a wearied but determined 
 voice, "Go, go, and seal your own eternal ruin, 
 but first trample on the breast which will only beat 
 for honour and liberty !" There were now only fif- 
 teen members in the hall, and of these but six perse- 
 vered in their patriotic determination ; namely, Rey- 
 ten, Korsak, Durin, Terzmanowski, Kozuchowski, 
 and Penczkowski. At ten a message arrived from the 
 Russian ambassador, inviting the noncontent depu- 
 ties to a conference at his house. Four of them, 
 among whom was Korsak, accordingly went; and 
 Stackelberg at first addressed them mildly, but find- 
 ing them resolute, began to threaten them with con- 
 fiscation of their estates. On this Korsak rose, and 
 declared, since they wished to seize his possessions, 
 which were already, however, mostly plundered by 
 the Russian armies, there was no occasion for so 
 many preliminaries ; and he actually put into his 
 hand a list of all his property, adding, " This is all I 
 have to sacrifice to the avarice of the enemies of my 
 country. I know that they can also dispose of my 
 life ; but I do not know any despot on earth rich 
 enough to corrupt or powerful enough to intimidate 
 me." 
 
 Reyten remained still at his post, and the four 
 patriots on returning found the doors closed, and lay 
 down without for the night. On the following day 
 the ministers of the three powers repaired to the 
 king's palace, and Stackelberg threatened him with 
 the immediate destruction of his capital, unless he 
 gave his sanction to the forced confederation. Stan- 
 islas demanded the advice of his council, but re- 
 
233 HISTORY OF POLAND. 
 
 ceived no reply; and taking their silence for an 
 assent, and not knowing how to evade a direct an- 
 swer, he yielded to the ministers' demands. The 
 corrupt diet held their assembly without the hall, 
 because Reyten was still at his post ; such was 
 their dread of even one patriotic individual. On 
 the 23d of April, when Poninski and the confederates 
 entered, they found Reyten stretched senseless on 
 the floor, in which state he must have lain thirty-six 
 hours. Such was the determination with which he 
 resisted the oppression of his country ; and so en- 
 tirely were all the energies of his mind devoted to 
 the cause, that when he learned its fall, he lost his 
 reason.* 
 
 The allies began to redouble their threats, and 
 signified to the deputies their intention of portioning 
 out the whole of the kingdom, if any more opposition 
 were offered; but, notwithstanding, the diet con- 
 tinued stormy, and many bold speeches were made. 
 Of all situations the king's must have been the most 
 perplexing and irksome ; but no person was better 
 adapted to act such a part than Stanislas. He made 
 the most pathetic appeals to his subjects, and fre- 
 quently spoke in a strain more fit for an unfortunate 
 but patriotic hero, than for one who had done nothing 
 but affect a few tears (for we can hardly doubt that 
 they were hypocritical) over the misfortunes which 
 he had brought on his country. The following sen- 
 tence must have sounded strangely in his mouth : 
 
 * When Poninski informed Reyten that the ministers had conde- 
 scended to set aside the sentence of outlawry against him, and besides 
 offered him 2000 ducats to defray his travelling expenses to whatever 
 country he chose to retire, the stanch constitutionalist answered, " I 
 nsve with me 5000 ducats ; I make you an offer of them, provided you 
 will resign the marshal's staff, and with it corruption and dishonour." 
 One of the Prussian generals who was present, struck with the disin- 
 terestedness of the patriot, exclaimed, Opfime vir, gratulor tibi : optime 
 rem tuarn egisti. This truly great man, in one of his violent fits of in- 
 sanity, brought on by distress at the fate of his country, one day seized 
 a glass from which he had been drinking, broke it to pieces with hia 
 teeth, and swallowing the fragments, expired on the 8th of August, 1780. 
 
THE DIET APPOINT COMMISSIONERS. 233 
 
 '* Fecimus quce potuimus, omnia tentavimus, nihil 
 omistmus."* Again, on the 10th of May he abso- 
 lutely had the audacity to defend his political con- 
 duct, stating, that " He had always done his duty 
 whenever any business depended on him."t 
 
 On the 17th of May the diet agreed to Poninski's 
 motion, to appoint a commission that, in conjunc- 
 tion with the three ambassadors, should regulate the . 
 limits of the four countries, and determine upon the 
 changes in the Polish government. On the 18th the 
 commissioners were nominated by the king and 
 Poninski. 
 
 Some small remains of liberty lingered even among 
 the commissioners, and called for fresh threats and 
 violence from the allied powers. At length they 
 agreed to ratify the treaty of the 5th of August, and 
 establish a permanent council, in whom the execu- 
 tive power was to be vested. This council consisted 
 of forty members, and was divided into four depart- 
 ments, which engrossed every branch of adminis- 
 tration. The king was the nominal president, but 
 the real authority was possessed by the Russian 
 ambassador. 
 
 The partition was not fully arranged till 1774, and 
 then Prussia and Austria began to extend their 
 bounds beyond the agreed limits. Dappetit vient 
 en mangeant, and these encroachments were a sad 
 augury of future partitions to the Poles. 
 
 The indifference with which other states regarded 
 this partition was indeed surprising. France, in 
 particular, might have been expected to protest 
 against it ; but the imbecility and dotage of Louis 
 XV., and the weakness of his minister, paid too little 
 attention to the interests of their own nation to be 
 likely to think of others. They made the most frivo- 
 lous excuses, and even had the meanness to attempt 
 to shift the blame on the shoulders of their ambas- 
 
 * Discours du Roi, prononc d la Di<he le 5 Mai, 1773. 
 f Discours du Roi a la Di<ke, 10 &lai, 1773. 
 
 U2 
 
234 HISTORY OF POLAND. < 
 
 sador at Vienna, pretending that he amused himself 
 with hunting, instead of politics, and had no know- 
 ledge of the design of partition until it was consum- 
 mated. Louis contented himself with saying, with 
 an affectation of rage, " It would not have happened 
 if Choiseul had been here !" Some few patriots in 
 England declaimed on the injustice of the proceed- 
 ing ; but the spirit of the ministry, which was occu- 
 pied in wrangling with the American colonies about 
 the imposition of taxes, was not likely to be very 
 attentive to the cries of oppressed liberty. 
 
 The partition is not one of those equivocal acts 
 which seem to vibrate between right and wrong, 
 justice and injustice, and demand the most accurate 
 analysis to ascertain on which side they prepon- 
 derate. Argument is thrown away on such a sub- 
 ject ; for to doubt about the nature of a plain deci- 
 sive act like this, must necessarily proceed from 
 something even worse than uncertainty and skepti- 
 cism concerning the simple fundamental princi js 
 of moial action. A little reflection, however, <vill 
 not be lost on so memorable a portion of history, 
 which opens a wider field for instruction than the 
 " thousand homilies" on the ambition, and glory, and 
 other commonplaces of Greek and Roman history. 
 Such great political crimes reveal a corresponding 
 system of motives of as black a hue, and even the 
 narrowest experience teaches us that motives are 
 never so well traced as in their results. The cor- 
 rupt principle which prompts injustice and deceit in 
 foreign transactions would operate equally in do- 
 mestic affairs ; and the minister who uses hypocrisy 
 and falsehood in manifestoes and treaties would not 
 scruple to do the same in matters of private life. 
 An implicit confidence in enemies like these was 
 one of the amiable " crimes" for which " Sarmatia 
 fell unwept." 
 
STATE OF POLAND. 235 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 8ttfe of Poland Stanislas proposes a Reform Diet of 1788, or Con- 
 stitutional Diet Alliance with Prussia Constitution of the 3d of 
 May Irresolution of Stanislas Treachery of Frederic William 
 Opposition of Russia to the Polish Reform Confederacy of Targowica 
 Frederic William's Letter to Stanislas The Russians enter Poland 
 Irresolution of Stanislas The Prussians enter Poland Frederic's 
 Manifesto Opposition of the Confederates to Russia overcome- 
 Frederic's Claims Tyranny of Sievers Concession of the Diet 
 Second Partition. 
 
 THE adverse fate of the confederacy of Bar had 
 exhausted most of Poland's best blood, and the gall- 
 ing Russian yoke had broken her few choice sur- 
 viving spirits ; so that this once proud and gallant 
 nation was bent as supinely and submissively to its 
 despots as if their domination had been founded on 
 the rock of ages. But the free spirit of inquiry, 
 which had gone forth during the latter part of the 
 last reign, could not be confined by Russian chains, 
 and it soon roused many minds from their disgrace- 
 ful lethargy. The exertions of Konarski had long 
 weakened the influence of the Jesuits, and even the 
 few remains of conventual superstition were swept 
 away, in 1773, by Pope Clement's famous bull, which 
 pronounced the suppression of that powerful order. 
 The same diet which had sealed the fatal treaty of 
 partition had appropriated the revenues of the Jesuits 
 to the purpose of national education, and at the same 
 time established a commission to superintend this 
 important work. This excellent institution served 
 to counteract the demoralizing effects of foreign 
 subjugation; the "medicine 'of the mind" was uni- 
 versally administered; the national literature was 
 strenuously cultivated; every young Pole now 
 studied the history of his country; and the pre- 
 
S36 HISTORY OF POLAND. 
 
 ceptor finished his lectures on the story of patriotism, 
 with the stirring monition, " Go thou and do like- 
 wise !" 
 
 All these causes pressed forward the Poles in that 
 march of improvement which it is now our pleasing 
 office to record. In the diet of 1776 the king him- 
 self urged the necessity of revising the constitution; 
 and proposed Zamoyski, the patriotic chancellor, 
 whose memorable resignation, in 1767, was yet fresh 
 in their memory, as the proper person to undertake 
 the task. The proposal was received with universal 
 applause, and Zamoyski laid his new code before the 
 diet in 1780. He recommended the abolition of those 
 two fatal privileges, the liberum veto, and election of 
 the monarch ; another equally important scheme 
 was the emancipation of the serfs; the trading classes 
 also were to be raised to a share in the government, 
 by having the right of electing deputies for the diet; 
 commerce was to be encouraged ; and, in short, Poland 
 was to overtake the other states of Europe in civiliza- 
 tion. Zamoyski had himself set the example of 
 emancipating his serfs on his lands in Biezun, thus 
 giving them an interest in the welfare of the country. 
 He was imitated by the king's nephew, Stanislas 
 Poniatowski, and other nobles; but the generality 
 of the Polish nobility were more short-sighted to 
 their real advantage, and Russian policy backed 
 them in their opposition to this liberal and politic 
 design ; so that not only was the new constitution 
 rejected in the diet of 1780, but Zamoyski was pro- 
 nounced by most of the voices a traitor to his coun- 
 try. This attempt, though unsuccessful, was not 
 without its good effects. 
 
 The king still cherished the scheme, but fearing 
 the interference of Russia, he obtained from Catha- 
 rine, with whom he had an interview in her progress 
 to the Crimea in May, 1787, a solemn promise that 
 she would not make his proposed changes the plea 
 for another invasion. The Emperor of Austria, who 
 
POLICY OF PRUSSIA. 237 
 
 also visited Catharine, made him a similar assurance. 
 In August of the same year war breaking out between 
 Russia and Turkey, Catharine suggested an offensive 
 and defensive alliance with Poland. This offer was 
 referred to the diet of the next year. 
 
 In the mean time Frederic William, successor 
 of his uncle Frederic the Great, was plotting with 
 England, Holland, and Sweden, against Russia and 
 Austria, and pretended to the Poles that he attached 
 much importance to their friendship. As an induce- 
 ment to detach them from Russia, he, so far from 
 opposing the change in the constitution, gave it his 
 full approval. The diet was convoked for the 30th 
 of September, 1788, and was confederated, which 
 emancipated it from the shackles of the liberumveto; 
 and on the 12th of October the Prussian minister 
 presented to the diet a memorial protesting against 
 the league with Russia against Turkey, and offered 
 the alliance of Prussia in its room. The diet returned 
 for answer, that they had no intention of entering 
 into any offensive alliance with Russia. 
 
 The diet at the same time proceeded in their work 
 of independence ; they decreed the increase of the 
 army to 100,000 men, and established a commission 
 of war, which was to be entirely independent of the 
 king or the council. They also demanded that the 
 Russian troops should immediately evacuate the 
 kingdom. This called forth a protest from the Rus- 
 sian minister, stating, that "he must regard the 
 least change in the constitution of 1775 as a violation 
 of the treaties." The Prussian ambassador, on the 
 contrary, assured them, that his master would not 
 interfere in any of their arrangements, or control 
 their deliberations. The ordinary duration of the 
 diet was now almost expired, and they decreed to 
 prolong it indefinitely; an innovation which gave the 
 Russians fresh umbrage. 
 
 The Poles were for some time wavering between 
 Russia and Prussia. On one side it was urged, that 
 
238 HISTORY OF POLAND. 
 
 it was folly to set the former at open defiance, while 
 they were so entirely at her mercy, and that " with 
 the protection of Russia they could reform their con- 
 stitution, and render their political existence firmer, 
 and, perhaps, recover one-third of the possessions 
 which they had lost." On the other hand, the oppo- 
 site party argued the advantages of the Prussian 
 alliance, at once ensuring a new constitution and 
 protection from Russia. Credulity has ever been a 
 Polish weakness ; and none but a Pole would have 
 thought of Russian restitution, or have trusted to the 
 protection of Frederic William. It is amusing to 
 hear how seriously the Poles talk of the importance 
 of their alliance. "All these powers," says Count 
 Oginski,* speaking of Prussia and her allies, " which 
 agreed in principles, found that it was necessary to 
 comprehend Poland in this new league," &c. No 
 doubt Poland would have served for " a barrier to 
 the ambition of Russia," that is, might have received 
 for a short time the blows intended for Prussia, as a 
 reward for its fidelity to Frederic William. This 
 king's aim had long been to obtain possession of 
 Thorn and Dantzig, that the commerce of the 
 Vistula might be entirely at his mercy. Aware, 
 however, that the Poles would not willingly part 
 with these towns, he ordered his ambassador, Luc- 
 chesini, to hint his wish, but to state also that he 
 did not make it an essential article of the treaty. 
 Other reasons biassed the Poles against Russia. 
 She of the three dividing states was the most hateful 
 to Poland ; her ministers still domineered there, her 
 troops still plundered and insulted the inhabitants, 
 while the Prussians had left them without rankling 
 the wounds they had made. The Prussian ambas- 
 sador at Warsaw further inflamed this hostile feel- 
 ing, by affecting to tell, as a confidential communi- 
 cation, " That Russia had proposed to the King of 
 
 * Vol. i. p. 29. 
 
ALLIANCE WITH PRUSSIA. 239 
 
 Poland to put him in possession of Great Poland if 
 he would remain neuter in the war against the 
 Turks." The lie passed from mouth to mouth with 
 full belief; the alliance with Prussia was decreed by 
 the diet on the 15th of March, 1790, and the treaty 
 of commerce was the next subject of debate. 
 
 Now that Frederic William had enticed the Poles 
 to throw off the yoke of Russia, which they would 
 hardly have dared to do had they not depended on 
 his sanction and that of his allies, his end was 
 answered. He began to talk more decidedly about 
 the cession of Thorn and Dantzig. He knew the 
 Poles had gone too far to retract and make their 
 peace with Russia ; and that in case of a termination 
 of the Turkish war, Catharine would punish their 
 revolt by further confiscation, in which case Frederic 
 must have a pretext for seizing these two towns. 
 He says in his letter to Stanislas, dated the^ llth of 
 August, 1790, " I have no objection to a discussion 
 of the existing treaty of commerce, or the conclusion 
 of a new one, foreseeing with certainty that it will be 
 acknowledged that the proposal which 1 have made 
 (the cession of Thorn and Dantzig) to compensate 
 me for a considerable loss of my customs, is and 
 always will be the only just and practicable way to 
 render the commerce of the Polish nation as flourish- 
 ing as possible," &c. The Poles were naturally 
 averse to yield the commerce of the Vistula entirely 
 into .the hands of Prussia; and instructed their 
 ambassadors to the various courts in alliance with 
 Prussia to endeavour to set aside the demand. All 
 these attempts were useless;* Dantzig and Thorn 
 
 * Pitt, the English minister, expressed himself very decidedly on this 
 point to Count Oginski, the Polish ambassador. " What advantage," he 
 said to that nobleman, " do you derive from these two outlets for your 
 productions in the state of weakness in which you are at present groan- 
 ing under the protection of the court of Petersburg ? The King of 
 Prussia, in offering you his friendship and a treaty of alliance, presents 
 you with the means of escaping from this abject state, and that alone 
 would be worth the expense of making the few sacrifices the> require 
 
240 HISTORY OF POLAND. 
 
 must be the price of the commercial treaty.* Not- 
 withstanding the Poles felt this, the diet in the early 
 part of 1791 decreed that no portion of the states of 
 the republic was ever to be alienated. They thus 
 deprived themselves even of the show of protection 
 from Prussia, and undertook to make all these pro- 
 posed changes entirely on their own responsibility. ' 
 
 The diet, however, proceeded boldly in their work 
 of reform. In April, 1791, the towns were admitted 
 to the elective franchise ; the absurd authority of the 
 dietines was abolished, excepting when in a change 
 of the civil or criminal laws ; the liberum veto was 
 abrogated, unanimity in the diets being no longer 
 required, but a plurality of votes was decreed suffi- 
 cient in general matters, while, for declarations of 
 war, treaties, &c. three-fourths of the votes were 
 requisite, and for taxes, &c. two-thirds. But the 
 3d of IVtay was the grand day which was to give 
 birth to the new constitution. The articles had been 
 long in preparation, and the king now expressed his 
 full sanction of the measure. The reformers were 
 well aware that there still remained some enemies to 
 the proposed change ; and though the 5th of May was 
 the day proposed, they altered it to the 3d, that they 
 might anticipate any coalition of the opponents. 
 
 On the grand day thousands of spectators thronged 
 the royal castle of Warsaw, where the diets are held, 
 to witness the fine spectacle of a nation throwing off 
 the trammels of an antiquated and absurd legislature. 
 After the patriotic Marshal Malachowski had ad- 
 dressed the assembly in terms appropriate to the 
 solemnity of the occasion, he proposed that the report 
 of the commission for foreign affairs should be read. 
 
 of you, and which the court of Berlin proposes to you as the condition 
 of entering into a treaty of commerce with Poland." Memoires de 
 Michel Oginski, torn. i. 
 
 * Segur says, that after the convention of Reichenbach, " Frederic 
 William spoke no more of Dantzig and Thorn," vol. i. p. 296. He must 
 mean as a compensation for th<3 possessions which Austria was to retain 
 by the treaty with Turkey. 
 
CHANGE IN THE CONSTITUTION. 241 
 
 The object was to display the sinister designs of 
 Russia, and the consequent necessity of using the 
 most enlightened policy to counteract them. When 
 this startling document had been gone through, Po- 
 tocki called on the king, as the only person who was 
 unfettered by party jealousy, to devise the most effi- 
 cacious means to save the country. 
 
 Stanislas rose, and declared that the only mode to 
 preserve the kingdom from the dangers to which the 
 abuses of its legislature had exposed it was by abol- 
 ishing all those abuses, and establishing immediately 
 a new and solid constitution. He added, that, having 
 been convinced of this a long time, he had prepared 
 a plan which he would submit to the assembly. 
 
 The new constitution called forth some passionate 
 invectives from the opposition members, but the re- 
 formers far outnumbered their opponents, and Zabi- 
 ello, a Livonian deputy, called on the king and the 
 diet to take an oath of adherence to the constitution 
 immediately. The proposal was received with shouts 
 of applause ; the king ordered the bishop of Cracow 
 to administer the oath to him, and afterward added, 
 " 1 have sworn, and I will never swerve from it. I 
 call on all those who love their country to follow me 
 to the church to take the same oath." He then pro- 
 ceeded to the cathedral, followed by all the diet except 
 twelve members ; and all the bishops, ministers, 
 senators, and deputies repeated the solemn oath to 
 support the constitution. 
 
 The principal articles were as follows : 
 
 The Catholic religion was to remain that of the 
 state ; all other sects were tolerated, but the king was 
 to be a Roman Catholic. 
 
 The eligibility of the throne was abolished, and 
 the family of Saxony was to be called to the succes 
 sion on the death of Stanislas. The executive power 
 was intrusted to the king and his council composed 
 of six ministers, who could be deprived of their office 
 by a majority in the diet. While the diets were not 
 
 A 
 
242 HISTORY OF POLAND. 
 
 sitting 1 , the king was to have the power of making- 
 treaties, &c. The regulations of the 18th of April 
 concerning the deputies of the citizens were con- 
 firmed. The liberum veto and all confederacies were 
 abolished entirely, and it was agreed that a revision 
 of the constitution was to take place every twenty- 
 fifth year. 
 
 Congratulations poured in upon Stanislas from 
 almost all the courts of Europe ; and even the pope 
 was among the number of congratulators. The po- 
 liticians in England were enthusiastic in their admira- 
 tion of the new constitution. " It is a work," said 
 Fox, " in which every friend to reasonable liberty 
 must be sincerely interested." "Humanity," ex- 
 claimed Burke, "must rejoice and glory when it 
 considers the change in Poland !" Frederic William 
 testified his approbation of the proceeding in his 
 letter to the king, dated the 23d of May. Among 
 other things, he says, "I congratulate myself on 
 having had it in my power to contribute to maintain 
 the liberty and independence of the Polish nation, 
 and one of my most pleasing cares will be to support 
 and draw closer the bond which unites us." 
 
 Notwithstanding the ardour of Stanislas in the 
 work of reform, those who were acquainted with his 
 character felt the greatest apprehensions about his 
 determination. He burst into tears one day, on 
 hearing that such fears existed, and assured his au- 
 ditors "that those persons were much mistaken 
 about him; that he had always been unfortunate, 
 but never guilty towards the nation ; that his conduct 
 would belie the bad opinion entertained of him, and 
 that no human force could shake the sentiments he 
 professed, and would manifest, in exposing his life, 
 if it were necessary, to support the constitution, and 
 consolidate the happiness of Poland." 
 
 Although Frederic William joined the other princes 
 in congratulations to Stanislas, on his important 
 reform in the constitution, his heart did not go with 
 
TREATY OF REICHENBACH. 243 
 
 them. His politics were undergoing a complete 
 change; and his mind, naturally tortuous, readily 
 glided through the ever-winding paths of events 
 which sprung up at this time in such confusion. The 
 death of the emperor Joseph, in January, 1790, was 
 one of these important circumstances. His suc- 
 cessor, Leopold, found his throne tottering to the 
 very foundation, and gladly availed himself of Frede- 
 ric's hatred to exertion, to avert a Prussian inroad, 
 and obtain peace.* A treaty was concluded between 
 the two powers at Reichenbach, on the 27th of July, 
 1790, including Turkey. This treaty had the most 
 important influence on the politics of Europe gene- 
 rally; and Poland, being almost the focus for the 
 intrigues of the three adjacent courts, experienced 
 their effects in the highest degree. Russia, aban- 
 doned by Austria, found it expedient to make peace, 
 which she did with Sweden, within eighteen days 
 after the convention of Reichenbach. Although the 
 sultan had one enemy the less, he also was inclined 
 to a cessation of war, since at best he could only aim 
 at making the least disadvantageous peace: this 
 seemed the critical moment, before Russia recovered 
 from her alarm ; and the treaty was concluded be- 
 tween Catharine and the Porte, at Jassy, on the 4th 
 of August, 1791. Russia was thus set at liberty to 
 turn her attention to Poland, almost at the very crisis 
 when Frederic had grown less than lukewarm in their 
 cause, and Leopold had not had time to forget that it 
 had been allied against him. The French revolution, 
 too, which burst out about this time, had the highest 
 influence on the fate of Poland : dangers drew the 
 monarchs of Europe more closely together, and they 
 now more than ever dreaded the name of reform. 
 The prudence and uprightness of Leopold, however, 
 acted for some time as a check to Frederic William's 
 versatility and treachery : but this was removed by 
 
 * The motives which changed Frederic's political views may be seea 
 in Segur's Decade Historique, vol. i. p. 5189. 
 
244 HISTORY OF POLAND. 
 
 the emperor's death, on the 1st of March, 1792. 
 Even if the King of Prussia had been honest in his 
 promises to Poland, his alarm at the revolutionary 
 proceedings in France would have prevented him 
 from performing them in defiance of Russia, that he 
 might be at liberty to attempt to crush the nascent 
 spirit of independence in France. All the negotia- 
 tions between the three powers were now veiled in 
 the closest secrecy ; but time has since shown, that 
 Catl^arine made private and distinct arrangements 
 with Prussia and Austria, to prevent any opposition 
 to her designs on Poland. 
 
 On the 16th of April, 1792, the deputation for the 
 management of foreign affairs laid an official notice 
 before the diet concerning the hostile preparations of 
 Russia. Notwithstanding this, the diet went on 
 boldly in their work of reform ; and the 3d of May, 
 the anniversary of the new constitution, was set apart 
 for public rejoicing. But some gloomy presentiments 
 imbittered all the festivity ; Felix Potocki, Branicki, 
 and Rzewinski, the three chief nobles who opposed 
 the reform, although apparently isolated from the rest 
 of the Poles, had been endeavouring secretly to make 
 converts, and had been during some time at Jassy, 
 an omen that boded no good. The diet invested the 
 king with full executive power, placing the army 
 entirely at his orders, and allowing him to employ 
 foreign engineers. They also ordered thirty millions 
 of money to be placed at his disposal, should war 
 break put, and gave him liberty to convoke the 
 pospolite, in case the army of 100,000 men was not 
 sufficient. 
 
 News shortly arrived that the recusant nobles had 
 signed an act of confederacy at Targowica,* on the 
 14th of May ; and four days after, the Russian minis- 
 ter presented a protest from his mistress, against the 
 innovations, promising to pardon all those who would 
 
 * They could only muster thirteen. 
 
CONFEDERACY OF TARGOWICA. 245 
 
 renounce them, but threatening all who refused to do 
 so. Although this declaration of war, for such it was, 
 must have been expected by all the thinking Poles, 
 they had no doubt hoped for some fortunate event to 
 avert the blow : and, ever credulous, some still de- 
 pended on Fiederic William. This monarch, how- 
 ever, soon undeceived them ; for in answer to the 
 king's letter of the 31st of May, he says, "I will 
 frankly confess, that after all that had passed during 
 the last year, it was easy to foresee the difficulties in 
 which the King of Poland now finds himself involved. 
 On more than one occasion, the Marquis of Lucche- 
 sini has been commissioned to communicate my fears 
 on that point, as well to your majesty as the leading 
 members of the government. Since the time when 
 the re-establishment of the general tranquillity in 
 Europe has allowed explanation, and since the Em- 
 press of Russia has evinced a decided opposition to 
 the revolution of the 3d of May, my way of thinking 
 and the language of my ministers have never varied. 
 While I viewed with a calm eye the new constitution 
 which the republic has made for itself with my ap- 
 proval and concurrence, I never thought of support- 
 ing it, or protecting it. 
 
 " Your majesty will feel that, the state of things 
 having entirely changed since the alliance I con- 
 tracted with you, and that the present conjunctures, 
 produced by the constitution of the 3d of May, not 
 being conformable to the engagements which were 
 stipulated, it is not my part to comply with the ex- 
 pectations of your majesty."* 
 
 We hardly dare to allow ourselves to express our 
 feelings on reading this letter, but prefer to give the 
 opinion of one who had more experience in the un- 
 worthy tricks of politicians. " We have often seen," 
 says Count Se"gur, "justice sacrificed to ambition in 
 politics, but never have politicians allowed themselves 
 
 * See Segur's Decade, vol. ii. p. 388. 
 
246 HISTORY OF POLAND. 
 
 to disown engagements so public, so recent, and to 
 sport so openly with the faith of treaties."* 
 
 On the 18th of May the Russian army, consisting 
 of 80,000 troops of the line and 20,000 Cossacks, 
 received their orders to enter Poland. The Polish 
 army consisted of three divisions, one headed by the 
 king's nephew, Joseph Poniatowski, the second by 
 Michael Wielhorski, and the third by the famous 
 Kosciusko. Stanislas promised to put himself at the 
 head of his troops, and the Poles in general looked 
 forward with sanguine hopes. Those, however, who 
 knew the king had no such expectations,! and were 
 not surprised when he formed a new council of war, 
 and ordered Joseph Poniatowski to retire towards 
 the river Bug, in order to concentrate the forces 
 about Warsaw. Several skirmishes occurred, in 
 which the Poles had, in general,*the advantage. 
 
 Kosciusko had a glorious affair at Zielence, on the 
 18th of June ; and Mokranowski distinguished him- 
 self at Polonna, at the head of his cavalry. But the 
 battle of Dubienka was the most decisive affray in 
 this short and tantalizing campaign. Headed by 
 Kosciusko, the Poles withstood an enemy three times 
 their number, and made an honourable retreat, after 
 much slaughter. The courage and prudence exhibited 
 by Kosciusko on this day marked him out to the 
 Poles as one of their greatest military champions. In 
 Lithuania the army was restricted by similar orders, 
 and the Russians advanced almost unopposed. 
 
 Notwithstanding his timid counsels, the king con- 
 tinued to act the hero at least in words, and fre- 
 quently exclaimed, with enthusiasm, " that he would 
 
 * By the 6th article of the treaty of 1790, Frederic William was 
 bound to protect the republic from foreign interference, "at any time or 
 in any manner." Segur's Decade Historique, vol. ii. 
 
 t The Poles, it must he confessed, showed the most tender regard to 
 the divine person of their king. " I do not speak," says Oginski, " of the 
 design which it is said he formed to repair to the camp of Dubno, where 
 a body of 12,000 men were assembled ; for this enterprise would have 
 cost too many sacrifices of his peaceful liabits^Mem. de Michel Ogin- 
 W, vol. i. p. WO. 
 
STANISLAS SIGNS THE CONFEDERACY. 247 
 
 rather die gloriously than betray the confidence of 
 his nation, and sacrifice the interest of his subjects*" 
 Every day, however, gave the lie to this assertion, 
 and his irresolution was hourly exhibited more 
 glaringly. 
 
 Of this his observation on reading a spirited pro- 
 test of the Lithuanians against the traitorous con- 
 federacy is a striking exemplification : " It is well, 
 very well ; but are they not afraid of compromising 
 themselves, and exposing themselves to persecution, 
 if chances happened to turn out against us ?" This 
 short remark speaks his real sentiments. On the 
 22d of June he wrote to the empress, offering to 
 make the grand-duke Constantine his successor ; but 
 he only received reproaches for having violated the 
 pacta conventa, and a palpable hint to join the con- 
 federation of Targowica. On the 23d of July the 
 king signed the act of the confederates, and Poland 
 was o r ice more in the hands of the Russians. The 
 patriot officers were discharged ; the army was dis- 
 banded, or scattered in small detachments, and the 
 inhabitants of the various districts were obliged to 
 accede to the confederation, and declare that all the 
 proceedings of the constitutional diet Were acts of 
 despotism. The latter part of this year was spent 
 in making these arrangements, and negotiating with 
 the confederates. 
 
 Early in 1793 the Prussian troops entered Great 
 Poland. The confederates, whose commissioners 
 now sat at Grodno, in vain remonstrated with the 
 Russian minister; their only answer was, that he 
 was ignorant of the designs of Frederic William, 
 but they must take care not to incense that prince 
 by imprudent hostilities, without having previously 
 consulted the court of Russia. The confederates, at 
 least all those who were not mere creatures of 
 Catharine, now began to repent their rashness, and 
 they issued a protestation, on the 3d of February, 
 against the Prussian invasion, wound up with these 
 
248 HISTORY OF POLAND. 
 
 words: "We will preserve our republic whole, or 
 none of us will survive our disaster." 
 
 To add to the calamities of Poland, the richest 
 bankers of Warsaw, in whose hands capitalists had 
 vested immense sums, declared themselves insolvent. 
 This shock was severely felt by the greatest portion 
 of the moneyed Poles ; for the bankers, by giving- as 
 high a rate of interest as seven or eight per cent., 
 were the holders of most of the capital. 
 
 On the 25th of March Frederic issued a mani- 
 festo, stating openly his intention of seizing Great 
 Poland,* and assigning as motives for this treachery 
 and disregard of his former treaties, that the princi- 
 ples of jacobinism were gaining ground fast in that 
 country ; " that the spirit of French democracy and 
 the principles of that atrocious sect, which seeks to 
 make proselytes on all sides, begin to take deep root 
 in Poland, so that the manoeuvres of the jacobin 
 emissaries are powerfully supported there, and that 
 there are already formed there several revolutionary 
 clubs, which make an open profession of their senti- 
 ments."! He admits that he had previously con- 
 certed this invasion with the courts of Vienna and 
 Petersburg; that he intends to incorporate several 
 
 * Oginski commits seme egregious blunders in this part of his Me- 
 moirs. He quotes Frederic's manifesto of the 25th of March, " It is 
 known by all Europe," &c., as one dated the 16th of January. 
 
 It is evident the count never read the original, for he makes the sen- 
 tence " Le Roi aime," &c. the termination, whereas it is in the middle. 
 I T e says also that Dantzig is not named in this manifesto ; whereas we 
 find, " In consequence, we have resolved, in concert with her majesty 
 the empress of all the Russias, to take possession of the districts above 
 named, as veil as of the towns of Thorn and Duntzig, and to incorpo- 
 rate them in our states," &c. See Appendix to Segur. 
 
 f As these singular documents are of great importance, we will 
 transcribe a few striking clauses. After stating that he has ordered his 
 troops to enter Poland, he proceeds, u He flatters himself, that with feel- 
 ings so pacific, he may depend on the good-will of a nation whose wel- 
 fare can never be indifferent to him, and to which he wishes to give real 
 proofs of his affection and regard." To add the last step to this climax 
 of galling insult, he orders all the inhabitants, "under penalty of the 
 punishment customary in such cases of refusal," to take an oath of alle- 
 giance to himself and his successors. 
 
DECLARATION OF SIEVERS AND BUCHOLZ. 249 
 
 districts of Great Poland and the towns of Thorn 
 and Dantzig with his states, promising, at the same 
 time, to maintain all the inhabitants in their posses- 
 sions, privileges, and rights, secular and ecclesiastic. 
 
 The empress ordered her minister, Sievers, to con- 
 cert with the envoy of Prussia, Bucholz, the partition 
 of the kingdom ; and on the 9th of April they laid 
 before the commissioners of the confederates at 
 Grodno a declaration, involving the destiny of Po- 
 land. After having formerly stated that they only 
 came as allies of the majority of the nation, they 
 now complain that " the spirit of faction and discon- 
 tent has spread to such a great extent, that those 
 who give themselves the trouble of fomenting it and 
 rendering it general, having failed in their intrigues 
 with foreign courts to attach suspicion to the designs 
 of Russia, have directed all their efforts to fascinate 
 the eyes of the people, always easy to seduce. 
 They have succeeded so far that this same people, 
 after being frustrated in their criminal designs, have 
 become the sharers in the hatred and enmity which 
 they have vowed against the empire of Russia. 
 Without mentioning here several facts generally 
 known, and which prove the hostile inclinations of 
 the greatest part of the Poles, it will suffice to say 
 that they have abused the principles of humanity 
 and moderation which directed the generals and offi- 
 cers of the army of her majesty the empress in 
 their operations and in their conduct, according to 
 the empress's orders given them in this particular ; 
 so that they had risen against them in every way, 
 ill treating them, turning them into ridicule, and th<* 
 boldest among them have even dared to speak of the 
 Sicilian Vespers, threatening them with the same 
 fate." They state that they have the consent of 
 Austria to limit the extent of Poland, and invite the 
 Poles to a diet, to co-operate with them in making 
 this arrangement. 
 
 The ministers obliged the confederated commission 
 
250 HISTORY OF POLAND. 
 
 to re-establish the permanent council which had been 
 instituted in 1775, which was so readily made an in- 
 strument of Russia, and which had been abolished 
 by the reformers. They also urged the king and his 
 new council to convoke the diet immediately at 
 Grodno ; but before issuing the circular letters for 
 the election, Stanislas resolved to try his personal 
 influence with Catharine, and offered at the same 
 time to abdicate the throne. To this proposal she 
 replied, through her minister, that the moment he 
 chose for abdication was the least opportune ; and 
 that all considerations of propriety required him 
 to retain the reins of authority in his hands until 
 he had extricated the kingdom from its present 
 troubles. 
 
 To ensure a majority in the diet, the ministers 
 obliged the commission'of the confederacy to pass a 
 temporary law, called sandtum, dated the llth of 
 May, that those should not be eligible who had not 
 acceded to the confederacy, or had concurred in the 
 establishment of the new constitution. To make 
 security still more sure, another sancitum was passed, 
 which extended the restriction to all who had pro- 
 tested against any of the commissioners' decisions. 
 To enforce these laws Russian garrisons were placed 
 in all the places appointed for the dietines. 
 
 The king was now as imbecile as ever ; and his 
 answer to Count Oginski's proposal to plan a deter- 
 mined resistance is a sad omen of his conduct. 
 " God is witness," said he, " of the purity of the in- 
 tentions of my heart ; I have nothing to reproach 
 myself with ; the misfortunes which overwhelm Po- 
 land consume me with grief, and shorten my days, 
 without a possibility of my being able to be useful 
 to it. Under any other circumstances Count Ogin- 
 ski's project would be very good ; but, to sum up our 
 calculation, what result would be produced by this 
 rhodomontade on my part, which does not suit either 
 my age or my strength, exhausted by labours and 
 
RESISTANCE TO RUSSIA'S DEMANDS. 251 
 
 perpetual vexations ?" He opened this fatal diet on 
 the 17th of June, by announcing his fears for the 
 fate of his country, and recommending negotiation 
 as the only means of procuring any alleviation of 
 their troubles. The Russian and Prussian ministers 
 sent a note to the assembly, requiring them to com- 
 ply with the demands contained in the manifesto of 
 the 29th of March. The diet, although so artfully 
 picked by Russia, was not at first very tractable; 
 some little portion of patriotism found its way into 
 it in spite of the care and scrutiny employed. Sie- 
 vers, Catharine's minister, demanded that the treaty 
 should be signed on the 17th of July ; and this an- 
 nouncement, which brought the Poles face to face 
 with the destiny preparing for them, roused even the 
 most listless. "They threaten us with Siberia," 
 said the deputies ; " those deserts will not be without 
 charms for us; every thing there will recall the 
 cause of our country to our minds ! Well, let us go 
 to Siberia! Conduct us there, sire! There your 
 virtue and ours will make our enemies tremble !" 
 At this exclamation, a part of the assembly rose 
 spontaneously, crying out, "Yes, let us go to Siberia! 
 Let us set out!" After this burst of enthusiasm, 
 Karski, deputy for Pk^k, having in his eye some 
 who did not, he knew, share in this patriotic feeling, 
 declared that " if there was any one in that hall who 
 dared to sanction the treaty, he would be the first to 
 teach him what fate a traitor deserves." Misfortune, 
 remarks Segur, has its intoxication as well as happi- 
 ness. The king was highly alarmed at these remains 
 of patriotism, and exhorted the diet to comply with 
 the demands of the ministers. The bishop of Livo- 
 nia exerted all his powers of artifice as well as ora- 
 tory to induce them to submit; he assured them 
 that " when the Empress of Russia was satisfied,- 
 she would not insist on the cession of the provinces 
 which the King of Prussia had invaded ; and, conse- 
 quently, by making the concessions to Russia they 
 
252 HISTORY OF POLAND. 
 
 would avoid those which Prussia required." The 
 ardour of these credulous patriots was soon cooled ; 
 the motion passed with a majority of seventy- three 
 voices against twenty, and, after a few days' debate 
 on the several articles, the sad and disgraceful treaty 
 was signed on the 23d of July. On the following 
 day the Prussian minister demanded concessions, 
 similar to those just made, in his master's name. 
 
 But, humiliated as the Poles were, they could not 
 stifle their indignation at Frederic William's treach- 
 ery; he it was, they said, who, by his deceitful 
 promises, had urged them to rebel against the tyr- 
 anny of Russia ; he was the Satan, exclaimed they, 
 who tempted us to eat the forbidden fruit of liberty, 
 and now he not only laughs at our misfortune, but is 
 one of the instruments to inflict it. They could not 
 forget how warmly he had expressed his approval of 
 all the reforms he now complained of. He could not 
 erase from their remembrance the letter he had writ- 
 ten to his ambassador at Warsaw, Count Goltz : " In 
 conformity with the friendly feeling which has al- 
 ways led me to co-operate for the prosperity of the 
 republic as well as to consolidate its new constitution, 
 a feeling of which I have never failed to give every 
 proof in my power, I admire and applaud the import 
 ant step* which the nation has taken, and which J 
 consider essential to consolidate its welfare. I re- 
 quest you to present, in the most solemn manner, 
 my sincere congratulations to the king, to the mar- 
 shals of the diet, and all those who have contributed 
 to such an important work." But imprecations were 
 now the only instruments of Polish vengeance, and 
 we have already had frequent opportunities of seeing 
 the efficiency of the Poles in this as in other species of 
 warfare. The king, the butt of all parties, occasion- 
 'ally threw a dash of his theatrical pathos into the 
 scene, protesting his innocence of the misfortunes of 
 
 * The choice of the Elector of Saxony for successor to Stanislas. 
 
VIOLENCE OF SIEVERS. 253 
 
 his country ; and the diet absolutely had the patience, 
 on many occasions, to hear him exclaim, " We have 
 done all that lay in our power, we have made every 
 attempt, and we have omitted nothing !"* But when 
 he urged the deputies to ratify the treaty, their for- 
 bearance was exhausted ; they told him some hard 
 truths ; that he was only the instrument of Catha- 
 rine to tyrannize and oppress the Poles ; that had he 
 not paralyzed their arms in the campaign of 1792, 
 they milght now be enjoying their liberty, or at least 
 the satisfaction of having done their duty. 
 
 This was only a procrastination of the evil day ; 
 Russian despotism, which at home knew no other 
 law but " to say to this man go, and he goeth, and to 
 another come, and he cometh," was not mollified by 
 migrating a few miles farther to the west ; and on the 
 22d of September Sievers sent another declaration 
 to the diet to insist on the immediate ratification of 
 the treaty, and finished this note by announcing his 
 intention, that, to prevent all disorder, he should or- 
 der two battalions of grenadiers, with four pieces of 
 artillery, to surround the castle where the diet was 
 held. No strangers except the Russian officers, who 
 were strictly charged to prevent the deputies even 
 from moving from their seats, were to be admitted. 
 At the same time, said Sievers, he ensured the depu- 
 ties a perfect freedom of debate ! Even then the 
 diet would not submit without reservation to the de- 
 mands of Russia. Surrounded as they were with 
 the sworn slaves of Catharine, some few members 
 still raised their voices against this prostitution of 
 the forms of liberty. 
 
 Russian patience was exhausted; on the same 
 night four members, who had distinguished them- 
 selves by their patriotism, were dragged from their 
 homes by Russian soldiers ; and it was in vain that 
 the diet protested against the violence. Sievers 
 
 * Fecimiis qua potuimus> omnia tentavimus, nihil omisirmts, wer 
 his words. 
 
 
254 HISTORY OF POLAND. 
 
 even still had the effrontery to say, that " he had 
 never pretended to curb the freedom of speech and 
 discussion;" but he added, " that he was not account- 
 able to any one for arresting the four deputies ; but 
 that he would teach Poland that first of laws, how to 
 respect sovereigns, which the jacobin principles and 
 those of the 3d of May did not observe." To this 
 threat the diet made no answer ; but preserved an 
 obstinate silence. Notwithstanding that the Rus- 
 sian general, who was present, informed them that 
 they must remain in that hall until they acceded to 
 the demands, and that if these means failed he was 
 instructed to use rigour, not a mouth was opened. At 
 three in the morning the general rose to call in a 
 detachment of soldiers, when a traitorous deputy in 
 the Russian interest proposed that silence should be 
 considered as a consent to the motion, and accor- 
 dingly the marshal of the diet, Bialinski, who was of 
 the same party, put the question, if the treaty should 
 be signed without reservation] This was three 
 times repeated without answer, and he declared that 
 it had received the sanction of the diet, and ac- 
 cordingly it was signed on the 5th of September. 
 
 The very principle of the partisans of the worst 
 abuses of government is injustice, and, fortunately for 
 the cause of liberty, its features declare it so plainly 
 to belong to the family of vice, that it cannot always 
 avoid detection. The confederates of Targowica 
 soon showed how little they had been influenced in 
 their proceedings by love for their country and its 
 ancient constitution ; for they confiscated, plundered, 
 and tyrannized even more than the Russians. But 
 they received the treatment they deserved : they had 
 answered the purpose Catharine wished, namely, to 
 furnish a pretext for the invasion ; and she, having no 
 further service for them, in September dissolved the 
 confederation. 
 
 The diet performed their last sad and unwilling 
 office on the 23d of November. They pulled down 
 
END OF THE CONSTITUTION. 255 
 
 the beautiful structure of the constitution they had so 
 proudly erected, and Poland, at least the remains of 
 it, relapsed into the former absurd mode of legis- 
 lation. 
 
 The allied powers did not forget to " reduce the 
 republic of Poland into narrower limits :" Catharine 
 advanced her frontier into the middle of Lithuania 
 and Volhynia; and Frederic William had the re- 
 maining portion of Great Poland, and part of Little 
 Poland, for his share of the spoil. The limits, how- 
 ever, it must be remembered, were not definitively 
 marked out ; military possession was the only ten- 
 ure, and the Poles found that empresses and kings 
 set at naught the denunciation, " Cursed is he who 
 removeth his neighbour's landmark." 
 
 The remaining portion of the kingdom was ensured 
 to Stanislas, to be governed by the old laws ; but he 
 was not allowed to reign alone even over this nar- 
 row domain. The Russian ambassador was abso- 
 lute master at Warsaw, and Russian troops were the 
 garrison. 
 
 Such was the end of the short-lived constitution of 
 the 3d of May. Ephemeral as it was, it suggests 
 some important reflections. There are certain stages 
 in disorders of the political constitution as well as 
 the physical, in which no remedies can afford any 
 service, but, on the contrary, prove fatal. When 
 corruptions and abuses are so widely disseminated 
 as they were in the Polish government, nothing 
 short of a radical reform can be beneficial : partial 
 weeding is useless ; one weed left behind is sufficient 
 to produce another crop of the noxious plants equal 
 to that which we removed. But to bear such a radi- 
 cal reform popular strength is requisite, and unfor- 
 tunately Poland had delayed the desirable remedy 
 till its force and resources were too much exhausted ; 
 and its sad fate is a warning to other states, not to 
 defer the important season till too late. 
 
256 HISTORY OF POLAND. 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 Patriots at Dresden and Leipzig Patriotic Conspiracy at Warsaw The 
 Patriots of Warsaw correspond with Kosciusko The Russian Minis- 
 ter orders the Troops to disband Madalinski refuses, and marches to 
 Cracow Kosciusko enters Cracow Confederacy of Cracow Kosci- 
 usko declared Generalissimo Kosciusko's Life Kosciusko marches 
 against the Russians Insurrection at Warsaw, and Expulsion of the 
 Russians Lithuania Barbarities at Warsaw Kosciusko's Camp at 
 Wola The King of Prussia invests Warsaw ; retreats Insurrection 
 in Great Poland Suwarow marches against the Patriots Battle of 
 Macieiowice, and Kosciusko taken Prisoner The Russians take Praga 
 Massacre of Praga Warsaw surrenders Russian, Prussian, and 
 Austrian Prisoners Third Partition Stanislas's Abdication ; Death ; 
 and Character. 
 
 THE Poles have a proverb, " You may strip a Pole 
 to his shirt, but if you attempt to take his shirt he 
 will regain all." Although they have not precisely 
 verified this, they seem always to have kept it in 
 their eye as a principle of action ; they have always 
 submitted in the first instance to the greatest aggres- 
 sions with wonderful indifference and docility, but 
 have generally made the most determined resistance 
 to the finishing act of tyranny. " The proud Poles" 
 might be expected to find the yoke of subjugation 
 more galling than any other nation in the world ; it 
 was still a country of nobles, men whose only busi- 
 ness was to rule, and cherish lofty feelings. Those 
 who were too devoted to their liberty to stay to wit- 
 ness their country's oppression were now wandering 
 outcasts in foreign lands ; but wherever they went 
 they carried with them hearts which still yearned for 
 their homes, although they could not find any enjoy- 
 ment in them without independence. Dresden and 
 Leipzig were the chief places of refuge for these 
 patriots, among whom Potocki, Kolontay, Mala- 
 chowski, Mostowski, and Kosciusko were the most 
 conspicuous. They were not, however, willing to 
 
PATRIOTIC CONSPIRACY. 257 
 
 sacrifice the lives of their countrymen in rash and 
 useless struggles, but waited for a favourable junc- 
 ture to unsheath the sword once more against theii 
 oppressors. But their fellow-patriots in Poland, who 
 were feeling more keenly the pains of tyranny, were 
 more impatient, and obliged them to hasten then 
 plans, " and thus," says one who was enlisted among 
 them,* " they left to Providence the issue of the mosi 
 rash enterprise that could be conceived." The de 
 sign was first formed at Warsaw, and the revolution 
 regularly devised a commission of four persons form 
 ing the active body. Their agents were spread al* 
 over the kingdom ; the plot was speedily maturing 
 and would no doubt have become general had not 
 the explosion been forestalled. 
 
 Igelstrom, who had succeeded Sievers, and was 
 invested with plenary power, insisted on the imme 
 diate reduction of the Polish army to 15,000. At thi* 
 time it consisted of about 30,000 men, divided into 
 small bodies, scattered in different parts of the king- 
 dom under the surveillance of the Russian troops. 
 The permanent council was obliged to obey the 
 mandate, and issued the orders. This was the signal 
 for throwing off the galling yoke. A strict corres- 
 pondence had been carried on between the Poles 
 abroad and their brother patriots in Poland. Cracow 
 was fixed on as the point of junction, and unanimous 
 consent placed the noble Kosciusko at the head of 
 the confederacy. The patriots of Warsaw had sent 
 two emissaries, in September, 1793, to this great man, 
 who had retired to Leipzig, and he then commenced 
 communications with Ignatius Potocki and Kolontay. 
 Not satisfied with report, Kosciusko went to the 
 frontier of Poland, that he might ascertain the state 
 of feeling ; he then forwarded his companion Za- 
 jonczek to Warsaw, where he staid ten days undis- 
 covered. His report was that " the members of the 
 
 * Count Oginski. 
 
258 HISTORY OF POLAND. 
 
 conspiracy were zealous, but too enthusiastic, that 
 their only connexion with the army was through 
 Madalinski, Dzialynski, and a few subalterns."* Ka- 
 pustas, however, a banker of Warsaw, made himself 
 very instrumental in preparing the minds of the peo- 
 ple for the grand attempt proposed ; and Madalinski 
 pledged himself to risk all if they attempted to oblige 
 him to disband his brigade. 
 
 The approach of such a man as Kosciusko to the 
 frontier could not be kept secret. While Zajonczek 
 was at W T arsaw, Kosciusko had an interview with 
 Wodzicki, commander of 2000 troops, near Cracow, 
 and the circumstance came to the ears of a Russian 
 colonel stationed there ; but fortunately Kosciusko 
 was apprized of the event, and to lull suspicion im- 
 mediately retired to Italy. 
 
 The arrival of Stanislas and the Russian ambas- 
 sador at Warsaw from Grodno was the signal for 
 fresh persecution. Arrests daily took place, and 
 Mostowski, one of the chief senators, was imprisoned. 
 About this time Zajonczek returned from Dresden, 
 and the king being aware of it, and knowing he was 
 one of the emigrants, suspected his design, and in- 
 formed the Russian minister; in consequence of which 
 the patriot was ordered to leave the kingdom. 
 
 Madalinski was the first to draw the sword of re- 
 bellion. He was stationed at Pultusk, about eight 
 leagues from Warsaw, with 700 cavalry ; and on re- 
 ceiving the order to disband the corps, he refused, 
 and declared it was impossible till their pay, which 
 was two months in arrears, was advanced. After 
 this, which occurred on the 15th of March, 1794, he 
 set out for Cracow, having previously traversed the 
 new Prussian territory, made several prisoners, and 
 exacted contributions. 
 
 Kosciusko was aware of this bold step, and though 
 
 * Histoire de la Revolution de Pologne en 1794, par un T^moiu Ocu- 
 laire. 
 
KOSCIUSKO MADE DICTATOR. 259 
 
 he \\ ould probably have advised more caution, knew 
 the die was cast, and that it was now too late to de- 
 bate. He hastened from Saxony, reached Cracow 
 on the night of the 23d of March, where Wodzicki, 
 with a body of 400 men, was ready to receive him, 
 and on the following day was proclaimed generalis- 
 simo. The garrison and all the troops at Cracow 
 took the oath of allegiance to Kosciusko ; and a deed 
 of insurrection was drawn up, by which this great 
 man was appointed dictator, in imitation of the Ro- 
 man custom in great emergencies. His power was 
 absolute ; he had the command of the armies, and 
 the regulation of all affairs political and civil. He 
 was commissioned, however, to appoint a national 
 council, the choice being left to his own will. He 
 was also empowered to nominate a successor, but 
 he was to be subordinate to the national council. 
 
 Never before was confidence so fully and so un- 
 scrupulously reposed by a nation in a single indi- 
 vidual ; and never were expectations better grounded 
 than in the present instance. Thadeus Kosciusko* 
 was born of a noble, but not very illustrious, Lithua- 
 nian family, and was early initiated in the science 
 of war at the military school of Warsaw. In his 
 youth his affections were firmly engaged to a young 
 lady, the daughter of the Marshal of Lithuania ; but 
 it was his fate to see his love crossed, and his 
 inamorata married to another, Prince Lubomirski. 
 He then went to France, and on his return applied 
 to Stanislas for a military appointment ; but was re- 
 fused because he was a favourite of Adam Czartory- 
 ski, whom Stanislas hated. Kosciusko sought to 
 dispel his disappointment in the labours of war. The 
 British colonies of America were then throwing off 
 the yoke of their unnatural mother-country their 
 cause was that of justice and liberty, and one dear 
 
 * He was born on the 12th of February, 1746, at the chateau f Sien- 
 niewicze, near Brzesc-Litewski. 
 
260 HISTORY OF POLAND. 
 
 to the heart of a young proud-spirited Pole. Our 
 young hero served in the patriotic ranks of Gates 
 and Washington, and was appointed aid-de-camp to 
 the latter great general. When the glorious struggle 
 in the new world was crowned with success, he re- 
 turned to his own country, where he found an equally 
 glorious field for his exertions. He held the rank 
 of major-general under Joseph Poniatowski in the 
 campaign of 1792, to which office he had been raised 
 by the diet, and we have already seen what a glo- 
 rious earnest he then gave of what was to be ex- 
 pected from him, had not his ardour been checked 
 by the king's timidity and irresolution. 
 
 The first acts of the dictator were to issue sum- 
 monses to all the nobles and citizens ; to impose a 
 property-tax, and make all the requisite arrange- 
 ments which prudence dictated with regard to the 
 commissariat of his little army. On the 1st of April 
 he left Cracow, at the head of about 4000 men, most 
 of whom were armed with scythes ; and marched in 
 the direction of Warsaw, to encounter a body of 
 Russians more than thrice their own number, which 
 he understood were ordered against them by Igel- 
 strom. 
 
 The patriots encountered the enemy on the 4th of 
 April near Raclawice, a village about six or seven 
 Polish miles* to the north-east of Cracow. The 
 battle lasted nearly five hours, but victory declared 
 in favour of the Poles ; 3000 Russians being killed, 
 and many' prisoners ; eleven cannon, and a standard 
 taken. This success confirmed the wavering pa- 
 triots, and accelerated the development of the insur- 
 rection throughout the kingdom. In vain did the 
 king issue a proclamation, by order of Igelstrom, 
 denouncing the patriots as the enemies of the coun- 
 try, and directing the permanent council to com- 
 mence legal proceedings against them; the tame 
 
 * A Polish or German mile is nearly equal to two French Leagues, of 
 twenty-five to a degree. 
 
REVOLUTION AT WARSAW. 261 
 
 submission of these dependants of Igelstrom only 
 served to increase the irritation of the patriots. The 
 state of Poland is thus described by the Russian 
 minister himself, in a letter of the 16th of April, ad- 
 dressed to the secretary of war at Petersburg, and 
 intercepted by the Poles : 
 
 "The whole Polish -army, which musters about 
 18,000 strong, is in complete rebellion, excepting 
 4000, who compose the garrison of Warsaw. The 
 insurrection strengthens every moment, its progress 
 is very rapid, and its success terrifying. I am my- 
 self in expectation of seeing the confederation of 
 Lublin advance, and I have no hope but in God and 
 the good cause of my sovereign. Lithuania will not 
 fail, certainly, to follow the example," &c. 
 
 On the same day Igelstrom ordered the permanent 
 council to arrest above twenty of the most distin- 
 guished persons whom he named. He also issued 
 his orders to the grand-general to disarm the Polish 
 garrison of Warsaw. The 18th of April was the 
 appointed day, as the most favourable to the design, 
 since it was a festival, Easter eve, and most of the 
 population would be at mass. Strong guards were 
 to be stationed at the church-doors; the Russian 
 troops were to seize the powder magazines and 
 arsenal, and the garrison were then to be immediately 
 disarmed. In case of resistance, the Cossacks re- 
 ceived the villanous orders to set fire to the city in 
 several places and carry off the king. The design, 
 however, fortunately transpired on the very same day 
 that it was formed. Kilinski, a citizen of Warsaw, 
 discovered the plan, and informed the patriots that 
 Russians, in Polish uniforms, were to form the guards 
 which, on the festivals, are stationed at the churches. 
 In confirmation of his account, he assured them 'that 
 one of his neighbours, a tailor, was at work on the 
 disguises.* A private meeting of the patriots imme- 
 
 * Hiatoire de la Revolution en 1794, par un Temoin Oculaire. 
 
262 HISTORY OF POLAND. 
 
 diately took place, in which it was determined to 
 anticipate -it by unfurling the standard of insurrec- 
 tion on the 17th. The precipitancy of the plot did 
 not admit of much organization, the only concerted 
 step was to seize the arsenal, which was to be the 
 signal for the insurrection. 
 
 At four in the morning a detachment of Polish 
 guards attacked the Russian picket, and obtained 
 possession of the arsenal and the powder magazine, 
 and distributed arms to the populace. A most ob- 
 stinate and bloody battle took place in the streets of 
 Warsaw, which continued almost without intermis- 
 sion during two days. But notwithstanding the supe- 
 riority in number of the Russian troops, amounting 
 to nearly 8000, the patriots were victorious. This 
 glorious success was not obtained without much 
 bloodshed; above 2200 of the enemy were killed, 
 and nearly 2000 taken prisoners. The most san- 
 guinary affray took place before Igelstrom's house, 
 which was defended with four cannon and a bat- 
 talion of infantry. But nothing could withstand the 
 impetuosity of the Poles ; Igelstrom narrowly es- 
 caped to Krasinski's house, where he made offers to 
 capitulate. The king exhorted the people to sus- 
 pend their attack ; in the pause, while the patriots 
 were expecting Tgelstrom's submission, he escaped 
 and fled to the Prussian camp which was near War- 
 saw. But the patriotic spirit of the Poles on these 
 glorious days was unalloyed by a particle of selfish 
 or dishonest feeling ; in obedience to a proclamation 
 demanding the restitution even of this lawful plunder 
 of Igelstrom's house, and issued three days after the 
 event, all the bank-notes were brought back, and 
 even the sterling money to the amount of 95,000 
 ducats of gold. Many striking instances of disin- 
 terestedness were elicited by this proclamation, but 
 the following must not be passed over in the crowd. 
 A private soldier presented himself at the treasury 
 with 1000 ducats of gold which had fallen into his 
 
GALLANT EXPLOITS. 263 
 
 hands, and for a long time refused any reward for his 
 honesty; it was with extreme reluctance that he 
 accepted even a ducat, repeating, that he found all 
 the reward he desired in the pleasure of serving his 
 country and performing his duty. 
 
 On the 17th, the people crowded to the castle, 
 where they found General Mokranowski and Zakrzew- 
 ski, who had formerly been president of the city under 
 the constitution of the 3d of May. The latter was 
 reinstated in his post by unanimous acclamation, 
 and the general was appointed governor. Mokra- 
 nowski was one of the old body of patriots, and had 
 signalized himself in the campaign of 1792.* They 
 established a provisional executive council, consist- 
 ing of twelve persons besides themselves. The 
 council declared at their first meeting that they sub- 
 scribed without reservation to the act of insurrection 
 of Cracow ; they also sent a deputation to the king 
 to testify their respect to him, but at the same time 
 prudently expressed their intention of obeying the 
 orders of none but Kosciusko. The dictator imme- 
 diately ordered all the inhabitants of Warsaw to lay 
 down their arms at the arsenal to prevent any dis- 
 turbances. 
 
 The Lithuanians did not long delay to obey the 
 call of their Polish brethren: on the night of the 
 23d of April, Jasinski, with 300 soldiers, and some 
 hundred citizens, attacked the Russian garrison at 
 Wilna, and after a repetition of the scene of carnage 
 at Warsaw, were left masters of the city. 
 
 Fortune, however, was not uniformly favourable to 
 the good cause. A body of nearly 40,000 Prussians 
 entered the palatinate of Cracow, and effected a 
 junction with the Russians near Szczekociny, and 
 the King of Prussia arrived in a few days to head 
 them in person. Kosciusko advanced with 16,000 
 regular troops and about 10,000 peasants, to the de- 
 
 * At the head of the cavalry, in the engagement at Zieleuce, on the 
 18th of June 
 
264 HISTORY OF POLAND. f 
 
 fence of Cracow ; and, being ignorant that the enemy 
 were reinforced by the Prussians, found himself en* 
 gaged with a force double his own. The engage- 
 ment of Szczekociny took place on the 6th of June : 
 the Poles lost about 1000 men, but made their retreat 
 in good order, without being pursued. Kosciusko, 
 in announcing this affair to the supreme council, says, 
 "We have sustained a trifling loss, compared with 
 what we have caused the enemy. We have effected 
 our retreat in good order, after a cannonade of three 
 hours." Another body of the patriots suffered a 
 similar defeat near Chelm, three days after ; and to 
 complete the climax of misfortune, the city of Cra- 
 cow fell into the hands of the Prussians on the 15th. 
 These untoward events, following in such rapid 
 succession, began to depress the spirits of the 
 Poles ; and the violent and seditious exclaimed that 
 these reverses were caused by traitors, and were 
 greatly to be attributed to the negligence of the 
 government in not punishing the numerous individ- 
 uals who crowded the prisons. Warsaw threatened 
 to exhibit a revival of the bloody deeds of the Moun- 
 tain butchers of the French revolution. On the 27th 
 of June, a young hot-headed demagogue inflamed 
 the passions of the rabble with a bombastic harangue 
 on the treachery to which he ascribed the recent 
 reverses, and urged the necessity of checking it, by 
 making an example of the persons now in custody. 
 On the following day they went in a crowd to the 
 president, to demand the immediate execution of the 
 unfortunate prisoners ; and being refused, they broke 
 open the prisons and actually hung eight persons. 
 This disgraceful and almost indiscriminate butchery 
 was with difficulty stopped by the authorities.* 
 Every true patriot lamented deeply this blot on the 
 glory of their revolution, and none more than the 
 
 * The "Temoin Oculaire" of the revolution of 1794 ascribes much 
 of this excitation to the intrigues of Stanislas and his party ; and it 
 must be confessed that the king did not evince very patriotic feelings. 
 
KOSCITJSKO IN HIS CAMP. 26 5 
 
 humane and upright Kosciusko. "See," said he, 
 " what tragic scenes have passed at Warsaw, almost 
 before my eyes ! The populace have indulged in 
 unpardonable excesses which I must punish severely. 
 The day before yesterday (the 28th) will be an 
 indelible stain on the history of our revolution ; and I 
 confess that the loss of two battles would have done 
 us less harm than that unfortunate day, which our 
 enemies will make use of, to represent us in an un- 
 favourable light in the eyes of all Europe !"* He 
 ordered a strict investigation, and seven of the ring- 
 leaders were hung. 
 
 The Emperor of Austria had preserved a neutrality 
 up to this time ; but on the 30th of June he announced 
 his intention to march an army into Little Poland, 
 " to prevent by this step all danger to which the 
 frontiers of Gallicia might be exposed, as well as to 
 ensure the safety and tranquillity of the states of his 
 imperial majesty."! The Austrians entered Poland 
 accordingly without opposition, but offered not the 
 least molestation to the Poles. The invasion, how- 
 ever peaceful, was only like a " shadow before" of 
 " coming events." 
 
 In the mean time the Prussians and Russians con- 
 tinued to approach Warsaw, at the distance of three 
 leagues from which Kosciusko was encamped, at a 
 place called Pracka-Wola. It was here that one of 
 his brothers in arms, and who has recorded the events 
 of this portion of his glorious career, found him sleep- 
 ing on straw. The picture he draws of this great 
 man in his camp is an interesting view of the hero 
 who upheld the fate of Poland. " We passed," says 
 Count Oginski,{ " from Kosciusko's tent to a table 
 prepared under some trees. The frugal repast which 
 we made heie among about a dozen guests will 
 
 * Memoires de Michel Oginski, aur la Pologne et les Polonais depuis 
 1788, jusqu'a fin de 1815, vol. i. p. 460. 
 t Proclamation of the 30th of June, 
 j Memoires sur la Pologne et les Polonai*. 
 
 z 
 
266 HISTORY OF POLAND. 
 
 never be effaced from my memory. The presence 
 of this great man, who has excited the admiration of 
 all Europe ; who was the terror of his enemies and 
 the idol of the nation ; who, raised to the rank of 
 generalissimo, had no ambition but to serve his coun- 
 try and fight for it ; who always preserved an un- 
 assuming, affable, and mild demeanour ; who never 
 wore any distinguishing mark of the supreme au- 
 thority with which he was invested ; who was con- 
 tented with a surtout of coarse gray cloth, and whose 
 table was as plainly furnished as that of a subaltern 
 officer ; could not fail to awaken in me every senti- 
 ment of esteem, admiration, and veneration, which 
 I have sincerely felt for him at every period of my 
 life." 
 
 The enemy continued to advance towards Warsaw, 
 and encamped near Wola,* a league from the city. 
 They were 50,000 strong, 40,000 Prussians and 
 10,000 Russians. The city had been hastily fortified 
 at the commencement of the insurrection, and with 
 the protection of Kosciusko's army resisted all the 
 enemy's attacks. The first serious combat took 
 place on the 27th of July, and was repeated on the 
 1st and 3d of August, when the Prussians attempted 
 to bombard the town, but not a house was injured. 
 On the 2d Frederic William wrote to Stanislas, 
 recommending him to use his influence to induce the 
 inhabitants to surrender; to which the King of Poland 
 answered, that it was not in his power to do so while 
 Kosciusko's army lay between Warsaw and the 
 enemy. The same spirit of patriotism, however, did 
 not animate all the Poles; but it is satisfactory, 
 though apparently singular on the first appearance, 
 to find that the defaulters in the good cause were 
 chiefly rich capitalists, men who in Poland at that 
 time had scarcely a thought beyond stock-jobbing. 
 But these malecontents formed only a small portion 
 
 * The famous field of election is in the immediate neighbourhood of 
 this place. 
 
SUCCESS OF THE POLES. 267 
 
 of the people, and were obliged to cherish their 
 opinions and wishes in secret. On the 16th of 
 August, General Dombrowski, who had lately had 
 some advantage in skirmishes with the Russians at 
 Czerniakow, attacked them a second time, but was 
 obliged to retire. This was followed by many warm 
 actions, in which Dombrowski, Prince Joseph Ponia- 
 towski, Pozinski, and many others eminently distin- 
 guished themselves. The hottest affair took place 
 in the night of the 28th. Dombrowski was attacked, 
 while at the same time General Zajonczek was ad- 
 vancing his troops against the Prussian army. The 
 courage and patriotism of the Poles predominated on 
 this occasion. In the night of the 5th of September 
 the Prussians and Russians made a sudden and un- 
 expected retreat, with so much precipitation that 
 they left the wounded and sick, as well as a great 
 portion of their baggage. 
 
 This sudden retreat of the King of Prussia, with a 
 superior army of 40,000 men, appeared at first so un- 
 accountable, that even Kosciusko imagined it was a 
 feint, and would not allow his troops to pursue them ; 
 but the real cause was the news that insurrections 
 had broken out in the Polish provinces which had 
 been recently annexed to Prussia. The Prussian 
 yoke was even more galling to the Poles than that 
 of Russia, on many accounts. In all his new prov- 
 inces Frederic William had introduced German jaws, 
 and even went so far as to oblige his vanquished 
 subjects to learn the language of their victors ; so 
 that the Poles foresaw that even the very traces of 
 the Polish nation were to be erased from the face of 
 the earth.* The inhabitants of Great Poland had 
 not been deaf to the call of their brethren of Cracow 
 and Warsaw ; Mniewski, castellan of Kuiawia, and 
 other leading men, had found means to open a com- 
 munication with the patriots at the very commence- 
 
 * See Memoires de Michel Oginski, vol. ii. p. 12, &o. 
 
268 HISTORY OF POLAND. 
 
 ment of the revolution, and had even contrived to 
 form magazines of arms and ammunition in some 
 retired woods during the space of five months, with 
 such circumspection that not the slightest suspicion 
 was excited. On the 23d of August, when most of 
 the Prussian troops were engaged in the siege of 
 Warsaw, and but weak garrisons were left in the 
 Polo-Prussian towns, a small body of confederates, 
 having assembled in a wood near Sieradz, attacked 
 the Prussian guard, seized the magazines, and re- 
 mained masters of the town. The insurrection be- 
 came general in a few days ; the palatinates of Kaliz 
 and Posen joined the confederacy by the 25th, and 
 Mniewski with a handful of heroes marched to 
 Wloclawek, a town on the Vistula in the palatinate 
 of Brzesc-Kuiawski, where he seized thirteen large 
 barks laden with ammunition, designed for the siege 
 of Warsaw. These bold examples were imitated in 
 the other palatinates ; the spirit of patriotism began 
 to evince itself even in the heart of Dantzig, and one 
 of the patriotic detachments penetrated as far as 
 Silesia. 
 
 Such was the state of affairs which called Frederic 
 William from the siege of Warsaw. His ministers 
 and officers prompted him* to take the most severe 
 measures to reduce the patriots ; in the execution of 
 which Colonel Szekuby signalized himself by exces- 
 sive barbarity ; but this cruelty only served to render 
 their tyrants the more odious in the sight of the 
 Poles, and to animate them in their battle of freedom. 
 
 Kosciusko sent Dombrowski with a considerable 
 number of troops to second the insurgents ; and so 
 admirably did he perform his orders, that by the 
 middle of September all Great Poland, except a few 
 towns, was in the possession of the patriots. 
 
 The good cause was not thriving so prosperously 
 in Lithuania ; Wilna had fallen into the hands of the 
 Russians on the 12th of August, and nearly all the 
 
KOSCIUSKO TAKEN PRISONER. 269 
 
 rest of the province soon shared the same fate. 
 Catharine, to crush the revolution, ordered her gene- 
 ral, Suwarow, to march from the frontiers of Turkey 
 towards Warsaw; and on the 16th of September he 
 attacked a body of the Polish army at Krupczyce, a 
 little village to the east of Brzesc-Litewski, and drove 
 them towards this latter place. The attack was re- 
 newed on the following day, when the patriots were 
 overpowered by superior forces, and many were 
 taken prisoners. 
 
 This unfortunate defeat laid open the road to War- 
 saw, so that Kosciusko was obliged to advance to 
 support the flying army. He proceeded to Grodno, 
 and having appointed Mokranowski commander of 
 the Lithuanian army, he returned to prevent the 
 junction of Suwarow with Fersen, who headed the 
 other Russian corps. 
 
 The 10th of October was the decisive day; Kos- 
 ciusko attacked Fersen, near Macieiowice. The 
 battle was bloody and fatal to the patriots ; victory 
 was wavering, and Poninski, who was expected 
 every minute with a reinforcement, not arriving, 
 Kosciusko, at the head of his principal officers, made 
 a grand charge into the midst of the enemy. He fell 
 covered with wounds, and all his companions were 
 killed or taken prisoners. His inseparable friend, 
 the amiable poet, Niemcewicz, was among the latter 
 number. The great man lay senseless among the 
 dead; but at length he was recognised notwithstand- 
 ing the plainness of his uniform, and was found still 
 breathing. His name even now commanded respect 
 from the Cossacks, some of whom had been going to 
 plunder him ; they immediately formed a litter with 
 their lances to carry him to the general, who ordered 
 his wounds to be dressed and treated him with the 
 respect he merited. As soon as he was able to travel 
 he was conveyed to Petersburg, where Catharine 
 condemned this noble patriot to end his days in 
 Z2 
 
270 HISTORY OF POLAND. 
 
 prison.* Clemency, indeed, was not to be expected 
 from a woman who had murdered her husband. 
 
 Such was the termination of Kosciusko's glorious 
 career. The news of his captivity spread like light- 
 ning to Warsaw, and every one received it as the an- 
 nouncement of the country's fall. " It may appear 
 incredible," says Count Oginski, "but I can attest 
 what I have seen, and what a number of witnesses 
 can certify with me, that many women miscarried at 
 the tidings ; many invalids were seized with burning 
 fevers ; some fell into fits of madness which never 
 after left them; and men and women were seen in 
 the streets wringing their hands, beating their heads 
 against the walls, arid exclaiming in tones of despair, 
 4 Kosciusko is no more ; the country is lost !' " 
 
 In fact, the Poles seemed all paralyzed by this blow : 
 the national council, indeed, appointed Wawrzecki 
 successor to Kosciusko, but they despaired of being 
 able to withstand the Russians, and limited their 
 hopes and exertions to prevent Warsaw from being 
 taken by assault ; for which purpose they ordered the 
 troops to concentre near the city. They fortified 
 Praga, one of the suburbs of Warsaw, which was 
 separated from the city by the Vistula, and was most 
 exposed to attack. Every individual, indiscrimi- 
 nately, was employed in the works. Suwarow, 
 hearing that the King of Prussia was advancing 
 towards Warsaw, did not choose to have his prey 
 taken out of his mouth; and hastened with forced 
 marches, joined Fersen, attacked the Poles on the 
 26th of October before Praga, and drove them into 
 their intrenchments. 
 
 The batteries of Praga mounted more than 100 
 cannon, and the garrison was composed of the flower 
 of the Polish army. On the 4th of November, Su- 
 warow ordered an assault, and the fortification was 
 carried after some hours' hard fighting. Suwarow, 
 
 * On the death of Catharine, as will be mentioned hereafter, he ob- 
 tained his liberty. 
 
RUSSIAN AND PRUSSIAN BARBARITY. 271 
 
 the butcher of Ismail, a fit general for an imperial 
 assassin, was at the head of the assailants, and his 
 very name announces a barbarous carnage. Eight 
 thousand Poles perished sword in hand, and the Rus- 
 sians, having set fire to the bridge, cut off the retreat 
 of the inhabitants. Above 12,000 townspeople, old 
 men, women, and children, were murdered in cold 
 blood ; and to fill the measure of their iniquity and 
 barbarity, the Russians fired the place in four dif- 
 ferent parts, and in a few hours the whole of Praga, 
 inhabitants as well as houses, was a heap of ashes. 
 
 The council, finding that Warsaw could not be 
 defended any longer, capitulated on the 6th of No- 
 vember ; many of the soldiers were obliged to lay 
 down their arms, and the Russian troops entered the 
 city. The authors of the revolution, the generals 
 and soldiers who refused to disarm, had quitted 
 Warsaw ; but being pursued by Fersen, many were 
 killed or dispersed, and the rest surrendered on 
 the 18th. 
 
 All the patriots of consequence who fell into the 
 hands of the Russians were immured in the prisons 
 of Petersburg, or sent to Siberia. Ignatius Potocki, 
 Mbstowski, Kapustas, and Kalinski were among the 
 captives. Their treatment, however, was not so 
 cruel as it has been frequently represented; Kos- 
 ciusko's prison, for instance, was a comfortable suite 
 of rooms where he beguiled his time with reading and 
 drawing: Potocki was equally well lodged, and 
 amused himself with gazing at the passers-by from 
 his windows. This was not, indeed, an exact ob- 
 servance of the article of capitulation, " We promise 
 a general amnesty for all that is passed,"* but it was 
 the very acme of honour, compared with the general 
 tenor of Russia's conduct towards Poland. 
 
 The King of Prussia, as vengeful as the weak and 
 bad generally are when in power, was less merciful 
 
 * Sixth ankle of the capitulation. 
 
272 HISTORY OF POLAND. f 
 
 even than Suwarow. He appointed a commission to 
 judge and punish those who had been concerned in 
 the insurrection, as if they were bondjide his own 
 subjects. Many patriots, too, who were so unfor- 
 tunate as to fall into the Prussian's hands, were 
 doomed to pine in the fortresses of Glogau, Magde- 
 burg, Breslaw, &c. ; and Madalinski was one of these. 
 Austria buried some of the patriots in her prisons of 
 Olmutz, thus consummating the triumph of bar- 
 barism. 
 
 On the 24th of October, 1795, the treaty for the 
 third partition of Poland was concluded; but the 
 arrangement between Prussia and Austria, as to the 
 limits of the palatinate of Cracow, was not settled till 
 the 21st of October, 1796. 
 
 By this third and last partition Russia acquired the 
 remaining portion of Lithuania, and a great part of 
 Samogitia, part of Chelm on the right of the Bug, 
 and the rest of Volhynia. Austria obtained the 
 greater part of the palatinate of Cracow, the pala- 
 tinates of Sandomir and Lublin, with a part of the 
 district of Chelm, and the parts of the palatinates of 
 Brzesc, Polachia, and Masovia which lay along the 
 left bank of the Bug. Prussia had the portions of 
 the palatinates of Masovia and Polachia on the right 
 bank of the Bug ; in Lithuania, part of the palatinate 
 of Troki and Samogitia, which is on the left bank of 
 the Niemen ; and a district of Little Poland forming 
 part of the palatinate of Cracow. Thus the banks 
 of the Pilia, the Vistula, the Bug, and the Niemen 
 marked out the frontiers of Russia, Prussia, and 
 Austria. Such was the result of the glorious but 
 unfortunate revolution of 1 794. The want of success 
 is to be attributed to uncontrollable circumstances ; 
 some,* indeed, think that Kosciusko's mildness was 
 one of the causes which in the first instance ener- 
 vated the confederacy; but perhaps more is to be 
 
 * " L'exc^s de la douceur etoit le defaut de Kosciusko." Hist, par un 
 Temoin Oculaire. 
 
STANISLAS ABDICATES. 273 
 
 imputed to his emancipating the serfs, and enrolling 
 them among his troops, a step which was obstinately 
 and selfishly opposed by many of the rich nobles. 
 None, however, can deny that this great and good 
 man acted up to every tittle of his oath. " I, Thadeus 
 Kosciusko, swear to the Polish nation, in presence of 
 the Supreme Being, that I will never employ the 
 power which has been intrusted to me against any 
 citizen ; but that I will exert it only to defend the 
 integrity of my country, to recover the national inde- 
 pendence, and to strengthen the general liberty of 
 the nation!"* 
 
 Stanislas Augustus was thus left without a king- 
 dom ; the Russian ambassador obliged him to go to 
 Grodno, where he signed a formal act of abdication 
 on the 25th of November, and accepted an annual 
 pension of 200,000 ducats, which was ensured to him 
 by the three powers, with the promise that his debts 
 also should be paid. On the death of Catharine, 
 which happened in November, 1796, he went to Pe- 
 tersburg, where he ended his unhappy and dishonour- 
 able life on the 12th of February, 1798. 
 
 Harsh and uncharitable as the world is, even the 
 most unworthy and degenerate generally find some 
 few so merciful as either from warmth of heart or 
 fellow-feeling to defend them; and it would be 
 strange if Stanislas had not some panegyrists. But, 
 disagreeable as is the office of the moral censor, the 
 character of Stanislas, being wound up with the 
 destinies of a nation, ought not to pass by unnoticed. 
 Stanislas stands in the usual predicament of kings 
 and prominent personages, between flattering ad- 
 mirers and severe detracters. The usual course, in 
 such a case, is to measure the evil with the good and 
 take the mean between them ; but this, though the 
 readiest mode of arriving at a result, is not the surest, 
 since it proceeds on the presumption of the truth both 
 
 * This was the oath he took at Cracow. 
 
274 HISTORY OF POLAND. 
 
 of the favourable and unfavourable statements. In 
 the present instance the estimate need not be merely 
 speculative, since there are abundant data on wfcich 
 to calculate. The warmest panegyrists of this unfor- 
 tunate king venture no further in their praises than 
 to give him credit for good intentions in policy, and 
 to plead his patronage of learning and the arts as a 
 palliation for his political errors. With regard to the 
 first excuse, it may be remarked, that moral weak- 
 ness or imbecility is no more admissible as an excuse 
 for error than recklessness of character, since the 
 latter is equally constitutional as the former. The 
 second plea requires more investigation. It is cus- 
 tomary to attribute to Stanislas the advance in 
 learning and education which decidedly evinced 
 itself in his reign ; but while we admit his talent and 
 taste for the trifles of literature and art, which is the 
 utmost that can be proved, we must observe that the 
 grand impetus to intellectual improvement was not 
 given by Stanislas. He certainly spent not only his 
 revenue, which was considerable, but contracted 
 great debts, which were twice paid by the state ; but 
 it was mostly on frivolous writers, bad painters, and 
 loose women, that those sums were expended. The 
 progress of education and liberal inquiry is to be 
 attributed to Konarski and his coadjutors, and the 
 commission of education also, which was appointed 
 by the diet, comes in for a share of the credit. 
 Poniatowski, indeed, patronised great men in litera- 
 ture and the arts ; but the effect of such patronage 
 is at best of doubtful benefit; and the merit of 
 the patron is of a negative character, being so mixed 
 up with vanity and love of notoriety. It has been 
 said by Rulhiere, who has been pronounced " one of 
 the most interesting and sagacious of modern his- 
 torians,"* that "no magnanimity, no strength 
 appeared in his character ; that he only thought of 
 
 * Edinburgh Review, January, 1814.- 
 
POLISH PATRIOTS IN EXILE. 27 
 
 becoming a patron of all the arts of luxury, and par- 
 ticularly to cultivate little objects of this nature, to 
 which he attached the highest consequence." His 
 panegyrist could only assume that he was not one 
 of the chief causes of his country's annihilation, but 
 cannot deny that no monarch could have been more 
 suited to produce such an unfortunate effect; and 
 though his censor might admit the truth of his asser- 
 tion, " I have always wished for the happiness of my 
 country, and I have only caused it misfortune !"* he 
 would remind the royal criminal that even " hell is 
 paved with good intentions." 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 Polish Patriots at Paris and Venice The French Directory promise 
 Assistance Polish Confederacy at Paris Oginski sent to Constanti- 
 nople Buonaparte's Letter to Oginski Polish Confederacy in Wala- 
 chia broken up The Emperor Paul, on his Accession, liberates the 
 Polish captives Kosciusko Polish Legions ; in Lombardy ; at Rome 
 Suwarow, in Italy, defeats the Second Legion Battle of Novi 
 Legion of the Danube Legions perish in St. Domingo War declared 
 between France and Prussia The French enter Warsaw Treaty of 
 Tilsit Grand-dutchy of Warsaw Frederic Augustus New Con- 
 stitutionDiet of 1809 War with Austria The Austrians enter 
 Warsaw Prince Poniatowski invades Gallicia Retreat of the Aus 
 trians Part of Gallicia, &c. added to the Grand-dutchy. 
 
 NEVER was there a period in modern history when 
 the door of hospitality was so sternly closed by most 
 European nations against the unfortunate sons of 
 liberty, as when the Polish patriots of the revolution 
 of 1794 were exiled from their homes. The abuses 
 of the French revolutionists had brought their cause 
 into discredit even among those who had at first 
 been their most zealous defenders; and as the 
 generality of mankind take impressions for opinions, 
 
 * Oginski's M6moires, vol. ii. p 3-27 
 
276 HISTORY OF POLAND. 
 
 and accidental associations of ideas for reasoning, 
 they began to annex an opprobious meaning to the 
 very name of liberty. Many Englishmen, who had 
 lately been so warm in their admiration of the Polish 
 patriots, began to think, and even argue, that it was 
 better for them to enjoy peace under any yoke than 
 to prolong the struggle for independence. England, 
 too, soon followed in the path which had been marked 
 out by Frederic William, the Emperor of Austria, 
 and the Duke of Brunswick,* to chastise the stubborn 
 recusants of legitimate monarchy. France was 
 almost the only government where liberty was 
 heartily cherished ; for in spite of all the jacobinism, 
 bloodshed, and anarchy, the spirit of independence 
 retained its existence there. It must be remem- 
 bered, however, to use Buonaparte's words, that that 
 nation " Had eighteen ages of prejudice to conquer;'' 
 and such a victory was not to be gained without 
 great sacrifices and much revulsion of feeling. To 
 France, then, the expatriated Poles looked for aid ; 
 the country which had " promised assistance to all 
 nations which revolted to obtain liberty and equal- 
 ity,"! could not turn a deaf ear to those who had 
 such strong claims on their protection. 
 
 All the Polish nobles who had escaped the dun- 
 geons of the three partitioning powers, hastened 
 either to Venice or Paris. Francis Barss, the Polish 
 agent employed in the capital by the late govern- 
 ment, was still resident there ; and by his means a 
 confederacy was formed, which maintained a regular 
 correspondence with a similar society at Venice. 
 The French ambassador at the latter place assured 
 the Poles of the protection of his government, and 
 even offered them a room under his roof for their 
 assemblies. 
 
 * See the Declaration addressed by the Duke of Brunswick to the 
 people of France. Segur's Decade Historique, Pieces Justificatives 
 vol. ii. p. 358. 
 
 t Decade Hist., vol. ii. p. 123. 
 
POLISH CONFEDERACY AT PARIS. 277 
 
 The treaty of peace which was signed on the 5th 
 of April, 1795, at Bale, between France and the King 
 of Prussia, did not augur any great sincerity on the 
 side of the French ministers in their assurances to 
 the Poles. They persuaded Barss, however, that it 
 was only temporary, and that no mention of Poland 
 being made in the treaty, they did not give their 
 sanction to Frederic William's usurpation. 
 
 The confederacy at Paris, with the advice and 
 protection of the French ministers, commissioned 
 Count Oginski to proceed to Constantinople to nego- 
 tiate with the divan in favour of the Poles, in con- 
 junction with the French ambassador.* The con- 
 federates appointed a commission of five persons to 
 transact their affairs, and obtained a promise from 
 the minister at Paris to furnish the Poles with arms, 
 and use his influence to raise a loan at Constanti- 
 nople of fifty millions of piastres. In the beginning 
 of 1796 they sent emissaries into Lithuania and 
 Gallicia to form new confederacies to co-operate 
 with that at Paris. The inhabitants of Gallicia had 
 already drawn up an act of confederacy, on the 6th 
 of January, 1796, which they forwarded to France. 
 Above 2000 Polish soldiers of all ranks assembled 
 in Walachia and Moldavia, and their meetings were 
 connived at by the Turkish government ; this privi- 
 lege, however, was the chief advantage obtained by 
 Oginski's mission and the interest of Aubert-du- 
 Bayet, the French ambassador. 
 
 Oginski relates the following curious anecdote 
 respecting Aubert-du-Bayet. " On the evening of 
 the same day, 21st of October, 1796, we went to 
 take a walk al Campo dei Morti. Aubert-du-Bayet, 
 separating himself from his suite, and taking me by 
 the arm, examined attentively the sepulchral stones 
 which covered the cemeteries of the Turks and the 
 
 * The instructions to Oginski were formally signed by twenty of the 
 principal confederates at Paris. Their meetings were held at the Hdtel 
 Diesbaeh. 
 
 Aa 
 
278 HISTORY OF POLAND. 
 
 Armenians ; and told me that he was looking for a 
 place for his grave, for he was sure he should end 
 his life at Constantinople. After having walked a 
 long time, he said to me that he could not find in the 
 whole of that place a fit spot in which to deposite 
 his body; and that he should prefer- to be buried in 
 the court of the Hotel de France, near the tree of 
 liberty which was planted there. I joked him on 
 this presentiment ; but he did not cease to repeat 
 that he should die at Constantinople, and that he 
 should not live more than a year." 
 
 " This presentiment was verified, as I have since 
 learned from several French officers whom I had 
 known at Constantinople. I believe that Aubert- 
 du-Bayet died very nearly on the anniversary of the 
 day which I have just mentioned."* 
 
 The reader will recognise a striking resemblance 
 between this tale and a prose fragment written by 
 Byron, which Polidori is said to have made use of. 
 
 Buonaparte was at this time at the head of the 
 army in Italy, engaged against the Austrians. Sul- 
 kowski, a Pole, was one of his aids-de-camp, and 
 he particularly recommended the confederates to 
 interest the general in their favour. If that could be 
 effected, he said, our hopes for the re-establishment 
 of Poland would no longer be doubtful; for the 
 general enjoys already the full confidence of the 
 French nation, and cannot fail to be some day at the 
 head of the government. On receiving a letter from 
 Oginski on the subject, Buonaparte reflected some 
 time, and said to his aid-de-camp, "What must I 
 answer] What can I promise] \Vrite to your 
 fellow-patriot that I love the Poles, and esteem them 
 much that the partition of Poland is an act of 
 iniquity which cannot be defended that after having 
 finished the war in Italy, I will go myself at the 
 head of the French to oblige the Russians to restore 
 
 * See Oginski, vol. ii. p. 228. 
 
PROJECTS OF THE POLES. 279 
 
 Poland ; but tell him also that the Poles must not 
 depend on foreign help, that they must arm them- 
 selves, annoy the Russians, and keep up a commu- 
 nication in the interior of the country. All the fine 
 promises which will be made them will amount to 
 nothing. I know the diplomatic language and the 
 indolence of the Turks. A nation which has been 
 crushed by its neighbours cannot be restored but by 
 sword in hand." 
 
 The Poles, assembled in Walachia and Moldavia, 
 began to be impatient to make an incursion into 
 Gallicia, under the command of Dambrowski.* To 
 this they were instigated also by the French ambas- 
 sador at Constantinople, who sent General Cara- 
 Saint-Cyr to join them. His object was to make a 
 diversion of the Austrians from Italy in favour of the 
 French army under Buonaparte. He defended this 
 rash scheme, by quoting from Voltaire the lines 
 
 " Un heureux temeraire 
 Confond en agissant celui qui delib^re." 
 
 Oginski left Constantinople without deriving any 
 further benefit from his mission, and proceeded to 
 Bukarest, the head-quarters of the Poles in Wala- 
 chia, to dissuade them from their mad project. He 
 found that Dambrowski had caused himself to be 
 appointed commander-in-chief of the armies of Po- 
 land and Lithuania, that he designed to penetrate 
 into Gallicia, raise contributions and recruits, to in- 
 cite the peasants and artisans to rise by proclaiming 
 the system of equality, and to fill his ranks with all 
 the prisoners in the Austrian jails. Oginski forbade 
 this iniquitous scheme by the French ambassador's 
 authority, and recommended the Poles to do nothing 
 without the will of Cara-Saint-Cyr. This advice, 
 however, was not observed ; shortly after, about a 
 hundred of them, headed by Denisko, a Pole, who 
 
 * The reader must distinguish between this man and Dombrowski, 
 who signalized himself in 1794, and will be mentioned again. 
 
280 HISTORY OF POLAND. 
 
 had accompanied Oginski and was left by him, made 
 an irruption into Gallicia, but meeting with some 
 Austrian troops, fifty of the Poles were killed, twelve 
 were taken and hung, while the rest escaped. This 
 absurd expedition is supposed to have been under- 
 taken at the instigation of the French ambassador, 
 to ascertain what troops there were in Gallicia. It 
 proved fatal to the confederacies in that province, 
 many of the inhabitants being compromised, all of 
 whom were detected, laden with chains, and thrown 
 into prison. The design being thus discovered, the 
 Poles broke up their assembly in Walachia, and dis- 
 persed in Poland, France, and Italy. 
 
 The death of Catharine, which happened on the 
 17th of November, 1796, delivered the Poles from 
 one of their most detestable tyrants. Her successor, 
 the emperor Paul, commenced a new era in Russian 
 history, that of clemency. His behaviour to Kos- 
 ciusko was almost heroic : he went to see him in his 
 prison, embraced him warmly, and told him that he 
 was free. The emperor also proposed to present 
 him with a high military post in his service : this, 
 
 k however, was declined. Paul gave him 1500 serfs 
 and 12,000 roubles, solely as a testimony of regard ; 
 but Kosciusko was determined to go to America, 
 and returned the presents. He then proceeded by 
 way of England* to the new world; when, having 
 
 * It was in 1798 that he touched at England on his passage to America. 
 He staid some time at Bristol in the house of M. Vanderhort, the foreign 
 consul, where Dr. Warner had an interview with him, which he de- 
 scribes in his " Literary Recollections," and gives a pleasing picture of 
 this great man. 
 
 " I never contemplated a more interesting human figure than Kos- 
 ciusko stretched upon his couch. His wounds were still unhealed, and 
 he was unable to sit upright. He appeared to be a small man, spare 
 and delicate. A black silk bandage crossed his fair and high, but some- 
 what wrinkled, forehead. Beneath it his dark eagle eye sent forth a 
 stream of light, that indicated the steady flame of patriotism which still 
 burned within his soul ; unquenched by disaster and wounds, weak- 
 ness, poverty, and exile. Contrasted with its brightness was the pale- 
 ness of his countenance, and the wan cast of every feature. He spoke 
 very tolerable English, though in a low and feeble tone ; but his conver- 
 sation, .'epiete with fine sense, lively remark, and sagacious answers, 
 
KOSCIUSKO. 281 
 
 spent some time with his old comrades, he came to 
 Paris and settled in the neighbourhood of Fontaine- 
 bleau. All the rest of the Poles whom Catharine 
 had left to pine in prison were also set at liberty ; 
 and those who had been sent to Siberia, amounting 
 nearly to 12,000, were allowed to return to their 
 homes. Kindness and clemency are more formida- 
 ble weapons in the hands of an enemy than the 
 sword : this beneficence, perhaps, was more fatal to 
 Polish independence than scores of Praga butcheries, 
 and Paul was a more dangerous enemy to the lib- 
 erty of Poland than the bloody Suwarow. Grati- 
 tude kept most of the Poles who were liberated on 
 an honourable parole ; and even the rest of the pa- 
 triots whose possessions lay in the Russian domain 
 began to abate in their ardour, now that those two 
 stimuli were removed, self-interest and revenge for 
 the actual persecution of their fellow-patriots. Kos- 
 ciusko never drew his sword again. 
 
 Prussia also had discontinued the Polish persecu- 
 tion since the treaty of Bale, and liberated her 
 prisoners. Frederic William even proposed to fol- 
 low the advice which Dombrowski had given him in 
 1796, when this patriot general was received at court 
 with other Polish officers, and the king asked him 
 if the Poles were satisfied, and what was their 
 opinion of him. To this Dombrowski answered, 
 that the Poles would have nothing to desire further, 
 and that the king might depend on their fidelity if 
 he would place one of his sons on the throne of Po- 
 land, and establish the constitutional government. 
 
 evinced a noble understanding and a cultivated mind. On rising to 
 depart I offered him my hand : he took it. My eyes filled with tears ; 
 and he gave it a warm grasp. I muttered something about ' brighter 
 
 Krospeets and happier days !' He faintly smiled, and said (they were 
 is last words to me), ' Ah ! sir, he who devotes himself for his country 
 must not look for his reward on this side the grave.' " Dr. Warner's 
 Literary Recollections, vol. ii. p. 132. 
 
 One of the numbers of the Gentleman's Magazine for 1817 (in which 
 year Kosciusko died) contains an article on the life of this great man, 
 chiefly extracted from the Moniteur. 
 
 Aa2 
 
282 HISTORY OF POLAND. 
 
 The king made no remark at the time, but it is said 
 that preparations were afterward actually made to 
 put this plan into execution.* 
 
 The Austrian government, on the contrary, per- 
 severed in its usual grinding policy, and did not 
 strike off a single link from the Polish chains. 
 Their prisons were still rilled with patriots, and every 
 day fresh victims were hung up like scarecrows to 
 terrify the insurgents. The Poles, notwithstanding, 
 eagerly flocked to join the ranks of the French 
 armies who were fighting these inveterate despots 
 in Italy. 
 
 Dombrowski, after leaving Berlin, arrived at Paris 
 in September, 1796, and in the following month laid 
 before the directory a plan to raise a Polish legion 
 of refugees to serve under the French general against 
 their common enemies. The French constitution, 
 however, did not allow any foreign troops to be taken 
 into pay, but the directory recommended him to lay 
 the project before the Cisalpine republic which had 
 been lately formed in Lombardy by Buonaparte. 
 With the approbation of the general, an agreement 
 
 ;was accordingly signed at Milan, on the 7th of Jan- 
 uary, 1797, with the provisional government, to take 
 the Poles into pay. These troops were to keep 
 their national costume, but to adopt the French 
 cockade ; their motto was to be, Gli uomini liben 
 sono fratelli. (Freemen are brothers.) In a few 
 weeks 1200 men were under arms : they were at first 
 formed into two battalions, but two more were soon 
 added. This was the origin of the famous Polish 
 legions. They began their career in March, but 
 their first service was not the most honourable to 
 quell the insurrections in Lombardy. The Polish 
 legion came in for a share of the censure which 
 many writers have passed on this portion of the 
 service of the army of Italy, but it seems that much 
 
 * Oginski, vol. ii. p. 270. 
 
POLISH LEGIONS. 283 
 
 more might be urged in defence of this duty than 
 could be advanced for many military affairs which 
 have originated nearer home, and on which many 
 persons still look with much satisfaction. The 
 Poles, at any rate, had no reason to be ashamed 
 of the war with Austria; there was much affinity 
 between the cause in which their allies were now 
 fighting and that which had been their own in 1793 
 resistance to foreign interference with domestic 
 policy. This was a war, too, which the enemy had 
 begun with threatening " exemplary and ever-memo- 
 rable vengeance, by giving up the city of Paris to 
 a military execution," &c.* The invasion of Lom- 
 bardy, one of Austria's strongholds, needs no de- 
 fence : to arm the Lombards against their tyrants, 
 and for their own freedom, was not only prudent but 
 generous policy ; and to attack those insurgents who 
 made common cause with the Austrians, equally 
 with the enemy, to execute the leaders of revolt 
 against the provisional government, were certainly 
 justifiable steps, and surely they could not be pro- 
 nounced " ferocious,"! according to the modern 
 common-law in military matters. 
 
 The Poles showed, if not their approval of the 
 French cause, at least so much animosity against 
 their tyrants, the Austrians, that by April Dom- 
 browski had 5000 men under his command. About 
 this period Charles de la Croix, the French minis- 
 ter for foreign affairs, proposed to Oginski and the 
 Polish confederates, to make a diversion of the Aus 
 trians in Gallicia ; and it was arranged that the Polish 
 legions should pass into Dalmatia to join the patriots 
 who were then in Walachia, and invade Hungary 
 where they were to be supported by the French emis- 
 saries. J The Poles even allowed the directory to for- 
 
 * The Duke of Brunswick's intemperate and ridiculous manifesto. 
 Bee Scgur's Decade, Pieces Justiflcatives, vol ii. . 358. 
 f See Family Library, No. IV. 
 j Oginski, vol. U.p.278. 
 
284 HISTORY OF POLAND. 
 
 ward this rash plan to Buonaparte, with instruction to 
 put it into execution ; but all their " hopes vanished," 
 says Oginski (who, en passant, was not one of the 
 most sanguine Polish patriots), when news arrived 
 that the preliminary treaty of Leoben was signed 
 on the 18th of April, 1797. The Poles had borne 
 the treaty of Bale with murmurs, but this peace with 
 Austria was "the unkindest cut of all;" and many 
 of them now doubted of assistance from France, 
 and began to consider all hopes of aid from that 
 quarter chimerical. 
 
 The Polish legions were, however, still engaged 
 in Italy, forming part of the corps which laid low 
 the treacherous and tyrannical oligarchy of Venice.* 
 
 The patriots formed the plan of establishing the 
 constitutional diet of 1792 at Man; anct, it was 
 proposed that it should consist of the same members, 
 or as many of them as could be induced to join it. 
 Malachowski, who had been marshal, readily con- 
 sented to lend his sanction, and they had even fixed 
 on a palace at Milan for the purpose. The two 
 agents, Narbutt and Kochanowski, who had been 
 sent to treat with the patriots, unfortunately fell into 
 the hands of the Austrians, and the papers found on 
 them implicated many persons within cognizance of 
 the court of Vienna, and another series of persecu- 
 tion was the only fruit of this ill-contrived scheme. 
 Malachowski suffered a year's imprisonment, and 
 then had to pay a high ransom for his freedom. 
 
 The definite treaty of Campo-Formio signed on 
 the 3d of October, 1797, was sad tidings to the Poles. 
 Dombrowski requested Buonaparte to allow a Polish 
 commissioner to be present at the congress, but was 
 answered, that " the prayers of every friend of liberty 
 
 * The Foreign Quarterly for the second quarter of 1831, in the review 
 of the " History of the Italian Legions in Italy," is very severe on the 
 Poles, and particularly on Dombrowski. The author of the article 
 seems to be strongly imbued with virulence." Lettrc de Jean Woy 
 fyaski, Polonais, au General Dombrowski, 1798." 
 
GALLANTRY OF THE POLES. 285 
 
 were for the brave Poles, but that only time and 
 destiny could re-establish them." Buonaparte, how- 
 ever, always expressed the highest admiration for 
 the bravery of the Polish legions. One evening, after 
 his return from Italy to Paris, he was present at a fete, 
 where Count Oginski was requested to play a march 
 which he had composed for these patriots. " Come," 
 said Napoleon, to those who summoned him, " let 
 us go and hear, they are talking of the Polish legions : 
 we must always help the brave Polish legions, for 
 these Poles fight like devils." 
 
 The Polish legions were now the representatives 
 of their nation, whose very name would almost 
 have been forgotten, had they not so frequently and 
 gloriously reminded Europe of the existence of that 
 proud nation of cavaliers. They now numbered 
 nearly 8000 men, divided into two corps, the first 
 commanded by Kniaziewicz, the second by Wiel- 
 horski. The first legion was employed against the 
 pope in 1798, and on the 3d of May Dombrowski 
 marched into Rome. He obtained the trophies 
 which Sobieski had sent to Italy, after the siege of 
 Vienna; namely, the Turkish standard and sabre 
 which had been deposited at Loretto. The flag 
 afterward always accompanied the legions, and the 
 sword was sent to him who was most worthy to 
 succeed Sobieski, Kosciusko. 
 
 The Poles were doomed to be severe sufferers in 
 the next campaign, in 1799, against the Russians and 
 Austrians. The allied armies of Russia and Austria 
 entered Italy under the command of the savage Su- 
 warow. The second legion was stationed at Man- 
 tua, and had to sustain the onset of their old tyrant 
 and butcher. Out of nearly 4000 men barely one-half 
 escaped from Mantua. After the bloody days of the 
 26th of March and the 5th of April, the gallantry, but 
 ill fortune of this proud remnant of the second legion, 
 reduced it to 800. Mantua was obliged to capitu- 
 late on the 28th of July, and a secret article of the 
 
286 HISTORY OF POLAND. < 
 
 treaty promised that all deserters should be given 
 up, but that their lives were to be spared. The 
 Austrians immediately seized the Poles, and obliged 
 them to enter their ranks, and Wielhorski was sent 
 a prisoner to Austria. Out of the whole of the 
 second legion only 150 escaped to France. 
 
 The first legion's service was equally severe. 
 After marching from the south of Italy to join the 
 army in the north, Dombrowski obtained the com- 
 mand of the left wing. On the 17th and following 
 days the bloody affairs of Trebbia took place. The 
 Poles were now brought hand to hand with their op- 
 pressors, the Russians, and Suwarow, the butcher 
 of Praga. Their fury cost them, in the course of 
 these days, more than a thousand men. The battle 
 of Novi, which was fought on the 15th of August, 
 1799, was even more bloody and fatal to the Poles; 
 and the legion was almost entirely annihilated. 
 
 After the conclusion of the campaign in Septem- 
 ber, the few survivors, in spite of their late reverses, 
 resolved to raise fresh legions. On the llth of No- 
 vember, 1799, the famous revolution took place 
 which raised Buonaparte to the consulship of France, 
 and the laws which forbade foreigners to serve in 
 the French army being abolished by the new consti- 
 tution, Dombrowski repaired to Paris, and obtained 
 leave to raise seven new battalions of infantry and 
 one of artillery, to be entitled the First Legion. 
 Kniaziewicz also was commissioned to raise a corps, 
 partly cavalry, to be employed under Moreau in the 
 army of the Rhine. By October, Dombrowski led 
 more than 5000 men to Italy, and Kniaziewicz at 
 the head of 3500 marched to join Moreau. The vic- 
 tory of Hohenlinden, on the 3d of December, is at- 
 tributed in a great measure to the gallantry of " the 
 Polish legion of the Danube." 
 
 The peace of Luneville, signed on the 9th of Feb- 
 ruary, 1801, ended the services of the Polish legions 
 for the present. The legion of the Danube wa^ 
 
STRENGTH OF THE POLES. 287 
 
 ordered to Italy to join that of Dombrowski, and 
 when they assembled at Milan in March, 1801, they 
 numbered 15,000. But the peace brought no ad- 
 vantage to the Polish patriots, and many of them, 
 disgusted with what they thought French ingratitude, 
 left the service. The remaining portion were sent 
 with the army under Leclerc to reduce the famous 
 negro, Toussaint, and the black insurgents of the 
 island of St. Domingo. Jablonowski, who had a 
 brigade in the last campaign, commanded the Poles, 
 devoted to this fatal and disgraceful service. Nearly 
 the whole of the legion perished by the sword or 
 the yellow fever; and the few survivors fell into the 
 hands of the English, and were obliged to serve in 
 Jamaica. 
 
 Brighter hopes dawned on the Poles in 1806, when 
 Buonaparte laid low one of their tyrants, Prussia. 
 The league between Russia and Prussia against 
 France was hailed by the patriots ; for now their in- 
 terests no longer clashed with their allies, but the 
 same battle-field would serve for the Poles to fight 
 for their emancipation, and for Buonaparte to crush 
 his enemies. Napoleon felt what powerful allies 
 the Poles, fighting for liberty, would be against 
 Russia and Prussia, and used many arts to engage 
 them in the cause. There was one man then living 
 near Fontainebleau, whose very name would have 
 raised the whole population of Poland Kosciusko. 
 Buonaparte made him the most pressing invitations 
 to share in the approaching campaign, and urged 
 him to issue addresses to the Polish nation, calling 
 upon them to embrace the present opportunity of 
 regaining their liberty. But Kosciusko was not one 
 of those who were dazzled by the splendour of Na- 
 poleon's career, and he divined that the military 
 despot would be equally treacherous as hereditary 
 tyrants. Well might he answer the emperor's emis- 
 saries, " What ! despotism for despotism ; the Poles 
 
288 HISTORY OF POLAND. 
 
 have enough of it at home, without going so far to 
 purchase it at the price of their blood."* 
 
 The more ardent and sanguine spirits among the 
 Polish patriots were not so skeptical, but engaged 
 in the campaign with the highest hopes. The de- 
 cisive day of Jena, the 14th of October, 1806, brought 
 one of Poland's tyrants down to the dust, and the 
 French troops were cantoned in Berlin. The hearts 
 of the Polish patriots must, indeed, have beat high 
 as they marched through the capital of Prussia, but 
 their hopes must have almost amounted to certainty 
 when the French army entered the Polish territory. 
 In the beginning of November, Dombrowski 'and 
 Wybiki published, by order of Napoleon, an address 
 to the Polish nation, announcing the speedy arrival 
 of Kosciusko, and calling on all to throw off the 
 foreign yoke. A proclamation was also sent out in 
 Kosciusko's name : of such weight was that name, 
 that even truth was thus sacrificed to obtain its sanc- 
 tion to the cause.f 
 
 The deception, however, did not succeed, and the 
 refusal of Kosciusko to join the undertaking ope- 
 rated powerfully on many minds. The whole of 
 Lithuania would have obeyed the call of that great 
 man ; but this one deficiency threw discredit on the 
 whole of Napoleon's protestations. Many of the 
 Lithuanians eyed the emperor's past acts with se- 
 verity and his promises with suspicion, and felt con- 
 vinced that, provided Alexander would compromise, 
 Napoleon would sacrifice the Poles to more impor- 
 
 * Kosciusko seems to have shared in a great degree the feeling of those 
 who, being set free and mildly treated by Paul, imagined that it would 
 be an act of ingratitude to appear in arms against him, although for their 
 country. The patriots sent him a letter on his liberation, "but," says 
 Oginski, " he would not commit himself by directly answering a letter 
 addressed to him with forty signatures. He contented himself with 
 expressing, in the answer he made me, how sensible and grateful he 
 was for the sentiments they felt for him, and he repeated the sincere 
 prayers which he never ceased to make for the welfare of his fellow- 
 patriots." Oginski, vol. ii. p. 287. 
 
 t A long absurd appeal was also published in his name shortly before 
 his liberation, in which he is made to talk of his cruel jailer, irons, &e. 
 A pamphlet too was written to expose this paloable forgery. 
 
CONDUCT OF NAPOLEON. 289 
 
 tant interests. It is confessed, however, that above 
 12,000 men left Volhynia and Lithuania to join the 
 Polish legions, and at the first news of the approach 
 of the French army the Poles drove out the Prus- 
 sian garrisons from Kalisz and several forts, and by 
 the 16th of November, Dombrowski had formed four 
 new regiments at Posen. 
 
 A Russian army under Benningsen had occupied 
 Polish Prussia early in November, and entered War- 
 saw to repress the general rising of the Poles ; but 
 finding themselves obliged to retire on the approach 
 of the French army, they had intrusted the com- 
 mand of the city to Prince Joseph Poniatowski. 
 The French advanced-guard under Murat, entered 
 Warsaw on the 28th of November. He appointed 
 General Gouvion St. Cyr governor of this capital, 
 and instituted a provisional government. 
 
 Napoleon established his head quarters at Posen 
 on the 27th of November. His entry was a triumph, 
 and the people went out to meet him as the sa- 
 viour of their country. On the llth of December 
 he signed a treaty of peace with Saxony, which he 
 raised into a kingdom. On the 18th he entered 
 Warsaw, and the affairs of Pultusk and Golymin, 
 though not very glorious to the French arms, cleared 
 ^russian Poland of Russian troops. 
 
 /The bulletin issued at Posen on the 1st of De- 
 cember, r%)6, was not at all adapted to increase the 
 ardour of me Poles. Like most of Napoleon's docu- 
 ments of this kind, it is couched in mystery. 
 
 "Shall the throne of Poland be re-established?" 
 it runs ; " and shall this great nation resume its ex- 
 istence and independence 1 Shall it spring from the 
 abyss of the tomb to life again ? God only, who 
 holds in His hands the issues of all events, is the 
 arbiter of this great political problem ; but cer- 
 tainly there never was a more memorable or inter- 
 esting event.'** 
 
 * This was inserted in the Moniteur for the 12th of December 
 
 Bb 
 
290 HISTORY OF POLAND. 
 
 This bulletin produced much luke warmness among; 
 many of the Poles, and they began to suspect with 
 justice, that their independence was indeed a " prob- 
 lem," if it was to depend on Napoleon Buonaparte. 
 On the 14th of January, 1807, a supreme legislative 
 commission was established at Warsaw, of which 
 Malachowski, Potocki, and Prince Joseph Ponia- 
 towski were the chief members. The late posses- 
 sions of Prussia in Poland were divided into six 
 departments Warsaw, Posen, Plok, Kalisz, Brom- 
 berg, and Bialystok. 
 
 The pospolite had been summoned to assemble by 
 the 1st of January, and they took the field with the 
 French troops with their accustomed gallantry. 
 The anniversary of the glorious constitution of the 
 3d of May at length dawned on Warsaw, and never 
 did a people hail more fervently the recovery of 
 liberty. 
 
 The bloody battle of Friedland, fought on the 14th 
 of June, 1807, reduced the allies to submission, and 
 the treaty of Tilsit was signed on the 7th of July. 
 Now that Napoleon had obtained one great point, 
 the acknowledgment of his title by Russia, till then 
 the only recusant on the continent, he began to 
 forget his faithful soldiers the Poles. He was per- 
 haps as apprehensive of a continuation of the war 
 with Russia as Alexander himself, after the severe 
 specimens he had seen of Russian fighting at Eylau 
 and Friedland. He also professed a great esteem 
 for the Russian emperor, and far from raising ob- 
 stacles or expressing a wish for concessions, he 
 gave up the district of Bialystok to the empire. It 
 is also stated, on good authority, that Napoleon 
 offered to unite Prussian Poland to the Russian em- 
 pire, on condition that Alexander would agree to his 
 continental system.* As the views of Russia did 
 
 * " He did not scruple to propose- the reunion of Warsaw and Prus- 
 sian Poland to the empire of Russia ; and though all Napoleon's parti- 
 sans have denied and thrown doubt on this proposal, it is nevertheless 
 
DUTCHY OF WARSAW. 291 
 
 not entirely coincide with his wishes, the treaty of 
 Tilsit declared that the portion of Poland lately 
 possessed by Prussia should be formed into an inde- 
 pendent government, under the title of the Dutchy 
 of Warsaw. It consisted of about 1800 square 
 leagues in extent, divided into six departments, 
 Posen, Kalisz, Plok, Warsaw, Lomza, and Byd- 
 goszcz ; and the population amounted to about 
 4,000,000. Frederic Augustus, king of Saxony, 
 the same whom the constitution of the 3d of May 
 had called to the throne, was chosen by Napoleon to 
 be grand-duke. 
 
 A commission was appointed by Napoleon to draw 
 up a constitution for the new dutchy ; and the code 
 was presented to the emperor, and approved, on the 
 S2d of July, 1807. Slavery was abolished. Two 
 legislative chambers were instituted to form a diet. 
 The executive power was vested in the king's 
 hands. 
 
 On the 20th of November Frederic Augustus 
 arrived at Warsaw, and regulated the economy of 
 his little dutchy. The principal offices were all 
 filled with distinguished Poles, and Prince Joseph 
 Poniatowski was at the head of the war department. 
 Julian Niemcewicz, the poet, and friend of Kos- 
 ciusko, was appointed secretary of state. The 
 army was raised to twelve regiments of infantry, 
 six of cavalry, a brigade of artillery, and the legion 
 of the Vistula. It was portioned into three divisions 
 under the command of Poniatowski, Za'ionczek, and 
 Dombrowski. 
 
 The first diet was held on the 10th of March, 1809, 
 and Ostrowski, formerly treasurer of the crown, 
 was chosen marshal. The session was limited to 
 fifteen days. Forty-eight millions of florins were 
 voted for the government. The Code Napoleon was 
 also introduced by a great majority. 
 
 true that it was made, and I have since seen the most authentic proofs 
 of it." O&inski, vol. ii. p. 344. 
 
292 HISTORY OF POLAND. 
 
 Scarcely had the diet finished its labours, when 
 Austria declared war against France on the 6th of 
 April. The Archduke Ferdinand, with above 30,000 
 men, entered the dutchy by Konskie without any 
 preliminaries, and on the 15th, Poniatowski received 
 a letter from him stating the views of Austria. But 
 the prince was not disposed to listen to such repre- 
 sentations ; but put himself at the head of about 
 10,000 troops and marched against the enemy. He 
 was attacked at Raszyn, four leagues from Warsaw, 
 on the 19th of April, and made an obstinate stand 
 till nightfall, and withdrew in good order. Warsaw, 
 whose fortifications were not then very strong, 
 could not be expected to make a very long resist- 
 ance, and Poniatowski knowing the inutility of en- 
 dangering the city by the feeble resistance of his 
 little army, accepted the offer of Ferdinand to have 
 an interview on the 20th of April. The terms agreed 
 on were, that the city of Warsaw should be in- 
 trusted to the hands of the Austrians, while the 
 army was at liberty to remove where it pleased. 
 The archduke exacted obedience in Warsaw by 
 planting loaded cannon in the principal streets, and 
 requiring hostages. 
 
 Prince Poniatowski adopted the bold advice of 
 Dombrowski, to enter Gallicia and rouse their sub- 
 ject brethren there to rebellion : insurrection imme- 
 diately followed his daring entrance, and on the 14th 
 of May he marched into Lublin. On the 19th San- 
 domir was taken by assault, and other towns soon 
 surrendered. On the 28th of May the Poles en- 
 tered Leopol, where the inhabitants embraced their 
 Polish brothers with tears of joy. A provisional 
 government was instituted at Zamosc, and the 
 whole of Gallicia rose up in favour of their brave 
 deliverers. 
 
 Dombrowski, who with his corps had been left in 
 the dutchy of Warsaw, exerted himself to raise 
 levies against the Austrians. He defeated them at 
 
PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT. 293 
 
 Thorn, on the 14th of May ; and following up his 
 victory, he drove the enemy towards the frontier. 
 Ferdinand, finding his quarters insecure, and hearing 
 of the reverses in Austria, levied a contribution in 
 Warsaw of 40,000 florins, and fled secretly with his 
 aid-de-camp, and his troops followed in the night 
 of the 1st of June. On the next day Zaionczek and 
 his corps entered Warsaw. 
 
 The Emperor of Russia had engaged at the inter- 
 view of Erfurth, in 1808, to act in conjunction with 
 France, but had been very tardy in executing his 
 promise ; now, however, that victory declared against 
 the Austrians in Austria as well as Poland, he ordered 
 48,000 men into Gallicia, who, however, merely fol- 
 lowed in the wake of Poniatowski. The enemy 
 retreated, and evacuated Gallicia on all points. 
 
 The dutchy of Warsaw appointed a government 
 for the occupied country ; but orders came from Na- 
 poleon to establish a provisional government in his 
 name ; which was done, and allegiance sworn to the 
 emperor. On the 15th of July Poniatowski entered 
 Cracow, and on the 16th was published the armistice 
 which Austria had entered into with Napoleon, after 
 the battle of Wagram on the 6th of July ; an envoy 
 was sent to Napoleon to acquaint him with the events 
 of the campaign, and Poniatowski was complimented 
 with a sword, and a cross of the legion of honour. 
 
 The treaty of peace was signed at Vienna on the 
 14th of October. The Poles were again deceived by 
 Napoleon ; only four departments of the conquest, 
 Cracow, Radom, Lublin, and Siedlce, were added to 
 the dutchy of Warsaw, while the circles of Tarnopol 
 and Zbazaz were ceded to Russia. The salt mines 
 of Wieliczka were to be in common between Austria 
 and the dutchy. 
 
 This accession of territory to the dutchy was, how- 
 ever, of very beneficial effect to the Polish cause, and 
 more perhaps in its tendency than its immediate 
 consequence. It was an earnest to the Poles of future 
 Bb2 
 
294 HISTORY OF POLAND. 
 
 advancement ; and they flattered themselves, that, as 
 the dutchy of Warsaw was gradually extending, it 
 would at length attain the complete growth of the 
 ancient kingdom of Poland. 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 State of the Dutchy of Warsaw in 1812 Napoleon's Designs; Treaty 
 with Austria Alexander's Treatment of the Lithuanians Russian 
 Invasion Napoleon enters Wilna Napoleon's Answer to the Poles 
 Confederacy Burning of Moscow and Retreat of the French 
 Wilna and Warsaw entered by the Russians Prince Poniatowski 
 retires to Cracow ; joins Buonaparte in Saxony ; is drowned at Leipzig 
 Polish Legions follow Napoleon to France The Allies enter Paris 
 Kosciusko's Letter to Alexander Alexander's Answer Dom- 
 browski and the Polish Legion return to Warsaw Congress of Vienna 
 The Kingdom of Poland annexed to Russia New Constitution 
 Lithuania, Posnania, Gallicia, and Cracow Diet of 1818 Infringe- 
 ments of the Constitution Death of Alexander Nicholas Poles 
 involved in the Russian Conspiracy ; acquitted Nicholas crowned at 
 Warsaw in 1829 Infringements of the Constitution Prospects of 
 Poland. 
 
 THE year 1812 was destined to form another im- 
 portant era in the annals of the Poles. A small frac- 
 tion indeed of the Polish population were restored to 
 their rights, but the liberty thus obtained was not the 
 substantial and invaluable blessing for which they 
 had fought and bled so many years ; their grand-duke 
 was a mere vassal of Napoleon, and the dependence 
 of the dutchy on France was unavoidable, since it 
 was too limited, and its resources too contracted, to 
 enable it to defend itself. 
 
 It was, at this time, in the most lamentable state 
 of wretchedness. "Nothing," says M. de Pradt,* 
 " could exceed the misery of all classes. The army 
 was not paid; the officers were in rags; the best 
 houses were in ruins ; the greatest lords were com- 
 
 * Napoleon's ambassador at Warsaw. -See Histoire de FAmbassade 
 en Pologne 
 
ILL FAITH OF NAPOLEON. 295 
 
 pelled to leave Warsaw, from the want of money to 
 provide their tables." The Poles flattered them- 
 selves, however, that the grand scale of their military 
 establishment, so disproportionate to the present 
 magnitude of the dutchy, was a proof that Napoleon 
 did not intend to confine his exertions to what had 
 already been effected, but meant the dutchy only as 
 a nucleus for future increments. 
 
 The Poles fancied also that their hopes were about 
 to be realized when Buonaparte threatened Russia 
 with the invasion of 1812. He took every precaution 
 to impress them with the belief that it was his design 
 to restore the kingdom of Poland to its former state ; 
 and Montalivet, his minister for the home department, 
 having let fall some hints in public, that such a plan 
 had never fallen into his views, he commissioned 
 Marshal Duroc to remove the bad impression thus 
 caused, by making the strongest assurances of Napo- 
 leon's interest in the Poles, and persuading them 
 that the remark had been made only to blind the 
 Russians. 
 
 Napoleon's determination was by no means formed 
 with respect to Poland; on one occasion he inad- 
 vertently exposed the insincerity of his promises, by 
 owning that his conduct to that country was " merely 
 a whim." It is certain that he could have had no 
 objection to see the kingdom of Poland re-established, 
 since it would have formed a strong barrier against 
 Russia ; but he did not wish to render the rupture 
 between himself and Alexander irremediable, as he 
 would have done by openly wresting Lithuania from 
 him. His desire was, that all the movements of 
 Poland might seem to proceed from herself. With 
 regard to the Austrian share of that kingdom, he had 
 made up his mind, in case of the re-establishment of 
 Poland, that it should be restored for an indemnifi- 
 cation. On the 14th of March, 1812, he concluded 
 a treaty with the court of Vienna, and some of the 
 secret articles were concerning this business. Napo- 
 
296 HISTORY OF POLAND. 
 
 leon guarantied the possession of Gallicia to Austria, 
 even if the kingdom of Poland were re-established ; 
 but in that case, " if it suited the views of the Em- 
 peror of Austria to cede Gallicia in exchange for 
 some Illyrian provinces, the arrangement was to take 
 place." 
 
 The conduct of the Emperor Alexander to the 
 Lithuanians was calculated to make them weigh 
 Napoleon's promises and designs with suspicious 
 precision before they credited them. They were 
 not now, as they once were, happy to catch at the 
 most distant gleam of hope, when no misfortune 
 could have much aggravated their misery ; but they 
 had something to lose by failure, some degree of 
 happiness at stake. The good policy of Alexander 
 tended to make them subjects rather than slaves. 
 Their taxes were not raised ; their privileges were 
 preserved; their laws underwent very little change, 
 and they had the appointment of most of their officers. 
 Alexander expressed the greatest anxiety for their 
 welfare ; he established eight governors of Lithuania 
 over the eight divisions, prepared a liberal consti- 
 tution for them, and even proposed to raise them into 
 a distinct kingdom. He particularly wished the new 
 constitution to extend its protection over the serfs. 
 " Particularly, do not forget the peasants," he said 
 to Count Oginski, whom he employed to draw up a 
 plan of the laws ; " they are the most useful class, 
 and your serfs have always been treated like helots." 
 These words sound strangely in a Russian despot's 
 mouth, particularly when we remember the state of 
 the Russian serfs.* Alexander too patronised the 
 learned institutions ; and it is a singular fact, that 
 the university of Wilna flourished more under the 
 dominion of Russia than it had ever before done. 
 He ordered public schools to be instituted dependent 
 on the university, and appropriated their ancient 
 
 * Alexander pretended to ameliorate it by an oukase ; but very little 
 real benefit was derived from it. 
 
ARMY OF POLAND. 297 
 
 revenues to the same purpose. Nor were these ex- 
 ertions fruitless : Wilna became the sojourn of learned 
 men; education was generally diffused; and the 
 Lithuanians began to think to whom they were in- 
 debted for these good things, and how " gentle a 
 tyrant" they had found in the Russian despot. 
 
 Seventy thousand Poles marched in the colossal 
 army which Buonaparte led against Russia in 1812. 
 On the 26th of June the diet of the dutchy of Warsaw 
 assembled ; and Prince Adam Czartoryski was ap- 
 pointed marshal. The minister of finance, Thadeus 
 Matuszewi, had been directed by Napoleon to make 
 a report of the state of the country on this day ; the 
 speech was prepared by the French ambassador, 
 Pradt, and was delivered in full diet. At the words, 
 " Shall Poland exist * What do I say ? It does ex- 
 ist," one burst of enthusiastic applause prevailed 
 among the vast assembly of deputies and spectators. 
 The Poles now felt certain that they should see their 
 kingdom spring up afresh ; Warsaw was one scene 
 of festivity, and the national cockades of blue and 
 amaranth were every where exhibited. The ex- 
 pressions, " the kingdom of Poland," and " the body 
 of the Polish nation," had been introduced into the 
 speech by the express orders of Napoleon ; and the 
 Poles firmly trusted that they would not be vague 
 words. The diet decreed a general confederation ; a 
 confederate council of twelve was appointed, of 
 which Prince Czartoryski was president ; and its first 
 act was to recall from the Russian service all Poles 
 in every capacity, and to declare them absolved from 
 their oaths of allegiance to the emperor. The diet- 
 ines were convoked to accede to the confederacy, 
 which they did unanimously. 
 
 In the mean time the French army had entered 
 Lithuania, and on the 26th of June Napoleon reached 
 Wilna. A deputation, commissioned by the diet to 
 wait on him there, presented him with an address, 
 which was prepared by himself. His answer was 
 
pgfim If Iliad leigwri at the time 
 
 aimed aD my people to support JOB. I lore 
 ~ the last HiiU'm yeara I bare 
 
 of Spain. I applaod all that you hare dooe; 
 the efforts yon wish to make; I will do 
 
 "..". r " -i r_ - r . r : ~ ~ - 
 
 " 
 
 
 Mohflow, Voibyma, the Ufcrame, and Fodoiia be 
 
 J ^ f t "PuJ-M,.! a >-- iJ^-m^ ~fl __- 
 
 neasen m tvieat i^otano, am innwiaencc wui crown 
 
 -, *l^ ", ^^ ^M^B^^ _, "ff _^^___J 
 
 . --:.-- "--r -_---_ - - .- '- -^ ~ - ~ -- - 
 
 terested me in your behalf and has giren 
 
 manydaimstoray 
 
 yon may depend i 
 
 ccTr-i. i~.-e com cc* iown 
 j !! ; irr'T i . " _ .-".- 
 
i ----:- :_f 
 
 1-- I:-: 
 
 V :;-- 
 
 - i 
 
 TWaovr. KB i 
 
 : ' :,- 
 
300 HISTORY OF POLAND. 
 
 arm6e" passed through Wilna on the 9th of Decem- 
 ber, and the Russians entered on the following- day. 
 The Emperor Alexander arrived shortly after his 
 army, and proclaimed a general amnesty to all the 
 Poles who had formerly been under his government. 
 Poniatowski reached Warsaw with his corps on the 
 25th of December. He united himself with the Aus- 
 trian troops commanded by Prince Schwartzenberg, 
 and they vacated Warsaw on the 7th of February, 
 1813, and marched towards Cracow, where the Poles 
 on their arrival mustered barely 3000 men. Dom- 
 browski and his small corps accompanied the French 
 army. 
 
 On Poniatowski's retreat from Warsaw all author- 
 ity was suspended; the ministerial council with- 
 drew to Petrikau, and afterward to Czenstochowa, 
 where the members dispersed. The Russians soon 
 took possession of the city, having previously pub- 
 lished an amnesty. A temporary government was 
 immediately instituted, of which the president was 
 Lanskoi. 
 
 Poniatowski remained at Cracow till May, where 
 he formed a new corps called that of Cracus. By 
 May he augmented his little army to nearly 13,000 
 men, 5000 of whom were cavalry. This body left 
 the Austrian territories, reached Zittau on the 10th 
 of June, 1813, and joined Napoleon, who was then 
 with his army in Saxony. 
 
 Buonaparte had again taken the field on the 18th 
 of April, 1813, in Saxony, where he was joined by 
 the wreck of the " grande arme'e." Poniatowski's 
 body soon formed the eighth corps. The battles of 
 Dresden, &c. were only preparatory to the decisive 
 day of Leipzig, the 19th of October. Poniatowski 
 was ordered to cover the retreat of the French army ; 
 and the officer whom Buonaparte had appointed to 
 blow up the bridge over the Pleisse, doing so before 
 the time, the remaining troops were obliged to 
 plunge into the stream for safety. The confusion 
 
KOSCIUSKO'S LETTER. 301 
 
 was dreadful, and fatal to the chivalrous Poniatow- 
 ski ; after being twice wounded, he rushed into the 
 stream and sunk for the last time. He had been ap- 
 pointed marshal of the empire by Buonaparte only 
 four days before. Thus ended the glorious but un- 
 fortunate career of this gallant soldier, who main- 
 tained to the last the proud character of a patriotic 
 Pole, and threw a redeeming lustre on the sullied 
 name of Poniatowski. 
 
 The survivers of the Polish army, under the com- 
 mand of Sokolnicki, retreated with the French 
 army, and particularly distinguished themselves in 
 the battle of Hanau on the 30th of October. Four 
 days after this, Buonaparte, hearing that they in- 
 tended to return, harangued the officers on their 
 route. " You have ever acted faithfully to me," said 
 the sinking emperor ; " you would not abandon me 
 without informing me, and you have even promised 
 to accompany me as far as the Rhine. To-day I 
 wish to give you some good advice. Tell me, when 
 do you intend to return 1 You are free to go home, 
 if you please. Two or three thousand men the less, 
 brave as you are, will make no difference in my 
 affairs." 
 
 The Poles felt that they were bound in honour 
 not to desert Napoleon merely because his glory 
 was on the wane ; and accordingly accompanied him 
 to France. 
 
 After the allies had entered Paris in 1814, Kosci- 
 usko, who had been living near Fontainebleau, sent 
 a letter to the Emperor Alexander, on the 9th of 
 April : 
 
 " Sire ; if from my obscure retreat I dare to address 
 my petition to a great monarch, a great general, and, 
 above all, a protector of humanity,* it is because your 
 generosity and magnanimity are well known to me 
 
 * This cannot be termed republican sincerity 
 
 Cc 
 
302 HISTORY OF POLAND. 
 
 I request three favours of you : the first is, to grant 
 a general amnesty to the Poles without any restric- 
 tion, and that the serfs scattered in foreign countries 
 may be regarded as free if they return to their homes; 
 the second, that your majesty will proclaim yourself 
 king of Poland, with a free constitution approaching 
 to that of England, and that you cause schools to 
 be established there for the instruction of the serfs ; 
 that their servitude be abolished at the end of ten 
 years, and that they may enjoy the full possession 
 of their property. It' my prayers are granted, I will 
 go in person (though ill) to throw myself at your 
 majesty's feet to thank you, and to be the first to 
 render you homage as my sovereign. If my feeble 
 talents could yet be of any utility, I would set out 
 instantly to rejoin my fellow-citizens, to serve my 
 country and my sovereign with honour and fidelity. 
 " My third request, though personal, sire, is near 
 my heart and feelings. I have been living fourteen 
 years in the respectable house of M. Zeitner, of the 
 Swiss nation, formerly ambassador from his country 
 to France. I owe him a thousand obligations, but 
 we are both poor, and he has a numerous family. I 
 beg for him an honourable post, either in the new 
 French government, or in Poland. He has talents, 
 and I vouch for his fidelity under every trial.* 
 " I am, &c. 
 
 " KOSCIUSKO." 
 
 To this Alexander returned an autograph answer. 
 
 "I feel great satisfaction, general, in answering 
 your letter. Your wishes shall be accomplished. 
 With the help of the Almighty, I trust to realize the 
 regeneration of the brave and respectable nation to 
 which you belong. I have made a solemn engage- 
 ment, and its welfare has always occupied my 
 thoughts. How satisfactory it would be to me 
 
 * Oginski, vol. iv. p. 175. 
 
RETURN OF THE POLES. 303 
 
 general, to see you my helpmate in the accomplish- 
 ment of these salutary labours ! Your name, your 
 character, your talents, will be my best support. 
 "Accept, general, the assurance of all my esteem.* 
 
 " ALEXANDER." 
 
 After the treaty of Fontainebleau was signed, 
 Dombrowski requested Alexander's permission for 
 the Poles to return to their country ; he was told 
 that they would march with the Russian army, and 
 on their arrival at Warsaw, would be at liberty to 
 leave the service or continue in it. The grand-duke 
 Constantine, Alexander's brother, was appointed their 
 commander-in-chief. They entered Posen on the 
 25th of August, 1814. On their route they passed by 
 Nancy in Lorraine, where the remains of Stanislas 
 Leszczynski, one of their favourite monarchs, were 
 deposited ; and performed a funeral ceremony over 
 his tomb in the church of Bonsecours. Sokolnicki 
 delivered an oration on this interesting occasion.f 
 
 A few days after Alexander's return to Petersburg 
 in July, 1814, he gave an audience to the deputies 
 
 * Kosciusko again wrote to Alexander at Vienna, on the 10th of June, 
 1815. He found that Lithuania was not to participate in the advantages 
 of a constitution, and he says, " One anxiety only troubles my soul and 
 my joy. I was born a Lithuanian, sire, and I have only a few years to 
 live ; nevertheless, the veil of futurity still covers the destinies of my 
 native land, and of so many provinces of my country. I cannot forget 
 the magnanimous promises which your imperial majesty has deigned 
 to make verbally to me and to several of my compatriots." To this no 
 answer was returned, and Kosciusko felt certain that his apprehensions 
 were well founded, and on the 13th of June he announces his intention 
 of retiring to Switzerland This design he soon put into execution, and 
 went to reside at Soleure, where he ended his glorious life on the 16th 
 of October, 1817. His corpse is deposited in the cathedral of Cracow, 
 in the same chapel where Sobieski and Joseph Poniatowski had been, 
 laid before him ; and on the summit of the artificial mountain, Bronis- 
 lawa, national gratitude has erected a monument to his immortal 
 memory. 
 
 t "These,'' said the orator, "are the wrecks of the numerous pha- 
 lanxes raised and reproduced as by enchantment, and which that Polish 
 Bayard (Joseph Poniatowski) has so many times conducted to victory : 
 these are the precious remains of a troop which he formed for glory j 
 these are warriors covered with honourable scars, &c." See CEuvres 
 Choisies de Stanislas, &c. Hist, par Mdine. de St. Ou5n. 
 
304 HISTORY OF POLAND. 
 
 of the Lithuanian governments, and concluded his 
 address to them with these words, " Tell your con- 
 stituents that all is forgotten and pardoned, and that 
 they must not have any doubt of the interest that I 
 feel for them and the desire I have to see them happy 
 and content." 
 
 The fate of the Poles was now an object of solici- 
 tude to every liberal mind in Europe, and the consul- 
 tations of the congress of Vienna were watched with 
 the greatest impatience. The same feeling which 
 leagued the allies against the usurpation of Buona- 
 parte bound them to atone for their own sins in that 
 way towards the Poles, by restoring to them their 
 independence. " The avowed principle of the grand 
 confederacy which has so recently delivered the 
 world was, that all should be united for the protec- 
 tion of all, that the independence of each state 
 should be secured by the combination of its neigh- 
 bours, and that henceforth they alone should be put 
 in jeopardy who attempted to violate that mutual 
 paction of defence by which all were defended. Is 
 it not natural in such a moment to look for the res- 
 toration of Poland ?"* Even the allies had no reason 
 to make the Poles' allegiance to Napoleon an objec- 
 tion to their re-establishment, since that charge was 
 equally applicable to themselves ; Russia, Austria, and 
 Prussia having all, at different times, been accessa- 
 ries to his schemes. f 
 
 On the 3d of May, 1815, the congress of Vienna 
 decided the fate of Poland. The fifth article of the 
 treaty between Russia and Austria declared that the 
 dutchy of Warsaw should be formed into a kingdom, 
 to be united to the crown of Russia, but should enjoy 
 a separate constitution and administration. The 
 portion of Eastern Gallicia which had formed part 
 
 * See an article on Poland in the Edinburgh Review of September. 
 1814. 
 
 t See an Appeal to the Allies and the English Nation on behalf of 
 Poland, 1814. 
 
POLISH CONSTITUTIONS. 305 
 
 of the dutchy was now ceded to Austria, as well as 
 the salt mines of Wieliczka. Cracow, with its terri- 
 tory, was created into a republic with a distinct con- 
 stitution,* under the protection of the three powers. 
 A portion of the dutchy was also given to Prussia 
 under the title of the grand-dutchy of Posnania. It 
 was also added, *' that the Polish subjects of the 
 respective powers should obtain a representation and 
 national institutions, regulated by the mode of politi- 
 cal existence which each of the governments to 
 which they belong shall think useful and proper to 
 be granted." 
 
 On the 25th of May Alexander issued a proclama- 
 tion, and on the 20th of June he was proclaimed 
 King of Poland at Warsaw. All the authorities 
 repaired to the cathedral, and took the oath of alle- 
 giance to the new king. The administration con- 
 tinued in the hands of the provisional government 
 until the constitution was framed. Alexander had 
 previously appointed a commission at which Count 
 Ostrowski presided for this purpose. The emperor 
 himself arrived at Warsaw in November, 1815, where 
 he was received with the greatest acclamations. 
 Medals of the emperor were struck with the inscrip- 
 tion Unus nobis restiluit rem. On the 24th of Decem- 
 ber, 1815, the new constitution was completed ; it was 
 very similar to the constitution of the 3d of May ; 
 and the principal articles were as follows : 
 
 The government consists of three states, namely, 
 the king, and an upper and lower house of parliament. 
 The executive power is vested in the king and his 
 officers. The monarch is to be hereditary ; he de- 
 clares war, appoints the senators, ministers, counsel- 
 lors of state, bishops, &c., convokes, prorogues, or 
 dissolves parliament. The king may appoint a lieu- 
 tenant, who must either be a member of the royal 
 family or a Pole. The king, or his lieutenant, is 
 
 * This may be seen in Oginaki, vol. iv. p. 196. 
 Cc2 
 
306 HISTORY OF POLAND. 
 
 assisted by a state council, consisting of the minis- 
 ters of administration ex officio, and counsellors, 
 whom the king may choose to appoint. The minis- 
 terial administration is divided into five departments : 
 
 1st. The department of public education. 
 
 2d. Judicial department, chosen from the mem- 
 bers of the supreme tribunal. 
 
 3d. Home and police department. 
 
 4th. War department. 
 
 5th. Finance department. 
 
 Each of these departments is under the control of 
 a minister. 
 
 The ministers are responsible for any act or de- 
 cree contrary to the constitution. 
 
 The king and the two houses of parliament form 
 the legislative authority. The senate, or upper house, 
 consists of princes of the blood-royal, bishops, pala- 
 tines, and castellans. Their office is for life, and 
 they are appointed by the king. The senate, how- 
 ever, presents two candidates for a vacancy, and the 
 choice rests with the monarch. A senator is re- 
 quired to pay taxes to the amount of 12,000 Polish 
 florins. The number is never to exceed half of that 
 of the lower house. 
 
 The lower house consists of seventy-seven mem- 
 bers, to be elected by the nobles in the dietines, one 
 for each district, and fifty-one members elected by 
 the commons. The qualifications for a member are, 
 that he must be of the age of thirty years, and pay 
 annual taxes to the amount of 100 Polish florins. 
 Every member vacates his seat by accepting a civil 
 or military office. The electors among the commons 
 are landholders, manufacturers, and those having a 
 stock or capital to the amount of 10,000 florins, all 
 curates and vicars, professors, public teachers, &c., 
 all artists distinguished for talent, whether in the 
 useful or elegant arts. 
 
 The diet is to meet every second year at Warsaw, 
 and to sit thirty days. All motions are decided by a 
 
FIRST CONSTITUTIONAL DIET. 30 / 
 
 majority of votes, and a bill passed in one house is 
 to be then forwarded to the other. All money bills 
 must be read in the lower house first. The king's 
 consent is necessary to every bill. 
 
 The supplies were to be voted every four years. 
 
 Religious toleration was guarantied, as well as the 
 liberty of the press;* and no person was to be 
 punished without the sanction of the laws. 
 
 The emperor appointed the Polish veteran Zaion- 
 czek his lord-lieutenant. 
 
 Such was the constitution to be enjoyed by 
 4,000,000 of the Polish nation. The other portions 
 of Poland, Polish Prussia, Lithuania, Gallicia, and 
 the republic of Cracow, were not, in appearance, 
 equally fortunate. The congress of Vienna promised 
 constitutional charters to each of them, but the 
 promise has been kept only in letter. The grand- 
 dutchy of Posnania was granted a diet by Prussia in 
 1822 ; it meets every second year. Their privilege 
 consists in making representations to the king, who 
 reserves the right of decision. Most of the offices 
 are held by Germans, although the diet obtained a 
 promise that Poles should be eligible. Gallicia also 
 has a diet which sits every year at Leopol for three 
 days, to receive the orders of government. 
 
 Lithuania formed a distinct province, governed by 
 the ancient laws, modified by the emperor's edicts. 
 It is supposed that Alexander designed to unite it to 
 the kingdom of Poland ; but his intention was not 
 executed. It was divided into three governments, 
 Wilna, Grodno, and Minsk, and governed by Lithua- 
 nian nobles. The magistrates were appointed by the 
 dietines. 
 
 The first constitutional diet of the kingdom of 
 Poland was held in 1818. The emperor opened it in 
 person on the 15th of March. One of the remarks 
 made in his speech was certainly true. " Notwith- 
 
 * The following restriction is added to this article. " The law will 
 appoint the means of checking its abuses." 
 
308 HISTORY OF POLAND. 
 
 standing my efforts, perhaps, all the evils you have 
 had to groan under are not yet repaired. Such is the 
 nature of things, good can only be effected slowly, 
 and perfection is inaccessible to human nature." 
 
 Soon did the fine professions of Alexander begin 
 to prove delusive; the authorities commenced by 
 trespassing on the pale of the constitution. So 
 closely was Kosciusko's prophecy fulfilled, that it 
 seemed as if his shade were still speaking from the 
 tomb. " From the very first, I foresee a very differ- 
 ent order of things ; that the Russians will occupy, 
 equally with us, the chief places of government. 
 This certainly cannot inspire the Poles with very 
 great confidence ; they foresee, not without fear, that 
 in time the Polish name will fall into contempt, and 
 that the Russians will soon treat us as their sub- 
 jects."* The article of the constitution which de- 
 clared the liberty of the press was nullified by an 
 act of the 31st of July, 1819, and other similar en- 
 croachments of power began to be experienced. 
 
 The diet of 1820, however, fought bravely for their 
 liberties, and threw out, with a great majority, a bill 
 to abolish the responsibility of ministers, one of the 
 grand articles of the constitution. They also im- 
 peached the two ministers who had signed the ordi- 
 nance for the suspension of the liberty of the press. 
 
 The ministers determined to be revenged for this 
 opposition, and squandered three-fourths of the reve- 
 nue yearly on the army, so that the remainder was 
 barely sufficient to meet the expenses. In conse- 
 quence of this, the secretary of state, who was always 
 resident with the king, and was now at Petersburg, 
 issued a writing, stating that it would be necessary 
 to devise a change of the political existence of Po- 
 land if she could not support her government in her 
 present form. This was soon answered by an abun- 
 dant contribution. 
 
 * Lettre de Kosciusko au Prince Adam Czartor/skt, Vienna, June 13, 
 1815. 
 
RUSSIAN IMPERIAL FAITH. 309 
 
 A state prison was soon established at Warsaw ; 
 espionage became general, and prosecutions imbit- 
 tered the feelings of the Poles against their tyrants. 
 An ordinance was passed in 1825, before the as- 
 sembly of the diet, and signed by Prince Lubecki, 
 which abolished the publicity of debate in the diet; 
 thus at once destroying one of the important checks 
 which honesty has upon every species of chicanery.* 
 
 In the same year, on the 1st of December, died 
 the Emperor Alexander, King of Poland. Constan- 
 tine, the heir-apparent, having resigned his right of 
 succession as long back as 1823, and still adhering 
 to his determination, his brother Nicholas succeeded 
 to the throne. On the 25th of December he issued 
 a proclamation to the Polish people, in which he 
 promised to preserve the constitution granted by his 
 brother inviolate. " Poles," he says, " we have 
 already declared that our invariable wish is that our 
 government may be only a continuation of that of 
 the emperor and king Alexander I., of glorious 
 memory ; and we declare to you, consequently, that 
 the institutions which he has given you shall remain 
 without any changes. In pledge, I promise and 
 swear before God that I will observe the constitu- 
 tional charter, and that I will exert all my care to 
 maintain its observation."! 
 
 The conspiracy in Russia broke out on the 26th 
 of December, 1825, and the persons appointed to in- 
 vestigate it pretended that its ramifications extended 
 to Warsaw. Above 200 persons were arrested in 
 Poland and Lithuania, and a commission was insti- 
 
 * " This violation was made by the advice of the sworn enemy of 
 Poland, the ferocious Nowosilcow, who, during his long residence in our 
 capital, was only the imitator of the barbarous Repnin. To account foi 
 such arbitrary conduct they made use, according to the Russian custom, 
 of a diplomatic pretext ; namely, the government pretended that it wished 
 in that way to avoid all influence over the elections. This motive, in- 
 deed, was only a trick employed to deceive Europe, for the government 
 only redoubled its influence." La Grande Semaine des Polonais, ou 
 Histoire des Memorables Journtes de la Revolution de Variovie, 1831. 
 
 f Oginski,vol.iv.p.315. 
 
310 HISTORY OF POLAND. 
 
 tuted, which is contrary to the constitution, to inquire 
 into the affair. It consisted of ten persons, of whom 
 only three were Poles. The only discovery of the 
 inquisition was, that patriotic societies had existed 
 in Poland since 1821. Nicholas, however, com- 
 menced his reign by discountenancing this illegal 
 commission of inquiry, and referred the investigation 
 to the senate. , Eight of the principal persons accused 
 were selected for trial ; but they were acquitted in 
 1828, with only one dissentient voice, that of General 
 Vincent Krasinski.* On the 24th of May, 1829, 
 Nicholas was crowned at Warsaw.f The sceptre, 
 however, was soon to be wrested from his hand. 
 The character of guardians of liberal institutions 
 was one which was incompatible with Russian feel- 
 ings, education, and prejudices, and time soon re- 
 moved the flimsy veil of pretence and appearances. 
 Russia had before been the guardian of Poland and 
 her government; and other Repnins and Salderns 
 were still her ministers. Nicholas had told the 
 Poles that they must, make " sacrifices ;"J but the 
 sacrifices which were exacted were beyond endu- 
 rance. " The improvement of the people," wrote an 
 author^ in 1827, " is going on under a most extensive 
 system of education ; and while the history of Po- 
 land is present to the minds of Poles, it is impossible 
 that a patriotic feeling should not grow up spontane- 
 ously." The patriotic feeling has sprung up, and it 
 would be cruel indeed, if hopes so long deferred, but 
 now raised so high, were to be again trodden down. 
 
 * The clemency of the Polish patriots saved the life of this man, one 
 of the palatines, on his returning to Warsaw with his regiment on the 
 3d of December, 1830, one of the glorious days of the revolution. He 
 was preserved by Szembeck from paying the penalty of his lukewarm- 
 ness, and fell on his knees protesting his future devotion to the public 
 cause. La Grande Semaine des Polonais. 
 
 t In Le Constitutionnel of the 18th of May, 1829, will be found a 
 curious article concerning this coronation. 
 
 I Proclamation of the 25th of December, 1825. " Aidez nous pal 
 des sacrifices." 
 
 Bowring, Specimens of Polish Poets. 
 
PROSPECTS OF POLAND. 311 
 
 But we expeci better things ; it is to be trusted, for 
 the credit of humanity in the 19th century, that the 
 crime of a Catharine, the treachery of a Frederic 
 William, and the hypocrisy of a Maria Theresa shall 
 no longer succeed ; but that, on the contrary, the 
 " proud Poles" will go forth to victory with, at least, 
 the prayers and good wishes of all but their despots ; 
 and that true liberty, so long a stranger to this brave 
 nation, may forget her predilections as a " mountain 
 nymph," and take up her abode once more in the 
 plains of Poland 
 
POLAND. 
 
 A NARRATIVE OF RECENT EVENTS, ETC. 
 
 [Extracted from the Metropolitan Magazine, No. I., May, 1831.] 
 
 Preliminary Views The Grand-duke Constantine's Barbarities Politi- 
 cal Persecutions Case of Major Lukasinski Revolution of 1830 
 Attack on Constantine's Palace Escape of Constantine Rise of the 
 Engineers and Students Polish Troops join the Patriots Chlopicki 
 appointed Dictator ; resigns the Command of the Army to Skrzynecki. 
 
 AMID the varied conflicts of opinions among man- 
 kind, there are fortunately a few points on which 
 there appears to be no possibility of the slightest 
 discrepancy. And in the foremost rank of these 
 may be placed the gross violation of any natural 
 right, either in the case of an individual or a nation, 
 under the cloak of expediency. In such cases right 
 feelings unconsciously give the first impulse, and 
 this is eventually confirmed by the sober dictates of 
 deliberate reason. It is in this way that, we appre- 
 hend, the wrongs of Poland have excited so general 
 an interest among mankind ; have called forth 
 such unqualified indignation against the partitioning 
 powers, and such sympathy for her sufferings. Yet 
 it may seem strange, amid such general sympathy, 
 that no effort should have been made to save the 
 devoted land of heroes. The truth is, that, notwith- 
 standing this universal influence, nothing could be 
 done to remedy the evil. The partitions occurred 
 when all Europe was engrossed with internal affairs; 
 and, under these circumstances, to dictate to the 
 
NARRATIVE OF RECENT EVENTS, ETC. 313 
 
 three most powerful nations in Europe was impracti- 
 cable; and the chance of attaining the object by 
 friendly negotiations, when the second case arose, 
 was completely destroyed by the destructive torrent 
 of the French revolution, which, in its ruthless pro- 
 gress, threatened the annihilation of society, and 
 menaced with complete extinction every institution, 
 however sacred and useful, if opposed to its wild 
 career. By such means, those most deeply inter- 
 ested in resisting the very principles of the Polish 
 spoliation were driven (in self-defence) to league 
 with her spoliators ; and thus their power of vindi- 
 cating her rights was suspended by the paramount 
 necessity of opposing similar principles, operating on 
 a more extended sphere. It was in vain, it could be 
 clearly demonstrated, that the partition of Poland 
 afforded a precedent, no less than the fraudulent con- 
 quest of Silesia, for any act of political robbery; for 
 at that very moment circumstances rendered it a 
 superior consideration to check the spread of the 
 example. Thus, unnoticed, Poland would have re- 
 mained unconscious of the enthusiastic interest ex- 
 cited by her fate, had not the fervid eloquence of 
 the poet and the orator occasionally betrayed feel- 
 ings of indignant sympathy, and showed that, though 
 the flame was smouldering the fire was unextin- 
 guished, and that it might afterward burst forth in 
 one glorious blaze. At last a ray of hope gleamed 
 on Polish patriotism. In 1806 Napoleon, then in the 
 full splendour of his glory, proposed the restoration 
 of the kingdom of Poland. With the political events 
 and considerations that influenced this extraordinary 
 rrian, we have at present nothing to do, further than 
 to state the historical fact that the visions which had 
 flitted before the eyes of the delighted Poles passed 
 away, that there was no restoration of the kingdom 
 of Poland, and that all their highly- wrought expecta- 
 tions terminated in the erection of the dutchy of 
 Warsaw in 1807. Political distractions crowded fast 
 Dd 
 
314 POLAND. 
 
 upon each other, and at last the dutchy of Warsaw 
 fell into the hands of the victorious Russians after 
 that campaign which cast Napoleon from the odious 
 and unenviable rank of dictator of the destinies of 
 continental Europe. 
 
 The negotiations which commenced with the 
 downfall of Napoleon, and were completed by the 
 treaty of Paris in 1814, necessarily embraced the 
 future condition of Poland, which, though then 
 occupied by the Russian troops, had, from previous 
 cession to France, become a fit subject of arrange- 
 ment, not for the eventual benefit of Russia alone, 
 but for that of the entire European commonwealth. 
 At that period the Emperor Alexander displayed a 
 spirit of liberality, which appeared to have owed its 
 origin to various circumstances. Madame de Stael 
 has well delineated his moral character, by saying 
 that he was " an accident," the mere creature of 
 circumstances. Thus, on his return from witnessing 
 the prosperity of this country, he was so enamoured 
 of free institutions, that he ordained the establish- 
 ment of 'trial by jury" throughout Poland, within 
 six months. In this he was carried away by mere 
 impulse, without the slightest regard to the fitness 
 or unfitness of the institution (however admirable in 
 some situations) to the wants, habits, and even pre- 
 judices of the people among whom he proposed to 
 naturalize it. There were, however, in addition, 
 some important considerations which may not have 
 been without weight in producing a concession in 
 favour of Poland. 
 
 Throughout all the reverses of Napoleon, even 
 when deserted by his dearest connexions, the Poles 
 remained faithful, and never faltered from their 
 allegiance. Such chivalrous devotion obtained for 
 the gallant Dombrowski and his band of heroes a 
 favourable capitulation. But it was incompatible 
 with the policy of the restored French government 
 to retain in the centre of France men so deeply 
 
NARRATIVE OF RECENT EVENTS, ETC. 315 
 
 pledged to their unsuccessful rival. The Polos, 
 however, refused to return to their native land with- 
 out an assurance that their national independence 
 should be recognised. Alexander also knew that 
 the tenure by which a Russian throne is held is 
 somewhat frail, and appreciating the fidelity of the 
 Poles, sought to secure their devotion by conferring 
 the boon most ardently desired; and, as the first 
 mark of favour, he conferred his brother Constantine 
 upon them as the commander-in-chief. It is probable 
 that each of the enumerated circumstances had an 
 influence on the emperor's mind, while the whole 
 determined him to re-erect the kingdom of Poland, 
 in opposition to his first intention of annexing his 
 recent conquest to Russia as a dependent province. 
 
 Austria, at this time animated, in all human proba- 
 bility, by jealousy of her great rival, favoured the 
 scheme, and even offered to sacrifice a part of her 
 own dominions. 
 
 France was decidedly favourable ; while the British 
 government advocated the same cause, from con- 
 sidering the future kingdom a rampart against Rus- 
 sian aggression. This view was communicated to 
 the congress of Vienna by Lord Castlereagh, in 1815, 
 and he urged the restoration of the kingdom of 
 Poland so energetically, that his view was adopted, 
 and the hope was reanimated that the days of 
 Sobieski might again be revived. 
 
 The rapidity with which this decision was made 
 probably owed much to the return of Napoleon from 
 Elba, which rendered it imperative that Polish parti- 
 sanship should not swell the ranks of the invader. 
 It was accordingly decided, that the grand-dutchy 
 of Warsaw should be attached to the empire of 
 Russia under the name of the kingdom of Poland, 
 and that it should be governed by separate institu- 
 tions. The treaty of Vienna contains on this point 
 the following article : 
 
 " The dutchy of Warsaw, with the exception ot 
 
316 POLAND. r 
 
 those provinces and districts* which are otherwise 
 disposed of by the following articles, is united to 
 Russia. It shall be irrevocably bound to the Russian 
 empire by its constitution, to be enjoyed by his majesty 
 the emperor of all the Russias, his heirs, and succes- 
 sors for ever." 
 
 Thus it was established, that by the constitution 
 alone the two sovereignties were united under one 
 head. It is curious to remark the opinions of the 
 Emperor Alexander himself on this point, as dis- 
 played in a letter from him, dated Vienna, 30th of 
 April, 1815, to Count Ostrowski, the president of the 
 Polish senate : 
 
 " President of the senate, Count Ostrowski, 
 
 " It is with peculiar satisfaction that I announce 
 to you, that the destiny of your country is about to 
 be fixed by the concurrence of all the powers assem- 
 bled at the congress of Vienna. 
 
 " The kingdom of Poland shall be united to the 
 empire of Russia by the title of its own constitution, 
 on which I am desirous of founding the happiness of 
 the country. If the great interests involved in gene- 
 ral tranquillity have not permitted all the Poles to be 
 united under one sceptre, I have at least endeavoured 
 to the uttermost of my power to soften the hardships 
 of their separation, and every where to obtain for 
 them, as far as practicable, the enjoyments of their 
 nationality." This was published according to an 
 authority given by the emperor to the court. 
 
 Thus a part of Poland was re-established as a 
 separate state, by the act of all the powers of Europe ; 
 and although the Emperor of Russia was to be king 
 of Poland, still the independence and separate exist- 
 ence of the kingdom were perfect. We shall here- 
 after see how consistently these principles have been 
 maintained. 
 
 From the time of the first re-establishment of the 
 kingdom until 1820, the affairs of Poland went on 
 apparently in conformity with the constitution ; but 
 
NARRATIVE OF RECENT EVENTS, ETC. 317 
 
 there were perpetual breaches of that formal grant, 
 until the Spanish revolution burst forth : then the in- 
 trigues of Austria, and the apprehension entertained 
 by Alexander himself of military revolution, led to 
 the establishment of the sadly-misnamed Holy Alli- 
 ance, and an attempt was made to suppress entirely 
 in Poland the spirit of national independence, which 
 at one time, if not actually fostered, had been cheered 
 by the smiles of the autocrat. 
 
 The Count Zaionczek, a Pole, was nominally the 
 king's lieutenant, but the real power was invested in 
 the grand-duke Constantine, who held the appoint- 
 ment of commander-in-chief of the army. This per- 
 sonage, who has played so conspicuous a part in the 
 affairs of Poland, is worthy of something more than 
 a mere passing notice. Though possessed of very 
 ' considerable talents, he is, in fact, an untamed tiger, 
 giving way on all occasions to the most violent 
 paroxysms of temper. -He has a deep sense of the 
 rights of his order, and holds the feelings of every 
 other class of human beings as absolutely naught. So 
 soon, therefore, as he found that his imperial brother 
 was no longer the liberal patron of constitutional 
 rights, he gave the most unrestrained license to his 
 capricious and violent injustice. A few instances 
 are better than general assertion : A most opulent 
 and respectable man named Woloski, the principal 
 brewer of Warsaw, had, through some of his people, 
 without his own knowledge, hired as a servant in his 
 establishment a Russian deserter. The offender was 
 detected, and proof of innocence on the part of his 
 employer being disallowed, the grand-duke, by his 
 individual decree, ordered this respectable individual 
 to be fettered, and in that condition he was com- 
 pelled to work with a wheelbarrow in the public 
 streets ! His daughter, an amiable young lady, ven- 
 tured to appeal to the mercy of the grand-duke in 
 behalf of her parent; and the unmanly monster 
 kicked her down stairs, using at the same time the 
 Dd2 
 
318 POLAND. 
 
 most abusive language. In the same way, he caused 
 two Polish officers to be seized in the dead of night, 
 and without trial, or even accusation, sent them to 
 Russia. Some of the publishers of Warsaw having 
 incurred his displeasure, he sent soldiers in the 
 middle of the night to break up the presses and to 
 destroy the types. Taxes were levied without con- 
 sulting the diet ; and when a distinguished member, 
 Niemoyewski, protested against such proceedings, 
 he was arrested and sent to his country-house under 
 the charge of Cossacks, who kept him there for ten 
 years, notwithstanding the most urgent affairs that 
 required his attention elsewhere. The students, too, 
 especially at Wilna, were persecuted and harassed 
 by a most notorious person, named Nowozilzoff, 
 who succeeded Prince Adam Czartoryski as curator 
 of the universities. This fit tool in Constantine's 
 hands displayed on every occasion the most atro- 
 cious rapacity and an entire absence of common 
 humanity. One of the richest inhabitants of Lithua- 
 nia had been arrested at the instance of this modern 
 Sejanus ; but 15,000 ducats, or 7000/. sterling, effected 
 his liberation. His most infamous act, if it be pos- 
 sible to give any pre-eminence in acts all most pre- 
 eminently wicked, was performed on the following 
 occasion : A boy of nine years of age, a son of 
 Count Plater, had in the playfulness of childhood 
 written in chalk on one of the forms, " The 3d of May 
 for ever !" that being the anniversary of Kosciusko's 
 constitution. The fact was discovered by some of 
 the innumerable spies, employed even among these 
 infants, to Nowozilzoff, who instituted an inquiry 
 among the boys not one would betray poor Plater : 
 they were all ordered to be flogged with the utmost 
 severity! The unhappy offender declared that he 
 had written the offensive words. The grand-duke 
 condemned him to be a soldier for life, incapable of 
 advancement in the army; and when his mother 
 threw herself before his carriage to implore forgive- 
 
NARRATIVE OF RECENT EVENTS, ETC. 319 
 
 ness for her wretched child, he spurned her like a 
 dog with his foot ! 
 
 Every one possessed of the means naturally fled 
 from such unheard-of tyranny, and, among others, 
 a highly accomplished gentleman, who sought refuge 
 in London. Constantine sent an emissary after him, 
 in the foolish belief that he could carry him off. The 
 emissary soon discovered the folly of his errand, and 
 returned, to the great chagrin of his master. 
 
 Shaving the heads of females who displeased him 
 was a common occurrence ; and, on one occasion, 
 four soldiers were severely punished because they 
 abstained from carrying such an order into effect, as 
 they found it impossible to do so without using per- 
 sonal violence. Tarring and feathering the shaved 
 heads of the offenders was also a favourite recrea- 
 tion of the commander-in-chief, whose delight it was 
 to witness these barbarities. 
 
 This career of cruelty and oppression on one oc- 
 casion met with a reproof, and the manner in 
 which it was received is too illustrative of the grand- 
 duke's character not to be recorded : Among other 
 subjects of his oppression was a Polish officer of 
 rank, who was confined in a foul dungeon placed 
 under a common sewer. There the unhappy man 
 was wasting away in a noisome and pestilential at- 
 mosphere. This happened to reach the ears of one 
 of those men who do honour to their high calling, 
 a bold, intrepid priest, who considered himself bound, 
 as the minister of a benevolent Deity, to interpose, 
 and if possible to soften the obdurate heart of the 
 tyrant. By the mere accident of receiving permis- 
 sion from the grand-duke Michael, he was admitted 
 to Constantino's presence. He stated the object of 
 his visit firmly but respectfully. The grand-duke 
 stormed the priest declared, that undeterred by 
 menaces he would fulfil what he deemed a para- 
 mount duty. Astonished at this, the grand-duke 
 sprang out of the window, declaring that there was 
 
320 POLAND. 
 
 a madman within. The priest was conveyed to a 
 convent, where he was confined ; but, his interference 
 effected no relief to the individual he sought to serve, 
 nor did he obtain any general relaxation. 
 
 While acts of private oppression were calling forth 
 all the hatred to Russia which is the birthright of 
 every Pole, political tyranny was superadded, as if 
 it were desirable to concentrate upon one point the 
 entire indignation of a brave and devoted people. 
 We have already adverted to the patriotic associa- 
 tion, modelled almost after the recommendation of 
 the Emperor Alexander. This association, formed 
 by the celebrated General Dombrowski, had at first 
 a masonic and military character ; having, as its 
 object, mutual good offices among the army. Its 
 existence was perfectly known to Alexander ; who 
 alleged in his discourses to the diet, and indeed on 
 all occasions, that he could not reunite, as he ear- 
 nestly desired, the Polish provinces in actual union 
 with Russia, with the revived kingdom, because he 
 could not discover among them either a Polish spirit 
 or a desire to become Poles. He therefore recom- 
 mended that the association formed should extend its 
 objects and become the means of promoting a 
 national spirit. Of his intervention abundant proof 
 was furnished, in prosecutions on which we shall 
 hereafter touch. For a time this recommendation 
 was not acted upon ; but in 1820 it was adopted-, 
 when unhappily the causes, as we have already seen, 
 which effected an entire revolution in the emperor's 
 political views, induced him to denounce the associa- 
 tion as treasonable. And for its suppression, in 
 direct violation of the constitution, he appointed a 
 military commission, which tried and condemned 
 civilians without any of the prescribed formalities ; 
 and, as if he were desirous of rendering its proceed- 
 ings still more odious, he composed it of men of 
 infamous character, Hauke, Blomer, Kornatowski, 
 Chankiewicz, and others, mere tools of the grand- 
 
NARRATIVE OF RECENT EVENTS, ETC. 321 
 
 duke ; who, in point of fact, issued the proclama- 
 tions, dictated the sentences, and provided for their 
 due execution. One of the most atrocious acts of 
 this most atrocious period is the treatment of Major 
 Lukasinski, a Polish officer of high character and 
 blameless life. He was distinguished by the grand- 
 duke, indeed was especially favoured on all occasions ; 
 but, being a member of the association at the time 
 that it became particularly obnoxious, he was arrested, 
 and after some time brought into the presence of his 
 imperious chief; who, addressing him in terms of 
 kindness and friendship, invited him to repose con- 
 fidence in the known attachment he felt for him: 
 thus thrown off his guard, the unhappy man spoke 
 with frankness and candour. He was removed to his 
 dungeon, tried on his confession to the grand-duke, 
 was convicted, and condemned to be deprived of all 
 his honours, to chains, and to perpetual imprison- 
 ment. In compliance with this sentence, he was 
 conveyed to the fortress of Zamosc, where upwards 
 of a thousand persons similarly circumstanced were 
 confined. One of the grand-duke's emissaries was 
 introduced into the prison ; he got up a conspiracy 
 for effecting the escape of the prisoners, and, without 
 the privity of the wretched Lukasinski, contrived to 
 procure his nomination as the leader of the con- 
 spirators. Then further persecutions were instituted, 
 and for this imputed crime, which, even if real, could 
 not be blamed by any man, he was condemned to 
 death. This was, however, too humane ; death would 
 have afforded relief to the wearied sufferer, which 
 was not the object of Constantine. It was therefore 
 commuted to perpetual imprisonment and a WEEKLY 
 FLOGGING ! And it was directed that a record should 
 be kept for Constantino's especial information of the 
 effect of each blow on the wretched victim ! Hu- 
 manity recoils at recording such atrocity, such cold- 
 blooded ferocity ; and we should not have ventured 
 on making the statement, had not the facts been 
 
322 POLAND. 
 
 attested by documents found among the papers of 
 the grand-duke after his precipitate retreat from 
 Warsaw last November. To guard against the pos- 
 sibility of relief or escape, Lukasinski was alter- 
 nately confined in a prison in the heart of Warsaw, 
 or in the fortress of Goura; and he was instantly 
 removed, if the scene of his actual sufferings were 
 even suspected. Unfortunately for him, at the 
 moment of the insurrection of Warsaw he was at 
 Goura ; and although jewels, papers, and other valua- 
 bles were left behind, Lukasinski was too precious not 
 to be carried off with scrupulous care. The actual 
 history of his sufferings would have contributed to 
 animate even the most torpid patriotism, when even 
 the imperfect statements that are now communicated 
 to the English public cannot fail to excite a disgust 
 and detestation for the tyrant, only equalled by the 
 sympathy for the victim of his persecution. But not- 
 withstanding these increasing grounds of dissatis- 
 faction, nay, of deep and unqualified abhorrence, 
 the good sense of the associated regenerators of 
 their country's freedom prevailed over their excited 
 feelings. The ferocity of the unprincipled savage 
 but confirmed them in the path of duty, and in the 
 necessity of the utmost caution. Yet thus rendered 
 circumspect, they never forgot that these practical 
 illustrations of tyranny imposed upon them addi- 
 tional and more urgent duties to their country. 
 Under these convictions they restricted their opera- 
 tions to the most narrow limit, and nothing beyond 
 Poland and Poles was ever regarded in even a 
 speculative view. Yet, in spite of all this caution, on 
 the breaking out of the Russian conspiracy, after the 
 death of Alexander, in favour of Constantine, in oppo- 
 sition to his younger brother the present emperor, 
 attempts were made to connect the Polish associa- 
 tion with the Russian revolt. 
 
 Under this pretext an immense number of the as- 
 sociation, already in bad odour from having been 
 
NARRATIVE OF RECENT EVENTS, ETC. 323 
 
 denounced by Alexander, were arrested. The most 
 chosen victims were persons eminent for their rank, 
 attainments, virtues, and patriotism ; not that noisy 
 and presumptuous quality miscalled patriotism, which 
 displays itself in idle declamation and useless turbu- 
 lence, but in that silent devotion to the best interests 
 of their country, illustrated by improving its con- 
 dition and by promoting every measure calculated to 
 benefit the people. The individuals so arrested were 
 declared by an imperial ordinance to be guilty, in 
 defiance of an acquittal by the senate, which alone 
 could legally investigate the charges. The imperial 
 decree then issued, condemning the accused to im- 
 prisonment, exile, and every penalty that unprinci- 
 pled caprice could suggest. In this career of criminal 
 folly a singular step was taken, without the chief 
 movers conceiving it possible to produce some most 
 important effects in the sequel. The whole of the 
 alleged offences were published, the defence sup- 
 pressed ; but, as these offences involved only what 
 every Pole ( felt to be a sacred duty, the disclosure 
 produced fresh ardour in the cause, and led to the 
 establishment of innumerable other associations, all 
 of which conduced mainly to the recent explosion. 
 
 Among the illustrious men there is a gentleman, 
 now in London, whose personal suffering may be 
 considered a fair example of the system pursued. 
 His career may be described as one of pain and 
 misery. His father a distinguished champion of the 
 liberties of his country at the period of the last par- 
 tition was expatriated ; being accompanied with his 
 wife, the subject of the present detail was born during 
 their flight, and was seized with his father's property 
 by the government! He was placed with a man 
 who appears to have possessed some of the feelings 
 of humanity, for on the death of his own child, he 
 reported the stranger to be dead, at the same time 
 restoring him to his parents. Subsequently to the 
 establishment of the dutchy of Warsaw, he entered 
 
324 POLAND. 
 
 the service of Napoleon, and served with distinction $ 
 but was taken prisoner in 1812, and was three years 
 in prison. After the cession to Russia, and the es- 
 tablishment of the kingdom, he wished to retire from 
 military life ; and, after fourteen refusals to accept 
 his resignation, the permission to retire was most 
 ungraciously granted. His pertinacity had offended, 
 and his integrity made him a marked man. Accord- 
 ingly, on the occasion of which we speak, he was 
 arrested (having at that time previously spent about 
 seven years in Russian prisons), and without condem- 
 nation placed in a dark dungeon, where for eleven 
 months he neither saw the face of man nor the light 
 of day. At the expiration of that time he, with 
 others, was suddenly taken from their cells, thrown 
 into common carts, and conveyed under a burning 
 sun to St. Petersburg, where he was kept in rigorous 
 custody, until he had completed his fourth year of 
 additional captivity. Almost at the moment of his 
 arrest he had been married to a lovely and amiable 
 female : he had no intercourse with his family during 
 his wearisome confinement ; and when he returned to 
 be cheered by domestic affection, he found that he 
 had become a father, but that his wife, worn out by 
 her feelings, was no longer the beautiful partner of 
 his hopes and fears, but an exhausted being, dropping 
 fast into her grave. She died in two months ! Acts 
 like these necessarily roused that spirit which has 
 since spoken in the voice of thunder to the oppressor. 
 The suppressed indignation burst forth on the 30th 
 of November, 1830, in the following manner : The 
 police of the grand-duke, ever on the alert to render 
 themselves acceptable to their master, by affording 
 him objects on which he might wreak his ruthless 
 passions, planned an association for the purpose of 
 involving the most respectable and distinguished per- 
 sons in Poland; and for that purpose inveigled a 
 number of ardent youths, just after the revolution in 
 Paris, to attend meetings, and to avow patriotic 
 
NARRATIVE OF RECENT EVENTS, ETC. 325 
 
 opinions. The prime conspirator, either from indo- 
 lence, or a belief that there might be danger in de- 
 vising a new organization for the association, used 
 that which had been discovered during the early 
 proceedings against the patriots. A copy of this 
 scheme falling into the hands of some of the mem- 
 bers of the actual associations, excited a suspicion 
 that they had been betrayed ; and the recollection 
 of former horrors decided them to take instant 
 measures for liberating themselves from their de- 
 testable thraldom. 
 
 Constantine had established a school for the edu- 
 cation of inferior officers, with a view to destroying 
 the national character in the army. The numbers at 
 this establishment were at this time 180, of whom 
 not more than six or eight were parties to the asso- 
 ciation. These, however, early in the evening of the 
 day already mentioned, went into their barrack, ad- 
 dressed their comrades, explained their views, and 
 without a single dissentient, not even excepting one 
 individual who was sick in bed, they armed them- 
 selves, and commenced their operations. 
 
 In order to understand their proceedings it is ne- 
 cessary to give a short account of local circumstances. 
 The grand-duke, though affecting a reckless courage 
 on all occasions, did not choose to incur the risk of 
 living in the centre of Warsaw, but established him- 
 self at the palace of Belveder in the outskirts of the 
 city, having at a short distance the barracks of three 
 regiments of Russian guards. From some whimsical 
 motive he surrounded the barrack with a wide and 
 deep ditch, over which somejvery narrow bridges were 
 thrown, so that by boats it was most conveniently 
 crossed. Constantine had no guards about his resi- 
 dence, but the disguised spies were so numerous, 
 that no stranger could approach beyond the outer 
 gate without interruption. The habits of the grand- 
 duke, too, favoured the plan of the conspirators. 
 His usual practice was to rise at four, to appear 
 Ee 
 
326 POLAND. 
 
 among the troops and in public until his hour of 
 dinner, which is two in the afternoon ; then to retire 
 to bed, sleep until seven or eight o'clock, then rise 
 again and devote himself to amusement for the eve- 
 ning. The hour chosen for proceeding to his palace, 
 for the purpose of making him a prisoner to be de- 
 tained as a hostage, was seven. At that time 
 the young soldiers proceeded to the bridge of 
 Sobieski, where the main body posted themselves, 
 while a dozen of the most determined pressed for- 
 ward to complete their object. They forced their 
 way into the palace, where they were first opposed 
 by the director of the police, one Lubowidizki, who 
 fled on being wounded : next they encountered the 
 Russian General Gendre, a man infamous for his 
 crimes ; he was killed in the act of resisting. Lastly, 
 when on the point of reaching the bedchamber of the 
 grand-duke, who, alarmed, had just risen, they were 
 stopped by the valet-de-chambre Kochanowski, who 
 by closing a secret door enabled his master to escape 
 undressed through the window. He fled to his 
 guards, who instantly turned out. Disappointed in 
 their prey, the devoted band rejoined their com- 
 panions at the bridge of Sobieski, where they had 
 been awaiting the result of the plan. On finding 
 that the first object had failed, they resolved on re- 
 turning into the city. In doing this it was neces- 
 sary to pass close to the barracks, where the soldiers 
 were already mounted, but unable to cross the ditch 
 from the precautionary arrangements of the small 
 bridges. They could therefore only fire on the 
 hostile party, who, from being thus peculiarly situ- 
 ated, returned the fire so briskly that they killed 300 
 before they retreated, carrying off only one of their 
 party wounded. On reaching the city, they instantly 
 liberated every state prisoner, were joined by the 
 school of the engineers and the students of the uni- 
 versity. A party entered the only two theatres 
 open, calling out " Women, home men, to arms I" 
 
NARRATIVE OF RECENT EVENTS, ETC. 327 
 
 Both requisitions were instantaneously complied 
 with. The arsenal was next forced ; and, in one 
 hour and a half from the first movement, so electrical 
 was the cry of liberty, that 40,000 men were in arms. 
 The sappers and the fourth Polish regiment declared 
 in favour of the insurrection very soon : and by 
 eleven o'clock the remainder of the Polish troops 
 in Warsaw, declaring that their children were too 
 deeply compromised to be abandoned, espoused the 
 popular cause. On learning this the grand-duke fell 
 back, forcing two regiments of Polish guards along 
 with him. 
 
 Nowozilzoff, the criminal coadjutor of the grand- 
 duke, from some presentiment of danger, had gone 
 to St. Petersburg a day before the revolution broke 
 out. The functionaries, thus abandoned, to check 
 the spread of principles opposed to those of Russian 
 policy, invited the most distinguished patriots to join 
 them. These were Czartoryski,* Radziwill, Niem- 
 cewicz, Chlopicki, Pa9, Kochnowski, and Lelewel. 
 No good, however, resulted from this heterogeneous 
 assemblage ; for, in the hope of accommodation, the 
 patriots were induced to allow the grand-duke to 
 retire under a convention, when they might have 
 captured his entire army. The escape of so detested 
 a person and his myrmidons excited great dissatis- 
 faction ; but no excess was committed, although the 
 exuberance of joy among the patriot bands produced 
 a thousand extravagant demonstrations of their 
 feelings. Disorder might, however, have followed; 
 and Chlopicki, a man of stern character and known 
 devotion to the cause, declared himself dictator ; a 
 declaration that was universally satisfactory, from 
 the acknowledged qualities of the man. The attempt 
 to blend his military duties with political details, in 
 the end, proved more than he was equal to. He 
 summoned the diet, and SCLC negotiators (Prince 
 
 * See note, p. 329. 
 
328 POLAND. 
 
 Lubecki and Mr. lezierski) to St. Petersburg, he de- 
 manded uncontrolled authority, which was granted 
 with one dissentient voice. lezierski returned from 
 Petersburg unsuccessful ; as the basis of negotiation 
 insisted upon by the emperor was unconditional sub- 
 mission. Chlopicki, dissatisfied with his own fail- 
 ure, retired, and for two days there was no executive 
 power; yet no one breathed a thought of aban- 
 doning the cause. The diet then chose Radziwill 
 as commander-in-chief : though brave, honourable, 
 and intelligent, he wanted military experience ; and 
 assumed the authority merely to prevent anarchy. 
 Chlopicki discharged the functions of the major- 
 general of the army ; and the prince, with the ap- 
 proval of all classes, soon resigned the supreme 
 command to the present generalissimo, Skrzynecki, 
 who has so nobly vindicated his claim to the ardu- 
 ous task imposed upon him. 
 
PRINCE CZARTORYSK1. 
 
 NOTE TO PAGE 327. 
 
 THIS illustrious personage, Prince Adam Czartoryski, is 
 the eldest son of the late prince of the same house, and is 
 descended from the family of Jagellon, the ancient sove- 
 reigns of Lithuania. His father was long known, not only 
 as a nobleman of the first rank in Poland, but as one of the 
 most accomplished scholars in Europe. Such was his repu- 
 tation, that at the period of the last vacancy in the throne 
 of Poland, Poniatowski (afterward king) was deputed by the 
 diet to propitiate the Empress Catharine, to second the 
 election of Czartoryski ; but the deputy's handsome form 
 found such favour in the licentious eyes of the modern Mes- 
 salina, that he ceased to urge the suit of the diet, and 
 returned the avowed nominee of his imperial mistress. 
 Prince Czartory ski's claims on the throne, popularity, and 
 consequent influence rendered him odious to the court of 
 St. Petersburg ; and when the last act of spoliation was per- 
 petrated, his lands were ravaged, his beautiful castle of 
 Pulawy destroyed, and a sentence of extermination pro- 
 nounced against him, unless he would consent to send his 
 two sons, one the subject of this notice, and the other 
 Prince Constantino Czartoryski, as hostages to St. Peters- 
 burg. To avoid this wretched alternative, the prince and 
 his princess, who still survives, consented to the separation, 
 and the two young noblemen were placed under the eye of 
 those who were deemed worthy, by the autocrat, of reform- 
 ing their principles. The talents displayed by both brothers 
 soon obtained for them the admiration of the court ; and as 
 it was of great importance to gain them over, every mark of 
 imperial favour was heaped upon them by the Emperor 
 Alexander, with whom, from infancy, they had established 
 terms of the utmost familiarity. The elder brother held for 
 EeS 
 
330 PRINCE CZARTORYSKI. 
 
 a long time the portfolio of the foreign office, and, in his 
 official capacity, accompanied his imperial master to the 
 scenes of some of his most serious disasters. During Na- 
 poleon's invasion, Prince Constantine was in Poland, and 
 confiding in the integrity of the then master of the destinies 
 of Europe, and breathing naught but freedom for his 
 country, he joined the banners of the invader, and raised a 
 regiment at his own expense to aid in the cause of libera- 
 tion. At Smolensk he received a severe wound, from the 
 effects of which he has never yet recovered. He resides 
 at Vienna. 
 
 The influence of Prince Adam Czartoryski proved to be 
 singularly useful to Poland after the downfall of Napoleon. 
 He interposed, and interposed successfully, between the 
 anger of Alexander and his suffering country ; and, on the 
 establishment of the kingdom of'Poland, was appointed the 
 curator of all the universities, both there and in the incor- 
 porated provinces. These duties he sedulously discharged, 
 until he was superseded by the notorious Count NovozilzofT. 
 From this period he has lived in retirement, faithfully per- 
 forming all the duties of private life. The promotion of 
 agriculture, science in all its branches, and kindly offices 
 among mankind constituted his occupations until recent 
 events drew him from his privacy. The first call was made 
 by the Russian functionaries, as stated in the text, for the 
 purpose of self- protection ; the second was that of his de 
 voted country, when a government was essential to success. 
 He was chosen not only one of the five members of the 
 executive body, but its president, a station which he still 
 honourably fills. Into his new office he has carried all the 
 unostentatious and disinterested virtues that adorned Pu- 
 lawy, and there is little doubt that if (and no one suspects 
 that such will not be the case) the independence of Poland 
 be fairly won, the choice of his country will point to him 
 as its sovereign. Having finished his academical career at 
 the university of Edinburgh, he early acquired a strong 
 taste for English institutions and for Englishmen, and of 
 this he gave substantial proof by devoting 250L a-year to 
 the exclusive purchase of English books. His revenues are 
 enormous, but his liberality is unbounded ; and as it is a 
 rule in his munificent establishment to provide liberally for 
 the families of all his dependants, his means are compara- 
 
PRINCE CZARTORYSKI. 331 
 
 tively restricted, but his personal wants are few ; and that 
 he is ready to accommodate himself to circumstances was 
 well shown by his only observation on hearing of the con- 
 fiscation of his large property in Fodolia by Nicholas. 
 " Instead of riding, I must walk; and instead of sumptuous 
 fare, I must dine on buckwheat."* Such is a faint outline 
 of this illustrious man's character. Were it only for the 
 admirable example of such an individual guiding the reins 
 of the government of a devoted people, it is most ardently 
 to be hoped that Poland may triumph over her enemies, and 
 be raised to that rank from which she was degraded only 
 by the basest of treasons. 
 
 * The common food of the poor. 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 THE following extracts from the Constitution 
 given by Alexander to the kingdom of Poland are 
 annexed, to show how far the Russians violated the 
 laws made by themselves. Both in letter and in 
 spirit, the whole were arbitrarily abrogated. 
 
 PRINCIPAL ARTICLES OF THE CONSTITUTIONAL 
 CHARTER OF POLAND. 
 
 SECTION I. 
 
 Political Relations of the Kingdom. 
 
 ARTCLE 3. 
 
 The crown of the kingdom of Poland is hereditary in our 
 person, and that of our descendants, heirs, and successors, 
 according to the order of succession established for the im- 
 perial throne of Russia. 
 
 ARTICLE 8. 
 
 The external political relations of our empire shall be 
 common to the kingdom of Poland. 
 
 SECTION II. 
 
 General Guarantees. 
 
 ARTICLE 11. 
 
 The Roman Catholic religion, professed by the greatest 
 part of the inhabitants of the kingdom of Poland, shall be 
 the object of the peculiar care of the government, but with- 
 
334 APPENDIX. 
 
 out derogating at all from the liberty of other forms of wor- 
 ship, which, without exception, may be followed, and enjoy 
 the protection of government. The difference in Christian 
 sects makes none in the enjoyment of civil and political 
 rights. 
 
 ARTICLE 16. 
 
 The liberty of the press is guarantied. The law will 
 regulate the means of repressing its abuses. 
 
 ARTICLE 17. 
 
 The law equally protects all citizens, without distinction 
 as to class or condition. 
 
 ARTICLE 19. 
 
 No person shall be arrested, but according to the forms 
 and in cases determined by law. 
 
 ARTICLE 21. 
 
 Every individual arrested shall be brought, within three 
 days at furthest, before a competent tribunal, to be exam- 
 ined or judged according to the prescribed forms. If he is 
 acquitted at the first investigation, he shall be set at liberty. 
 
 ARTICLE 22. 
 In cases determined by law, bail shall be granted. 
 
 ARTICLE 29. 
 
 Public employments, civil and military, can only be ex- 
 ercised by Poles. 
 
 ARTICLE 31. 
 
 The Polish nation shall have, for ever, a national repre- 
 sentation ; it shall consist of the king and two chambers. 
 The first shall be formed of the senate, the second of depu- 
 ties and delegates of the commons. 
 
 SECTION III. 
 
 ARTICLE 35. 
 
 The government rests in the person of the king. He 
 exercises the functions of executive power in all their 
 
APPENDIX. 335 
 
 plenitude. All executive or administrative authority can 
 only emanate from him. 
 
 ARTICLE 45. 
 
 All our successors to the kingdom of Poland are bound 
 to be crowned kings of Poland in the capital, according to 
 the form which we will establish, and they shall take the 
 oath below : 
 
 " I swear and promise, before God and on His gospel, to 
 maintain and support the constitutional charter with all my 
 power." 
 
 ARTICLE 47. 
 
 All the king's orders and decrees shall be countersigned 
 by a minister at the head of the department ; and who shall 
 be responsible for every thing that these orders and decrees 
 may contain contrary to the constitution and laws. 
 
 CHAPTER H. 
 Of the Regency. 
 
 ARTICLE 58. 
 
 The regent of Russia shall take the same oath in the 
 presence of the members of the regency of the kingdom. 
 
 CHAPTER m. 
 
 Of the Lieutenant and Council of State. 
 
 ARTICLE 63. 
 
 The council of state, presided over by the king or his 
 lieutenants, is composed of ministers, state counsellors, 
 master of requests, as well as persons whom it may please 
 the king to appoint specially. 
 
 ARTICLE 65. 
 
 The state council is divided into the council of adminis- 
 tration and the general assembly. 
 
336 APPENDIX. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Of the Branches of the Administration. 
 
 ARTICLE 76. 
 
 The execution of the laws shall be intrusted to the dif- 
 ferent branches of public administration mentioned below ; 
 namely : 
 
 1 . The commission of worship and public education. 
 
 2. The commission of justice, chosen from the members 
 of the supreme tribunal. 
 
 3. The commission for the interior and the police. 
 
 4. Commission for war. 
 
 5. Commission for finance and the treasury. 
 
 These different commissions shall be each presided and 
 directed by a minister named for that purpose. 
 
 ARTICLE 82. 
 
 The chief minister of the departments and the members 
 of the commissions of government shall answer and are 
 responsible to the high national court for every breach of 
 the constitutional charter, laws, or decrees of the king of 
 v/hich they shall be guilty, 
 
 SECTION TV. 
 National Representation. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 ARTICLE 86. 
 
 The legislative power rests in the person of the king 
 in the two chambers of the diet, conformably to the arrange- 
 ments of the article 31. 
 
 ARTICLE 87. 
 
 The ordinary diet assembles every two years at War- 
 saw, at the time determined by the king's summons. The 
 session lasts thirty days. The king can prorogue, adjourn, 
 and dissolve it. 
 
APPENDIX. 337 
 
 ARTICLE 93. 
 
 When the diet Jo not vote a new budget, the old one is 
 to be in force till next session. Nevertheless, the budget 
 ceases at the end of four years, if the diet is not convoked 
 during that period. 
 
 ARTICLE 97. 
 
 It rests with the king to lay the motions of the council 
 of state before the chamber of the senate, or that of the 
 deputies : excepting the motions about finance laws, which 
 must first be carried in the chamber of deputies. 
 
 ARTICLE 102. 
 Motions are carried by a majority of votes. 
 
 ARTICLE 103 
 
 A bill thrown out in one chamber cannot be modified by 
 another. 
 
 ARTICLE 105. 
 
 If the king gives his sanction, the bill passes into a law 
 The king orders the publication in the prescribed forms. 
 If the king refuses his sanction, the bill is void. 
 
 * 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Of the Senate. 
 
 ARTICLE 108. 
 
 The senate is composed, 
 
 Of princes of the blood, imperial and royal ; 
 
 Of bishops ; 
 
 Of palatines ; 
 
 Of castellans. 
 
 ARTICLE 109. 
 
 The number of senators cannot exceed half the number 
 of members and deputies. 
 
 ARTICLE 111. 
 
 To be eligible for a candidate to the office of senator, 
 palatine, or castellan, one must be thirty-five years old, and 
 Ff 
 
338 APPENDIX. 
 
 pay taxes yearly to the amount of 2000 Polish florins, and 
 unite the conditions required by the fixed laws. 
 
 CHAPTER HI 
 Of the Chamber of Deputies. 
 
 ARTICLE 118. 
 The chamber of deputies is composed, 
 
 1. Of seventy-seven members elected by the dietines or 
 assemblies of nobles, at the rate of a member for every 
 district ; 
 
 2. Of fifty-one representatives of the commons. 
 
 The chamber is presided by a marshal chosen from the 
 members and named by the king. 
 
 ARTICLE 120. 
 
 The members of the chamber of deputies remain in office 
 during six years ; they are renewed in thirds every second 
 year. Consequently, and for the first time, only one-third 
 of the member of the chambers of deputies will remain in 
 office, during two years, and another third four years. The 
 list of members going out at these periods shall be formed 
 by lot. 
 
 ARTICLE 121. 
 
 To be eligible to the chamber of deputies, the age of 
 thirty years is requisite, the enjoyment of civil rights, and 
 to pay taxes of 100 Polish florins a year. 
 
 ARTICLE 124. 
 
 The king has the right to dissolve the chamber of depu- 
 ties. If he makes use of this right, the chamber separates, 
 and the king orders in the course of two months new 
 elections of members and deputies. 
 
 SECTION V. 
 Of the Judicial Order. 
 
 ARTICLE 138. 
 
 The judicial order is constitutionally independent. 
 
APPENDIX. 339 
 
 ARTICLE 144. 
 
 Justices of the Peace. 
 
 There shall be justices of peace for all classes of the in- 
 habitants. 
 
 ARTICLE 155. 
 
 All former laws and institutions contrary to the present 
 ere abrogated. 
 
 Given in our royal castle at Warsaw on the 15-27 Nov. 
 1815. 
 
 (Signed) ALEXANDER. 
 

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 THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRAR 1