to
of
ti of Toronto
Henry Tresawna Gerrans
Fellow of Worcester College,
Oxford 1882-1921
THE
KUSSIAN GOVEBNMENT IN POLAND,
RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT
THE
IX
POLAN D.
WITH A
NARRATIVE OF THE POLISH INSURRECTION OF 1863,
BY W. A. DAY.
LONDON :
LONGMANS, GREEN, READER,
PATERNOSTER ROW.
1867.
WTMAN AND SONS,
CLASSICAL AND GENERAL PRINTERS, GREAT QUEEN STREET,
LINCOLN'S INN FIELDS, w.c.
PREFACE.
materials for the following narrative were collected
JL by me during tliree visits to Russia and Poland in the
years 1863, 1864, and 1865. My sources of information were
various.
From Lord Napier, then the English Ambassador at St.
Petersburg, from Mr. Lumley, the Secretary, and from Mr.
Michell, the first Attache of the Embassy, I received from time
to time very valuable information. They necessarily heard
statements from persons who represented all the parties in-
terested in the Polish question, as well as the views put for-
ward by the representatives of other European powers in
St. Petersburg, and I am greatly indebted to them for the
assistance they afforded to me. Mr. Michell especially, from
his long residence in Eussia and his intimate knowledge of
the institutions and state of public feeling in the empire, gave
me an amount of assistance that I could not have procured
elsewhere. At Warsaw the Consul-General, Colonel Stanton,
and the Vice-Consul, Mr. White, were equally ready to aid
me ; and Mr. White's long connection with Poland, and his
unequalled experience of the men and parties with whom in
the course of my narrative I have to deal, gave the greatest
weight to his views and criticisms.
In the official, commercial, and general society of St.
Petersburg, especially among the English, and German resi-
dents, there were great differences of opinion upon political
yi PKEFACE.
questions, and I had the advantage of hearing the views of
all parties and the statements of facts with which they were
supported.
It is difficult for me to set out with precision* my sources of
information among the Poles. Reasons obviously exist why
in this case names should not be given, but I trust the perusal
of my work will show that I was well informed as to their
views, and have done full justice to them. I may, however,
mention that I received much information from Count Joseph
Zamoyski, and that it was valuable alike from its unques-
tionable authenticity, and from the moderation of his own
views.
Among the Eussian officers from whom I received infor-
mation, I may mention Count Berg, Viceroy of Poland;
General Mouravieff, Governor- General of the North-western
provinces ; Count Osten Sacken, head of the diplomatic
Chancery at Warsaw ; Prince Tcherkaski and M. Milutine, two
of the three members of the Commission for settling the
peasant land question in the kingdom of Poland, the former of
whom is now Director of Posts and the latter is Secretary of
State for Poland; Prince Emile Wittgenstein, commandant
of one of the Russian corps operating in the kingdom; Prince
Pierre Ouroussoff, Chamberlain of the Emperor, and a member
of the court-martial at Wilna; General Lebedeff, who had
charge of the political prisoners at Wilna ; Colonel Annenkoff,
son of the governor of the South-western provinces ; M. West-
man, head of the private chancery of Prince Gortschakoff;
M. Zablotski, Secretary of State ; M. Pierre Semenoff, who
represented Russia some four years since at the Statistical
Congress; Colonel, now General Romanoffski, at that time
editor of the Invalide Eusse ; Captain Koutzinski, commandant
of the Chateau of the Viceroy in Warsaw; and M. Rumine,
one of the judges recently appointed to preside over the
PREFACE. Vll
peasants' courts. These gentlemen advocate many different
forms of opinion in Russia, varying from the strict conservative
principles of the Emperor Nicholas to the somewhat indefinite
creed of modern liberalism; on the whole,, I am persuaded
that they fairly represent the opinion of the educated classes
in Russia of the present day.*
I have striven in the following pages to represent fairly
and impartially the conduct and the aims of all parties. It is,
perhaps, impossible to regard the actions which pass before
our eyes, and the men whom we have seen and with whom we
have had personal intercourse, entirely from a historical point
of view; and I cannot hope that my narrative will be free
from error. All that I can urge is that to the best of my
ability I have studied the question, have endeavoured to
regard it dispassionately, and have recorded my exact im-
pressions of the men and the events I have endeavoured to
portray.
ST. SWITHIN'S LANE, LONDON,
20th October, 1866.
* I give these names without hesitation, as in every instance where
information was given me it was fully understood that I intended subse-
quently to avail myself of it for the purposes of the narrative I was
preparing.
/y
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
Policy of the Emperor Nicholas. Suppression of Polish Universities.
Education of Polish Youth. Its Revolutionary tendency.
Disaffection among them in after-life. Effect of this System.
Polish Catechism. Death of Nicholas. Russian Liberals.
Views of the Emperor Alexander. Emancipation. Sympathy
with the Poles Page
Close of Crimean War. State Of Poland. Visit of the Emperor to
Warsaw. Reforms introduced. Formation of the Agricultural
Society. Improved Condition of the Country. Disaffected Parties.
Religion and Races in Western Provinces. " The Emigration."
The Democratic Party. The Roman Catholic Church. Patriotism
of Polish Women . ...; 18
CHAPTER III.
Relations of Landlord and Peasant in the Kingdom of Poland.
Ancient Freedom of Peasants. Their Reduction to Servitude.
Tyranny of their Masters. Servitude in Lithuania. Personal
Enfranchisement in the Kingdom, and its Evil Effects. Legisla-
tion of Polish Diet. Subsequent Reforms by Russian Govern-
ment. Inventories. Views of Poles on Land Question.
Legislation of Austria and Prussia upon it. Necessity for effecting
a Settlement favourable to the Peasants .... 33
CHAPTER IV.
Commencement of " Unarmed Agitation " in Warsaw. Meeting in the
Old Square. " The Warsaw Massacre." Address to the Emperor.
Indecision of Prince Gortschakolf. The Delegation. The
Funeral. Conduct of the Delegation and its Dissolution 50
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER V.
Embarrassment of Government. Suppression of the Agricultural
Society. Liberal Institutions granted. Polish Demonstrations.
Suppression of Disturbances. State of Warsaw. Death of Prince
Gortschakoff Page 64
CHAPTER VI.
Count Lambert. Declaration of State of Siege. Demonstration of 15th
October. The Blockade of the Churches. Mourning. Attempted
Murder of General Luders. Appointment of Grand Duke Con-
stantme as Viceroy. The Marquis Wielopolski ; his Character
and Policy. Attempts to assassinate the Grand Duke and the
Marquis. Distinction between the Kingdom of Poland and the
Western Provinces. Address of Polish Proprietors. Count
Andrew Zamoyski ; his Exile 78
CHAPTER VII.
Revolutionary Press. Plan of an Insurrection. Increase of Agitation
in Western Provinces. Demonstration at Wilna. Repressive
Action of Government. Celebrations at Kovno, and throughout
Lithuania. General Disaffection. Wavering Policy of General
Nazimoff. Its Effects 94
CHAPTER VIII.
Conflicting Views of the various parties among the Poles. The Con-
scription. Outbreak of Insurrection. Massacres. Despatches
from the Consul-General at Warsaw. Proclamation of the Central
Committee. Conduct of the Proprietors. Revolutionary " Order
of the Day." Attempt to poison the Marquis Wielopolski 109
CHAPTER IX.
Excesses of the Insurgents. Their Position, and Character of their
Bands. Battle of Wengrow. Progress of Revolt, Concentration
of Russian Troops 126
CONTENTS. XI
CHAPTER X.
Policy of Prussia. Her Government of Posen. Convention with
Russia for Rendition of Criminals. Debate in Prussian Chambers.
English Despatches. Policy of Austria. Loyalty of Peasants
and Clergy in Galicia. Anti-Russian Feeling of Austrian, French,
and English Press Page 134
CHAPTER XI.
The Emperor Napoleon. His presumed Designs on Prussia. Exaspera-
tion of the French People. Temporizing Policy of the Emperor.
Sympathy in England with the Insurgents. Debate in the Lords.
Despatch of Lord Russell. Reply of Prince Gortschakoff 144
CHAPTER XII.
Langiewicz's Campaign ; his Defeat. Resumption of Power by the
National Government 155
CHAPTER XIII.
The National Government. The Peasants and the Government.
Public Feeling in Russia. Addresses to the Emperor. The
Amnesty. Its Reception by Insurgents. English Cabinet 168
CHAPTER XIV.
Moral Force. Fabricated Intelligence. Mouravieff. Mourning Pro-
clamation. Debate in the House of Lords. Property-tax.
Sequestrations 190
CHAPTER XV.
Seriakoffski, his Capture and Execution. Attempted Murder of the
Marshal of Nobility at Wilna. Death of Nullo. Rising in
Kieff. Wysocki's Invasion. Letter of a Patriot Pole 206
CHAPTER XVL
The Six Points. Public Opinion in Russia. Diplomatic Cor-
respondence. Analysis of the Six Points. Proclamation of the
National Government. Cessation of Foreign Interference 229
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER XVII.
Dispute between the White and Red Parties. Public. Opinion in
Russia. Resignation of Wielopolski. Embarrassing Position of
the Grand Duke. Excesses of the National Government. Robbery
of the Treasury. Compulsory Loan. Death of Lelewel. Hope-
less Character of the Revolt. Resignation of the Grand Duke.
Appointment and Character of Count Berg. His Policy.
Attempt upon his Life. The Sacking of the Zamoyski Houses.
Suppression of Mourning. Close of th e Insurrection Page 241
CHAPTER XVIII.
Resume of the Narrative .. 263
APPENDIX A 277
APPENDIX B 279
APPENDIX C 285
APPENDIX D 287
APPENDIX E 288
INDEX 327
THE
RtJSSIAN GOVERNMENT IN POLAND.
CHAPTEE I.
Policy of the Emperor Nicholas. Suppression of Polish Universities. Educa-
tion of Polish Youth. Its Eevolutionary tendency. Disaffection among
them in after-life. Effect of this system. Polish Catechism. Death
of Nicholas. Eussian Liberals. Views of the Emperor Alexander.
Emancipation. Sympathy with the Poles.
IN the following pages I shall endeavour faithfully to trace
the rise and progress of the rebellion in Poland ; to point
out what were the causes which nominally provoked it, as well
as the more remote and powerful agencies from which it really
sprung. It will be my province to show how the ancient
animosities of religion and race prevailed over the humanizing
influence of common interests, hopes, and aspirations, and
how noble plans for the advancement of civilization and free-
dom withered beneath the hand of the conspirator and the
angry breath of war.
In the course of my narrative I shall glance at the long train
of injuries which were heaped upon a subject race, and show
how consistent and how vain were the efforts of power to
trample out the memory of past history, and eradicate the
hopes of future national independence.
An aristocracy proud of its hereditary fame, and writhing
beneath the wounds which a remorseless conqueror inflicted,
will be seen in sullen dignity to reject the hand of reconcilia-
tion and friendship which the son of their oppressor extended
to them ; they will be seen disdainfully to ignore the liberal
institutions he conferred, and which would have opened the
way to self-government and constitutional freedom ; and,
2 THE EUSSIAN GOVERNMENT IN POLAND.
abandoning the high position which a landed aristocracy
should never abdicate, do nothing to prevent the rising
liberties of their country from being risked on the desperate
hazard of intestine war.
Again, now lowering in the distance, and now frowning in
the foreground, will be seen the shadowy outline of a revolu-
tionary Vehme. Without property, without honour, without
aught to recommend them, save the headlong valour which
but half redeems them from the condemnation they deserve,
the leaders of the socialist propaganda will force themselves
into the strife. Before their bolder and more resolute counsels,
the feebler will of the aristocracy will bend ; terrorism will
be the means resorted to for carrying on the struggle, and
murder be avowed as a legitimate instrument of war.
In Western Europe we shall see two mighty nations greatly
moved by Poland's efforts to be free. Goaded into excite-
ment by exaggerated rumours of cruelty on the one side and
prowess on the other; deceived by documents audaciously
forged and possessing about them all outward signs of authen-
ticity ; misled by circumstantial falsehoods gravely propa-
gated by men who should have known the truth, and the worst
and vilest of them endorsed by a powerful nobleman in the
House of Lords ; we shall find there have been moments when
war and peace hung on the chance decision of an hour, the
intrigues of a cabinet, or the response of an ally.
Sometimes, also, the indecision and the folly of the Russian
authorities will be strikingly apparent, and the signs of their
weakness will be traced in the spread of anarchy, the terror
of the loyal, and the augmented power of the party of revolt ;
sometimes, also, we shall have to condemn their acts of arbitrary
power, their injustice and disregard to the rights of property,
when that property was the possession of their foe.
Through the varied intrigues of courts and councils, through
the secret consultations of rebel leaders, and the daring ex-
ploits of the men who obeyed them, it is impossible in all
cases to pilot the way to truth. The events I chronicle are
scarcely those of yesterday, the flush of triumph yet lingers
on the brow of the conqueror, the tear yet glitters in the
mourner's eye, and only a few months since the strife yet
POLICY OF THE EMPEEOE NICHOLAS. O
lingered on amid woods and morasses, and ever and anon
was embittered by some dark assassination or some high-
handed act of power. The materials for history are here, but
the men who collect and offer them for acceptance can scarcely
be impartial; and if the author is sometimes misled by the
spell of their patriotism or the contagion of their zeal, such
errors may well be forgiven him if he endeavours impartially
to perform his allotted task.
After the suppression of the Polish revolt of 1830, the
Emperor Nicholas appeared resolved to obliterate the very
memory of Poland. Himself a man of stern and unbending
determination, he over-estimated his power, and strove to
accomplish that which was unattainable. The master of a
million of soldiers, he could wage war at his pleasure, and make
peace at his will ; but the power that he wielded, though it
sufficed to embroil the world, was impotent to crush out one
national tradition or to obliterate one historical memory.
This truth he from time to time recognized, as he admitted at
moments the impotence of his policy ; but his proud nature
forbade any public acknowledgment of his errors, and he per-
severed in a fatal consistency of action, though he knew it
would bring him nothing but disappointment. This, indeed,
was one of the errors of a mind which had within it many of
the attributes of greatness ; within the limited range of his
prejudiced vision, he was wise and just, and almost magnani-
mous ; but he possessed not that magnanimity which impels a
great man to admit that he has erred, and in the face of the
world to alter his avowed policy.
When the revolt was crushed out, and its leaders punished,
it would have been the part of a wise and far-seeing prince to
have bound up its bleeding wounds, and whispered hope to
a discomfited and prostrate race. He would have found in
their gratitude a securer tie than their fears ever afforded him,
and would have converted men who detested him into loyal
and loving subjects.
But from his point of view rebellion was a crime so loath-
some and horrible that nothing could justify and nothing
extenuate it ; in this instance, too, the crime was yet blacker
B 2
4 THE EUSSIAN GOVERNMENT IN POLA.ND.
than in ordinary cases, for it was combined with a hatred to
that great and sacred empire of which he was the divinely-
appointed ruler.
Instead, therefore, of attempting to conciliate the Poles,
instead of seeking to attach them to his country and his crown
by the creation of liberal institutions in which they might fill
places of trust and dignity, he resorted to an unwise and
arbitrary series of measures, by which he tried to merge Poland
and the Poles in Russia, and tried in vain.
War saw and Wilna were the seats of two universities, where
men of the Polish race had long been educated ; they pos-
sessed libraries and collections, the relics of old times, the
memorials of an age when Copernicus taught and Sobieski
ruled. These institutions were regarded by the stern Emperor
as memorials of that past which it was his mission to crush
out; if he suppressed them, he thought he should destroy
two of the rallying-points of disaffection and revolt ; so his
mandate went forth, and the universities were closed.
The libraries and collections they had contained were
transferred to St. Petersburg and Kieff, and Poland and the
Western Provinces were deprived of their accustomed means
of education.
No longer possessing them in their own neighbourhood, the
nobles of the kingdom and the Western Provinces were com-
pelled to send their sons to the distant universities of Kieff,
Moscow, and St. Petersburg.
Some of the poor students, who were unable to afford the
cost of an education, were supported at these universities by
the Government, on condition, after leaving it, that they should
pass several years in the public service.
Thus, far away from their own land, the Emperor anticipated
that they would forget the misfortunes of their country, that
they would cease to look back on its past history with vain
repining, and that they would devote all their energies to the
service of the Empire.
The result did not answer his expectations ; in many
instances it prevented the poorer proprietors from affording a
liberal education to their sons, and frequently the wealthier
classes refused to part with their children, as they objected to
EDUCATION OF POLISH YOUTH. 5
the long and remote separation rendered necessary by their
distance from the Russian universities. The corruption which
was so rife in the public service rendered the wealthier proprie-
tors unwilling that their sons should enter its ranks, and they
therefore sent them very frequently to some German university
to receive their education, and left them to gather it as best
they could in the course of foreign travel.
A large portion of the Polish youth was thus brought up in
idleness, among scenes where every tradition was associated
with the history of their race, and where the only recognized
standard deemed worthy of emulation were the patriots who
had tried to free their country from the foreign yoke.
Education was thus in a measure checked by this act of
power ; but, nevertheless, large numbers of Polish students
went to the principal Russian universities, where, instead of
losing their nationality, it became more than ever confirmed.
Sometimes in periods of political excitement they banded
themselves together as a distinct and separate body, neither
sharing in the sports nor sympathizing in the pursuits of the
other students. Thus, in the university of St. Petersburg
they formed one-third of the whole students, and in that of
Kieff they were comparatively even more numerous ; in the
former they partially, and in the latter they altogether, re-
fused to associate themselves with the Russians. Oftener, how-
ever, they took the lead in daring political speculations, sup-
ported the most advanced liberal theories, and endeavoured
there, as it will be afterwards seen they did subsequently upon
a wider arena, to prejudice their Russian fellow-students against
all the forms of a despotic government.
His university course ended, the Pole generally entered the
public service, where his talents and industry were certain of
meeting recognition and reward ; for in every Pole who entered
his service the Emperor saw a deserter from the camp of the
enemy, one who had abandoned the idle hope of reviving an
extinct nationality, and had identified himself with the greatness
and the fortunes of Russia. Yet the allegiance of such a man
too often sat lightly upon him, and we shall see that the result
of the system of the Emperor Nicholas was but a Pyrrhic
triumph.
6 THE RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT IN POLAND.
The injuries to which youth is subjected by oppression root
deeply in the mind, and it is little to be wondered at if these
Polish students, the sons for the most part of the insurgents
of 1830, were dissatisfied with the Government they obeyed,
and the country which had trampled on their native land.
As they grew in years, such feelings strengthened, and how-
ever much the history of their country was unfavourably
coloured by Eussian scribes, they pictured her in the warm
tints of a glowing patriotism ; they thought of her as the
Poland which had saved Vienna and menaced Moscow, and
they imaged her as the land of chivalry, of freedom, and of
song ; they regarded the stormy gatherings of feudal chieftains
as the legitimate expression of the national will ; and in the
repeated partitions of Poland they allowed for none of those
circumstances which almost rendered them inevitable, and saw
in them nothing save their guilt.
It is natural that minds thus impressed with a sense of wrong
should regard with deep detestation the forms of government
by which they were surrounded ; and that they should behold
in them the machinery by which arbitrary power kept down
the expression of opinion and the progress of free thought.
The Polish student, dissatisfied with what was, solaced him-
self with chimerical visions of a future which will never be.
Crude and impracticable theories of socialist scribblers, wild
notions of ultra-theoretic liberalism, dreams of impossible
changes, and of a perfection in institutions of which no insti-
tutions are capable, filled his mind and animated his exertions.
Had the free interchange of thought been allowed in Eussia,
and these opinions been fairly tested in the broad sunshine of
public discussion, a general diffusion of liberal ideas might
have resulted from it, but it certainly would have stopped the
rank and poisonous vegetation which was silently germinating
in that intellectual dungeon.
Impressed with the wildest and most extravagant ideas, the
Pole, when he entered the public service, used his influence to
procure converts to them. He associated with men of liberal
opinions among the Eussians, and endeavoured to win them
over to his own anarchical theories.
While holding office under the Government, too often he was
DISAFFECTION AMONG POLISH OFFICIALS. 7
encouraging others to attempt its overthrow; too often he
betrayed the secrets his official position alone enabled him to
acquire, and thought all deception honourable and just which
served, however remotely,, the interests of his country.
Employed in the interior of Russia, he was frequently re-
markable for his grasping and avaricious tendencies, and was
not too scrupulous as to the means he employed to gratify
them. He desired to amass a fortune, that he might spend it
thereafter in the service of Poland ; and if, in collecting it, he
gave dissatisfaction to the people, that dissatisfaction would
only recoil on the institutions he longed to destroy.
For the furtherance of the same political ends he endeavoured
unduly to advance his countrymen in public life. In every
province where a Pole was in high employment, it was certain
that the lesser appointments would be thronged with his com-
patriots, and thus throughout the Empire all branches of the
administration were crowded with men who were the secret
enemies of Russia.
Of course, in the public service there were many men who
would not stoop to such courses; men of high honour and
independent will, who would not sully their reputation by any
such combination of perfidy and self-interest.
The policy of the Emperor Nicholas on the subject of educa-
tion was consistent with the measures he adopted in other
branches of the administration.
The study of the ancient history of Poland was forbidden,
or permitted only in the feeble and garbled treatises of Russian
scribes ; as though every battle-field had not its memory," as
though every tomb in the churches, every banner that moul-
dered on their sacred walls, did not teach some passage of her
history to Poland's persecuted sons. The works of foreign
authors were rigorously forbidden, and secret commissions
punished their study with imprisonment and exile ; the visits
of foreigners were as much as possible discouraged, and they
were subjected to numberless vexatious restrictions, having
their speedy departure for their object; while the trade and
manufactures of the country languished under the blighting
influence of prohibitive tariffs, and the multitude of unwise
regulations official pedantry imposed.
8 THE RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT IN POLAND.
The custom-house frontier between Russia and Poland was
abolished, and the prohibitive system of the Empire was in-
troduced in all its severity ; a commission of the secret police
settling in Warsaw filled the prisons with the most enlightened
citizens, while the Polish youth were drafted into the military
service in such numbers that for a whole generation the
population of the country decreased, and the last vestige
of independence the national army was merged in the
imperial forces.
Such was the system on which the Emperor Nicholas
governed Poland, and he never swerved from it. The revolu-
tion of 1830 was terribly avenged in a civil administration de-
nationalized, a blighted commerce, an army that had ceased to
exist, and a land lying prostrate at the feet of implacable
power. A generation was born and grew up under this relent-
less sway, and one of the last acts of his reign was to destroy
a whole quarter of Warsaw, that he might add a glacis and
an outwork to the citadel with which he overawed the town.
Yet the measures he took to blot out the nationality he
detested were singularly unfortunate ; the annihilation of the
frontier on which he relied as a means of introducing the
Russian, element into Poland served, on the contrary, to
bring together the scattered members of the Polish race.
Warsaw once more became the capital to which the wealthy
nobles of the Western Provinces, as well as of the kingdom,
resorted ; and in spite of their long alienation from each other,
it was soon apparent that their feelings and interests were the
same. Indeed the very fact of nobles of the provinces dwell-
ing for the most part among Russians made them more decided
in their Polish sympathies and policy than even their kindred
in the Congress kingdom.
The Polish proprietors perseveringly endeavoured to implant
a national feeling antagonistic to Russia, in the minds of the
common people. In the Western Provinces the Polish race, as
will hereafter be seen, numbered only some ten per cent, of
the entire population. The remainder were of Russian, Lettic,
or Jewish origin. Amongst them the Poles incessantly toiled.
They often professed not to understand Russian, and peasants
who used that language were handed over to the agent, while
POLISH CATECHISM.
those who spoke Polish were thrown into direct communication
with their proprietors. Self-interest thus prompted them to
understand and speak the language of their masters. The
language once learned, it was easy to persuade them that they
were Poles, to teach them vague lessons of their country's
former history, to shake their political allegiance, and to under-
mine their religious faith.
Among the Letfcic race, the Roman Catholic clergy were
equally active. The community of faith was a link between
them and their pastors which was wanting in the relations of
the latter with the Eussian serf, and the clergy ably propa-
gated political views which might tend thereafter to win back
the Western Provinces to the profession of the true faith. The
result was that when the Emperor Nicholas died, the Western
Provinces were far more Polish than they had been previously
to the revolt of 1830.
The principles which I have attributed to many of the Poles
find expression in a curious document which was circulated
extensively among them, a translation of which I subjoin. It is
known as the Polish catechism ; its authenticity has indeed
been questioned by those who were interested in repudiating
it, but there is not the least reason for attaching any credit to
the denial. It reads thus :
" In the great hour of the re-establishment of our beloved
country, everyone having a right to call himself a son of
Poland must sacrifice on the altar of liberty, and must not
suffer the spark that animated Poland in all her misery to be
extinguished. This spark will soon become a fire spreading
over the whole world, and the Polish nation, like another phoe-
nix, will arise from her ashes and appear as the protector of
oppressed nations and champion of the mission of civilized
Europe. Let us remember, brethren, that Phoenicia and Venice
ruled the world not with arms but with intellect, riches, and
knowledge. Let us imitate their example, and act in accord-
ance with the following measures proposed by a man com-
pletely devoted to his country.
" Poland is a land fitted for commerce and civilization ; there
was a time when she ruled with her glorious and unconquer-
able arms ; but the views of Providence are unfathomable, and
10 THE RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT IN POLAND.
she is now called to rule by the power of her intellect, com-
merce, and civilization. Look at England, a truly commercial
nation, but the most powerful in the world. She rules it on
the sea, Poland on the land. The colonies are the prop of
England's wealth, but they are at a distance. Poland has
likewise an India, Lithuania and the Ukraine. These colonies
form one with Poland, and if this agitation is ably conducted,
they can never be separated from her.
f ' I offer to our brethren in blood and in religion, the follow-
ing counsels to enable us to act with union, that we may reach
the goal.
"1. In the annexed provinces the landowners must endeavour
not to part with their property ; if they are obliged to do so,
let a Pole be the buyer, in order to prevent the Russian element
from spreading. The suffering brethren landowners must be
helped, the Russian landowners must be subjected to all kinds
of annoyances ; nothing must be sold to them or bought from
them; lawsuits must be instituted against them; they are
sure to lose, as the judicial offices in the country are occupied
by Poles likewise. Thus they will be forced to sell their un-
righteously acquired property and to return to their Muscovy.
The land sold by Russians must be bought, even if it were
necessary to form a company for the purpose. Thus in time
all the power and profit will be in our own hands. Let us help
our country and be useful to her.
1 ' Let greedy Russia think the Ukraine and Lithuania her
property ; but she won't understand who will have the material
profits of those provinces.
" Besides this, these measures will hinder the union of these
provinces with hated Russia, and if we profit by the stupidity
and want of enlightenment of the local popes (priests), and
work upon their avarice with money, we can lull these men,
whose antagonistic creed renders them our most inveterate
foes.
" If we act well, we may make the people adjure their false
faith, or at least inspire them with less confidence in their
popes ; and this will be sufficient to arm the people against
them.
"2. As the Russians are in general uneducated, lazy, and
POLISH CATECHISM. 11
self-confident,, the Poles must try to be particularly well
educated, to be able to get the best and most useful places,
and thus to be the moral arbiters of that dull nation.
" 3. Persons specially educated must try to serve in Eussia
without paying attention to the idle talk of those who know
nothing of political secrets, who say that it is dishonourable
for a Pole to serve Russia ; for, being in the Russian service
for his country's sake, every Pole makes a great sacrifice for
Poland.
" 4. Only profitable places must be accepted ; as soon as a
fortune is made, leave Russia, and return to your country ; thus
the money got in Russia will belong to our brethren ; thus not
only your sacrifice is repaid, but you impoverish the enemy ;
all means thereto are not only allowed, but necessary ; the claws
of the foe are thereby cut. Strive by all means to make a
fortune at the expense of the Russian treasury ; it is no sin
and no crime, because, robbing Russia, you disable the enemy
and enrich your country. The Holy Church will pardon you,
as thereby you do good to your brethren. Jesus Christ him-
self, who has ordered us not to kill each other, has, neverthe-
less, permitted arms to be raised against the foes of Israel ;
this expedient, moreover, is not murderous, and depriving the
robber of wealth, you will give it to your poorest brethren.
When your country will be free, it will be strong.
" 5. Strive to obtain an important post, and when you have
the power, protect your brethren and give them good places
too. All means are legitimate for this purpose, even if they
appear base to others ; remember that all this is done for your
country's sake, and thus your baseness will be looked upon as
a great sacrifice by your countrymen. As to what others say,
pay no attention to it, and continue your work. The Russian
particularly likes flattery, and, blinded by it, will rather give
a place to you than to his own countryman (though worthier of
of it than you), whose rude nature does not enable him to
assume polite manners ; and thus flattery being the surest
arm against the enemy, must be used in all cases where it can
be of use. When we shall thus occupy all the important posts
in Russia, she will herself become our tributary.
" 6. Do not serve long in the Russian army, because when
12 THE RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT IN POLAND.
you obtain a high rank you necessarily become the instrument
of the nation hateful to you, and must carry out its plans. In
general, remain in service as long as you have means to enrich
yourself; as soon as you have made your fortune, leave the
service and settle amongst your own countrymen, or else your
treasures might again pass to the foe.
" 7. As to the civil service, remain in it as long as you can,
and mount on the highest steps ; do not accept the post of the
highest statesmen, but try to be their help, to be near them, in
fact. In the first case the Government will have no confidence
in you, and will not make you acquainted with its plans. In the
second, if you know how to manage your superior, and to gain
his confidence, all the secrets of the Government will become
known to you, and through you to your countrymen. If the
Government is betrayed, your superior will have to answer
for it, while you will remain in the shade and reserve yourself
for the further service of your country.
11 8. Be in every case your superior's right hand, and to gain
his confidence, neglect nothing ; even abuse your countrymen
in his presence, and condemn their actions : there is nothing
easier than thus to persuade a Russian of your attachment to
Russia and the Government. Having thus stolen into your
superior's confidence, you may secretly protect your countrymen.
" 9. If you remark a member of the Russian society hostile
to your countrymen, strive to gain his friendship, and make
your countrymen acquainted with him ; thus, if you cannot
destroy the foe, at least, knowing his plans, you will be able
to avert the evil by fighting him with equal arms. When
Russia is filled up with our agents, and covered with a net-
work of our brethren united in action, it will be ours, and
with time, acting systematically and assailing the weaker
points of Russian society, we shall make it acquiesce with us
in the necessity of Poland's separation.
'' This can be done without any armed power or loss of
blood ; and we shall thereby be stronger and more powerful
in the future.
" 10. Remember that Russia is your greatest foe, and that a
member of the Greek religion is a heretic, and thus freely
affirm that you are brothers, that you have nothing against
POLISH CATECHISM. 13
the Russians, only against the Government; but in secret
try to revenge yourself on every Russian ; he can never be
your friend, as he hates the Catholic religion and Poland, and
will always be ready to help his Government in its hostile
measures against them.
"11. Always tell the Russians that Germans are the greatest
enemies of Russia and Poland ; that they destroy the union
between the two nations, as their policy requires it.
" Russians hate the Germans, and will always credit your
words ; this is the best argument you can use, and thus lull
the foe to sleep by appearances of friendship. When any of
your plans are discovered, make the blame fall on the Germans ;
you will thus avert the blow from yourself and incite one
enemy to destroy the other, while you escape suspicion. When
you speak with a Russian, try to make him lose his patience ;
his stupid and frank nature makes him disclose everything in
a quarrel ; this only is necessary to you, knowing the plan of
the foe, you can act against him .
" 12. In the society of Russians, try to be silent, and do not
disclose your views, as it is not profitable. Attack the Russian
in your own society ; first attack the hateful Government that
he serves like a slave, then reproach it with domination over
other nations ; reproach him with want of heart and sensibility
for his oppressed brother Poles. Try to wound his self-love,
and then, at the end of the conversation, you will make of him a
devoted servant in all your enterprises. The Russian with his
rude and frank nature is always full of self-esteem, and the
title of f barbarian ' enrages him. To be freed from this odious
epithet, he is ready to plunge a knife in the breast of his own
countrymen. When necessary, wound his self-love, and profit
by it.
" 13. If your foe is strong and cunning and understand you,
try to destroy him, and use the surest arm thereto, an influen-
tial German. The German hating the Russian element, will
help you in this ; your foe will perish, thinking he owes his fall
to German influence. Thereby you will still more prove that
the real enemy of the Russian is the German, and you, exciting
no suspicion, will make a friend out of an enemy, who will
help you in your plans. Amen."
14 THE RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT IN POLAND.
The death of the Emperor Nicholas and the termination of
the Crimean war, gave a great impulse to the Liberal party.
The tyranny which for thirty years had weighed down their
energies was at length removed. That imperious and com-
manding figure, which had filled so important a part on the
stage of their history, was gone ; his resolute will no longer
directed the destinies of Eussia ; his settled policy, which for
so prolonged a period had been unquestioned, was now open
to discussion and hostile comment, and the nation, aroused
from its long trance, demanded upon what principles its
future government was to be based.
There were men in Russia of eager and daring minds, who
had travelled in foreign lands and attentively studied the
institutions they found existing there. Keenly alive to the
defects of their own system, they anxiously anticipated the
period when their native land also should enjoy constitutional
freedom. In the disastrous peace of 1856 they read the
downfall of despotic power. What, they asked, had their
patriarchal government secured them ?
It had built up, at a vast expense of treasure and of suffering,
a huge army ; to feed that army Russia had been yearly drained
of multitudes of men, whose labour was required in her un-
tilled fields or her failing manufactories ; it had been the idol
and the boast of the late Emperor, and had given him for a
long period great influence in Europe ; the hour of trial came,
the idol was shattered, and the priest lay dead before the
violated shrine ; the sole result of years of repression and
military rule was to show that the army which could govern
reluctant citizens broke down when it was arrayed against a
foreign foe.
Corruption also was eating away the vital powers of the State.
Employes, who had no private means, and whose insignificant
salaries were unequal to afford them a competence, were the
masters of stately mansions, splendid equipages, and pompous
retinues of slaves ; justice was for sale ; public honours were
showered on worthless men ; officials fattened and the people
starved.
Such were some of the charges brought against the Govern-
ment by the able and earnest men who desired an immediate
DEATH OP THE EMPEROR NICHOLAS. 15
change, and they made these and many similar allegations the
basis of their attacks on the existing order of things. Must
there not, they . asked, be something rotten in the system
which had so hopelessly broken down in the first moment of
severe trial ? and was it not certain that nothing but disaster
could thereafter be anticipated from a bureaucracy so consti-
tuted that its employes could only live by robbing their
country ?
Perhaps, in their pursuit of theoretic improvement, these
men under-estimated the difficulties of their intended task j
no jurist, for example, who knows the operation of our system
of trial by jury, will feel very sanguine as to its working well
in Russia, nor will any statesman feel confident that the par-
liament they are anxious to constitute would use with wisdom
and moderation the powers they should thus obtain.
Public opinion is not moved in Russia as easily as in Eng-
land ; but at this juncture there was a strong and increasing
tendency towards constitutional government, and it would
have been scarcely possible to have adhered to the system of
the Emperor Nicholas.
Nor was such an adherence intended. We are told that in
the sad and darkened chamber where the late monarch died, a
solemn scene had taken place ; that, calling his successor to his
side, the dying man had besought him, for the sake of the Russia
that son had always loved, for the sake of the diadem so soon
to descend upon his brow, for the sake of the people so soon
to be committed to his charge, to govern Russia as lie had
never done ; the approach of death was manifesting to him
truths to which during life he had been blind, and he urged
upon him the emancipation of the serfs, and expressed his
sorrow at not having himself accomplished that salutary work.
These warnings were scarcely needed ; the Emperor Alex-
ander had studied the history of his country ; as a philan-
thropist he desired, as a statesman he saw the necessity of eman-
cipation; he saw also that wide- spread reforms were needed,
and he resolutely devoted himself to their accomplishment.
The state of public affairs was such as demanded the exer-
cise of most unwavering courage and constancy directed by
consummate prudence. On one side were the great nobles,
16 THE EUSSIAN GOVERNMENT IN POLAND.
men whose estates yielded enormous revenues, which they
spent about the court at St. Petersburg ; their social import-
ance had hitherto been accompanied by vast political influence,
and they formed, as it were, a Pretorian guard about their
sovereign, from whose influence he could with difficulty escape.
On the other side were the people, numerous, uneducated^
without organization or leaders, but possessing in themselves
an immense power, capable of crushing whatever opposed it,
if it were once given a direction and a policy.
These uneducated masses were conscious they had been
wronged ; they knew enough of their past history, they felt
enough their present degradation, to convince them that they
were entitled to freedom, and to induce them to regard their
masters as aggressive and unjust oppressors. The Emperor
observed the threatened storm, he saw the only hope of salva-
tion for the State consisted in avoiding the wild excesses of
democracy on the one hand, and the confirmed supremacy of
an exclusive oligarchy on the other. He knew that the coun-
sels of wisdom and moderation on which he was prepared to
act would be supported by a great mass of enlightened public
opinion, and he was resolved that no considerations of per-
sonal danger, and no desire for personal repose, should deter
him from performing the great task which, to be done with
security to Russia, must be done at once.
But the Emperor was too observant, and knew too well the
character of the people over which he ruled to imagine that
emancipation could stand alone ; he knew it would alter the
relation in which every class of society stood to himself and to
every other class ; and he felt that, to consolidate the freedom
he was about to grant, it was necessary he should confer
institutions which should be at once its embodiment and
safeguard.
While such were the views he entertained with regard to
Russia and the provinces of ancient Poland incorporated with
her, his views with regard to the Congress kingdom of Poland
were not less liberal and enlightened. I shall have hereafter
to show, that although personal servitude did not nominally
exist there, the peasants of the kingdom were as degraded as
the serfs of the empire, and that their condition as greatly
VIEWS OF THE EMPEEOE ALEXANDER. 17
required the interposition of an enlightened and progressive
government.
In addition, however, to any claims which the peasants of
Poland had on the consideration of the Government, the
condition of the country and its inhabitants excited deep
commiseration in Russia. Despite the antagonism which had
for centuries divided these two great members of the Scla-
vonic family, despite the long account of mutual injuries and
the bitter recollections of ancient feuds, it was impossible for
Russia to view Poland, in this the hour of her downfall and
humiliation, without entertaining for her a generous sympathy,
and without desiring to raise her from her low estate. More-
over, the Liberals of Russia deprecated the policy which the
Emperor Nicholas had pursued; How could they strive for
freedom in Russia, and yet countenance the policy which had
enslaved Poland ? How, when they desired the spread of
public education and enlightenment, could they approve the
act which had closed the universities of Warsaw and of Wilna,
ransacked their treasures, travestied the history, and would
fain have blotted out the very memory of Poland? How
could they, who were anxious to struggle for self-government
in Russia, countenance the harsh and grinding system which
denied all power to the Pole ?
There was in Russia a feeling that the inhabitants of the
kingdom had been harshly and cruelly treated, and the kindly
sentiments the monarch entertained towards Poland found a
cordial echo in the feelings of the Liberal party in Russia.
18
CHAPTER II.
Close of Crimean War. State of Poland. Visit of the Emperor to Warsaw.
Reforms introduced. Formation of the Agricultural Society. Improved
condition of the Country. Disaffected Parties. Religion and Races in
Western Provinces. "The Emigration." The Democratic Party. The
Roman Catholic Church. Patriotism of Polish Women.
THE Crimean war was closed by the peace of Paris, signed
31st March, 1856. During that arduous struggle Poland had
given no sign of life ; and not the faintest whisper arose from
her cities, or her silent plains, which told the world she was
resolved to re-assert her ancient freedom. Perhaps in secret
she cherished dreams of winning back again her fallen inde-
pendence ; but if she did, those visions found no expression,
and there was nothing to indicate to the world that her
ancient spirit yet survived. A few regiments of militia, a
few reserved battalions of inferior soldiery had kept in check
the land which, twenty-five years before, had haughtily
challenged Russian supremacy on the battle-field of Grockovo.
It seemed as though a quarter of a century of servitude had
trampled out all hope and expectation for the future, and as
though Russia had at length succeeded in incorporating
Poland virtually, as well as in name, in her vast empire.
Neither had Poland shown any indication of political life when
in 1848 almost every European nation was in arms; then
when the wildest visions of political enthusiasts found a
momentary realization, when dormant nationalities were
everywhere rousing themselves, the champions of freedom
listened for the battle-cry of Poland; but Poland gave no
sign. At her very gates the war was raging, and she made
no effort when the struggling liberties of Hungary were being
trampled out to save a people whose cause, she might well
have thought, was intimately connected with her own. The
Polish soldier was seen marching in the Russian army when
FIRST VISIT OF THE EMPEROR TO WARSAW. 19
Kossuth fled and Georgey capitulated ; and, while he appa-
rently thought nothing of the liberties of his own land, he
became an obedient instrument to trample out those of another.
In the Crimea the valour of the Polish soldiers had been
very remarkable, and no whisper of disaffection had escaped
them, nor was there any reason to believe that they hoped for
a revival of national independence.
Such was the state of Poland, and such the apparent
disposition of her inhabitants, when, shortly after th e peace of
Paris, the new Emperor visited Warsaw.
He came there anxiously desiring to benefit his Polish
subjects ; he trusted in their loyalty, he was grateful to them
for their valour, and he thought he could attach them i o his
crown and his dynasty by the silken cord of kindness and.
conciliation.
His first act demonstrated in how different a spirit he
proposed to govern to that which his father had evinced.
Since the rebellion of 1830, the Poles, a deeply bigoted
race, had remarked that their monarch had never graced the
Catholic cathedral with his presence. The short and sullen
visits he had paid to Warsaw had been marked by no act of
condescension, cheered by no evidence of abating wrath ; he
came to require an account of his stewardship from his
viceroy, Paskievitch, but he made no effort to win the love of
a people he governed with the sword. One of the first acts,
however, of the new sovereign was to attend a solemn Te
Deum, which was chanted in the Catholic cathedral in honour
of his visit ; and at this service all the civil functionaries
of the kingdom were present.
Immediately after this ceremonial he received the marshals
of the Polish nobility, assured them of his beneficent inten-
tions, and expressed a hope that they would assist in giving
them effect. He lauded the valour the Polish soldiers had
displayed before the walls of Sebastopol, and, coupling
together the names of the kingdom of Poland and the grand
duchy of Finland, he stated that both were as dear to him
as any of the provinces of Old Kussia, and both should as
greatly experience his protecting care; but at the same time,
he added, " for the good of Poland and for the good of the
c 2
20 THE EUSSIAN GOVERNMENT IN POLAND.
Poles themselves, it is necessary that your country should
remain ever united to that of the great family of the Emperor
of Russia."
In this address the Emperor made use. of an expression
which offended the jealous pride of the Polish magnates.
Desirous of really benefiting the country, he feared the im-
practical character of the Poles would induce them to depre-
ciate real improvements in their wild pursuit of impossible
theories. Once, or more than once, therefore, he used the
expression in addressing them, " Let us have no reveries,
gentlemen " (" Messieurs, pas de reveries ") ; and this phrase
was chronicled against him as a grave offence. Notwith-
standing these murmurs, however, the relations established
between the sovereign and his subjects on the occasion of his
first visit were cordial. An amnesty was granted, by which,
with_ja L few inconsiderable^ exce2^o^s JL __ML_eir i1 g T '^"^' were
allowed to return to Poland; were restored to their civil
rights, and were secured_a^mst^all legal prosecutions^ or
inquiries. Shortly afterwards a similar amnesty was granted
to the emigrant Poles of the Western Provinces.
The recruitment, which had pressed so heavily on the people
of the Congress kingdom, was suspended. Some remissions
of taxation were effected, and many pardons were granted to
offenders who had been condemned for political crimes.
Steps were also taken to secure the filling up of various
episcopal sees belonging to the Roman Catholic Church. These
sees had been for some time vacant, and the affairs of the
various dioceses had been intrusted to mere administrators.
To effect this end a Papal bull was required, and the necessary
application was made for procuring it. Some alterations were
also made in the laws regulating marriage, by which all ques-
tions connected with it were committed to the jurisdiction of
the Church.
r At the same time preliminary measures were taken for the
\ re-establishment of the university at Warsaw, and a Faculty
of Medicine was at once constituted there.
Many other minor reforms and improvements were intro-
duced; but the step which was destined to be eventually
attended with the most marked results was the permission
1
REFORMS IN POLAND. 21
*
which the Government accorded to certain proprietors to form
an agricultural society for the kingdom of Poland. This
society, as originally contemplated, would have consisted
three or four hundred members, and have been exclusively
confined to the landed proprietors of the Congress kingdom.
Soon, however, its numbers enlarged, and it became a centre
round which the Poles of Galicia, Posen, and the Western
Provinces rallied. Its numbers, at the time of its dissolution,
had swelled to about 4,000 members. It had committees
sitting in permanence throughout the whole year, and had be-
come more like a parliament than a mere agricultural society.
In the same year a commission was appointed by the Go-
vernment for inquiring into the best mode of dealing with the
land question, so far as the peasants were affected by it ; the
object being to secure to them the land they fairly claimed,
while the proprietors were protected from undue sacrifice.
In the month of July two decrees were issued, which further
evidenced the desire of the Emperor to study the legitimate
wishes of the Poles. By the first of these the general military
governors in the different governments of the kingdom, with
the exception of Warsaw, were replaced by simple command-
ants de place; and by the second, the administration of posts
and custom-houses in the kingdom was detached from the
central administration at St. Petersburg. _
The altered policy of the Government soon produced bene-
ficial results ; the iron rule beneath which the country so long
had crouched was relaxed ; trade was opened up in various
directions; oppressive tariff regulations were abolished; the
old passport system, under which the country was one vast
prison, was done away ; and the same immunities were ex-
tended to the kingdom as the most loyal provinces in the
empire possessed.
The laws relating to the press were no longer strictly
observed; state prosecutions were abandoned; political pri-
soners were released; the fortresses were empty, and the
exiles were returning to their former homes.
The ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the Roman Catholic Church
was restored ; and in the commission sitting at St. Petersburg
for the reform of the tariff Poland had her representatives.
22 THE KUSSIAN GOVEENMENT IN POLAND.
It was then that sanguine men believed that a great future
was in store for their country; in her geographical position
they saw the surest guarantee for her commercial importance;
lines of railway from St. Petersburg, Berlin, and Yie nna were
all converging to her ancient capital. A large carrying trade
sprang up between Hamburg and Warsaw, and the latter city
was full of foreign goods. Poland was evidently becoming
the highway to Europe, and had only to be patient to acquire
more than she had ever lost.
The changes that were occurring about them stimulated
many of the proprietors to exertion and enterprise ; they could
not see movement on all sides, and themselves be still ; so they
joined in various commercial undertakings, and assumed their
direction.
Wherever a Polish proprietor, either in the kingdom or the
Western Provinces, was possessed of capital, new sugar-fac-
tories or distilleries sprung up on a great scale ; agricultural
machines were largely imported and extensively used; the
mineral productions of the country were attracting attention ;
magnificent hotels were being constructed; municipal im-
provements were everywhere being effected, and in Warsaw
gas was introduced. Simultaneously with these evidences of
returning prosperity, the price of land increased, building
speculations were undertaken, and Polish companies were
formed for the construction of two new lines of railway. Thus
the liberal policy of the Government gave hope and prosperity
to Poland. War, conscription, pestilence, and want had
thinned the mourning land ; but now peace was restored, the
conscription was abandoned, and employment was driving
away pestilence and want.
Yet there was a party in Poland who regarded all these signs
of advancement with suspicion ; they cared not for peaceful
triumphs, the spread of commerce, or the introduction of
liberal institutions ; they knew their country had been
wronged, and they burned to avenge her injuries. National
independence had been their object thirty years before it was
their lode-star still. They thought of that scroll whereon the
Constitution the first Alexander gave was blazoned, and re-
membered with bitterness that it was paraded as a trophy
RESULT OF REFORMS. 23
before every stranger who spent an hour among the collec-
tions and curiosities of Moscow. They thought of the monu-
ments of Russian victories, victories won over those they
designated as their subjects, which were to be seen on every
side. They recalled the iron rule of Nicholas, and asked if a
few fair words from his successor availed to sweep its memory
away. They thought of the patriots who had suffered death,
or who in Siberia had found a living tomb, and, folding around
them a mantle of implacable resentment, they rejected the
well-meant overtures of the Government.
And here the very clemency of the Emperor swelled the
tide of disaffection. He had generously recalled all those who
for political offences had been banished in his father's time ;
and they came back, the men who had fought, intrigued, and
suffered in the cause of Poland, their hearts full of bitterness,
to fight, intrigue, and suffer once again. They came back as
exiles always do, untaught by adversity, unlearned in the
signs of the times ; they came back, ignorant of the power of
Russia and of the feelings, hopes, and prejudices which had
grown up amongst their own people ; they came back, having
learnt nothing and forgotten nothing, to parade the history
of their woes, and to preach rebellion as a sacred duty.
It is necessary to understand the constitution of society in
Poland, and the different parties into which the Poles were
divided, in order to comprehend how far the agitation which I
shall have to record, and the subsequent revolt, were really
entitled to be regarded as a national movement.
In the Congress kingdom, out of a population of nearly
5,000,000 souls, about 263,000 are called noble. They repre-
sent those who in old time, by virtue of property, descent, or
the favour of the reigning king, were ennobled ; and the posi-
tion thus conferred on them is somewhat analogous to that of
freemen in our ancient boroughs. Some of these nobles are
men of large estate and great influence ; such, for example, as
Count Andrew Zamoyski and the Marquis Wielopolski. By
far the greater number of them, however, are men of neither
property nor position, and their only inheritance is the title of
noble, and the trifling immunities it confers. Nobles of this
class are generally known as Schliacta; and the driver of
24 THE EUSSIA.N GOVEENMENT IN POLAND.
a hired carriage and the waiter at an hotel not unfrequently
belong to it.
The shopkeepers, artisans, and mechanics of the larger
towns hold much the same relative position to" the proprietors
as they do in England j like them they are to a considerable
degree dependent upon their customers and employers, and
the views held by the latter are likely to some extent to
influence them.
The peasants are divided into two classes, those -whojiold
land, and those who, having none, are mere farm labourers or
servants. The former have no ^ympathyijw-hatever with the
political views of the proprietors. I shall hereafter show how
it happens that the utmost distrust and hostility exists between
them, and how utterly the " national" aspirations of the nobles
are repudiated by the occupying peasants.
The peasants who hold no land (proletarians) are in a pecu-
liarly unfortunate position. A large proportion of the rent
due to the proprietors has hitherto been paid in labour, and
this labour has been valued at a very low rate. The pro-
prietor, therefore, having already the command of a considerable
number of hands, requires but little additional assistance, and
either refuses to hire more labour or, if he does hire, procures
it on very inadequate terms. There is not, as in England, a
regular demand for labour, and a regular rate of wage j and
the landless peasant knows, if he quits his present employer,
that he may starve before he finds another. It is very common
to find two families of this class living in one hut containing
two rooms; for this hut, together with the keep of a cow and a
pig, they work four days a week, and are paid only 5d. a day
for their labour. Men of this stamp are much in the power
of their employers, and during the revolt it frequently hap-
pened that work was given to them on condition that they,
or some member of their family, would join a band of the
insurgents.
Such being the division of ranks in the Congress kingdom,
it remains to point out the social difference which exists between
those in the Western Provinces. It will hereafter be seen that
the serf in the latter is better off than the peasant in the
former district ; that the freedom conferred on the inhabitant
RELIGION AND RACE IN WESTERN PROVINCES. 25
of the grand duchy of Warsaw, in 1807, by depriving him
of his title to his land, and placing him completely at the
mercy of the proprietor, reduced him to a state of misery
and dependence, to which the serf of the Western Provinces
has never been brought down. In the Western Provinces
the proletarian class does not exist, and therefore the nobles,
when the rebellion broke out, had no retainers whose active
assistance they could command.
In the Western Provinces there is a difference of race
between the nobles and the majority of the peasants. Instead
of being for the most part Poles, the numbers of that race
average only 10*4 per cent, of the entire population, while
the Russian or Ruthenian races amount to nearly six times
that number. The following is an analysis of the popu-
lation :
Eussians and Little Eussians ., 5,952,513
Letts and Lithuanians 1,614,660
Poles 1,046,947
Jews 1,139,633
Other nations 114,618
9,868,371*
A yet more important distinction than that of race is to be
found in the difference of religion. The number of inhabitants
professing the Greek faith is 6,707,570, while the number
belonging to the Roman Catholic and Armenian churches is
only 2,597,627. The Catholic peasant has generally been
led by his interests to side with the Government in the
insurrection, and has done his utmost to put it down ; but
occasionally the promptings of the Catholic pfiesthood have
induced him to render aid to the insurgents, and to discard
mere considerations of selfish policy at the call, as he has been
taught to believe, of his country and his Church. The Greek
peasant has been exposed to no such advocacy; the clergy
of his Church have been faithful to the Government and
preached the duty of loyally obeying it; his own interests
* See Appendix A. The discrepancies in some of the statistics in Herr
von Buschen's work are explained at length in the preface to it.
26 THE RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT JN POLAND.
have pointed in the same direction ; and thus, in all cases, the
peasants belonging to this creed have been opposed to the
revolt.
Although the Poles are thus outnumbered in the Western
Provinces, they represent their intelligence, wealth, and educa-
tion, and they therefore claim to be considered as the nation.
Stupid, uneducated, and incapable of thought, the masses,
the Poles contend, are unworthy of consideration. The only
men whose wishes and interests should be consulted are those
who have for centuries absorbed all political power and all
civil rights.
It is hard to recognize the truth of this doctrine, and it is
strange to hear it enunciated by those who claim the support
of liberal politicians, and the active assistance of revolutionary
propagandists. The present degradation of these suftering
masses is owing in no slight degree to the long-continued
tyranny of their Polish masters, and now those very masters
would take advantage of their own wrong, and claim to be
the representative men of the people who so long have groaned
beneath their oppression.
If an additional reason were required to show that the
nobles and proprietors should not be recognized as the
nation, it would be found in the influence the settlement of
the land question and the spread of education is sure to
exercise in future. Some millions of men are about to be
endowed with land, are about to receive education from the
State, and to be freed from a thraldom which has prevented
their physical and moral progress. Very likely it may be gene-
rations before they will produce individuals capable of taking
a prominent part in the government of their country; but
we may be sure that that time will come, that great organic
changes are now in progress, and that the non-Polish races
will hereafter be as overwhelming in property and influence
as they at present are in numbers.
There are several distinct sections among the Poles who
The Emigration," consisting of political refugees and their
families, are principally situated at Paris, and may be divided
two classes.
THE POLISH
27
The aristocratic party, \yTiiV.T^j^Trmw1odgft8 Prince. Czar-
toriski a&theiE-leader, seek to re- establish^ kirigdom of Poland,
to J^ejn^dJbjL-mJi^^ In such a kingdom
the great territorial families would, doubtless, exercise im-
mense power, and if the old were to be any guide to the
framers of a new constitution for Poland, their efforts would
result in the establishment of oligarchical rather than popular
forms. The success of this party would assuredly afford no
security for constitutional freedom ; never yet have the Polish
magnates evidenced a real desire to promote the welfare of the
people; for the liberal constitution of 1791 was an attempt to
meet the exigencies of a moment full of difficulty, and cannot
justly be deemed a proof of sympathy with the masses ;
and at all other periods there has been wanting the slightest
tendency to liberality or constitutional freedom. When we
think of the Polish history of that day, we recall Lamartine's
words : " Dumouriez found the Polish aristocrats corrupted
by luxury, enervated by pleasures, employing in intrigues and
fervent language the warmth of their patriotism. Sapieha,
the principal leader, was massacred by his nobles. Pulaski
and Micksenski were delivered up wounded to the Russians.
Zaremba betrayed his country. He (Dumouriez ) broke his
sword, despairing for ever of this aristocracy without a
people; calling it, as he quitted it, the Asiatic nation of
Europe."
Has the character of the Polish noble greatly changed since
then ? Are the men who have squandered life and its oppor-
tunities in the dissipations of foreign capitals likely there to
learn great lessons of wisdom and of patriotism ? Is not exile
always an excuse for neglected duties, and abilities allowed
to run to waste? But, supposing among the habitues of
Paris and of London there are some men of higher purpose
and of sterner mould; supposing there are some whose only
aim is the renovation of their country, and the vindication of
her injured fame; even then the question will arise, to be
answered with doubt and hesitation, Is it possible for those
who long have been exiled from their native land, those
whose intercourse is necessarily, to a great extent, with the
intriguing agents of a vanquished party, to form so calm a
28 THE RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT IN POLAND.
judgment of all that occurs during their absence as to qualify
them for power on their return ?
All history seems to deny it. Exiles who return are biassed
by former recollections and old party ties,- for them their
country has stood still since their departure, and they expect
to find it unaltered when they are restored to it. If, therefore,
the insurrection had terminated in the triumph of this section
of the " Emigration,'' the liberal party would have gained
nothing by their change of masters.
Hye to this factj there has long been in existence a domo-
itic party among the Emigration, who up to the outbreak
ie insurrection were violently opposed to the aristocrats.
This democratic party recognized Louis Mieroslawski as Jis
head, and professed the ordinary dogmas of the Mazzini
school. The supporters of this party in Pnla/nri WP^R prinm-
pally^Tin^mgnj and those who, having ^ pjijifir_ jggT^J nor
employment, had no dread of revolution.
TEere was in Poland a third party, consisting in the main
of those who had property to lose, and experience which
taught them to put little faith in revolution. These men
desired to develop the resources of their country, to educate
her people, to promote the construction of roads, canals, and
railways, to encourage her manufactures, and to improve her
agriculture. They believed by such means Poland would grow
so greatly in power, that arrangements with Russia might
be won from her in a few years which would be far more bene-
ficial in their character than any concessions she could hope
to wring by force.
With the exception of the immediate followers of Mieroslawski,
one ancient institution was the centre round which these dif-
ferent parties rallied, and it was her interest to unite them all
in opposition to the power of Russia. The Roman Catholic
Church has great sway over the Poles, and we cannot wonder
at her power. Brave, eloquent, impassioned, they have pro-
duced poets and soldiers, but not, with rare exceptions,
philosophers and statesmen. Patriotism is with them a senti-
ment rather than a principle ; a sentiment illustrated by song
and hallowed by their Church. Their national anthem is no
half-boastful chant, which almost as a right demands the
CATHOLICISM IN POLAND. 29
assistance of the Most High ;* it reads like the wail of a sup-
plicating people,, who follow their clergy to the altar of mercy
and of help.
And that Church had made great sacrifices for Poland :
many were her ruined altars, and far-stretching her forfeited
estates ; she knew the perils of conspiracy, and the penalties
of detected guilt, yet there she stood unhesitating in the van
of the national movement, prepared again to struggle, and if
need be to suffer in her children's cause.
* Mr. Edwards, in his work " The Polish Captivity," thus translates it:
I.
" Lord, who for so many centuries didst surround Poland with the
magnificence of power and glory ; who didst cover her with the shield of
Thy protection when our armies overcame the enemy ; at Thy altar we raise
our prayer : deign to restore us, Lord, our free country !
II.
" Lord, who hast been touched by the woes of our injured land, and
hast guided the martyrs of our sacred cause ; who hast granted to us, among
many other nations, the standard of courage, of unblemished honour ; at Thy
altar we raise our prayer : deign to restore us, Lord, our free country !
III.
" Thou whose eternally just hand crushes the empty pride of the powerful
of the earth ; in spite of the enemy vilely murdering and oppressing, breathe
hope into every Polish breast ! At Thy altar we raise our prayer : deign to
restore us, Lord, our free country !
IV.
" May the Cross which has been insulted in the hands of Thy ministers
give us constant strength under our sufferings ! May it inspire us in the
day of battle with faith that above us soars the Spirit of the Redeemer ! At
Thy altar we raise our prayer : deign to restore us, Lord, our free country !
V.
" In the name of His commandments, we all unite as brothers. Hasten,
Lord, the moment of resurrection ! Bless with liberty those who now mourn
in slavery ! At Thy altar we raise our prayer : deign to restore us, Lord,
our free country !
VI.
" Give back to our Poland her ancient splendour ! Look upon our fields
soaked with blood ! When shall peace and happiness blossom among us ?
God of wrath, cease to punish us ! At Thy altar we raise our prayer : deign
to restore us, Lord, our free country ! "
30 THE RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT IN POLAND.
The enemies of the Catholic Church contend that she is
animated not by the love of liberty but by the desire for sway.
They point to Galicia, and remind us that she has never in the
cause of freedom protested against Austrian rule; yet the
yoke of Austria has pressed as heavily on the Polish neck as
ever did that of Russia. When Galician peasants were mur-
dering their masters, the Catholic Church shuddered not at
the political St. Bartholomew, the pulpits resounded to no
eloquent denunciations, and the Vatican was also dumb ; how
does it happen, they inquire, that under one dominion this
Church is the champion of liberty, while under the other she
is the willing slave of power ? The reason, they reply, is very
apparent. Austria is the faithful disciple of the Papacy;
Russia obeys a rival and schismatic church. The one endows
her Catholic clergy with broad lands and ample immunities ;
the other visits them with the penalties of treason when they
struggle against her rule. Rome is ever the same ; her own
aggrandisement, her own spiritual power, are the only objects
of her care; she was never yet the disinterested friend of
freedom, though often for a period she has advocated its
cause; often she has given utterance to liberal sentiments
and clothed them in glowing language ; often has she whis-
pered courage into the fainting heart, and nerved the patriot
arm. It is easy to reverse the medal, to record a thousand
scenes where she has leagued herself with the tyrant and the
persecutor ; where she has shown that she loves not freedom,
and cares nothing for progress or enlightenment; but it is
idle to search for examples when so striking an instance is
before us.
In those portions of ancient Poland which are now governed
by Russia, Rome cordially allied herself with the national
cause. She did so, because in an independent Poland she
knew her creed would be established ; she anticipated that
the success of a Catholic aristocracy would enable her to
convert the Greek population ; and she foresaw an illimitable
vista of struggles and of triumphs which would carry her
influence and her spiritual ascendancy to the frontiers of Old
Russia.
When the Papacy, they contended, is once committed
PATRIOTISM OF POLISH WOMEN. 31
to a policy, she lias no difficulty in finding enthusiastic
and able men to carry it into effect. Her priests, deprived
by the law of celibacy of the opportunity of indulging
those domestic tastes which make men amiable and un-
aspiring, are ever ready to obey her call; and thus in
every parish of Poland she had an agent ; in every monas-
tery she had a brotherhood, whose only aims were the
aggrandisement of their Church and the freedom of their
country. These men were not hampered by the ties of wife
and child ; if they read a rebel proclamation, or administered
an unlawful oath, they incurred some personal danger, but
involved not the helpless in their doom ; if they were sent
into exile, far from their old associates, their lot might
certainly be hard, but it would be cheered by the reflection
that they suffered for the performance of their duty ; while
if a sadder fate awaited them, they would die with the
ennobling conviction that they had fought the good fight, and
perished in the cause of their country and their God. When
it is remembered that these men were Poles, that they had
suffered much under the rigorous administration which for
thirty years had manacled their country, that from earliest
boyhood they had regarded the Kussian supremacy as a hateful
and foreign yoke, it will be evident that they would strain
every effort to assist the insurgent cause. Their love for their
country, their desire for distinction, their reverence for their
Church, combined to impel them in the same direction,
hostility to Eussia, and resistance to her policy.
In the women of Poland the clergy had most efficient j
auxiliaries. Beautiful, enthusiastic, full of life and energy, 1
they threw their enormous influence into the scale of revolu-J
tion. To them the strife seemed a holy and a national one.
They thought it might be attended with difficulty, with
danger, and with loss ; they did not conceive the possibility
of eventual failure. Thus as day by day they met together,
their conversation and their thoughts were wholly fixed on the
coming struggle ; everything else was forgotten, every other
duty was laid aside to prepare for it ; even amusements were
neglected in the fierce excitement of the period. The theatres
were empty ; there was no sound of music or of dance ; and
32 THE EUSSIAN GOVEENMENT IN POLAND.
the only song which was heard on all sides was that suppliant
hymn which prays for freedom, to be extorted by the sword.
And then, as they sat and talked of the liberty they hoped to
win, their busy fingers plied the needle and.blazoned banners
for the 'future war. From one of them the features of the
Virgin meekly smile ; a second bears the Polish cross upon 'a
ground of white, while on the reverse side is to be seen a
sable crown of thorns ; some, again, are rich with emblematic
symbols, and all the pageant pride of Northern heraldry.
Those banners have never glanced in the van of a successful
war ; they have floated in the woods and plains of Poland ;
they have been followed by the wild bands of guerilla leaders ;
they have been captured in ignoble skirmishes, and are now
exhibited among other trophies in the armoury of Tsarskoe,
trophies that painfully remind the visitor of the vain struggles
of a noble race, and make him wonder at the misplaced pride
which leads a gallant nation thus to exult over their vanquished
fellow-subjects.
33
CHAPTER III.
Eelations of Landlord and Peasant in the Kingdom of Poland. Ancient
Freedom of Peasants Their reduction to Servitude. Tyranny of their
Masters. Servitude in Lithuania. Personal Enfranchisement in the
Kingdom, and its Evil Effects. Legislation of Polish Diet. Subsequent
Reforms by Russian Government. Inventories. Views of Poles on
Land Question. Legislation of Austria and Prussia upon it. Necessity
for effecting a Settlement favourable to the Peasants.
THE condition of the peasants in Poland and the Western
provinces deserves more than a passing notice. The success
or failure of the insurrectionary movement depended on the
course they took. Armed battalions, no matter with what
sagacity they may be governed, cannot hold in slavery a
numerous and hostile race. Poland, with its twenty-two
million of inhabitants, would never have been subjected save
for her internal feuds, and she could never be held in bondage
if her unanimous people determined to be free.
There are, however, deep-seated causes for the alienation of
her classes, and the bitterness of her internal feuds. A wide
gulf spread itself between the noble and the peasant, which a
few words of interested kindness are insufficient to span. The
bitter wrongs of five centuries, their grinding oppression,
their cruel tyranny, have left behind them traditions which
forbid reconciliation or confidence.
A review of the history of the mutual rights and duties of
noble and serf will show how little gratitude or deference the
former was entitled to receive ; and will explain how vain was
the reliance he placed in the disposition of the liberated serf
to follow his guidance.
The peasants in ancient Poland enjoyed considerable liber-
ties till the year 1374, and their condition appears to have
been as favourable as that of the same class in the nations of
34 THE EUSSIAN GOVEKNMENT IN POLAND.
Western Europe. The two succeeding centuries are held to
be the proudest and most triumphant that Poland ever enjoyed.
Let us see amid the glitter of this prosperity if the condition of
the peasant improved.
In 1374, King Louis d'Anjou conferred on the nobility
charters and privileges by which the peasants were reduced
to servitude. From that date to the end of the reign of
Sigismund Augustus (1572) a gradual system of spoliation
went on, by which the serfs were deprived of every political
and civil right.
All the land, as well as the serfs who lived upon it, became
the absolute property of the lord of the soil ; he had the power
of life and death over his slave, and uncontrolled jurisdiction
over the whole extent of his estates. If a nobleman murdered
a serf, the only penalty was a trifling fine, which he paid to
the master of his victim, a fine not for the crime he had
committed, but for the pecuniary loss his fellow noble had
sustained.
The accounts of this state of wretched debasement are not
derived from Eussian scribes ; we learn them from no tra-
vestied history composed by the minions of a Frederick or a
Catherine ; they are to be found in the records of impartial
historians, and sadden the pages of patriot authors.
Lelewel, the well-known Polish historian, whose sympathies
were all in favour of the country where he was born, and
for which he so greatly suffered, has left passages on record
which surpass, in gloomy interest, the darkest records of
antiquity.
" You talk of liberty," says Andre Fritz Madrzewski, in his
work on the reforms needed for redressing the wrongs of the
republic, " when you have nothing but barbarous slavery
which leaves the life of a man at the mercy of his master.
The nobility regard the cultivator and the plebeian as dogs ;
that is the expression used by these abominable men, who,
if they kill a peasant, whom they call the rubbish of the earth
(chlop), say they have killed a dog." *
King Stanislaus Leszinski in exile said, speaking of the
* History of Poland, by J. Lelewel, vol. ii. pp. 159, 160 (Paris. 1844).
CONDITION OF POLISH SERFS. 35
peasants, " Men so necessary ought certainly to be considered,
but we hardly distinguish them from the cattle we keep to
cultivate our ground. We often spare their strength less
than that of the cattle, and often, by a scandalous traffic, we
sell them to masters as cruel, who force them by excessive
labour to pay the price of their new servitude. I cannot think
without horror of the law which imposes a penalty of fifteen
livres only on any noble who kills a peasant. We regard
these men as creatures of a different kind, and we almost
refuse to allow them to breathe the same air with ourselves."*
At the commencement of the seventeenth century, in the
reign of Sigismund III., the condition of the peasants was thus
described by the priest Skarga :
" And the sweat, and the blood of our peasants, which flow
incessantly, and moisten and redden the whole earth, what a
terrible future they are preparing for this kingdom ! I know
of no country in Christendom where the peasants are so
treated. And you cry out against absolute power, which no
one wishes or is able to impose upon you. Hypocrites and
declaimers ! ' You have destroyed my vine,' saith the
Lord ; ' Why crush ye thus my people, crushing it as the mill-
stone crusheth the corn ? ' By what right do you obstinately
refuse to change this infamous law ? These peasants are your
neighbours. They are Poles like you. They speak the same
language, and are children of the same country. Formerly
the Christians gave liberty to their slaves when they baptized
them, and became their brothers in Jesus Christ; but you,
you dare to keep Christians, who are your fellow-countrymen,
in bondage. I know that you do not all act in this manner ;
but those who commit such crimes, how do they not blush
in the face of Christendom, which beholds them, and of which
they call themselves members." f
The oppression increased till the end of the reign of the last
king. " One has no more regard for this vile, wretched, de-
testable, cursed race. It is not enough to qualify it, ' chlop,' its
impure blood having drawn down on itself the curse of its
origin as soon as it left Noah's ark ; it is the impious race of
* Lelewel, vol. ii. p. 294. f Edwards's Polish Captivity.
D 2
36 THE EUSSIAN GOVERNMENT IN POLAND.
The peasants were tlms insulted by injurious epithets ;
the injurious language was only a preliminary to every species
of injustice.*
When the duchy of Lithuania was first united to Poland,
under the Lithuanian prince Jagellon, its peasants were entirely
free. This freedom was an insuperable bar to the Polonization
of Lithuania, and the Grovernment did all in its power to
destroy it. With this view, titles and coats of arms, charters
and privileges, were conferred on the Lithuanian nobility,
which placed it on an equality with that of Poland. Consequent
on these innovations, dissension ensued between the different
classes in Lithuania ; the democratic equality of former times
gave place to the aristocratic spirit of Polish civilization; and
when, in 1569, Lithuania was finally united to Poland, the
peasant population of the duchy had lost almost all its
liberties.
Two centuries afterwards, when Eussia finally annexed
Lithuania, serfdom had become so thoroughly established
there, that not only had the nobles a right to possess slaves,
but towns and simple citizens had the same privilege. This
has never been the case in Eussia.
After the various partitions of Poland, Eussia confirmed the
rights of the nobles over their serfs in the Western provinces ;
Austria and Prussia also made but little change in the relations
between the serfs and their masters ; and although Austria
had nominally abolished serfdom, the peace of Tilsit and the
constitution of the duchy of Warsaw found the proprietors
and peasants in much the same condition as they had been
left in by Stanislaus Augustus.
The fourth article of the statute constituting the duchy of
Warsaw, dated 22nd July, 1807, was couched in the following
terms :
" Slavery is abolished. All citizens are equal before the
law; security of the person is placed under the care of the
tribunals."
These brave words brought with them no relief. The per-
sonal freedom conferred upon the peasant vested the land he
* Lelewel, vol. ii. p. 289.
PERSONAL ENFRANCHISEMENT AND ITS EFFECTS. 37
had occupied exclusively in the proprietor ; the latter allowed
the peasant to continue to hold it, but subjected him to rents,
task-work, and other obligations without number and of all
kinds.
In December of the same year another law was enacted,
giving the peasants the right of removal, which, as serfs, they
did not possess ; but this law was in its operation entirely
illusive ; for in addition to the love of the Sclavonic peasant for
the hut in which he was born, and the fields which the labour
of his ancestor reclaimed, he was firmly persuaded that no
other proprietor would let land to him if he once quitted that
of his old master.
The laws of 1807 in effect proved injurious to the peasants.
So long as the peasants were slaves, their masters allowed
them to remain in undisturbed possession of the quantity of
land required for their subsistence ; but after they were freed,
the proprietors endeavoured, under various pretexts, to resume
the land they held, and to add it to their own estates. Some-
times, also, they let it to German colonists, richer, more in-
dustrious, and more skilful than the Polish peasants, and who
could establish no possessory or customary interest in the
property which might hereafter interfere with the absolute
rights of the owners of the soil.
Thus, one by one the peasant holders were rooted out, and
the number of landless men (proletaries) increased, until it
amounted, in 1856, to the enormous proportion of 1,165,857,
out of an agricultural population of 2,782,133. Thus, nearly
one-half of the peasants had lost their land, and were reduced
to the condition of farm labourers.
The fifth article of the law of 21st December, 1807, obliged
the peasants to surrender the houses they had themselves
built, the cattle they had reared, the crops they had sown,
the very agricultural implements they used ; for, although by
that law the liberty of the peasants was decreed, it yet enacted
that every one who quitted his field and his master was to
abandon to the latter all the objects named, objects which
had been the painful reward of the industry of many genera-
tions.
The Congress of 1815 secured a constitutional government
38 THE RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT IN POLAND.
for Poland,, and as our Foreign Minister wished to see it
revived, it will, perhaps, be instructive to place on record the
tendencies of its former legislation.
The laws which it enacted, and which finally regulated the
organization of the rural parishes (gmina), and the rights and
duties of the mayors (gmniani wott), seem more fitted for the
times of Skarga than the period when, in the nineteenth cen-
tury, constitutional government reigned at Warsaw.
Any property composed of ten peasants' huts could, under
a law of 3rd of February, 1816, be formed into a distinct rural
parish, or several properties could be united into one parish.
The formation of these parishes was in no way dependent
upon the authorities, or made subordinate to the administra-
tive wants of the district, but was entirely subject to the un-
controlled will of the proprietors.
By a law of 30th May, 1818, every owner of a village is
ipso facto mayor of the parish, by virtue of his property, and
unites in himself the rights of the proprietor and the adminis-
trative and legal power. He apportions and collects the taxes,
sues those who do not pay them, superintends the police,
arrests suspected persons, publishes the orders of the superior
administration, maintains the roads, bridges, and ferries through
obligatory labour, draws up the lists for the conscription,
judges offences in the first instance, gives, and refuses pass-
ports, has general superintendence of the conduct of the
peasants, and, in short, has all the administrative power of the
district vested in him. He has the right to condemn the in-
habitants of his parish to seven days' imprisonment, 10 roubles
fine, or 20 strokes of the rod.
Sometimes the mayor is himself a party interested in the
causes he tries, and then he makes every endeavour to
disguise the truth, and by describing himself in different ways,
to prevent the superior authorities from detecting it.
The mayor has the right to delegate his functions to a
substitute of his own choosing. Out of 3,069 parishes in
Poland, it appears that at least 1,634 are administered by
such substitutes. The greater part of these men are chosen
from the lowest class of intendant, men whom Lelewel
describes as being in the eighteenth century ' ' an impious race,
TYRANNY OP POLISH PROPRIETORS. 39
base flatterers of their masters, stealing to enrich themselves,
tyrants of the peasants, whom they despised and hated, with-
out pity and without remorse, who firmly grasped the whip in
inflicting punishment according to their pleasure." * The
salary of these men rarely exceeds 300 or 400 francs a year,
and often is not half as much.
The perpetual grievances to which the peasants are sub-
jected by this union in the same person of the various
characters of proprietor, plaintiff, judge, and jury, may readily
be imagined ; and the temptation to the proprietors to abuse
their power is strengthened by the knowledge that the law
imposes no serious responsibility upon them, and that their
misdeeds will be shielded by the guilty connivance of an
administration solely guided by the Polish nobility.
As an example of the tyrannical conduct of the proprietors,
the instance may be cited of the persecutions suffered by the
peasants on the estate of Garnek, belonging to M. Grodzicki,
and situated in the district of Piotrkow.
M. Grodzicki used the right which the law conferred upon
him, as mayor of his parish, to tyrannize for many years over
the peasants living on his domains ; his wife was especially
remarkable for her cruelty to the women who took care of the
cattle* For the least motive, the peasants were imprisoned or
cruelly flogged (the mayors only having by law the right of
giving twenty blows at a time, elude this provision by admi-
nistering the punishment several times a day) ; the least
complaint they uttered he called rebellion, and summoned the
bailiffs to quell the revolt. The peasants, crushed under the
weight of excessive labour, passed the whole day working in
the proprietor's ground, having no time to attend to their
children, who were literally dying of hunger in the abandoned
huts. In 1859 the misery of the peasants reached its height;
reduced to the last extremity, they demanded that their
labour should be replaced by an annual money payment,
of which the amount should be fixed by the Government.
This request was represented by M. Grodzicki as open
revolt against his authority as proprietor. Inquiry was made
* Lelewel, vol. ii. pp. 288, 289.
40 THE RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT IN POLAND.
into the affair, and it was shown that the peasants, reduced
to despair, had, after many years of suffering, refused to
labour, but that this refusal could scarcely be regarded as
one in reality, as they only demanded that the labour illegally
exacted by the proprietor should be commuted for a money
payment, the amount of which should be fixed by the authori-
ties, so as to avoid making it the subject of daily contention
and constant injustice. The inquiry proved that M. Grodzicki
had, since 1840, deprived the peasants of their best land; that
he had forced them to work for him for a longer time than he
could legally demand, and paid them at a very low price;
that he, his wife, and his intendant, treated them very badly,
and inflicted corporal punishment on them in a most illegal
manner ; and that he had already driven out and defrauded of
their land eleven families, some of whom had taken refuge in
Prussia, whence they sent representations of their case to
St. Petersburg and to the Prussian authorities. In the mean
time the ground taken from these unfortunate peasants was
distributed among German colonists.
After the insurrection of 1830 the Russian Government
made several attempts to ameliorate the condition of the
peasants, and relieve them from the arbitrary oppression of
the proprietors ; but the civil administration of the kingdom,
combined with the Polish nobility, paralyzed its efforts, and
laws instituted for the relief of the peasants were often
ingeniously perverted to their injury.
Occupied almost exclusively in the maintenance of material
order, the Russian Government too often abandoned the
administration of civil affairs to the Polish nobility ; thus it
came to pass that their feeble efforts on behalf of the peasant
were always checked, and that to the close of the administra-
tion of the Marquis Wielopolski scarce anything was effected
on their behalf.
The population of the Congress kingdom is 4,800,466; of
these about 77,000 are nobles; 6,400 are ecclesiastics; and
about 180,000 are Schliacta (poor noblemen). This minority
of 263,000 centre in themselves all civil and administrative
power, and it has ever governed the nation most arbitrarily
under shadow of the Russian law. The Emperor Nicholas
LAW OP 1846.
could not control this confederacy ; he had wronged Poland,
he had deprived her of her ancient immunities and of some of
her treaty rights ; she had rebelled against him and suffered
the bitter penalty which tracks abortive treason; and now
she was at rest, and that was all he asked. The bent of his
haughty disposition would dispose him rather to side with the
noble than the peasant ; a constant interference with consti-
tuted authorities would serve to render them despised; and
the Emperor having won, as he fancied, a lasting victory, was
unwilling to encourage a policy so subversive. Although,
therefore, the intentions of the Eussian Government were
fair and just, so far as the peasant question was concerned,
they were frustrated by the powerful opposition which the
Polish nobles made. An example of the mode in which the
efforts of the Government were thwarted is to be found in the
results attained by the law of 26th May (7th June), 1846.
By this law the possession of the land held by the peasants
was secured to them so long as they paid the rents and
fulfilled the duties imposed by their contracts with the
proprietors, and these contracts were signed in presence of
and approved by a public officer appointed for that purpose.
In order to elude this law, the proprietors, with the assistance
of the Polish authorities, persuaded the Government that its
promulgation during the season when work in the fields was
practicable would lead to considerable excitement among the
labouring classes, suspend the operations of industry, and
occasion great material loss; they therefore suggested that
the publication of the law should be postponed till the
following September, and this proposal was acted upon.
The proprietors profited by the delay. In many places the
peasants were expelled from the soil they had occupied for
generations; their lands were converted into farms, and
whole villages were removed, and their inhabitants received
in return new and uncultivated land. This system extended
over the entire kingdom; almost everywhere the rent and
other services were increased, and thousands of the peasantry
were reduced to misery and pauperism.
Nevertheless the law of 1846 was received with gratitude
by the peasants, and, despite the partial success of the nobles,
42 THE RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT IN POLAND.
was a decisive step towards the settlement of the land ques-
tion. Having at length some inducement for industry, the
peasant laboured hard to improve his condition.
Since 1846 the position of the peasants has sensibly im-
proved ; the contracts between them and the proprietors have
curbed the avarice of the latter ; pecuniary payments have, in
many places, superseded obligatory labour, and Government
has endeavoured to make this change universal. Notwithstand-
ing, however, all the efforts of the peasants and the Govern-
ment, out of 198,000 peasants' huts, situated on private
estates, there were, in 1861, 131,753 families (about 700,000
souls) subjected to obligatory labour ; giving the proprietors
annually 18,998,806 days' labour gratuitously (or nearly three
days' labour a week per family), besides extraordinary and
supplementary labour, and payments and oblations consisting
of provisions, capons, eggs, butter, grain, flax, &c. &c.
In the crown domains, in the property belonging to public
establishments, in the majorats conferred on Russian func-
tionaries ; in short, in all the properties where the efforts of
Government were not thwarted by the selfishness of the
Polish proprietors, the condition of the peasant is compara-
tively satisfactory ; for the Russian Government, in proclaim-
ing the absolute necessity of these reforms, gave, on its own
account and exacted from the Russian proprietors, an example
of prudent disinterestedness.
Thus, on the land belonging to the Crown, the peasants
occupy 1,265,088 morgs (1,750,067 acres) and pay 620,700
roubles rent (99,312), or 49^ copeks per morg (Is. l|d.
per acre).
In the properties attached to public establishments the
peasants possess 51,758 morgs (71,604 acres) and pay a
rent of 26,476 roubles (4,236), or 51 copeks per morg
(Is. 2d. per acre).
Lastly, in the majorats belonging to Russian proprietors, the
peasants pay still less; for 447,634 morgs (619,274 acres)
they pay an annual rent of 166,901 roubles (26,704), or 3 7i
copeks per morg (lOJd. per acre).
The peasants dwelling on the land of the Polish nobility
were very differently circumstanced. It might have been anti-
SEEVITUDE IN WESTERN PROVINCES. INVENTORIES. 43
cipated that from men of the same race, from their natural and
hereditary leaders, they would have met with liberal treatment
and wise encouragement. Such, however, was not the case.
When the Government by the law of ^ May, 1861, gave the
peasants the right to substitute a money rent for their labour,
the labour was valued at a sum which the proprietors com-
plained of as too low. When, however, the matter was inves-
tigated, it was found that the money value of their labour
amounted to 2,961,368 roubles (473,819) for 1,848,936
morgs (2,557,892 acres), or about 1 rouble 60 copeks per
morg (3s. 8d. per acre).
Even this sum, enormous as it is, considering the state of
agriculture in Poland, and out of all proportion to the rents
imposed by the Government and the Eussian proprietors, is
not the whole of the charge which the peasants have to de-
fray. There are many other extraordinary and supplementary
charges which they have to meet : these bring up the total
rent to about 4s. 6d. per acre.
In the North and South-western provinces the condition of
the serfs was unaffected by the changes which took place in the
Congress kingdom. Servitude was preserved intact by the
Russian Government, and neither personal freedom nor the
liberty of removal was introduced there. The proprietor,
therefore, having nothing to gain by depriving the peasant
of his land, allowed him to continue in undisturbed possession
of it from 1772 to the time of his enfranchisement, and during
this long period he gradually acquired a larger and larger
interest in it.
The first step taken by the Russian Government for the pro-
tection of the peasants was the introduction in 1849 of the so-
called " Inventories." These " Inventories " were returns made
by the proprietors to the Government, setting forth the quantity
of land held by the serfs, the rent they had to pay for it, and
the labour and other services they had to perform. Since these
inventories were made, the landowner has had no power to de-
prive the serf of his land so long as he observes the conditions
of his holding, nor has he had the power to increase his
liabilities, or in any way alter his tenure.
In the South-western provinces the returns made by the
44 THE RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT IN POLAND.
proprietors were, to some extent, checked and reduced by the
authorities ; but in the North-western provinces this was not
the case, and they were adopted without modification as
correct.
The land mentioned in the inventories was by the law of
1st March (19th February), 1861 (the law by which the serfs
were enfranchised), vested absolutely in the serfs, subject only
to the customary rent and services. A slight deduction was
however made from these liabilities in the North-western
provinces, in consequence of the exorbitant character of the
claims of the proprietors.
In the South-western provinces the peasants were allowed
to commute the labour due from them for a money payment,
of which the amount was fixed by law ; but in the North-
western provinces commissions were constituted to ascertain
the value of the labour ; and until their awards were made, the
labour continued to be performed.
When, therefore, the rebellion broke out, there existed two
different systems in the North and South-western provinces :
in the latter the condition of the peasants was ameliorated ;
they were freed from the personal labour which had been a
great subject of complaint and a most efficient weapon of in-
justice, and the money payments they had to make in commu-
tation of it were much easier to meet than their former obliga-
tions. The peasants, therefore, of these provinces were hostile
to a revolt commenced by the men who had oppressed them,
and which was aimed at a government that had so recently
improved their condition. In the North-western provinces,
however, the peasants were more dependent on the will of the
proprietors ; they were safe from personal ill-treatment, and
their land was secured to them ; but the rents and onerous
services to which they were liable rendered them more submis-
sive to their late masters.
While such was the condition of the peasants, and such the
policy of the Eussian administration, there were many con-
flicting opinions among the Poles upon the land question.
The aristocratic proprietors wished to retain in themselves
the absolute ownership of the soil ; they were, they professed,
willing that the peasants should continue to hold as tenants the
THEORIES ON RIGHTS OP PEASANTS TO THEIR LAND. 45
land they had long been occupying ; but they claimed rent
from, and desired to stand in the same relation to them as the
English landowner does to his tenant. This, however, would
have deprived the peasants of all certainty of tenure j they
would have been absolutely at the mercy of the proprietors,
and have had no check on their avarice and rapacity.
On the other hand, the more liberal party contended that
the soil belonged to the peasant ; that it had been given to his
ancestors long since ; and that the time had arrived when any
condition with which that gift had been clogged should be re-
mitted. They did not propose that the landowner should lose
his rent, or the services to which he was entitled, without com-
pensation, but such compensation they considered should be
paid by the Government, and not by the peasants ; others, again,
contended that the land should be vested in the peasants, sub-
ject to their performance of the customary services, or to their
redeeming them by a money payment.
The relations between landlord and tenant in England are
utterly dissimilar to those existing in Poland or the Western
provinces. The only analogy which will apply is one of a far
older date, and we must seek it by looking back into history,
and tracing there the gradual enlargement of villain tenures
into absolute ownership. Those who are conversant with the
early history of our real property law will recall the steps by
which, from the great feudatory to the humblest serf, the ances-
tors in title of the present proprietors of the soil converted
their conditional or precarious tenures into absolute estates.
Originally holding them so long only as they could perform
certain feudal services, or so long as it was the will of their
lord that they should retain them, we see in our early history
how soon the rights of the owners of limited interests and of
mere occupiers became enlarged. The hereditary principle
crept in, and then the only advantage the feudal superior
derived from the death of his retainer was the payment of a
stipulated fine, and perhaps the wardship of an heir. Gradually
the rights of the lord were reduced to a money payment, and
the interest of the vassal became absolute in the soil of which
he formerly was the precarious tenant.
The feudal system was unknown in Poland, and so far no
46 THE RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT IN POLAND.
parallel exists ; but tlie gradual recognition of the rights of the
holder of the soil was somewhat similar, and generation by
generation, and year by year, those rights acquired a stronger
hold and more general acquiescence. All parties acknowledged
them in some sense, and admitted, at least in the Western pro-
vinces, that so long as the tenant paid his rent and performed
his services, the landlord had no right to eject him. But the
personal freedom granted in 1807 injured the position of the
peasants in the Congress kingdom ; it altered their relation to
the lord, perilled their possession of the soil, and gave the
Polish proprietary a colourable title to treat them as mere
tenants at will.
The conduct pursued by the Austrian and Prussian govern-
ments towards the serfs of Galicia and Posen confirmed the
view taken by the peasants of their claims. In both provin-
ces the rights of the lords had been gradually diminished by
custom and legislation, and when in 1848 the land was abso-
lutely assigned to the Galician peasants, the claims of the pro-
prietors upon them were in many cases reduced to two, or even
to one day's work in the week. The value of the labour to
which the lords were thus entitled was estimated, government
bills were given them, supposed to represent it, and a tax was
laid on the province to pay the interest on the bills. The
Austrian Government therefore fully recognized the rights for
which the peasants in the Congress kingdom as well as in the
"Western provinces contended.
The Prussian Government adopted a different course ; they
enfranchised the serfs, giving them their land subject to pay-
ments to the proprietor of one-third of the estimated money
value of the labour (corvee) which they hitherto had performed.
This arrangement was altered after the insurrection of 1848 ;
the Government then gave state bills bearing interest, and
equal in value to the capital sum the rents were worth, to the
proprietors, in liquidation of the rents the peasants had to pay,
and the peasants were subjected to a tax of sufficient magni-
tude to extinguish principal and interest in 1871, at which
time, accordingly, they will be completely free from all claims
in respect of their land.
The Eussian Government had always considered that the
VIEWS OF GOVERNMENT ON EMANCIPATION. 47
serf and the peasant had qualified interests in the soil ; they
had in many instances refused both in Russia and the Western
provinces to allow the proprietors to enfranchise their serfs
unless they gave them land for their support, and they had
always peremptorily rejected any general scheme of emanci-
pation by which the lands held by the peasants would become
the absolute property of the lord.
The Polish nobility had on several occasions manifested a
readiness to emancipate the peasant and retain his land for
themselves ; such an arrangement would doubtless have been
very profitable to them, but, under the circumstances, would
have been unjust. In 1857 this suggestion was made by the
nobles of the provinces of Wilna Kovno and Grodno ; but it
was opposed altogether to the principles of the Russian Go-
vernment, and was without result. Indeed the proposition
argued as little political wisdom as it did generosity, for it was
certain of rejection, and was sure to irritate the people, on
whose aid in a future insurrection that very nobility would
have mainly to rely.
The political economists of Russia have contended that the
theory of their Government is wrong ; that the right to occupy
the land ceases when the peasant fails to perform his task-
work, and that it is a mistake to create a number of pauperized
proprietors, instead of a prosperous class of tenant farmers.
The abstractions of political economy must yield sometimes
to other and more powerful considerations; questions of justice
must sometimes be answered before the dogmas of economists
are obeyed ; and it is on the ground of justice as well as of
the highest expediency that the claims of the peasants rest.
They have no charters to boast, no elaborate deeds to ex-
hibit from which their title may be deduced ; but they till the
same fields, occupy the same dwellings, and regard as their
own the same little properties which their ancestors held for
centuries. Generation by generation their immunities have
increased and their liabilities dwindled away, until at length
Government and the popular voice alike regard them as the
limited owners of the soil. Precedents from our own history
confirm that view, and the statesman who disregarded it would
be the most dangerous revolutionist of his age and country.
48 THE EUSSIAN GOVERNMENT JN POLAND.
Moreover, in the long account between proprietor and serf, the
balance surely does not incline in favour of the former; the
slavery of centuries, the cruel and debasing injuries with which
it was accompanied ; the scourge, the dishonour, and the name-
less wrongs under which the Polish serfs ineffectually writhed,
have left behind them a bitter remembrance, which, if they
were prudent, the proprietors would strive to obliterate.
Allowing the land to be absorbed by the landlords is not a
step which would lead to the formation of a class of prosperous
tenant farmers ; no such class can be created without capital,
and that capital must be either imported or saved ; it is ad-
mitted that its introduction from abroad is not looked for, and
therefore it is by saving that it must be created. It will
not be contended that the freeholder is likely to be less in-
dustrious than the tenant who is at the mercy of his landlord ;
that property paralyzes his efforts, and renders him sluggish
and inert. On the contrary, it seems probable that freedom
and the possession of his land will stimulate his exertions
and arouse his ambitions. The system the Polish nobles pro-
posed to introduce in the Western provinces is the same that
has been so unsuccessfully tried for more than half a century
in the Congress kingdom. Far from producing wealth or
stimulating improvement, the peasant is as miserable now as
he was when the Code Napoleon was introduced. Nowhere in
Russia is his condition more pitiable, and nowhere is he more
completely at the mercy of the great proprietors. This
plan, therefore, has been already tried, and has failed in pro-
ducing those benefits which are alleged to be its certain
accompaniments.
There is yet another reason for ceding their land to the
peasants. In a vast and thinly-peopled country, the effect of
mere personal emancipation would be to set loose all those
whose condition as serfs had hitherto kept them on one spot,
unless attached to their former home either by compulsion or
some peculiar advantage it afforded them. Why should the
peasant remain there? Why should he stop in the North,
where for six or eight months in every year the frozen ground
forbids his industry, while he could find constant employment
in the sunny plains of the South, or occupy himself amid the
PEOBABLE EFFECT OF " PERSONAL EMANCIPATION." 49
corn-fields and vineyards of the Crimea? Mere personal
emancipation would have given the signal for a vast migration,
which would have rendered valueless immense tracts of country
and displaced important industries.*
* The difference in climate between various parts of Eussia is strikingly
evidenced in St. Petersburg. On 15th December, 1863, 1 saw Crimean grapes
of excellent quality hawked about the streets at 3d. a pound, while the ground
was covered with snow, and the thermometer stood at 17 Fahrenheit.
50
CHAPTER IV.
Commencement of "Unarmed Agitation" in Warsaw. Meeting in the Old
Square. " The Warsaw Massacre." Address to the Emperor. Inde-
cision of Prince Gortschakoff. The Delegation. The Funeral. Conduct
of the Delegation and its Dissolution.
IT will be seen from the statements contained in the previous
chapters, that the years which immediately followed the
accession of the Emperor Alexander were marked by great
prosperity. There was every prospect that as commerce
developed and wealth increased, Poland would gradually rise in
importance, and win self-government and constitutional freedom
from her conqueror. The inclination of her new sovereign
gave probability to the most sanguine anticipations, and to
the casual observer the future promised to atone for the misery
of the past.
Unfortunately for Poland, the restless conspirators of the
Emigration, the returned exiles, and the malcontents at home,
were not content with the spectacle of present prosperity and
the prospect of constitutional freedom. The only liberty in
which they trusted was that which is won by the dagger or
the sword, and they determined to pave the way to it by an
organized and most extensive agitation. For this end, national
celebrations of all kinds were resorted to, and every means
was adopted of stirring up popular feeling against the Russian
authority.
In June, 1860, the funeral took place of the widow of a
General Sobinski, who had been killed in 1831, while defending
the fortress of Wola against the Russians. The funeral passed
over quietly, but at its conclusion the students and rabble, who
had attended it in considerable numbers, proceeded to the
51
burial-ground of the Greeks, which is near that of the Roman
Catholic church where the ceremony had taken place, spat on
the Eussian tombs, and tore up the shrubs and flowers which
were planted round them.
This circumstance was at the time regarded as an isolated
outrage, and not as part of a premeditated plan, and was
therefore left unnoticed by the authorities.
Early in October, however, a marked change took place in
the demeanour of the people. A meeting at Warsaw between
the Emperors of Austria and Eussia and the King of Prussia
had been arranged, and the walls were covered with placards
calling on the inhabitants to receive appropriately the three
ravens who had torn in pieces the body of Poland ; the theatres
were less frequented, and on one occasion when the Emperor
was to attend, asafoetida was sprinkled through the house
before the performance began ; illuminations which took place
at the summer palace were only attended by the dregs of the
people, and caricatures and squibs of all kinds were circulated
against the Emperor of Austria.
An uneasy feeling was gradually setting in against the
ostentation and luxury of the rich ; against costly amusements,
and lavish expenditure on ladies' dresses. This feeling was art-
fully encouraged, and as an example of the extent to which it
was carried, on the occasion of the foundation-stone being laid
of a new bridge over the Vistula, boys threw vitriol on ladies'
dresses and cut them with knives.
In November these excesses became more systematic; in
houses where balls or evening parties were given, windows
were broken; and Eussian and foreign signs were forcibly
torn down from the shops and houses which displayed them.
The town-post was completely taken up by the delivery of
libels, anonymous and threatening letters forbidding amuse-
ments, and letters insulting the Eussians and their friends.
Thus passed the months of December, January, and the
early part of February, and these disturbances were occa-
sionally varied by demonstrations, or funeral services com-
memorative of the rebellion of 1830, and the Poles who had
fallen in it.
In January, a rumour circulated through the town, that on
E 2
52 THE EUSSIAN GOVERNMENT IN POLAND.
25th February, the anniversary of the battle of Grockovo,* a
funeral service would be solemnized on the field of battle for
the Poles who were slain there, and that all the population of
Warsaw would be summoned to attend this* celebration ; the
Kussians, also, it was alleged, would join in it, and for that
purpose troops and Greek clergy would be sent to the field,
and would take part in a funeral service in memory of the
Kussians who fell there.
Little by little, this rumour died away, and public attention
was entirely fixed on the coming meeting of the Agricultural
Society, which took place on 23rd February. Simultaneously
with the opening of its session, placards were scattered in the
churches, and subsequently in the streets, in which the people
were invited to meet in the Square of the Old Town, instead
of on the field of Grockovo. The plan originally determined on
was changed on account of the temporary removal of the
bridge over the Vistula, and because a demonstration held in
the town might be made more effective, and might point more
directly to the objects the malcontents had in view, than one
held some miles away.
The crowd was to follow the procession past the palace of
the Lieutenant of the kingdom, to the house called the
Namiestnikowski, where the Agricultural Society assembled.
There they were to demand the attendance of the members
present, in order that they might be requested by the crowd
to present an address to the Emperor requiring a constitution.
At half-past five in the afternoon of the appointed day, the
people commenced assembling in great numbers, and refused
to disperse, though summoned to do so by the police. At
seven o'clock many students of the Academy came out of the
Pauline church, close to the Old Town, and with them were
youths from various schools, and workmen.
The Square in the Old Town is a relic of ancient Warsaw ; it
is small and surrounded by lofty houses, apparently erected in
the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries ; and occasionally these
houses are overtopped by others at their rear, which are more
* One of the battles in the insurrection of 1830-31, where the Poles
defeated the Kussians.
MEETING IN THE OLD SQUARE. 53
lofty still ; so, in addition to the house immediately facing the
bystander, he sees, by looking upwards, the quaint gables and
little windows of another dwelling, whose inmates may observe
unnoticed the busy crowds below.
On that winter night the Square was the scene of a
picturesque gathering. It was filled by an excited throng of
men, whose minds were possessed with dim and shadowy
aspirations after changes they were never to achieve. Some
of the crowd bore banners which were blazoned with patriotic
emblems the white eagle of Poland, the portraits of her
martyrs, the symbols of her faith, the names of her battle-
fields, and the pious ejaculations which she addressed to her
tutelary saints. Others carried torches, and the light they gave
glanced fitfully on the banners above and the agitated crowd
below; it flashed on the thousand windows filled with
sympathizing spectators, and threw a,n angry glare over the
police, who stood aloof in grim and silent expectation.
The crowd resolved to carry out their programme, and to
proceed from the Square to the house of the Agricultural
Society, and obtain from that powerful body the assurance of
its sympathy and aid; but the authorities determined that the
demonstration should terminate. An additional squadron of
gendarmes arrived, the people were commanded to disperse,
and, after a show of opposition and some angry demonstrations,
they sullenly departed to their homes. The only resistance
which was made proceeded from the students of the Agricul-
tural School; eight of them were arrested, and upon them
were found proclamations of Louis Mieroslawski, revolutionary
addresses, and portraits of the patriot leaders of former insur-
rections.
On the following day the town was quiet, but the streets
were more than usually crowded, an air of gloom and expec-
tation prevailed, and as a symbol of mourning it was remarked
that the men had the lower part of their hats brushed the
wrong way. To this date no lives had been lost, and it is
therefore evident that mourning formed part of the revolu-
tionary programme.
On the 27th of February occurred the first of those events
which were subsequently styled by the revolutionary press
54 THE EUSSIAN GOVERNMENT IN POLAND.
" the Warsaw massacres." In the morning of that day many
members of the Agricultural Society, students of the Agri-
cultural School, workmen, and mechanics, assembled at the
Carmelite Church. A solemn service was celebrated there in
honour of the Poles who fell in the insurrection of 1830, and
religion was again invoked to aid the struggles of a revolu-
tionary cause.
This demonstration was intended as a protest against
assurances which Count Andrew Zainoyski was reported to have
given to the Lieutenant, to the effect that the Agricultural
Society had nothing to do with the meeting of two days
before. It was thought that these assurances would prejudice
the society in the estimation of the party of action, and that
some overt act, some solemn covenant, should be entered into
binding the people to the society, and the society to the
people's cause. It was therefore resolved that a procession
should be formed, which should pass through the Sigismund
Place, and proceed thence to the house of the Agricultural
Society.
The Sigismund Place is a square in the centre of the town,
and contains the column and statue which commemorate
Sigismund and give his name to the spot. On one side of
the square is the castle, the palace of the former kings of
Poland, and now the residence of the Eussian viceroy ;
separated from it only by a road stand the Church and
Monastery of the Bernardines, a large heavy-looking mass of
building, without architectural beauty or any external evidence
of antiquity.
In execution of their design, the leaders of the people
formed a procession, and, preceded by a large portrait of
Kalinski,* marched at the head of the crowd into the Sigis-
mund Place. The assemblage was then summoned to disperse,
and as the order was not obeyed, a detachment of Cossacks
was sent to meet it, and form a chain in front of the palace, so
as to prevent all access to it.
The crowd paused in uncertainty. In their front were the
Cossacks, on their flank stood the church, and if they per-
* A shoemaker and patriot leader in 1794.
55
severed in their intention, they would have have to force their
way past the Cossacks and across the square to reach the house
of the Agricultural Society. A hearse was at the door of the
church, and at this critical moment a priest left the building
accompanied by the coffin and the mourners. A minute later
stones were thrown at the troops by some unknown persons,
who are believed to have been on the tower of the church,
and one of them felled a Cossack to the ground. His
comrades, believing that the stones were thrown by the
funeral cortege, endeavoured to disperse it with their whips ;
but the crowd stepped forward and resisted them with stones
and sticks. By this time a rumour had circulated through the
people that the Cossacks had broken the cross and beaten the
priest, and, infuriated at this report, they resisted the
Cossacks, who were powerless to disperse them.
General Zablotsky, at the head of a company of infantry
(200 men), marched against the crowd, who received them
with threats and pelted them. The soldiers loaded their
rifles and prepared to fire, but the people did not believe they
would do so. An absurd idea appears to have prevailed
among the lower orders in Warsaw, that the Emperor of the
French had forbidden the Russians to fire upon them, and
that the latter dared not disobey him. While, therefore, the
soldiers loaded their rifles, the people cursed and spat at
them. The troops were ordered to fire : they obeyed, and at
the first volley five men were killed, and the insurrectionary
movement received its baptism of blood.
The multitude withdrew, and the evidence of bystanders
greatly varies as to their demeanour. It is stated, on the one
hand, that they were terrified and subdued by the rigour
which had repressed them ; and on the other it is alleged that
they departed in wrath, but not in fear, resolved to wreak
ample vengeance in the future for the wrongs they then
endured. It, however, is admitted on all sides that they
carried their dead away with them, and that in their retreat
they were unmolested by the soldiery or police. Strange,
indeed, was the termination of the solemnity of that day.
The agitators had failed to carry out their programme. They
had not forced their way to the halls of the Agricultural
56 THE RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT IN POLAND.
Society, and they had had no noisy scene of patriotic fraterni-
zation with its members ; yet they had succeeded in creating
an irreparable breach with the Government whose overthrow
they were plotting to achieve, and they foresaw that the
events of the day would enable them to hold up their Eussian
masters to the opprobrium of Western Europe.
The five corpses were placed on hastily-constructed litters,
and were carried openly through the town. The students
who accompanied them compelled all who met them, whether
civilians or military men, to stand uncovered as they passed ;
and thus, followed by a great crowd, and with the appearance
rather of a pageant than a flight, the bodies of four of the
slain were carried to the Hotel de PEurope; the fifth was
taken to the house of Count Andrew Zamoyski, and laid in
state in one of his reception-rooms.
The inside of the gate of the Zamoyski Palace, and the rooms
there and at the hotel where the other bodies lay, were
draped with black. The approach to these rooms was jea-
lously guarded by students; and even military men and officials
who entered the palace and hotel on public business were only
permitted to pass the door after they had satisfactorily an-
swered any questions those guardians of the dead put to them.
A photographer took portraits of the slain, which were sold
and distributed in immense numbers. They were represented
with their wounds exposed, and with crowns of palm inter-
mingled with thorns upon their heads.
The following day (the 28th of February) a great crowd
collected before the hotel, and the rooms on the ground floor
were thronged with people. Some one proposed to send an
address to the Emperor, and it was written on the spot, and
numerous copies were instantly distributed. It is evident
that this address had been prepared beforehand. By its terms
the Schliacta appeared willing to abandon their traditional
claims, and to recognize the rights of other classes ; the dis-
turbances at Warsaw were explained to be the result of deep-
seated and universal discontent ; and the principles of Polish
nationality were strongly insisted on. All who could write
were invited to sign this address, and it was subscribed by a
large portion of the population of the town.
EMBARRASSMENT OF PRINCE GORTSCHAKOFF. 57
The agitators determined to use their opportunity to the
utmost. A solemn funeral was resolved on, and many and
anxious were the consultations as to its details. All classes
in Warsaw were to be represented there ; deputations from
other parts of the kingdom and from the Western provinces
were invited to be present, and great efforts were made to
secure the attendance of the peasants.
Minor distinctions of party, creed, and even race, were for
the moment forgotten, or only remembered to give occasion
for bridging over by some scheme of fantastic liberality the
gulf which had hitherto divided them. Thus it was discovered
that a reconciliation must be effected with the Jews ; and as a
first step towards it, the very name of their race was changed,
and in substitution for their ancient designation, they were
styled ' ' Poles of the Mosaic persuasion " I A committee was \ -
constituted, under the name of " The Committee for the Erec-
tion of a Monument in memory of the slain of the 27th of
February, as well as for collecting money for their families/'
The formation of this committee and its object were publicly
announced in the papers of the following day, and a subscrip-
tion was immediately commenced in a room at the hotel. The
wealthy crowded there with costly gifts ; the poor, out of their
poverty, cast in their mites ; and the women of Poland, ever
foremost in patriotic sacrifice, poured their jewels, their orna-
ments, and whatever else of value they possessed, into the
common fund.
While the leaders of the people were thus prompt and united
in their action, the course adopted by Prince Gortschakoff
was weak and indecisive. He was a soldier, and not a
statesman. Calm and self-possessed at the head of an army,
unmoved amid the perils of the great game of war, he was
unequal to the guidance of a state in troubled times, and
could not distinguish between the occasion where lenity is
admissible and the license which demands restraint. To a
man of this stamp the position of Lieutenant of Poland must
ever be embarrassing; he has that half- confidence reposed
in him which is fatal of success, and, at the mercy of tele-
grams and orders dictated by the impressions of the moment,
58 THE RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT IN POLAND.
he must ever prove unequal to imagine and carry into effect
a bold and successful policy.
The crisis was one which would have tried the strength of
a stronger hand and the nerve of a more equable spirit, and
the Lieutenant of the kingdom broke down under it. Contrary
to the anxiously expressed commands of the Imperial Govern-
ment, blood had been shed in Warsaw, and yet, though blood
had been shed, order had not been maintained. The enemy
had been repulsed, but he had carried his dead away with
him, and his retreat was a funereal triumph, and not an
ignominious flight.
Perplexed, astonished, irresolute, uncertain of the approval
of his sovereign of any course he might adopt, Prince
G ortschakoff took refuge in the last resource of the irresolute,
and determined to temporize. He permitted, therefore, the
formation of the committee, though its purpose was certainly
illegal, and was prepared to allow any license to the leaders
of the people which was compatible with the preservation of
order and the outward maintenance of his authority.
Keenly appreciating the character of the Lieutenant and
the concessions to be won from it, the popular leaders grew
yet bolder. They represented to him that the indignation
excited by the massacres of the 27th was so great and over-
powering that no ordinary measures would suffice to curb it ;
that the Eussian Government, their soldiery and police, were
for the moment regarded with abhorrence, and that there
was danger of the population of the city breaking out into a
riot, which might give the signal for insurrection throughout
Poland. They proposed, therefore, that the government of
the city should for some days be committed to an independent
body, the members of which they should themselves nominate,
subject to the approval and sanction of the Lieutenant. This
body, which was to be styled a Delegation, was to consist of
twenty-four members, and would make itself responsible for
the good order and quiet of the city ; it would appeal to the
people through arguments which the Russians would not
employ; it would rule them by the aid of national sym-
pathies, by the strong influence which confidence in them
would naturally evoke, and by instilling into them the convic-
APPOINTMENT OP THE " DELEGATION." 59
tion that, if they now showed their capacity for self-govern-
ment, their conduct would be the most powerful argument
which could subsequently be employed when they sought a
constitution and administrative autonomy from a just and
enlightened sovereign.
This strange demand was granted. The Delegation was
constituted, and contained representatives of every class,
nobles, clergy, officers, Jewish Rabbis, merchants, shop-
keepers, and peasants. It met daily at the Town-hall, and
the control of the city passed into its hands. At their first
meeting the members resolved to request the Lieutenant
to concede six points to them : they were,
1st. That they might organize a public funeral, and bury
the dead with all honours.
2nd. That the Delegation might be continued in office, and
be recognized by the Government until after the funeral was
over.
3rd. That troops might not show themselves during the
funeral.
4th. That General Marquis Paulucci might be named head
of the police.
, 5th. That the Delegation might proceed to St. Petersburg
and present an address to the Emperor.
6th. That all those who had been arrested on 27th February
might be liberated.
These requests were preferred to the Lieutenant by a com-
mittee of the Delegation, accompanied by Count Andrew
Zamoyski, and all, with the exception of the fifth, were
granted.
The Delegation used to the utmost the concessions it had
wrung from the Government. Students in the academies and
higher schools were sent as couriers through the country;
they bore tidings of the events which had occurred at
Warsaw, and aroused in all classes of the community the
deepest sympathy in the sufferings and aims of the revolu-
tionary cause. Everywhere religious celebrations and solemn
rites were resolved on, and it was determined that on the day
of the funeral one universal wail of lamentation should swell
through the mourning land.
60 THE RUSSIAN GOVEKNMENT IN POLAND.
On 1st March the corpses were taken to the church of
Holy Cross. The streets through which the procession
passed were strewn with sand ; the windows and balconies of
the houses were hung with black cloth edged with white
borders and embroidered with crowns of thorn and other
emblems of martyrdom and glory ; white ribbons and other
signs of mourning were worn by the people, and the cere-
monies of the day were conducted in an orderly and peaceful
manner, under the immediate control of officers appointed by
the Delegation.
On the following day the shops, magazines, and public
offices were closed ; signs of general mourning were everywhere
displayed, and the funeral bell filled the air with its fitful and
melancholy throb.
The procession from the church of Holy Cross to the ceme-
tery was one of unprecedented solemnity. At its head rode
the Marquis Paulucci in the full dress of a general in the
Kussian service ; then followed the monastic orders (and they
were numerous and wealthy in those days) in their various
habits, with slow and stately tread : they had among them
men who had suffered much for their country's cause ; and
some who subsequently rendered up their lives in her defence.
Then came the secular clergy ; less able and more scrupulous
than those of the regular orders, they were yet men who
firmly and consistently loved their country, and strove to
work her good. The various guilds succeeded, each with the
banner of its craft. Then came the pupils at the academy
and schools, too many of whom were at a later date to reap
the bitter fruits of the sedition that day sown. To these
again succeeded the clergy of the various Protestant creeds,
and after them the rabbis and inferior priesthood of the
Jews.
The coffins of the dead were made of black wood; on the
lid of each was a white cross, and above the cross a crown
of thorns was laid. The bearers were men selected from all
ranks, for it was the desire of the Delegation to evidence to
the Government that all classes sympathized in the demon-
stration of that day. Following the coffins, the inhabitants of
the town and neighbourhood came in long array, and conspi-
THE FUNERAL. 61
cuous among them was Count Andrew Zamoyski, who was
walking arm in arm with a peasant. As the procession
passed the guardhouses, the sentinels presented arms, paying
homage to those whom they had deprived of life only six
days before. The cemetery was reached, the corpses were
lowered side by side into their narrow graves, and as earth
was given again to earth, the multitude of mourners rushed
forward to obtain one last look at the coffins of their martyred
countrymen; they flung flowers and crowns of thorn into
their graves, and with wild passion wept, or vowed deep and
speedy vengeance against their murderers. The earth closed
over the coffins of the dead, and then, one after another,
the priests of the Catholic Church preached funeral sermons
above their graves. They were not the dull and common-
place discourses which we so habitually hear ; but they were
powerful and eloquent appeals to the patriotism of an awaking
race ; they dwelt upon the past, in order that its renowned
memories might animate the men of to-day ; they commented
on the present, as the age of trial and of strife ; and they
foretold a future which should revive the glories of ancient
Poland, and reward for all their trials her steadfast but per-
secuted sons.
Photographs of the dead were circulated through the crowd ;
fragments of the crowns of thorn and pieces of linen dipped
in their blood were distributed with lavish hand; and men
were invited to swear vengeance against Eussia on the graves
so newly filled.
After the funeral ceremonies had ended, handbills were
given to the people urging them to wear mourning as a sign
of national grief.
On the 5th March the Lieutenant acknowledged, in the
Government paper, the laudable efforts of the Delegation to
preserve order; and, after expressing his approval of their
conduct, he temporarily continued them in their office. They
therefore met at the Town-hall, under the presidency of the
Marquis Paulucci, and commenced their proceedings on the
following day. The result of their first meeting was that they
requested the Lieutenant to allow counsel to prisoners charged
with political offences, to which he replied that the request
62 THE EUSSIAN GOVERNMENT IN POLAND.
should be considered ; but that it could not be granted at the
moment, as it changed the existing order of things. They also
asked that the names of parties arrested and the charges made
against them should be published, and that their trial should
take place with as little delay as possible ; ad these requests
were granted. They next desired to form an unarmed body
of police for securing the public safety, and asked that the
existing police should report to them every important occur-
rence. Powers were granted them to appoint constables for
the preservation of public order, and subsequently two of their
number were appointed to attend the political inquiries.
On the 8th March the Delegation issued a proclamation
calling on the inhabitants to continue to preserve good order,
and assist them in the execution of their arduous duties;
three days later, becoming more exacting as the weakness of
the Lieutenant grew more and more apparent, they demanded
that prisoners who were charged with promulgating inflamma-
tory proclamations, with scattering asafoetida, placarding
walls with revolutionary addresses, sending anonymous and
threatening letters, and assaulting the police, should at once
be liberated : these trifling offences they deemed had been
adequately punished by the few days' imprisonment which
the accused had suffered while awaiting trial.
On the 13th March the Lieutenant announced to the Dele-
gation that the Emperor had granted the liberal institutions
which will hereafter be mentioned ; and on the 23rd he sum-
moned them to the castle, thanked them for the services they
had rendered, and informed them, as an elective municipal
council was about to be constituted, that it was needless for
them to continue their labours.
The Delegation, however, having once tasted power, were
unwilling thus to relinquish it, and even after their official
dissolution they continued to hold their meetings. Large
numbers of people crowded them, and frequently as many as
2,000 auditors were present, and the speeches made were of a
violent and revolutionary character.
While the Delegation continued in power, the town was in a
very excited state ; the police nominated by them were
utterly inefficient ; lists were spread among the people of so-
DISSOLUTION OF DELEGATION. 63
called Eussian spies; and Russian officials were constantly
assaulted and insulted by the mob.
The religious ceremonies continued, and many revolutionary
sermons were preached ; none of them, however, attracted so
much notice as one by the Rabbi Cramstuck, who discovered
certain texts in the Bible that were solely applicable to Poland,
and proved from them that the Jews were bound to second
the efforts of the patriots ! At this time a strong disposition
to combine in political exertions was evidenced by these in-
congruous allies, and the Jews presented the Roman Catholics
with a richly-ornamented cross, while the latter, not to be
outdone, gave the Jews in return a silver candlestick with
seven branches.
G4
CHAPTER V.
Embarrassment of Government. Suppression of the Agricultural Society.
Liberal Institutions granted. Polish Demonstrations. Suppression of
Disturbances. State of Warsaw. Death of Prince GortschakoflF.
THE Government was greatly embarrassed by the state of
public feeling and the conduct of the agitators in Poland.
The disorders which had terminated so fatally in Warsaw were
a decided triumph to the revolutionary propaganda. At the
cost of a few lives, they had held up the Russian tyranny to
the opprobrium of Europe ; they had spread reports in the
capitals of the West, of sanguinary excesses and wholesale
arrests ; they had vaunted the noble behaviour of a suffering
race ; they had enlisted the sympathies of the world in the
success of their cause ; and all this time, under an exterior
thus quiet and resigned, the Government knew that the work
of sedition was being carried on, and that an excuse and an
opportunity were alone wanting for a revolt to be commenced.
It was difficult to know by what line of action to resist the
invisible foe. A religious celebration might be discouraged,
a political demonstration might be arrested, but steps such as
these in no way really checked the activity of the agitation ;
besides which, such occasional blows were necessarily aimed at
men who were mere tools, and left untouched the ambitious
leaders by whom they were secretly prompted.
The only institution about which the revolutionary parties
obviously gathered was the Agricultural Society. The meet-
ings of this body had long ceased to be confined to the sub-
jects which nominally occupied its attention ; every question
affecting, however remotely, the welfare of the people was
discussed there; and it was obvious that the party of action
hoped to use it as a centre and rallying-point of disaffection.
A society such as was contemplated by the Government when
THE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 65
the authority to form it was first accorded, would have been
very useful in improving the agriculture of Poland ; there
was great need of such improvement, and among its members
were several enlightened men, from whose efforts and example
the happiest results were anticipated. It was, however,
quickly seen that political change rather than agricultural im-
provement was the object of many of its most influential
members. The alteration in its constitution, by the admission
of members from Galicia, Posen, and the Western provinces,
has already been named, and it was sufficient to excite the
suspicion and provoke the interference of the Administration.
By this time, however, the Society had gone much further :
its meetings were constantly invaded by factious men not
enrolled among its members, who made revolutionary speeches,
and advocated measures utterly irrelevant to the questions
properly under discussion. In short, the mob of Warsaw
broke in upon its deliberations whenever they pleased,
and the halls of the Society were rapidly degenerating into a
Jacobin club.
"Rumours had for some time been circulated that the Go-
vernment intended to suppress the Society, and having but
little time to live, it resolved to mark its last hours by unusual
exertions. A committee of its members had for some time
existed, whose province it was to inquire into and report upon
the condition of the peasants, and suggest a scheme for the
settlement of the land question. The tendencies of the Society
upon this head had not hitherto been liberal, but the events of
the moment hastened their action and altered their views.
The peasants could only be influenced through the land ques-
tion, and if the proprietors required their aid in any future
contingency, they well knew it must be won by large conces-
sions now. Besides this, the Society perhaps remembered
that very little real sacrifice was involved in any plan it might
suggest ; for the Government had settled principles on which
it was certain to act, whatever might be the views or wishes
of the committee.
Thus resolved on immediate action, there was another
motive for making it as decided as practicable. In a short
time the Government project would be announced, and a plan
(56 THE RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT IN POLAND.
put forward by it would certainly carry more weight than one
promoted by the Society. To counterbalance this disadvantage,
therefore, it was essential that the Society should greatly
outbid the Government.
An attempt on the part of any institution to dictate a policy
to the Government of its country, is in all states and under
all circumstances to be deprecated. More than once in the
last half-century we have seen, even in England, the dangers
that too powerful combinations may create ; sometimes they
have been successful, sometimes they have forcibly been
checked; but experience teaches us that these attempts at
creating an imperium in imperio are always dangerous even to
the best and most stable Government. If such a combination
be dangerous among a free people where the citizen obeys the
law because he feels that it secures him liberty, how much
more perilous is it where the Government is despotic and
unpopular ! The Agricultural Society attempted to arrogate
to itself legislative functions : it was the centre round which
all the intrigue and all the disloyalty of Poland revolved ; its
propositions in respect of the peasants were an obvious bid for
popular support; it counted among its members the most
influential of the nobles and great proprietors, and it had
assumed proportions which made its existence inconsistent
with the safety of the State.
The Government had always foreseen that its measures of
enfranchisement in the empire must be followed by an
amelioration of the condition of the peasant in the kingdom.
Accordingly, inquiries had long been on foot, having for their
object such an arrangement between the two parties as should
be beneficial to both, and free the peasant from all except
the monetary claims of the proprietor.
While measures of this character were in course of elabora-
tion, the revolutionary party felt the necessity of action. Any
such arrangement as was contemplated by the authorities,
would deprive the party of action of its last hold upon the
peasants, and its policy, as some alteration was inevitable,
was to originate it instead of waiting for the Government to
do so ; a scheme of settling the land question was therefore
proposed and adopted immediately before the Society was
THE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 67
dissolved, which was supposed to be more favourable to the
peasants than any project which would meet with the sanction
of the Government.
For some time previously the Poles had taken every possible
opportunity of marking their disaffection. Anniversaries
commemorative of events and men most distasteful to the
existing authorities, and most obviously pointing to their
desire for complete independence, were kept with the greatest
ostentation. The patriotic hymn, to which reference has been
already made, was constantly sung in their churches. Poles
would not mix with Russians in society, or treat them with
ordinary courtesy in the streets. If a Russian and a Pole
chanced to meet in the same coffee-house, and the former
used a glass, it was no unusual occurrence when he placed it
on the table, for the Pole to take it up and dash it to pieces on
the floor, and then pay for the damage he had committed,
observing that another Russian should have no chance of again
polluting the vessel he had broken ; if Russian ladies travelled
in company with Poles, they avoided the use of their own
language, knowing that its employment would expose them
to gross insults ; in public places the Russian officers had long
been instructed to show the utmost forbearance to the Poles,
as it was the earnest wish of the Government to avoid all
collision with them. The fact was, however, everywhere
apparent, that the educated population throughout the
kingdom, and the town population of all grades, were banded
together in opposition to the Government, and would not be
satisfied with anything short of absolute independence, or
a trial of strength which would probably terminate in
absolute subjection.
Whatever may be the views of an individual as to the
justice or expediency of the continuance of an established
system, it is certain that so long as it exists, those who are
interested in its continuance are entitled to resist illegal
attempts at its overthrow. The English rule in Ireland very
likely was extremely bad in the last century, and during nearly
one half of the present ; and very probably the great majority
of the Irish sincerely wished its overthrow when O'Connell
summoned meetings at Clontarf and Tara. Very likely that
F 2
68 THE EUSSTAN GOVERNMENT IN POLAND.
spirit-stirring ballad in which it is predicted that " Ireland
shall be free/' and many another revolutionary chant which
has in later times found a responsive echo in the hearts of
millions, may have been as entirely national as the sad
and supplicating hymn of the people of "Poland. And
I believe they were. But does any one blame the British
Government for putting down the rebellion of 1798 with the
strong hand of power ? and does any one question its justice
at a later date, when, under the guidance of Sir Robert Peel,
it suppressed the ee monster meetings " ? No ! every one
will admit that power cannot confer with agitation ; that the
latter must be quelled before the former can conciliate.
The Government resolved to dissolve the Agricultural
Society, but they determined to precede that act by the
publication of their intention to grant more liberal institu-
tions to Poland than she then possessed.
Accordingly, by an oukase of 26th March, the Emperor
directed projects of laws to be submitted for ameliorating the
institutions of the country. These projects were subsequently
matured, and assumed the following form :
1. The re-establishment of a council of state in Poland.
2. The re-establishment of a commission for the regulation
of religious matters and public education.
3. The separation of the different branches of Polish' from
those of the Russian administration.
4. The separation of the civil from the military administra-
tion of Poland, and the appointment in the civil administration
of persons of Polish birth.
5. The decentralization of the administration and the forma-
tion of local self-government by the institution of local councils
chosen by election.
6. The elaboration of a liberal system of public instruction.
The foundation of a university in Warsaw, and the adoption
of the Polish language in all the schools in the kingdom.
The Council of State existed in Poland from 1832 to 1841,
when it was abolished by the Emperor Nicholas. When re-
established by the oukase just cited, it became a superior
legislative body, holding the same position in Poland that
the Council of the Empire holds in Russia. Its duties are to
EEFORMS IN POLAND. 09
examine and modify all projects of law sent to it by special
commissions nominated for that purpose, and having approved
them, to submit them to the Emperor. It has also to examine
the budget of the kingdom, the accounts of its officers, to
investigate complaints of abuses,, and perform many other
important functions.
At the outbreak of the rebellion in 1863, all the Council
were Poles except the Grand Duke Constantine, its ex-offido
chairman.
2. The Commission of religious matters and public instruc-
tion existed in the kingdom till 1 839, when it was abolished
by the Emperor Nicholas, and the administration of the
schools were confided to the Russian Ministry of Public
Instruction. The Emperor in re-establishing the commission
intended to secure the independence of public instruction in
Poland.
3. The Post-office and administration of Public Works and
Highways were in the reign of Nicholas placed under the same
authorities in Russia and Poland. They were now separated,
so as to give complete independence to the latter.
4. The civil was entirely separated from the military
administration of the kingdom. The office of General
Governor of Warsaw was consequently abolished, and a chief
of the civil administration substituted. The Marquis Wielo-
polski was the first person appointed to this dignity, and all
the civil offices in the kingdom, with very few exceptions,
were filled with Poles, so that at the end of 1862 there were
only six or eight functionaries of Russian birth holding offices
of any importance in the kingdom.
5. For the purpose of decentralizing the administration, and
of gradually introducing self-government, provincial councils
were instituted, the members of which were elected by the
nation. The right to elect and be elected was given to
persons of all religions and conditions, of a certain age, who
could read and write the Polish language and possessed
property in the kingdom.
To these councils were committed the development of
agriculture, trade, and public communications ; the care of
hospitals, prisons, and the poor ; the administration of the
70 THE RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT IN POLAND.
local affairs of the towns ; the raising and expenditure of
local taxation ; and the superintendence of public esta-
blishments.
The establishment of local provincial councils, freely elected
by the people, was intended as the first step to a general
representation in Poland, and, so soon as the nation had in
any degree accustomed itself to representative institutions,
would have been followed by the convocation of the Chamber
of Deputies.
6. At the accession of the present Emperor to the throne,
education in Poland was at a very low ebb. The suppression
'of the University at Warsaw has already been stated, and
there was no establishment in the kingdom where a superior
education could be procured. In all the kingdom there were
only eight gymnasiums or institutes for nobles, where a second-
class education was given ; and by law the professors in these
institutions were obliged to teach the sciences in the Russian
language, though practically this enactment was not always
observed, for it was difficult to find professors who could speak
Russ, and still more difficult to find scholars to comprehend
them.
The elementary public instruction was in a better condi-
tion. The number of elementary schools was 1,000 in 1861,
and there were 20 district and "real" schools.
In a former chapter the effect of this want of a superior
education in the higher classes of the Poles has been pointed
out, and the extent to which it drove them for education to
the universities of Moscow, Petersburg, and Kieff.
In 1857, the Government took the first step towards the
establishment of a university in Warsaw, by endowing a
faculty or academy of medicine there. A further step was
taken in 1861, when the Emperor directed the Commission of
Public Instruction to elaborate a project of law in order
thoroughly to reform the organization of public instruction
in the kingdom : the aim of this scheme was to enable men
of every religion and condition to study special sciences there,
and allow the common people to acquire all elementary
knowledge necessary for them.
The law consequently elaborated was sanctioned by the
EDUCATIONAL SCHEME OP GOVEENMENT. 71
Emperor, and put in force from 20th March, 1862, and
consisted chiefly in the following particulars.
Catholic priests and proprietors of towns and villages were
allowed to found, at their own expense or at that of the
place where they were established, elementary schools for
teaching the Catholic religion, reading and writing in the
Polish language, and arithmetic ; and they could appoint as
masters of such schools all individuals having the qualifica-
tions required by law for enabling them to take such office.
In addition to these, one or more elementary schools were to
be founded in each commune, at the expense of Government ;
these schools were to be placed under the surveillance of the
Catholic priests and certain inhabitants of the commune,
elected by the Commune itself, and to be subject to their
inspection and local administration.
The district schools were to be divided into ' ' general "
schools, for general instruction ; ' c training," for preparing
masters for elementary schools ; and special or " real "
schools, for teaching agriculture, trade, and other special
subjects.
In addition to the seven existing gymnasiums, six more
were directed to be added, and instead of the Institute of
Nobles, a lyceum was founded, as an establishment where a
supplementary or superior class to those existing in gymna-
siums might be taught. The scholars might belong to any
religious denomination, and the cost of instruction was only
sixteen roubles (about 2. 10s.) a year.
A Polytechnic institute was founded in Pulova, and the plan
of the University of Warsaw was sketched out. It was to be
composed of four faculties : medicine ; philosophy, or physics,
and mathematics ; jurisprudence j and history and philology.
To the University two seminaries were to be attached for
preparing masters for gymnasiums and district schools. The
Polytechnic institute was to be composed of five sections
mechanics, civil engineering, mining, agriculture, and forestry.
Students of all religious persuasions were admitted to the
University, and the cost of instruction was only twenty roubles
a year.
The national language, history, and literature were to be
72 THE RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT IN POLAND.
taught in all the schools; the Polish language was alone
employed in giving instruction; and the Russian language
was only taught in the superior and secondary schools.
Such were the institutions founded in consequence of the
decree of 14th March, 1861 ; institutions whidh were intended
to pave the way to others of a yet more liberal tendency, and
to the eventual introduction of a system of constitutional
government in Poland. They seemed well adapted for that
purpose ; for local self-government is the best prelude to
national representation, and extended education is the surest
preparation for the responsibilities of power.
Having thus evidenced the principles upon which it intended
that Poland should in future be ruled, the Government of the
Emperor proceeded to vindicate its contemned authority.
The Agricultural Society was dissolved, and the house where
its meetings had been held was closed.
For some time past in fact, ever since the events of 27th
February public feeling had been greatly excited in Warsaw ;
disturbances were constantly created, which ceased before the
police could reach the spot whence they proceeded; great
masses of the people assembled at the graves of the so-called
' ' martyrs," and there, as well as before the image of the Virgin
in public places, chanted the national hymn.
When the suppression of the Agricultural Society was
effected, the feelings of the masses of Warsaw found more
decided utterance; the Society was to them the only embodi-
ment and representation of the aspirations and will of the
people, and they resented its dissolution as another national
wrong. A multitude of all classes thronged to the house
which was now closed, they crowned its doors and windows
with flowers, they chanted seditious hymns, and then pro-
ceeded to the Sigismund Place, and drew up before the
residence of Prince Gortschakoff. The Prince, accompanied
by his aides-de-camp, endeavoured to persuade the people to
depart, but they refused to obey him, and remained there
undisturbed until night. The crowd was so great that the
Prince was unwilling to employ force, which, had it been
resorted to, would have entailed the sacrifice of many lives.
On the following day the demonstration was repeated;
DISSOLUTION OF THE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 73
dense masses assembled in the same place, and when legally
summoned to disperse, refused to do so, and their conduct
became turbulent. The Government had, on the previous
night, decided that it would be necessary if the crowd
re-assembled, to disperse it forcibly, should all milder expe-
dients fail; and, pursuant to this determination, after the
legal summons had been often repeated, the cavalry charged
and scattered the people ; but it was to little purpose^ for the
masses quickly re-formed themselves.
It is very difficult to ascertain with precision the events
which subsequently took place. The accounts published in
the journals representing the " Emigration " are utterly
untrustworthy. To lead to these disorders, and subsequently
make political capital out of them ; to exaggerate and spread
abroad the falsest and most damaging reports of Russian
excesses, was the policy inculcated by their leaders, and
insisted on in their state papers. It is impossible, therefore,
to recognize such accounts as possessing in themselves the
smallest historical value. More moderate* enemies of the
Government affirm that the crowd was " so excited, though
perfectly peaceable, that threats alone, or the employment of
force against a few, would never have broken it up."
* Mr. Edwards gives, as the result of inquiries made by him in Warsaw,
shortly after these occurrences, the following statement :
" To begin with, however, it is quite untrue that the troops rushed into the
town from the citadel and the various camps, and, taking up their positions,
began the attack without warning, and without the people being repeatedly
summoned to retire.
" In spite of a few assertions to the contrary, I am convinced, from
abundant and most reliable testimony, that the crowd in the Sigsmund Place,
in front of the Castle, was so numerous and compact, and the persons com-
posing it, though perfectly peaceable, so excited, that threats alone, or the
employment of force against a few, could never have broken it up. It might
have been prevented from forming, or have been left unmolested until night,
and the proper precautions taken against its re-assembling the next day,
which was not, like the day of the * massacre,' a holiday. . . . It is said
that the Poles laughed at the soldiers, and threw cigars at them with a
generosity which the Russian generals apparently thought could not fail to
shake discipline. These contempt-breeding familiarities were checked by
the wanton slaughter of some forty men."
Speaking of the time during which the firing continued, Mr. "Edwards
74 THE RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT IN POLAND.
The Government accounts are more consistent and probable,
and from inquiries it has been in my power to make, I am
satisfied they are believed in official circles in Kussia to be
true. I have also inquired from those who were present on
the occasion, and found them substantially confirmed. They
state that, on the crowd re-forming, stones were flung at the
troopers.
The soldiers were then ordered to fire, and some few
discharges dispersed the crowd. The number of the killed
was ten.
The wounded were carried to the hospitals, or to their own
homes, and there appears no reason to suppose that any
unnecessary rigour was employed after the demonstration was
suppressed.
The revolutionary press took advantage of these events.
Hundreds of persons, it alleged, had lost their lives, and to
conceal the greatness of the slaughter, the troops had thrown
states : u The discharges of musketry were not kept up with anything like
continuity. The first rank fired. The second rank advanced, and collected
the killed and wounded. Then there was a pause until after a certain interval,
the crowd not dispersing, the order to fire again was given. Persons who
witnessed this bloody scene declare that, instead of producing terror and
dismay, the volleys of the Eussians at first only excited the indignation of the
Poles, and roused in them a species of enthusiasm, which may be called the
enthusiasm of martyrdom.
" Many went down on their knees, but not to their enemies. In some
parts of the crowd the more timid were entreated in the name of their country
to remain firm, and these appeals were not without effect. Afterwards, when
numbers had been shot down, and brute force was beginning to triumph, the
most determined and desperate among the crowd still cried out that there
must be no retreating, and some were seen to join hands, so as to prevent
those before them from falling back." The Polish Captivity, by Sutherland
Edwards, vol. i. p. 61.
This account comes from an enthusiastic supporter of the cause of the
insurgents, and is the result no doubt of careful inquiry ; but that inquiry
was evidently, from the whole tenor of the work, made from men excited by
party passion, and maddened by the scenes through which they had lately
passed. The author does not appear to note the inconsistency which exists
between the highly-wrought feelings which forbade the mob to separate unless
dispersed by force, and the sentiment which led them "to laugh at the
soldiers, and generously throw them cigars :" yet the two moods are hardly
veconcileable.
DISTURBANCES IN WARSAW. 75
their bodies into the Vistula ; the town of Warsaw had been
given up to pillage, and the soldiers had only been recalled
from this shameless occupation at five o'clock in the evening
by the peal of the trumpet and the beat of the drum. The
workmen in the town had to draw lots to see who among them
should suffer death; a war contribution was levied on the
inhabitants for the support of the troops ; and a Major Penker
(who committed suicide the day before these events happened)
killed himself to avoid participating in the cruelties consequent
upon them.
These are only some of the reports which were circulated
constantly and with zeal ; they were extensively copied by the
press of Western Europe, and tended to excite hostility to
.Russia, and admiration of the party by whom she was defied.
During the ensuing six or sQven months, Warsaw continued
in a very agitated state. The Russian authorities were
nervously anxious to avoid further bloodshed ; they resolved
to submit to almost every indignity rather than have recourse
to it ; and orders were secretly issued to the officers in the
town, directing them in silence to submit to insults which
they would at another time have repressed with promptitude
and severity. Encouraged by the sufferance it met with, the
frivolous element in the Polish character displayed itself in all
its vanity ; civilians were seen strutting through the streets
arrayed in what they called the national garb, and thus
equipped they would stroll along with their arms akimbo,
treat every Russian they met with marked incivility, and be
followed by admiring crowds of boys and lads, who enthu-
siastically cheered them. This national dress consisted of a
white shirt, blue trousers, top boots reaching to the knee,
a belt from which copper rings were suspended, which jingled
when they were moved, and a red cap with a fur brim ; on
the shirt was a long red collar, hanging down over the
shoulders, and embroidered with gold. The town looked
extremely gay when half-filled by these dramatic costumes,
and the gentlemen who indulged in them wore them with a
proud consciousness that they were thus performing a great
act of patriotic duty. There were constant gatherings in the
streets and disturbances were hourly expected.
76 THE RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT IN POLAND.
The Eussian soldiers and officers were beyond measure
exasperated at the insults to which they were compelled to
submit : it was no uncommon thing to see them followed by
a crowd of men and boys whistling and hooting at them ; and
their orders compelled them to bear these irfsults in silence.
There were at this time in Warsaw bands of the lower orders,
who made it their business to hire themselves out to whoever
desired to annoy an enemy. A regular tariff of prices was
established, and one charge was made for a mere charivari,
another for a charivari which was accompanied by breaking
windows. The pretence of patriotism was still kept up, and
photographs of the head of the charivari band were exten-
sively sold.
It was during this period that Prince Grortschakoff died.
He was an able officer and a.n estimable man, but it was
the misfortune of his life to be appointed to the vice-royalty
of Poland under circumstances which afforded him no scope
for the display of his military abilities, and required the
exercise of administrative talents which he did not possess.
An anecdote is related of him which strikingly illustrates the
perplexity of his mind after the events of February and April.
Talking to a gentleman who was supposed to be a leader of
the disaffected party, he walked up and down the room in an
excited manner, and told him he was much harassed by the
policy of his coadjutors. "Why don't you rebel?" he asked;
' ' I should know how to treat you then, but this system of
unarmed agitation is killing me ; why don't you take up arms
and fight for the realization of your views ? " " We have no
arms, Excellency," was the reply. "Is that the only difficulty ?"
answered the Prince ; ( ' if so, I will gladly supply them ; and
shall be rejoiced to settle this question by such an appeal,
instead of having to deal with this miserable system of un-
armed agitation."
This anecdote well portrays the character of the Lieutenant.
He was a soldier, and against a foreign foe would have
acquitted himself manfully and with zeal ; but he understood
little of the art of administration, and nothing of the means
by which civil intrigues are to be met. Vacillating between
extreme harshness and unwise concession, there was nothing
DEATH OF PRINCE GORTSCHAKOFF. 77
certain in his policy or consistent in his conduct ; and the
conspirators who plotted the overthrow of Russian supremacy
took courage when they found the Lieutenant struck not at
them, or only struck with a wild and wavering aim. A settled
policy is absolutely necessary to curb revolutionary passions in
anxious and troubled times, and the conduct of Prince Grort-
schakoff proved that he had no policy whatever. To fire on
the mob on 27th February, and subsequently to follow up
that measure by acts of stern repression, would have possibly
been severe, but at least it would have been intelligible ;
but to fire on the mob, and, two days afterwards, to consign
the peace of Warsaw to its care, was to act in a manner
altogether irreconcileable with reason and common sense.
Inconsistencies so startling gave hope and encouragement to
the revolutionary movement, for they led to the impression
that Russia regarded her position with impatience and dislike
and that if the agitation were continued she might be content
to emancipate herself from the embarrassment it caused,
by rendering back at least the Congress kingdom to the
control of the Polish race.
78
CHAPTEE VI.
Count Lambert. Declaration of State of Siege. Demonstration of 15th Octo-
ber. The Blockade of the Churches. Mourning. Attempted Murder of
General Luders. Appointment of Grand Duke Constantine as Viceroy.
The Marquis of Wielopolski ; his character and policy. Attempts to
assassinate the Grand Duke and the Marquis. Distinction between the
Kingdom of Poland and the Western Provinces. Address of Polish
Proprietors. Count Andrew Zamoyski ; his exile.
COUNT LAMBEKT, the successor of Prince Gortschakoff, per-
mitted the system of his predecessor to continue for some
time, until at length the anarchy in which the city was plunged
became utterly inconsistent with the supremacy of the law.
Not only were the outrages to which allusion has been already
made of constant occurrence, but revolutionary proclamations
and appeals to the people were daily circulated, and on the
occasion of the funeral of the Archbishop of Warsaw, religious
emblems expressive of the union of Poland and Lithuania,
accompanied the funeral cortege. The churches were, trans-
formed, by the complicity of some members of the Catholic
clergy, into theatres for the display of manifestations of
hostility to the Government, and in many places the Te
Deums celebrated on certain days by command of the Emperor
were stifled by the chant of the national hymn. That hymn,
too, was chanted in church and cathedral on every occasion
where it was possible to introduce it. It was heard at day-
time in the crowded street, and its swell faintly reverbe-
rated at night in every quarter of the silent city. Money also
was being collected for purposes said to be patriotic, though
the objects were unavowed ; and the Russians saw that a mine
was preparing beneath their feet to be exploded on the first
occasion when the revolutionary leaders had courage or
opportunity to fire it.
The Government considered that it was necessary to resort
PROCLAMATION OF STATE OF SIEGE. 79
to determined measures, and in order to stop a political mani-
festation intended for the 15th of October, Count Lambert, by
a proclamation issued the day previously, declared the kingdom
of Poland to be in a state of siege. In this proclamation, after
noticing the acts which in his opinion made the step a neces-
sary one, he continued, " I invite the peaceable inhabitants
of the kingdom not to be influenced by the promptings or
threats of the agitators, which from to-day have lost their
value, and to afford their co-operation to the Government, so
as to preserve the public well-being. I exhort fathers of
families to watch over their households, and particularly
their children under age, who may accidentally incur the
penalties of a state of siege, which extend to every person,
without regard to age or sex, when it represses by force
tumults in the public streets."
The celebration intended for the following day was that of
the anniversary of the death of Kosciusko, and for some time
past placards had been hawked about, inviting the inhabitants
to consecrate it by assisting at the funeral services to be per-
formed in all the churches ; these placards also urged that all
shops and magazines should be closed.
A special notice to the inhabitants of the town was issued
simultaneously with the proclamation of the state of siege, by
which it was pointed out that at such periods it was forbidden
to chant revolutionary hymns, to celebrate fetes not recog-
nized by the law, or to close shops and magazines. A fine of
100 roubles, it was stated, would be imposed upon any one
who broke the last-mentioned rule.
These proclamations brought the Government face to face
with the revolutionary party. On the one side concession had
been carried to its utmost limit ; on the other, the recollec-
tion of many acts of successful insubordination gave encourage-
ment to schemes of yet more determined resistance. The
party of action resolved to persevere. To draw back now, to
abandon their celebration at the mandate of the Eussian
Governor, would have been to surrender the hard- won fruits
of a prolonged and anxious struggle ; it would have obliterated
the memory of the Delegation, it would have thrown dishonour
on the martyred dead above all, it would have flung Poland
80 THE RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT IN POLAND.
again at the feet of her conqueror, and permitted him to
despise the people he never yet had spurned. Such were the
motives which urged on the disaffected party to a fatal trial of
strength with the Government. The answer given to the
proclamation and notice of the state of siege, was the issue
of fresh placards, urging the people to disregard them, and to
persevere in the celebration of the anniversary.
On the morning of the 15th the shops and magazines
throughout the city were wholly or partially closed, and im-
mense multitudes of every age and rank and of both sexes
thronged to the churches to take part in the religious services.
The cathedral and the church attached to the Bernardine mo-
nastery were especially thronged, and when the services com-
menced, it was estimated that the two congregations numbered
about four thousand.
To prevent any unseemly disturbances, it had been deter-
mined by the authorities that the military should in no case
enter the churches, but that after they were filled, the troops
should surround them, and that when the congregations left,
all the men who formed part of them should be arrested,
while the women and children should be permitted to leave
unmolested.
By half-past ten o'clock it was ascertained that the revo-
lutionary hymn was being chanted in all the churches, and
the military were ordered to surround them. The congrega-
tions, however, were informed of their approach, and when
the troops reached them, all the churches were empty except
that of the Bernardines and the cathedral.
The congregations in these churches soon learned that they
were surrounded, but they continued their services, chanted
their national hymn, and did not allow the approach of the
troops to disturb their devotions.
Such of the women and children as wished to leave were
allowed to do so, but very few availed themselves of the
permission; the great mass resolved to share the fate of their
kindred, and remained. Then the inner doors were closed,
all communication with the troops was cut off, and nothing
was to be heard save the voice of exhortation and of prayer.
Meanwhile the city was occupied by troops. Cavalry and
THE BLOCKADE OF THE CHURCHES. 81
infantry patrolled the streets ; groups were not allowed to
congregate together, and the excitement of the populace
was curbed by the stern hand of military law.
Thus passed the day. The night was approaching, yet
from within the churches arose no sound of vacillation or of
fear. Unawed by the presence of the enemy, untired by the
long continuance of a military blockade, the worshippers still
bent before the altar of their God and implored His assistance
to save their country from the chain. The weary soldiers,
worn out with fatigue and unsustained by the religious excite-
ment of the fevered crowds over which they watched, were
relieved ; their places were taken by fresh troops ; the wor-
shippers saw that the Government was determined to maintain
its position, and yet they showed no symptoms of surrender,
and refused to quit the beleaguered churches.
The Government was greatly embarrassed. Judging from
the constancy they had hitherto displayed, there seemed little
chance of the people leaving the churches, and the dangers
that would probably arise from allowing them to remain were
very considerable. For twelve long hours authority had been
set at nought, and this in face of warnings and proclamations
of the severest kind, and at a period when a state of siege
justified the utmost rigour. The country was trembling 011
the verge of rebellion, and this was the moment the populace
of Warsaw selected to measure itself against the Lieutenant
of the kingdom. Then, too, among the thousands pent up
within the churches were probably many who could ill endure
protracted confinement and a prolonged fast ; if there were
any sufferers from these physical causes, the revolutionary
press would inscribe their names in the list of political mar-
tyrs, and the Russians keenly remembered the scenes of 27th
February, and deprecated their recurrence.
There was another danger in delay. Intelligence of a posi-
tive kind had been received that the disaffected were prepar-
ing a great demonstration for the following day, one feature of
which was to be a procession of clergy and people towards
the beleaguered churches. To avoid the consequences which
it was feared this gathering might give rise to, and to ter-
minate a contest of which they were very weary, the authorities
G
82 THE KUSSIAN GOVERNMENT IN POLAND.
directed the churches to be entered and the people forcibly
expelled.
About midnight an officer entered the Bernardine church,
from the monastery, and endeavoured to prevail upon the
crowd to retire, and declared, should hisr solicitations be
ineffectual, the troops would enter the church and arrest every
man they found there. His efforts were fruitless ; some per-
severed on principle, and others because they feared mal-
treatment from the soldiers if they left. None listened to his
entreaties, and some threatened to defend themselves if the
soldiers were sent to arrest them.
The officer retired for the moment, and then returned at the
head of thirty soldiers, who entered the church without shakos
or arms, and making the sign of the cross. The men grouped
inside the church near the door for the moment endeavoured to
defend themselves and to assault the soldiers with benches,
chairs, and any other object which they could convert into a
weapon of offence ; but the slight struggle which ensued was
unimportant : the soldiers had no weapons to employ, and
a few bruises were all the injury that either side sustained.
All the men in the church were arrested in groups of 100
each, and were escorted, first to the fortress, and subsequently
to the Alexander citadel.
Towards three o'clock in the morning all efforts to induce
the congregation to leave proving unavailing, twenty soldiers
entered the cathedral with bare heads but carrying their
muskets. It was expressly forbidden that, under any circum-
stances, they should fire ; and only in case of extremity were
they to employ the butt end. They compelled the men to
leave one by one, and as they left they were arrested. The
total number of arrests in the two churches was 1,678.
Some of the women and children left during the night, and
at their own request were conducted to their homes by the
police ; the remainder were allowed to remain in the church
till morning.
In the cathedral a priest was observed who, cross in hand,
violently incited the people to resist; he, too, was captured
and as he left the cathedral he assumed the air of a martyr,
ARREST OF THE CONGREGATIONS. 83
fervently clasping the cross and evidently anticipating that
his sufferings would excite the greatest sympathy.
Count Lambert was on the spot, and his carriage was in
attendance j he was much distressed at the whole proceeding,
and the capture of this ecclesiastical martyr embarrassed him
more than any other incident that had occurred. By his
directions the astonished priest was courteously escorted to
the carriage of his Excellency, and the people who a moment
before had regarded him as their champion changed their
minds when they saw him comfortably seated in the carriage
of the governor, and supposed he had betrayed them. After
a few hours' detention, the priest was released and allowed to
return to his duties.
Eeports were quickly circulated through Europe alleging
that the Russians had committed the greatest atrocities on
this occasion ; they were charged with cruelty, unnecessary
violence, and wicked profanation; excesses of every descrip-
tion were alleged against them, and, all the antecedents of the
revolutionary party being ignored, the occurrence was repre-
sented as a wanton inroad of barbarians on a peaceful congre-
gation engaged in the performance of religious duties. Yet
no one who has ever travelled in Russia can have failed to
remark the reverence shown by all classes to churches and
shrines, whether of their own or of another faith. At Wilna,
from the prince to the common soldier, I have seen them walk
bareheaded under the image of the Virgin of Ostrobrama,
although that is a Catholic and not a Greek shrine, and in
other places their devotional feelings are evidenced with equal
distinctness.
Now, as the Government felt that all occurrences such as
those of the 13th of October were calculated to damage their
influence both in Poland and Europe, it is most improbable
that they would have neglected to preserve the churches from
profanation, and the orders which they allege were given and
obeyed are exactly such as we should anticipate to have been
issued under the circumstances.
The information upon which my narrative of these events
is founded is partly documentary ; but I have also had direct
G 2
84 THE RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT IN POLAND.
personal communication with a gentleman who took a promi-
nent part in them, and upon whose memory, accuracy, and
good faith I can implicitly rely.
The establishment of a state of siege changed the whole
aspect of affairs in Warsaw ; all outward manifestations of dis-
affection ceased ; the revolutionary hymn was no longer per-
mitted to be sung, political celebrations were suppressed, and
to all outward appearance the supremacy of the Government
was restored. Yet the state of affairs was really unchanged ;
public feeling had been too successfully roused to be now
lulled by superficial defeats, and the machinery of secret
agitation continued to work unchecked.
There is little to chronicle in the few months that succeeded
the declaration of the state of siege. The Catholic clergy,
however, manifested their hostility to the Government by
closing all the churches in Warsaw under the pretext that
they desired to save them from profanation ; the administrator
of the see was summoned before one of the Commissions
of Inquiry to answer for this offence, and, finding that he had
committed a fault which during the existence of a state of
siege had rendered him liable to capital punishment, he
alleged that he desired to avoid the singing of the revolu-
tionary hymn in the temple of God. The great doors of the
churches remained closed, but the smaller doors were kept open,
and the religious services were resumed, so that no great
practical inconvenience arose from the course adopted by the
clergy ; they, however, discontinued ringing the bells of the
churches, and took advantage of every safe opportunity that
offered to show their enmity to the Government.
From the time that the state of siege was proclaimed
mourning was universally worn ; no lady could appear in the
street in a coloured dress without being grossly insulted in
case she had no protector with her; Eussian ladies were
subjected to so many indignities that they generally adopted
mourning, that their nationality might not be remarked. To
such an extent were these outrages carried, that a French lady
residing in Warsaw, who had weak eyes and wore a green
shade to protect them from the sun, had the shade violently
APPOINTMENT OF THE GRAND DUKE CONSTANT1NE. 85
torn from her because its colour was inconsistent with
mourning.
In June, 1862, an audacious attempt was made to assassinate
General Luders, who succeeded Count Lambert in the govern-
ment of Poland. He was an old man, and for the benefit of his
health was in the habit of going early every morning to drink
mineral waters in a small park in the centre of the town,
known as the Saxon Garden; while walking there he was
fired at by a man who was fourteen yards behind him ; the
ball entered the back of his neck, broke the jawbone and
passed out through the cheek ; the General fell, and was car-
ried severely wounded to the palace.
. About this time it was resolved that the government of
Poland should be committed to the Grand Duke Constantino,
a prince who possessed considerable popularity in Russia, and
in whom the Emperor reposed unlimited confidence. With
more than average abilities, possessing a refined and culti-
vated mind, and a disposition which inclined to conciliation
and not to severity, the Grand Duke seemed a well-chosen
instrument for carrying out an enlightened and liberal policy.
His want of knowledge of the peculiarities of the Polish cha-
racter, and the many intricate questions in which the interests
and prejudices of the inhabitants of the kingdom were in-
volved, was guarded against by the appointment as his chief
minister of the Marquis Wielopolski. I shall have hereafter
to allude to the policy and views of the Marquis. It is for
the present sufficient to remark that with great ability,
great knowledge of his country and the wishes of his country-
men, and being, as far as it is w possible to judge, animated by
sincere patriotism, he was nevertheless probably the most
unpopular man in Poland. He had the reputation of having
acquired his property by lawsuits successfully conducted against
numerous opponents ; and rumour alleged that he was a harsh,
unscrupulous adversary.
A man of cold and haughty manners, silent and self-reliant,
few sympathized with him, and in none did he confide. In
youth he had identified himself with the unfortunate struggle
of 1830, and saw his hopes blighted when that revolt was
86 THE RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT IN POLAND.
crushed. He turned to Austria, and dreamed that through
her agency the national spirit might revive, and through her
aid independence might at length be won; she answered
him by the annexation of Cracow and the extermination of
hundreds of the Galician nobles. Exasperated by her perfidy,
his letter to Prince Metternich was the gage of a battle in
which he strove to involve her a battle with Polish nationality
assisted by the Russian arms. In that remarkable letter he
declared that he would no longer struggle for an independent
Poland; combination with Russia would in time give her
strength, happiness, and freedom, and the union of the great
Slavonic races under one dominion was the object for which
he would thereafter strive.
In that Slavonic doctrine there is much to attract the suf-
frages of theoretic politicians, and from books rather than
from men had Wielopolski learned his state-craft. Able he
was, brave and resolute as well, and his courage did not falter
when opposition surrounded him on every side ; still he ad-
hered to his policy, still he had confidence in his plans, and
was willing to commit his own personal safety and the security
of the State to their ultimate success.
But the Marquis had no followers. He was not the idol of
the people ; he was not the champion of a class ; and, amid
Poles who hated and Russians who distrusted him, he stood
alone. Confident in his own genius, a sincere believer in the
ultimate success of his efforts, he asked no counsel and courted
no assistance. " I am certain," he said to one who knew him
well, " that my policy must finally succeed, and all I ask is to
carry it through without interruption." He allowed not, how-
ever, for the abiding power of national hatred ; he thought
material and political interests would bind up the wounds and
silence the complaints which were the growth of ninety years,
and expected the Polish nobility to lay aside their hereditary
enmities the moment autonomy was granted and a paper con-
stitution announced. A practical statesman would have seen
that something more was required, and that confidence would
not exist till it was seen that the new constitution would be
observed. It will be seen hereafter that, unfortunately for
his own fame, an act dictated by this statesman shook the
THE MARQUIS WIELOPOLSKI. 87
faith even of the most loyal, and confirmed the gloomiest
suspicions of the disaffected and wavering.
Arrogant and unbending, there was about him a contemp-
tuous disdain of others which told them he prided himself
on his intellectual superiority, and that he was resolved
to do his will notwithstanding all the opposition they might
make to it.
He seemed alike unfitted to win the favour of the court or
the people. When he entered the vice-regal apartments, men
stood aside and shrunk from meeting him, for he had no
following and was too proud to acknowlege any equal. When
he went abroad, he was not safe from the hatred of the people,
and a guard of eight gendarmes was constantly in attend-
ance on him to save him and his equipage from insult and
injury.
He viewed popular applause with fierce disdain, and an
anecdote is told of him, which, whether true or false, has at
least the advantage of showing the received estimate of his
character. " The government of your Excelleny," said some
one, wishing to flatter him, "is certainly more popular than
it was." " Ah ! indeed ! " was the reply. " Fm sorry to
hear it ; I wonder what mistake I have committed/'
The public feeling towards him was well expressed by a
caricature representing him in his carriage surrounded by his
guards, while the inscription beneath was simply, " Trust me
as I trust you."
Without a party or a confidant, there was only one man in
Poland who willingly accepted him as a guide, but that one
man was the Grand Duke Constantine, and his trust in Wielo-
polski never faltered.
The Grand Duke arrived at Warsaw on the night of the
2nd of July, and on the night of the 4th an attack was made
upon his life. A man, named Louis Jaroszynsky, had deter-
mined to assassinate him on his arrival ; he accordingly went
to the railway station to meet his victim, but did not upon
that occasion execute his intention ; he subsequently attri-
buted his inaction to the fact that the Grand Duchess accom-
panied her husband, and he was unwilling to shock her with
the sight of the assassination of her husband. It seems,
88 THE KUSSIAN GOVERNMENT TN POLAND.
however, more probable that it was due to the difficulties the
occasion presented.
On the night of the 4th the Grand Duke went to the theatre,
and as he left it he was surrounded by the officers of his
staff, who accompanied hirn to his carriage ; he stepped in, fol-
lowed by his aide-de-camp. At this moment a man standing
near clasped his hands as though he wished to present a
petition to him ; the Grand Duke bent forward to listen, the
man produced a revolver and fired ; the ball struck him on
the left shoulder, and the pistol was so close that his whiskers
were singed; the assassin was arrested. The wound of the
Grand Duke was examined and pronounced not to be dan-
gerous, and he returned to the Summer Palace, where he was
then residing. The ball with which the pistol was loaded could
not be discovered at the time, but on undressing it was found
in his clothes, with part of the gold wire of his epaulet attached
to it. He evidently owed his life to the altered direction
given to the ball by the epaulet, and to the fact that the pistol
was insufficiently loaded.
The Grand Duke expressed his conviction to the municipal
council that this was an isolated circumstance and was not the
result of any conspiracy ; but this opinion appears to have been
erroneous, as two daggers were subsequently found at the
door of the theatre.
It is believed that the culprit had poisoned himself pre-
viously to the commission of this crime, for when arrested he
was violently sick, and it was found necessary to give him
milk in large quantities to counteract the effects of the
poison; one of his first acts was to throw himself on his
knees and return thanks to God for his success ; for he had seen
the Grand Duke fall, and thought he had killed him.
On the 7th of August an attempt was made to assassinate
the Marquis Wielopolski. On leaving the Treasury on that day
he was twice fired at ineffectually by a man named Ludovic
Ryll; and on the 15th of August a second attempt was made
upon his life by a man named Ejontza, who attempted to
stab him as he was passing in his carriage along one of the
boulevards of the town.
These attempts were attributed by the Marquis to a desire,
LIMITS OF THE CONGRESS KINGDOM. 89
on the part of the ultra-revolutionary party, to prevent the
grant of the free institutions the Government was determined
to confer. In making this statement, he announced that the
Government would not be deterred from adopting such
measures as it believed to be useful and necessary to the
country.
Accordingly, the works of reform went on; the various
liberal institutions granted by the Emperor were gradually
elaborated, and every evidence was given which should have
served to convince the Polish nation that the Government
was acting in sincerity and good faith.
Nevertheless, instead of accepting the privileges granted
to them, and consolidating the advantages thus obtained before
they sought to acquire more, a large party among the nobles
and proprietors determined, by assuming a defiant attitude, to
win further concessions from the Government.
It is scarcely necessary to remind the reader that there
is a great historical and political difference between the
kingdom of Poland, often called the Congress Kingdom,
and the so-called Western Provinces of Russia. The
kingdom of Poland is substantially identical with the grand
duchy of Warsaw of former times ; wrested from his enemies
by Alexander I., he was found in possession of it when
the Congress of Vienna re-settled the limits of the empires
and kingdoms of Europe; he claimed it as his own by
right of conquest, and intimated with tolerable clearness that
nothing would induce him to surrender his prey. At the
close of a war which had already lasted a quarter of a century,
the diplomatists of Europe declined to risk its renewal, in
order that the grand duchy of Warsaw might become an
independent state ; therefore the duchy was, by the treaty of
Vienna, confirmed to the Emperor Alexander, under the title
of the kingdoni of Poland. He on his part undertook, in
effect, to give it such liberal institutions as he in his discretion
thought fit. The result was the granting of that constitution
of which diplomatists have written so much and apparently
known so little ; and this constitution was cancelled by the
Emperor Nicholas, who declared that the Poles had forfeited
it by the revolt of 1830.
OQ THE RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT IN POLAND.
The Western provinces of Russia, however, including the
whole of ancient Lithuania, as well as the provinces of
Volhynia, Podolia, and the Ukraine, had been won from
Poland in the successive partitions which took place during
the last century. These provinces had been .thoroughly in-
corporated in the political system of the empire, and were
regarded by every Russian as forming integral parts of it. As
we have already seen, however, the proprietors and educated
classes in these provinces were Poles by sympathy and
descent, and regarded them as by right belonging to the
kingdom of Poland.
Early in September, a proprietor who was anxious that the
nobility should take an active part in the revolutionary move-
ment requested a large number of them to meet together in
Warsaw. They met, and he produced the draft of an address
which he proposed should be presented to the Grand Duke,
containing a statement of grievances and a demand for their
removal. The tone of this address was unwise, and it was not
drawn up with ability. Those who signed it, although not
refusing the reforms conceded by the Emperor, expressed
their conviction that no measures whatever would succeed in
pacifying the country or reconciling it to the Crown until the
Government was a Polish one, and until " all those provinces
which form our nation are united in one by means of organic
and free institutions ; " in short, they required the union of
the Western provinces of Russia to the kingdom of Poland.*
This address was debated long and angrily in a conference
which lasted several days. According to the Russian law,
such an address was illegal, and many of the proprietors also
deemed it to be unwise. A considerable proportion of them,
therefore, refused to sanction it, and left the assembly; the
remainder signed it.
A deputation of twenty- six of those who were parties to it
waited on Count Andrew Zamoyski, and requested him to
present the memorial to the Grand Duke. He read it, pro-
nounced it an "imbecile" document, threw it into the fire,
and refused to have anything to do with it.
* A Russian hearing the address read, piously made the sign of the cross,
and said, " Thank God, they leave us at least Moscow."
PETITION OP POLISH NOBLES. 91
A few days later the deputation again waited on him with
an unsigned copy of the address, and begged, if he did not
himself coincide in its views, or think it wise so to express
them, he would at least mention the subject to the Grand
Duke, and tell him what was the purport of the document.
This he consented to do, on the distinct understanding that
he was to choose his own time and mode of doing so, post-
poning the communication to any period, however distant,
when in his opinion it would be wise to make it.
Rumours of this petition spread through Warsaw; the
official paper of the 15th stated that the Government would
never permit a private assembly to arrogate to itself the
power of an organized body, or allow any subject of the
Emperor or king to step forward, either as the leader of such
a body, or as its organ ; it concluded by saying that the step
taken was contrary to the established order of things, and
Count Andrew Zamoyski would have to answer for it to his
sovereign.
The authorities had misconstrued the fact ; they regarded
Count Zamoyski as the instigator of the address, and resolved
to put a stop to a manifestation which they considered
dangerous to the public peace. The Grand Duke sent for and
questioned him on the subject, and he replied that there was
now no address in existence ; but he produced the copy, and
stated the circumstances as they occurred, The Grand Duke
replied, he must refer the matter to the Emperor, whom he
desired Count Zamoyski to see. He added that the Count
was not to consider himself under arrest, but that he wished
him immediately to repair to St. Petersburg and explain his
conduct to his sovereign. In the existing state of the
country, the Grand Duke declined to assume any responsi-
bility in the matter.
A few days later, an interview between the Count and the
Emperor took place ; the former explained at length his view
of the requirements of his country, and its present condition,
as well as his own conduct. He was listened to with attention
and consideration ; but the audience was closed by the Emperor
intimating to Count Zamoyski that in the present disturbed
state of public affairs he thought it desirable that the Count
92 THE RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT IN POLAND.
should travel abroad for a short period, until the popular agita-
tion had calmed down, and his presence could be permitted
without danger of treasonable manifestations being provoked.
This act has in Poland been widely attributed to the influ-
ence of the Marquis Wielopolski, and the same spirit seems to
have animated it that subsequently .prompted the conscription.
At this time Count Andrew Zamoyski was the avowed head of
the resident proprietors of Poland. He and other members of
his family enjoyed great estates and the inheritance of an illus-
trious name. He was one of those who believed the regene-
ration of his country would be better effected by industrial
than political means. In all questions, therefore, by which
industry could be developed or agriculture improved he took
a leading part ; and while, on the one hand, he organized and
was principal proprietor of the steamboats which plied upon
the Vistula, on the other he had introduced great improve-
ments on his own estates, and endeavoured to assimilate the
condition of his peasants to that of the class of small tenant
farmers in our own country. His tendencies were indeed so
greatly in favour of our civil and political institutions that he
was at one time known as " the English Count." With the
exception of his connection with the Agricultural Society, he
does not appear to have taken part in any of the more violent
proceedings of the disaffected parties, and in his great estates
and easy temperament the Government had efficient guarantee
for his not allowing himself to be involved in treasonable prac-
tices. He was by force of circumstances placed in antagonism to
the Marquis Wielopolski, and if he had been ambitious of political
distinction, there was a great field open for him. The mob who
hurrahed for " Zamoyski, the first nobleman of Poland/' only
echoed the popular sentiment, and he could easily have given
direction to any national movement. His disposition, how-
ever, was not adventurous, his views were conservative, and
if, instead of intriguing for his exile, the Marquis Wielopolski
had endeavoured to enlist his active aid in the service of the
crown, he might have gained an adherent whose active assist-
ance could perhaps have prevented the subsequent outbreak
of the insurrection.
His compulsory withdrawal gave an apparent advantage to
EXILE OF COUNT ANDREW ZAMOYSKI. 93
the Marquis Wielopolski ; there was now no rival to contend
with him for power, or to thwart the development of his plans.
The nameless masses had no leader ; the unruly nobles had
lost their chief, and, high in the confidence of his sovereign,
with a distinct policy and unbending will, the future of Poland
was apparently in his grasp.
These advantages were dearly won. The dismissal of Count
Zamoyski brought the Marquis face to face with the revolu-
tion. Its unbridled passions, its tireless exertions, its un-
scrupulous mendacity, and its assassin zeal were no longer
under any control. The nobles, who could have checked its
excesses had they been united, were now without a head ;
counsels of timidity and rashness alternately swayed them ; the
conservative influences of property and rank were paralyzed ;
and though the Marquis ruled, it was over a disaffected land,
which he governed by the power of the Kussian sword.
94
CHAPTER VII.
Revolutionary Press. Plan of an Insurrection. Increase of Agitation in
Western Provinces. Demonstration at Wilna. Repressive Action of
Government. Celebrations at Kovno, and throughout Lithuania.
General Disaffection. Wavering Policy of General Nazimoff. Its
Effects.
THE revolutionary press was gradually increasing in violence,
and in the autumn of this year it began to draw comparisons
between the relative strength of Russia and Poland ; every-
thing pointed to the determination of the party of action
quickly to risk the struggle upon which it had so rashly
resolved. One of the articles which appeared about this time
will serve to show the nature of the views it held out to its
dupes. It affirmed that Poland could bring 500,000 men into
the field ; she contained, it alleged, 22,000,000 inhabitants, of
whom 4,500,000 were men between the ages of eighteen and
forty-five ; half of these might be roused to revolt, by which
means upwards of 2,000,000 recruits would be obtained. Select-
ing from them those only who were familiar with the use of arms,
100,000 would be ready to take the field, and of these 50,000
would form the active army, while the others would constitute
an army of reserve. With such materials any enemy might
be baffled; but the means by which this force was to be kept
in the field and how it was to be fed and clothed were subjects
upon which no suggestion was offered. It being, however,
evident that these troops must be armed, the author was upon
this point more explicit, for he stated that they must provide
themselves with axes, lances, scythes, and oaken sticks, and
endeavour to seize the weapons which their enemies possessed.
The number of Russians, Austrians, and Prussians (for
the 22,000,000 inhabitants included Gralicia and Posen) which
might be brought into the field against the insurgents was
stated at 360,000 men only.
REVOLUTIONARY PRESS. 95
Kules of action were laid down for the insurgents, which
appear to have been subsequently acted upon. Thus it is
recommended that some time before the breaking out of the
rebellion the country should be agitated by false news, that
proclamations should be circulated, that disorders should be
created in the towns, and religious celebrations organized in
the villages. As soon as the revolt began, the civil and
military functionaries were to be seized, and the lodgings of
officers and the barracks of soldiers attacked when part of
them were absent or asleep. This attempt we shall find was
made on the night of the 22nd January, 1863.
In the villages the revolt was to be organized by the land-
owners, who were to send unarmed men into the towns to win
partisans there. In the towns a local militia was to be em-
bodied and drilled.
To obtain arms, the insurgents were to place themselves in
ambuscade and assail soldiers passing alone or in very small
detachments. If the attack failed, recourse must be had to
flight, arms must be thrown away, and any one who happened
to be captured must deny having fired, and ascribe his flight
to his terror at hearing the shot. The authorities would thus
be compelled to release him or punish by death an unarmed
man, who would be pronounced innocent by the public voice,
and such a judicial murder would serve the cause of the insur-
rection.
The events at Warsaw were ably taken advantage of by the
leaders of the insurrection. On the Continent and in England
the press teemed with accusations against Eussia, and every
endeavour was made so to excite public opinion against her
as to insure the intervention of the great powers of Europe.
In the Western provinces,* where, as already stated, the
educated classes are all Poles by birth or sympathy, the revo-
lutionary propaganda met with rapid success. It was im-
possible that a contest so strikingly commenced, and which
was so deeply interesting to every individual of their race,
should be viewed by them with indifference.
* This and the following pages are partly a translation of a secret state
paper of the Russian Government, the accuracy of which is undoubted.
96 - THE RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT IN POLAND.
A feverish excitement pervaded the public mind, and this
excitement was specially remarkable in the Polish youth. A
sullen haughtiness was observable in their bearing towards
the Eussians ; there was a strained attention to events passing
in Poland, an anxious watching for tidings from thence, and
an ill- concealed triumph at the success which had attended
the opposition in the first conflict with the Government.
The leaders of the movement availed themselves of the
excited state of public feeling, and redoubled their endeavours
to inflame the popular passion ; they deluged the country with
the revolutionary proclamations of Mieroslawski a-nd Czarto-
ryski ; they exhorted the inhabitants to oppose the authorities,
to sympathize with the movement, and to emulate the scenes
of Warsaw; they required them to devote a certain portion of
their income to the liberation of their fatherland from the
yoke of the stranger, and they insisted on the necessity of a
good understanding with the peasants and the lower orders,
that all classes might harmoniously work together in oppo-
sition to the Government.
The results of this agitation were quickly visible. Funds
were transmitted through secret channels to the foreign leaders
of the movement, mourning and emblems of national grief
came gradually into use ; revolutionary verses, speeches, and
proclamations of every kind soon made their appearance, evi-
dently the work of moveable as well as secret presses.
Political demonstrations multiplied. They were expressed
by funeral services for the victims who fell at Warsaw ; by
chanting patriotic hymns in churches ; by the celebration of
anniversaries commemorative of the principal events and of
the leaders of former revolutions in Poland; by noisy and
numerous processions; by disrespect to the authorities and
disobedience to their orders ; and by insults to the military.
These manifestations were accompanied by the continuous
raising of funds for treasonable purposes, by the increased acti-
vity of the secret press, and by the systematic efforts of the
educated classes to draw the people closer to them, with the
evident object of destroying the loyalty of the latter by
placing a hostile interpretation on those legislative acts of
the Government in which their interests were involved.
RECEPTION Of COUNT ANDREW ZAMOYSKI. 97
These efforts to secure an unaccustomed popularity in some
localities induced members of the higher classes of society to
mix in crowds of the lower orders ; ladies were seen to dance
with drunken or only half-sober peasants,* and gentlemen
with peasant women. In such cases mourning was replaced
by the most vivid colours. On separating, the common people
were presented with revolutionary verses, songs, and hymns,
and with emblems of grief, to be thereafter constantly
worn. There were instances, also, of tumultuous and nu-
merous gatherings, prepared with such ostentatious manifes-
tations of violent intent as to force the conclusion on the
Government, that the ill-affected desired to drive them into
shedding blood, and thus arouse the people.
One of the demonstrations about this time was produced by
the stay of Count Andrew Zamoyski in the neighbourhood of
Grodno. The crowd, assembled on his departure, took off
their hats, threw bouquets of flowers, and shouted " Hurrah
for Zamoyski, the first nobleman of Poland."
Demonstrations continued to be made during May, June,
and July in the governments of Wilna, Kovno, Grodno, and
Minsk,
These demonstrations consisted generally in funeral services,
mourning, and national dresses. On the 8th (20th) of May,
however, the festival of St. Stanislaus, the patron saint of one
* Among the efforts made by the nobility to win the sympathy of their
inferiors, the following incident has been recorded. Count Zichchavitch, a
young man of large property near Wilna, desired to enact there the part so
successfully played in Warsaw by Count Andrew Zamoyski, and he left his
pedestal to make visits to shoemakers and tailors, and invited them to his
splendid dwelling.
The young count paid a visit to a tailor, took him into his carriage, and
drove him to his mansion, in order to introduce him to the Countess.
When they entered the splendid hall, filled with servants in livery,
the latter rushed to their master to assist in taking off his overcoat ; but he
waved them away, and pointed to his honoured guest. The servants stopped
in amazement and vacantly stared at the tailor, and the Count was compelled
to repeat his order.
The servants would stand it no longer : " How," said one of them,
" are we to help a fellow who is just such a servant as ourselves ? But
last week he sat a whole hour in this passage, waiting the orders oi your
Excellency."
H
98 THE RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT IN POLAND.
of the Catholic churches in Wilna, the church was crowded.
The bishop was performing the service when he was suddenly
interrupted by singing among the congregation. The national
hymn was sung by five youths, while a friend accompanied them
upon the organ : the hymn was repeated several times. On
the congregation leaving the church, the five singers were
arrested. Immediately after the arrest, some twenty women
besieged the palace, saw the General- Governor, and demanded
the release of the prisoners.
The five young men who had been arrested were students
from Warsaw, sent from thence to instruct the people of Wilna
in the national hymn. Previously to the manifestation in the
church, several meetings took place in private houses, where
the intended proceeding was discussed. The majority were
entirely opposed to the scheme, for they anticipated but too
accurately its fatal issue ; old men implored their juniors not
to embark in it; but violent counsels were advocated by women
and priests, and the young men were misled by them.
On the day following the arrest, crowds of people assembled
in the Ostro Brama street ; they consisted principally of women,
schoolboys, and young men. The crowd knelt down and sung
a hymn ; then all the women, clad in deep mourning, marched
through the steep and narrow street to the palace of the
Governor ; the men walked at their side, but did not other-
wise mingle in the manifestation. This black mass surrounded
the palace, and about a hundred entered it. The doors leading
to the great hall were then closed ; the ladies who were ad-
mitted were mostly of the better class, such as tenants of
houses, governesses, and wives of proprietors. For some time
they sat in the hall, and then several were called into the
Governor's room, and explanations were given. After the
conference was ended, they were let out by a side- staircase.
Meanwhile the crowd without became tumultuous, and a
detachment of soldiers arrived, together with the fire-engines ;
their intervention, however, was not required, and after two
hours' disturbance the crowd dispersed.
To arrest the progress of these manifestations the Govern-
ment resorted to energetic measures ; but they were taken
without any system, only against single individuals and in
REPRESSIVE MEASURES OF GOVERNMENT. 99
single instances, and therefore they failed in their aim of secur-
ing the permanent tranquillity of the district. Marshals of the
nobility who had joined in funeral services for the souls of the
slain in Warsaw, were reprimanded by the Emperor ; some of
the nobles who had taken an active part in those celebrations
were temporarily banished, and a priest who had preached a
revolutionary sermon was exiled to Omsk.
These severe measures, coupled with the unceasing prosecu-
tion of those who had joined in the demonstrations, for the
moment paralyzed the agitation. Occasionally, indeed, indivi-
duals were found to commit offences against the Government ;
but their action was desultory and unsystematic, and resulted
from no common principle or connection.
By the month of August the Southern provinces seemed
pacified, and the occasional Polish demonstrations which took
place there were of little moment. The Governor- General of
Kieff so little anticipated immediate troubles (though he was
alive to the danger of their recurrence at a future period, from
the preponderance of the influence of the Polish nobility in
the governments under his charge), that in a report dated so
far back as the 4th (16th) of June, 1861, he represented to
the Government the necessity for insuring the permanent paci-
fication of the country by developing the* Russian element, and
sketched out a series of measures involving many considera-
tions, a protracted execution, and a remote result. The Gover-
nor-General of Wilna (Nazimoff) was so thoroughly deceived
as to the true character of the situation, that he suggested
nothing but a few administrative changes for tranquillizing the
provinces committed to his care.
The secret police were not so readily deceived, and projects
for the establishment of special courts for the trial of political
offenders were drawn up and submitted to the Governors of
the provinces.
While these reports were yet under consideration, events
occurred which proved how great a mistake it was to fancy
the lull in the political agitation betokened that the storm had
passed away.
On the 31st July, 1569, Lithuania had been united to Poland,
and on the anniversary of that day in the year 1861, the leaders
H 2
100 THE RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT IN POLAND.
of the revolutionary party resolved solemnly to commemorate
it. In the town of Rossiny, about forty miles from Kovno, a
crowd of young men and women took down some banners from
the walls of one of the churches, formed themselves into
a procession, and, singing patriotic and revolutionary songs,
proceeded to a cross near the town on the road to Kovno, per-
formed their devotions there, and then returned.
At Kovno a demonstration of a more important character
took place. This town lies on the Lithuanian bank of the
Niemen, which here divides that province from the kingdom
of Poland. Although the Polish element in the government
of Kovno is not numerous, forming, indeed, not three per
cent, of the entire population, it will be seen by the tables
in the Appendix that there is in this province a vast pre-
ponderance of Eoman Catholics; the Letts, who make up
the bulk of the people, being here almost universally of that
persuasion, and therefore much under the influence of their
educated co-religionists, and particularly of the Roman
Catholic clergy.
Kovno was certainly an appropriate spot for the intended
celebration. The Russians had often admitted their claim to
the kingdom of Poland to be one of conquest or of treaty;
they had ever allowed that the Poles were an alien and a hostile
race ; of late they had spoken in a hesitating manner of the
justice, or even expediency, of holding the kingdom in their
grasp, and it seemed to require but little persuasion to induce
them to relax it.
But Lithuania they asserted was their own. Carrying back
their researches through long ages of contested history, they
alleged that the records of the past were the best title-deeds
to this recent acquisition ; they claimed Lithuania as formerly
Russian, and as wrung from them when that country was
ruled over by a turbulent nobility.
The Poles, on the other hand, contended that Lithuania was
theirs; that the Russian theory of their original title was in-
consistent with fact, and would be immaterial even if true,
and that while the Lettic preponderated over the Russ and
the Polish element, so far as numbers were concerned, the
sympathy which existed between the Roman Catholic races
COMMEMORATION AT KOVNO. 101
established the equitable title of the Poles beyond all question
or dispute.
This place then was a spot well chosen by the Poles for
proving that the sympathies of Lithuania were with them
rather than with their opponents, and they arranged that a
procession similar to that at Kossiny should take place on the
same day, and that it should consist both of the inhabitants of
Kovno in Lithuania, and of those of the village of Alecot, in
the government of Augustino, on the Polish side of the
Niemen.
The authorities, desirous of avoiding a contest which might
probably involve loss of life, withdrew the floating bridge
which connects Kovno and Alecot, and placed a guard, con-
sisting of a platoon of Cossacks and a garrison battalion, along
the river.
Nothing daunted by these preparations, a great multitude
of both sexes, to the number of about 5,000, collected on the
morning of the 3 1st July at the Augustinian Church in Kovno.
Forming themselves into a long procession, they marched
towards the Memen. They were unarmed, but their banners
were blazoned with many a device, and appealed to many a
sympathy. High above the enthusiastic throng was carried
the sacred cross ; around it were clustered standards, images,
and every other emblem which could recall the ancient history
and triumphs of Poland ; while at their head were the pastors
of the flock, the zealous and unshrinking priests of the Eoman
Catholic Church.
Simultaneously another procession sallied forth from the
village of Alecot, and also marched to the banks of the
Niemen ; so now the self- constituted representatives of Poland
and Lithuania stood fronting each other, divided only by that
broad and rapid stream.
Then both assemblies assisted at the celebration of the mass,
and received the blessing of their Church.
The religious ceremony ended, and the crowd on the Kovno
side of the river advanced towards the bridge. The scanty
guard of Cossacks, unable to contend with the multitude with-
out using their arms, and having no instructions which war-
ranted recourse to so decisive a step, fell back, and the people
102 THE KUSSIAN GOVERNMENT IN POLAND.
by their own united efforts began to put up the bridge. Vainly
the authorities warned them to desist; they persevered;
they declared that at all hazards they would cross the river ;
they completed their task and accomplished tjieir intention ;
then, uniting with the assemblage they found on the other
side, they proceeded with solemn chants and patriotic hymns
to the village of Alecot, and there celebrated the anniversary
of the union they desired to restore.
In other parts of the North-western provinces similar
commemorations took place, and in many of the churches
revolutionary hymns were sung; while, to give additional
meaning to them, the ladies who assisted at them, for the
time abandoned their mourning, and appeared in brilliant
colours, as though in this manner to mark their sense that
their dormant nationality was awaking; and the men arrayed
themselves in the historical costume of their race.
A few days later a religious ceremony was performed with
great solemnity at a church in the district of Lepel. After
service, some of the land-owners, dressed in white robes, carried
banners round the church, and then the whole congregation
fell upon their knees and chanted the revolutionary hymn.
About the same time a report spread through the town of
Wilna that a procession was to reach it from the kingdom of
Poland, which the inhabitants of the town were to join. Day
after day, therefore, a crowd of persons assembled, waiting
anxiously the arrival of the expected pilgrims, and repeatedly
sung revolutionary hymns over the grave of the patriot
Kanarsky.
On the evening of the 7th August a crowd of about 5,000
persons proceeded from the town towards one of the suburbs;
they were stopped at the barrier by a company of infantry and
two hundred Cossacks. A part of the crowd halted, while the
remainder attacked the foot-soldiers with the evident intention
of disarming them and passing the barrier.
The women carried paving-stones in their pockets and in
the skirts of their dresses, which they gave to the men, who
showered them upon the soldiers ; the men also broke down
a fence and converted the stakes into pikes with which to
carry on the struggle. The Cossacks then dispersed the crowd
DISTURBANCE AT W1LNA. 103
by force, and the people having fled from them, repaired to
the sacred gate where the image of the Holy Virgin of
Ostrobrama stands ; sung before it their supplicatory hymn,
repeated it before a crucifix, and then separating, went home.
In this affray several persons were wounded, but none were
killed. Nevertheless, in Warsaw, Cracow, Lemberg, and
Paris, funeral services were celebrated in honour of the Wilna
martyrs, as it was said that numerous persons had been killed
and their corpses thrown into the river in order to conceal
the fact.
It was singular, in the presence of these demonstrations, to
find governors of provinces and men high in authority deceive
themselves as to the character of the movement by which
they were opposed. To any bystander of ordinary observa-
tion it would have been evident that the processions, the
commemorations, and the prayers which on all sides were
witnessed, were the evidences of wide- spread disaffection to
the Eussian rule. A statesman trained in the history of
constitutional kingdoms would have recognized that there
was something deeper agitating the minds of the people than
temporary discontent, petulant vanity, or trifling ills. A great
man, cognizant of the history of Poland for the last hundred
years, would have divined that the proudest memories of a
high-spirited race had been desecrated, their most cherished
institutions trampled in the dust, and their hopes for the future
cruelly marred by a long period of grinding oppression.
There comes, to nations and to men alike, a time when every
hope in the justice or the mercy of those placed in autho-
rity above them perishes ; when, sick and worn out with a
prolonged series of injuries, hope fades utterly away in the
dulled and broken heart, and, weary with prayers that are not
answered, and representations that meet with no redress, the
spirit, thrown back upon itself, will darkly ponder, and resolve
to win by force the justice that monarchs and governments
refuse.
Thus it had been with the Polish race : there may have been
much of intrigue and much of the machinery of modern
agitation in the scenes I have chronicled; but below that
degrading surface there lay a profound national sentiment ; the
104 THE RUSSIAN GOVEBNMENT IN POLAND.
thoughts may have been stirred into action by agitation, but
they had existed for many years, and when the stern hand of
Nicholas, who alone had curbed them, was removed, it was
natural that those stifled feelings should find vent.
Nor let us too severely blame them for the moment they
selected. True, they saw in the Emperor Alexander a prince
whose policy was diametrically opposed to that of his pre-
decessor ; they witnessed his emancipation of the serfs and his
advances in the path of constitutional freedom ; but in none
of those things, desirable though they were, did the Pole see
any approach to the realization of his favourite dreams. On
the other hand, he saw Russia in the throes of a social revolu-
tion; he heard wild theories of all kinds discussed, and he
thought the great empire was doomed to fall a sacrifice to her
own internal feuds. He believed, therefore, it was better to
strike for independence than to speculate on the effect of
liberal institutions or the result of a social revolution.
The very spread of the liberal movement made it his interest
to act with promptitude ; the only hold he had on the waver-
ing allegiance of the serfs was the institution of servitude
which that movement threatened to destroy j and if it were
once destroyed, he well knew his power would be gone ; for
they differed from him in language, in race, and above all, for
the most part, in religion.
The effect of enfranchisement would necessarily be to
destroy all connection in the nature of master and servant
between the two classes, and to turn the thoughts and the
hopes of the peasants exclusively to the Russian Government
instead of their existing lords.
The Pole knew too well that no love existed between him-
self and the serf over whom he tyrannized, to be deceived
into putting the smallest trust in him when once his shackles
were unbound, and he was driven, therefore, into immediate
action, while a chance yet remained that he could array a
numerous and ignorant population in hostility to the Govern-
ment.
Nevertheless these manifestations of disaffection so widely
spread through the Western provinces, do not seem to have
roused the governors to whom they were committed to a sense
PRECAUTIONARY MEASURES OF GOVERNMENT. 105
of the peril surrounding them, and at a council held about
this time, General Nazimoff appears to have confined] himself
to pointing out some minor grievances of the Roman Catholic
Church, and suggesting their removal.
The Imperial Government, however, were more alive to the
perils which they ran, and, after a full discussion, the fol-
lowing, among others of less importance, were the resolutions
agreed to.
That the number of troops in the North-western provinces
should be increased ; that the dangerous [classes should be
disarmed, and the possession of arms (after a certain time had
been given for their rendition) should be treated as an offence ;
and that political demonstrations and gatherings should be for-
bidden. That the clergy favouring demonstrations in churches,
and the leaders of such demonstrations, should be arrested.
That special commissions for the trial of political offences
should be constituted and temporary police courts opened.
That untrustworthy officials should be removed and tried.
That, where requisite, districts should be proclaimed in a
state of siege, and be placed under the command of military
governors.
These various measures were promptly carried into effect,
and certain regulations were published for lightening the
burdens of the peasants, in order probably to bind up their
interests more closely with those of the Government. But
these measures had scarcely any other than an existence upon
paper, for the police and the administration in the Western
provinces were in the hands of the Polish nobility and petty
employes, who were also Poles, and who in most cases were
not only indifferent to the interests of the Government, but
who even in secret favoured the agitation.
Events now rapidly developed themselves. On the 9th
August, General Nazimoff telegraphed to the Emperor in the
Crimea that the Western provinces were tranquil. On the
24th a state of siege was already proclaimed by him in Wilna,
Grodno, and four other towns, and in the whole province of
Kovno, with the exception of one district.
In the province of Kieff, the town of Jitomir was declared in
a state of siege at the end of September, and about the same
106 THE RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT IN POLAND.
time the population of the South-western provinces was
disarmed.
The adoption of these measures was due to the continuance
of the political demonstrations. On the night of the 20th
September, in the cathedral square of the town of Jitomir, a
black cross was erected, with the inscription, " To the memory
of the Poles murdered in 186 1." The cross was removed by
the police, but a turbulent crowd led by ladies demanded its
restoration, and a company of infantry and gendarmes was
called out, which dispersed the people.
Although the declaration of a state of siege for a short time
checked the outward signs of disaffection, the condition of
affairs was in truth but little altered; mourning was every-
where seen; the national costume was everywhere worn, and
on all sides the youth of Polish origin took part in political
demonstrations, and closely leagued themselves with the
leaders of the revolt.
The measures of repression adopted by the Government be-
came more numerous and severe. The Agricultural Society at
Kieff was dissolved ; the Governor- General of that province
was authorized to dismiss functionaries in all branches of the
public service ; to constitute commissions for trying prisoners
by martial law ; and to expel from the university such Polish
students as identified themselves with political demonstrations.
In the North-western provinces General Nazimoff was autho-
rized to remove even the marshals of the nobility in districts
declared in a state of siege. A military governor was appointed
in Minsk, owing to the increase of disorders in that province ;
the nobility elections in various provinces were from time to time
postponed ; a special house-tax was laid on the Koman Catholic
proprietors of Wilna; penalties were imposed on persons guilty
of political disturbances ; and a considerable number were
deported to places of residence within the empire, more or less
remote.
But there was, for the reasons already stated, a want of
system in the acts of the legislative Government, and a
variance in the mode of executing the law in different districts,
which to a great extent deprived measures, rigorous only in
sound, of their intended efficacy. The judgments of the
PEECAUTIONARY MEASURES OP GOVERNMENT. 107
courts-martial were often not carried into execution ; the dis-
affected, whether priests or proprietors, were banished for a
prolonged period to a distant province, and a few weeks or
months afterwards, the banishment was ended, at the will of
the Governor of the province where the offence was committed.
When the Minister of the Interior proposed to General Nazi-
moff the banishment of certain priests who had taken part in
funeral services for assassins executed in Warsaw, the worthy
man replied that banishment was attended with considerable
expense for post-horses, and that it would be far cheaper to
select a few monasteries, where such men could be sent under
surveillance ! The instructions of the Minister to the police
courts were not acted upon ; he desired that prosecutions
should be instituted, not for the singing of revolutionary
hymns, but for compelling others to do so, or insulting them
if they refused ; and that where irregularities were committed in
the procedures in those courts, the superior tribunals should be
appealed to. Instead of obeying these orders, prosecutions
were constantly set on foot for singing hymns in churches,
and, no matter how inefficiently the police courts acted,
appeals were but rarely made. Under these circumstances,
there ceased to be any cordiality between the Minister at St.
Petersburg and the provincial governors ; the administration
of the law was confused, and its penalties unequally dealt ;
while the unknown disturbers of the tranquillity of the country
encouraged their partisans to persevere, not only in their secret
organization, but occasionally in open demonstrations.
I have said that the proclamation of a state of siege was fol-
lowed temporarily by a diminution of the outward signs of dis-
affection; this, however, was not the sole cause of this change.
Winter was at hand, and the season for out-door processions and
public meetings was passing away ; in some minds there was
growing up a weariness of demonstrations which led to no result
save occasional punishment ; and the leaders of the popular
faction discouraged the longer maintenance of this agitation.
The revolutionary proclamations now advised the discon-
tinuance of further demonstrations ; enough had been done by
the people of Lithuania and the South-western provinces to
prove to Europe their fixed determination to throw off the
Russian yoke, and to bo united as of old to Poland, when the
108 THE RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT IN POLAND.
day of her resurrection should dawn. Now it only remained
for them to watch their opportunity ; Italy or Hungary would
ere long be in arms, or Kussia herself be torn in pieces by her
own revolutionary parties. Meanwhile there was work to do.
The rural population were to be won over to the national
cause ; the love for Poland, her traditions, her history and her
monuments, should, by education, be instilled into the lower
orders, and the popular mind should be elevated, with a view to
prepare for the struggle and the sacrifices of the future.
The priests at the confessional instructed the people to
commit perjury at the police courts, and actively instigated
them to counteract the views of the Government.
The proprietors secretly consulted together as to the possi-
bility, by territorial sacrifices, of winning over the people to
their cause, and extensively instituted schools for their educa-
tion, in which the Polish language was alone to be used.
Revolutionary sheets and proclamations in all shapes and in
every local dialect were circulated by unknown hands. They
were scattered upon the roads ; they were left at houses ; they
were sent through the post ; but not one of the distributors
was ever discovered. There was a close and evident concert
between the North and South-western provinces ; whatever
was done in the one was forthwith known in the other. From
the shores of the Baltic to the banks of the Dniester there was
manifested the same general impatience of the Russian yoke;
tho same memories were invoked, the same anniversaries were
commemorated, and the same signs of mourning were every-
where to be seen.
Whenever there was an opportunity of making known their
wishes to their sovereign, the proprietors took advantage of
it. The nobility of White Russia showed a wish to be united
with Lithuania, on condition that the Lithuanian statute
should be restored and the Polish language officially recog-
nized ; the Polish language also was proposed to be used in a
Land-bank intended to be established for the North-western
provinces ; and at the provincial assembly of the nobles of
Podolia an address to the Emperor was agreed on, asking the
separation of all the western Ukraine from the administrative
unity of the Empire, and its union with Poland.
109
CHAPTER VIII.
Conflicting Views of the various parties among the Poles. The Conscription.
Outbreak of Insurrection. Massacres. Despatches from the Consul-
General at Warsaw. Proclamation of the Central Committee. Conduct
of the Proprietors. Revolutionary " Order of the Day." Attempt to
poison the Marquis Wielopolski.
AT the beginning of the year 1863 there was a great differ-
ence in the views of the two branches of the revolutionary
party in Poland. The " unarmed agitation " had lasted for
more than two years, attracting, doubtless, considerable
attention in Europe, but practically producing no definite
result. This agitation had succeeded in reviving a very
strong national feeling ; it had excited the minds of the youth
of the country, by recalling the remembrance of past history
and sacrifices ; it had influenced the population of the towns
by spreading among them vague hopes of great advantages to
be derived by throwing off the Russian yoke ; it had enlisted
on its side the petty nobles who thronged the towns and
villages, and who were also scattered in no inconsiderable
numbers throughout the country.
The materials for a future insurrection were thus prepared,
and the question arose, What use was to be made of them ?
Now that the weapon was ready for the conflict, was it to
be employed, or was it to be hung upon the wall for an
indefinite period, till time and rust had worn away its edge
and deprived it of its power?
It was an anxious question, and one which was differently
answered by those who had something, and by those who had
nothing, to lose.
The great nobles trembled for their estates ; they called to
mind the bitter recollections of 1830, the spoliations that had
resulted from that unhappy struggle, and feared a repetition
of those scenes of confiscation and bloodshed. It was well for
"the party of action" to endeavour to goad the people into a
110 THE RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT IN POLAND.
revolt, but what had the party of action to lose ? Those men
had no great estates on which the vultures might fatten when
the strife was done ; they had no proud ancestral names which
disaster would for ever obliterate j they had no stake and no
influence in the country, and would never be missed if they
fell in the strife they were so anxious to precipitate. But it
was fit that the nobles of Poland should be prudent, and not
insanely throw away their chances of independence at the
bidding of political adventurers ; it was their province to
watch and wait, and to take advantage of the first event
which offered a reasonable prospect of success.
The history of Europe for the last fifteen years was full of
hope for them ; in that short period how much had been done
to shake despotic power, and to secure freedom for those who
had patience to wait a favourable moment, as well as valour to
take advantage of it ! There were complications of all kinds
on the Continent; many wars seemed impending, and the
moment one was commenced, Poland might have her oppor-
tunity. It would be madness now, while Europe was tranquil,
to defy the power of Russia, and to rush into a struggle with
her without preparation and without an ally.
The Republican party denounced this reasoning as mistaken
and cowardly. What is it that you fear ? they asked : the
army of Russia is weakened by six years' neglect; it is
demoralized by recent changes, the abolition of corporal
punishment, its loss of respect for its officers, and many other
causes ; the Russian Government dare not trust it, it knows
how deep-seated is the disaffection which pervades it, and it
knows, among the officers it is compelled to employ, that
opinions the most liberal and the most hostile to itself are
widely prevalent. Again, they urged, look at the political
condition of Russia, and it is evident she is herself in the
agonies of dissolution; the addresses of her nobility, the
clamours of her liberal press, the disaffection which is every-
where apparent, clearly demonstrate it; far from wishing to
3urb our liberties, she is intent upon extending her own, and
? will hold out a helping hand to us, because in our freedom
J will see some guarantee for her own enfranchisement. If
additional evidences were required of the condition of Russia,
CONFLICTING VIEWS OP POLISH PAKTIES. Ill
the outbreak among the students at the various universities,,
the incendiary fires with which St. Petersburg had been
lighted up, some laxity of discipline which had been
punished at the military schools,, and finally the alleged
existence of a "Revolutionary Committee of Russia," were
cited as the near and sufficient evidence of the correctness of
these extreme views.
While these different opinions were in agitation, and while
it was yet uncertain whether violent or moderate councils
would prevail, the act of the Government turned the scale, and
precipitated the long-pending insurrection.
Since the conclusion of the peace, there had been a sus-
pension of the conscription both in Russia and Poland, and the
army had been weakened to an extent which was deemed
imprudent. It was determined to have recourse to a levy, and
the number of men to be raised in Poland was about 8,000.
From the year 1815, the mode in which conscriptions were
carried out in Poland * had been exceptional and arbitrary.
Instead of being chosen by lot, the recruits had been selected
by the police, who in their selection had been influenced
almost entirely by political considerations. Year after year
the most high-spirited, or, as the authorities deemed them,
the most insubordinate of the youth of Poland, had been
draughted into the Russian army; and thus the conscription
was converted into a political engine for weeding the country
of its dangerous classes.
The conscription having been suspended for five years,
during which period a strong national feeling had evidenced
itself, it was naturally to be expected that an unusual number
of the youth of the country would be found on the black list of
the police; and the conscription would thus offer to the
authorities a welcome opportunity of ridding themselves of
their enemies.
But in the year 1859 a law had been passed abolishing the
old system, and introducing a new one, under which future
* The system in Russia has hitherto been for the landowner to nominate
the conscripts. The most idle and worthless among the serfs have, therefore,
habitually been selected ; but, consequent upon emancipation, the ordinary
system of ballot has been introduced.
112 THE RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT IN POLAND.
levies were to be made. By this law conscripts were in
future to be chosen in the ordinary way by lot.
Unfortunately for his own fame, and most disastrously for
his country, the Marquis Wielopolski resolved that the old
system should be adopted, and the law of 1855 be ignored.
He saw at a glance the power it would place in his hands ; he
failed to see the loss of popularity, confidence, and respect a
course so illegal must infallibly entail. He knew there were
extensive preparations for an insurrection, and he knew that a
large number of young men, not of the lowest class, were
mixed up in it ; he knew also that they were not quite ready
for a rising, and that the act he meditated would either break
the power of the party of action, by subtracting its most
active adherents from its ranks, or precipitate a struggle,
which he foresaw must come, sooner or later, but for which
that party was at present unprepared.
There was nothing in the details of this proceeding to lessen
the gross injustice of its conception. The Marquis resolved
that, with the exception of 2,000, all the conscripts should be
levied from the town populations, because it was among the
town -population that the most active of the revolutionary
party were to be found. The workmen and the lower orders
were not to be affected by it; they possessed no political
power or significance, and it was well that they should entertain
a friendly feeling towards the Government; but the higher class
of mechanics and artisans, the shopkeepers, the Schlachta,
and lesser nobility, were marked out as fit objects for selection,
and wherever an individual of these classes was regarded as
disaffected, his name was certain to appear on the list of the
conscription.
This plan of the Marquis Wielopolski was received with
great disfavour; it was felt that the law of 1859 should be
adhered to; that the act he proposed to perpetrate possessed no
political advantages which could atone for its cruelty and
injustice, and that it would entail on the heads of the Adminis-
tration an amount of odium which would increase tenfold the
power of the revolutionary party. The Marquis, however,
persevered; he considered, as the head of the civil adminis-
tration of the kingdom, as a Pole thoroughly conversant with
THE CONSCRIPTION. 113
the condition of his country and the character of his country-
men, that he was the proper person to judge of the expediency
of the step to be now adopted. He pressed its acceptance
upon the Grand Duke and the Emperor, and. finding them
unwilling to adopt it, he offered to resign his offices. Under
pressure of the determined course adopted by the Marquis,
the Government gave way, and resolved that the conscription
should be conducted on the old principle.
The necessary lists were prepared by the police ; but they
were purposely kept secret, in order to prevent the escape
of those who were named in them, and it was resolved that
the conscripts should be seized at the dead of night, without
warning given. The number to be obtained in Warsaw
was 2,000; the population of the city was from 150,000
to 180,000.
Meanwhile the Central Committee, an anonymous body who
assumed to govern the revolutionary parties, adopted a defiant
attitude. It declared that it had at its disposal the means of
resisting the Government, and that insurmountable difficulties
would in due time be opposed to this measure being carried into
effect. It also issued a circular, which was sent to the various
local authorities throughout the kingdom, threatening with
vengeance and summary punishment any person in the em-
ployment of Government, or any magistrate, who should assist
in carrying out the recruitment.
At this time the system of terror, which at a later date
was carried to perfection, had already been inaugurated. A
man named Abicht, who was travelling with an English
passport, having been denounced to the police by the Jewish
waiter at an inn where he was staying, was arrested. The
Jew applied on three successive days at the Treasury for a
reward of 200 roubles, which he had been promised, and on
the third day, on leaving the office of the Paymaster- General, he
was stabbed by an emissary of the revolutionary committee.
On the night of the 14th of January the conscription in
Warsaw was effected. The conscripts were seized by the
authorities without any resistance or disturbance, and to all
appearance the Government had effected their purpose and
paralyzed the party of revolt.
114 THE EUSSIAN GOVERNMENT IN POLAND.
This momentary triumph, however, lasted a very short time,
and on the 19th Colonel Stanton, the English Consul- General
in Warsaw, while writing to Lord Kussell and announcing
the entire success of the conscription, states: " Unfortunately
a number of working men and others belonging-to the secret
societies, have been induced to assemble not far from this
town, in obedience to the orders given them by the chiefs of the
movement. Their numbers are, however, not supposed to
amount to more than 500 or 600, the greater portion of whom
are unarmed. . . . The weakness of the ultra party, and
the impossibility of their resisting the Government, will, at
least, be clearly demonstrated by this foolish attempt, and I
believe, my lord, it is not too much to anticipate that the
Polish movement will now shortly be brought to an end, and
the country resume, if not a peaceful attitude, at least one of
comparative quiet and freedom from revolutionary attempts."
Three days from the date of this letter the insurrection in
Poland had commenced.
The Russian authorities had made no preparations to guard
against a possible outbreak. When the conscription was
decided on, the Grand Duke had been advised by several
military officers of high standing to concentrate the troops,
which were quartered in small detachments through the
kingdom, as is usually done when danger is anticipated. The
advice, however, was rejected, for the Marquis Wielopolski
positively affirmed that no danger existed, and that no revolt
would take place.
The insurgents alluded to in Colonel Stanton's letter were
more numerous than he imagined. They consisted of two
bands, one on either side of the Vistula, and were composed
not only of the classes named by him, but of some of the
townspeople who were named in the conscription, and who,
having been warned in time, escaped it. They thought no
fate could be worse than to swell the ranks of the Russian
army, and preferred struggling for freedom on the plains of
Poland to suffering years of unrequited toil in the Caucasus or
Siberia. Bodies of troops were sent against these parties with
the intention of surrounding and capturing them before they
could unite; but the effort failed. The bands united, and
OUTBREAK OF THE INSURRECTION. 115
retired in safety to the shelter of the vast forests that extend
in this neighbourhood for a distance of more than sixty miles.
Simultaneously with the appearance of these rebel bands,
two others appeared in the neighbourhood of Serotsk and
Pultusk, against which troops were also sent.
These disorders were not regarded as the prelude to a
serious insurrection. The Government continued to deceive
themselves as to the state of popular feeling. They forgot,
although the assembling of bands might not have been planned
by the party of action, that it was most improbable they would
fail to take advantage of them now that they were collected*
and that in the then exasperated state of feeling in Poland it
was only natural that men committed to an act of rebellion
should quickly find leaders and organization. The violent and
unconstitutional character of the conscription gave that
stimulus to the national feeling which the Red Republicans
had striven in vain to create. It enabled them to overpower
the more moderate party, and it set fire to all the elements
of mischief and revolution which had for so long a period
been carefully collecting. Nothing was more easy than to
persuade the town populations that there was now no security
for them under the Russian sway ; that one arbitrary measure
would assuredly be followed by another, until the whole of the
Polish youth had been kidnapped and carried away.
Moreover, this act of the Government was an excuse in the
eyes of Europe for whatever the revolutionists might do.
Insurrection, which was criminal without a cause, became
right and just and holy when it vindicated personal freedom
as well as national independence. The organs of the Emigra-
tion filled the world with exaggerated statements of an act
which in itself was sufficiently reprehensible ; imaginary scenes
were portrayed of Polish sufferings and Muscovite barbarities;
horrible details were invented by unscrupulous and rhetorical
scribes ; and a deed of arbitrary injustice, which had been
carried qut with perfect order* and tranquillity, was represented
* See letter of Colonel Stanton (already quoted) of 19th January, 1863.
No. 4 of Correspondence respecting the Insurrection in Poland, 1863,
presented to both Houses of Parliament.
i2
116 THE RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT IN POLAND.
in colours worthy only of the persecutions of Alva, or the
wildest excesses of a sanguinary war.
The ultra party took advantage of this great opportunity ;
they saw in it an invaluable apology for rushing to arms ; they
believed the more moderate leaders of the Emigration and the
great resident proprietors must in time unite with them ; from
the one quarter they looked for the ultimate intervention of
foreign powers ; the other they reckoned upon for more
immediate and substantial aid. The Emigration could hardly
refuse to countenance them, for if they did, it would be an
acknowledgment that they were unable to control the people
they had long professed to govern, and then the influence they
possessed in the great capitals of Western Europe would die
out, and they would be powerless for evil or for good. The
great proprietors could not for long refuse to unite with
them, for they would certainly be objects of suspicion to
the Russians ; they would assuredly be subjected to the most
close and jealous espionage, and be consigned to a state
prison, and have their property sequestrated, the first moment
the authorities chose to question their loyalty. Was it not,
therefore, to be assumed that they would throw off the mask,
and give in their avowed adhesion to a cause which was
really theirs ?
The first act of the revolutionary party was to organize an
attack on the various Russian detachments scattered through
the kingdom. These detachments were generally weak in
number, and unprepared for any outbreak; and although
their destruction might not, in a military point of view, be
very important, the insurgents calculated on the moral effect
it would produce among a peasantry who were almost certain
to side with whichever party they thought the stronger. It
probable also that the arms, accoutrements, military
stores, and treasure in the possession of the troops were
a great temptation to the badly-armed, ill-provided, and
impoverished levies which formed the army of the National
Government.
The intended outbreak was entirely unlooked-for by the
Russians : they believed the scattered bands which were being
followed by the regular troops were the only enemies they had
MASSACRE OF RUSSIAN SOLDIERS. 117
to fear ; and, wrapped in a false and perilous security, they
took no precautions against surprise.
At midnight on the 22nd of January, attacks were simul-
taneously made in all the provinces of the kingdom upon the
Russian troops, with the intention of overcoming them by
force of arms where they resisted, and of murdering them in
cold blood where they could be surprised. It is alleged that,
wherever they had the opportunity, the insurgents assailed
the soldiers in their beds, and massacred them. In general,
however, though unprepared for these assaults, the soldiers
successfully repulsed them. In the town of Plock, a band of
1,500 insurgents attacked the forces that were stationed there ;
but after an action which lasted some hours, they failed to
make any impression, and retreated, leaving some forty
prisoners in the hands of their enemies. The attacks made
in other places were, for the most part, less important, and in
almost every instance they were repulsed with loss. The
village of Stock, near Siedlee, however, was the theatre of
one of those occurrences which envenomed this struggle from
its very commencement, and led to its subsequent prosecution
in a spirit of bitterness which was certain to lead to the com-
mission of acts of cruelty and excess. A detachment of
soldiers quartered in the village, being assailed by greatly
superior numbers, took refuge in a house, in which they barri-
caded themselves; the insurgents were unable to overcome
their resistance by force of arms, so they set fire to the house,
and the soldiers were consumed in the flames.
Two companies of soldiers, stationed at Leckoff, were also
treacherously murdered. An attack was made on a park of
flying artillery at Kohen, and, although it was unsuccessful,
the insurgents carried off fifty muskets and the military chest ;
while at Radsin, Loerbartoff, and Biala, unsuccessful attempts
were made by them to seize cannon and ammunition.
In the province of Radom, the insurgents attacked the
troops stationed at Szydlowick and Bodzetyn ; in the former
of these places, Major Rodiger, having a few minutes' notice
of the intended assault, withdrew his men from the town, to
which he did not return until the following day. At Bodzetyn,
however, the insurgents surprised the sleeping soldiers, killed
118 THE RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT IN POLAND.
an officer and several men, and set fire to the barrack in which
the Russians were defending themselves. Escaping from the
naming building, the troops cut their way through the in-
surgents, and retreated from the town, which, however, they
reoccupied on the following day.
While these attacks were being made, the insurgents also
tore up the rails in several places on the different Polish lines,
cut the telegraph wires in all directions, and did everything in
their power to impede the movements of the troops, and pre-
vent the Government from taking such measures as might
lead to the suppression of the revolt.
When, a day or two afterwards, the Russian troops arrived,
for the purpose of reopening the railway and telegraphic
communications, there was every sign that the railway officials
were implicated in the movement. At the station, where rail-
way carriages and plant were kept in large quantities, they had
all been carefully destroyed, and everywhere mischief had
been systematically done in the most complete and business-
like manner : at intervals, rails had been removed, and every
precaution had been taken to render the march of the troops
slow and difficult. At length the road was repaired, and a
train sent from Wilna to convey the troops. As a measure of
precaution, the engine was from time to time sent on in
advance of the train, to test the safety of the line before the
carriages were trusted to it. The train had left a station some
miles behind it, the next station was many miles away, and
the line, after running perfectly straight for a considerable
distance, made a curve which hid it from sight. At this point
the engine was again sent on, and as it proceeded slowly, the
soldiers followed it with their eyes, and wondered how soon it
would return. It reached the curve, and in another moment
would be out of sight; when the engineer sprang up, and
waving them in mockery a last farewell, departed, and they
never saw him or his engine more !
The results of the operations of the night did not fulfil the
hopes of the insurgents, or justify the exceptional measures
to which they had had recourse. Many soldiers were killed,
but not such a number as to tell in the smallest degree on the
issue of the struggle which had commenced ; on the other
PROCLAMATION OP THE NATIONAL GOVERNMENT. 119
hand, the insurgents had been repulsed on almost every side,
and had commenced their movement by a systemized attempt
at assassination, which had not even the miserable excuse of
success to gild the blackness of its cowardice and guilt.
About 300 prisoners were captured by the authorities, and
among them were many Roman Catholic priests, who had
been taken with the insurgents, whom they were encouraging
and leading on ; it was also remarked that in many places the
church bells had been rung to summon the rebels to arms ;
" thus proving, were such proof required, the complicity of
the priests with the movement."*
On the morning of the 22nd of January, the Central
National Committee issued a proclamation addressed to the
Polish nation :
" The Central National Committee," it said, u the only legal government
of your country, bids you all appear on the last battle-field the field of glory
and victory, where it pledges itself to give you success before God and
heaven ; for the committee knows that as you have heretofore been penitents
or avengers, so you are ready to become to-morrow heroes and giants of
strength. It knows you ready to achieve your liberty and independence by
deeds of courage, and to make such sacrifices as no people have yet inscribed
on the annals of their history. It knows well that you are ready to give all
your blood, your lives, and your freedom, without regret, hesitation, or
weakness, as an offering to your rising country.
" In return, the Central Committee promise to wield the sceptre of autho-
rity with an unflinching hand, so that your strength shall not be wasted.
Your sacrifices shall not be in vain. It will know how to overcome all diffi-
culties, to break through all impediments ; it will pursue and punish every
disinclination, nay, even every case of want of sufficient zeal in our holy
cause, with the utmost severity required from a tribunal which metes out
justice in the name of an offended country.
" This being the first day of open resistance, the commencement of the
sacred combat, the Committee proclaims all the sons of Poland free and equal,
without distinction of creed and condition. It proclaims, further, that the
land heretofore held by the agricultural population in fee, for corve'e, labour,
or for rent, becomes henceforth their freehold property, without any restric-
tion whatsoever. The proprietors will receive compensation from the public
treasury. All cottagers and labourers who shall serve, and the families of
those who may die in the service of their country, will receive allotments
from the national property in land regained from the enemy."
Colonel Stanton to Earl Russell, 25th January, 1863.
120 THE RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT IN POLAND.
From the tenour of this proclamation it is clear that the?
Central Committee was then the exponent of the views of the
" Red " party, which possessed neither means nor organiza-
tion, and had little more influence than that which the con-
scription had for the moment given it. Veiling its weakness,
it uses a tone of confident authority intended to impress its
countrymen, and still more the Western nations, with a con-
viction of its supreme power. Its promise of protection to
the patriot is introduced to heighten, by contrast, the terrors
of its threats, and to drive into its ranks a reluctant proprie-
tary who saw no choice between a reign of terror and dumb
submission to its will. The last paragraph is a direct bid for
the support of the peasantry, on whom it professes to confer
property without payment or qualification ; it demonstrates
that the constitution of the committee must at this time have
been thoroughly democratic, for the landed proprietors and
the moderate party would never have given their consent to
so rash a step.
Startled by this sudden outbreak, the proprietors crowded
into Warsaw, and held many anxious consultations. Their
position, indeed, was most embarrassing ; they were distrusted
by the Government, which for many years they had thwarted
and opposed, and which knew that their hostility had given
its original impetus to the revolutionary movement; no
sympathy, therefore, could now exist between them ; and
even if the Government were disposed to exert itself to the
utmost, it was doubtful how far it had the power to protect
their persons and estates. They were proclaimed traitors by
the Central Committee because they did not join in the national
movement ; and if they returned to their estates, their personal
safety was in peril, for the peasants had long regarded them
as their enemies, and the emissaries of the National Govern-
ment might prompt them to outrage and murder. Their
position, then, was anxious and critical : they were numerous,
had large estates and many retainers. They had everything
to lose by a Red republican revolution, and much to gain
by constitutional reforms. But their vast estates gave them
little influence, and their conduct deprived them of all personal
popularity. Distrusted by the Government, hated by the
DIFFERENCES AMONG THE PROPRIETORS. 121
peasants, regarded with jealousy by the Schlachta, and
menaced by the Central Committee, they were surrounded by
dangers they had neither the courage to face nor the ability
to avoid.
The infatuated conduct they had pursued for two years
reacted upon them. They had lent themselves to the schemes
of the Eed party, they had joined them in stirring up the
national feeling till the people were goaded into revolt, and
now, brought face to face with an armed insurrection, they
feared to encourage, and were unwilling to oppose it.
They should have known that it was madness to goad men
into action, and then to pause, to hesitate, to draw back, and
to pronounce that they had no policy to pursue ; such conduct
was sure to throw the revolution into the hands of the violent
men whose hatred to the Government was scarcely greater
than their jealousy of themselves.
Two courses of action were now open to them ; they led
in very different directions, but either might have been
taken with considerable prospect of success ; they required,
however, unanimity and courage, and neither was forth-
coming.
They might have placed themselves at the head of the
insurrection. By doing so they would have incurred great
risks, and failure would have been attended with wide-spread
ruin ; but they would have given enormous strength to the
revolutionary cause by committing it to the guidance of men of
station and ability, by restraining its sanguinary spirit, and
by placing before the world a moderate manifesto of its aims.
Had they thus joined the movement, the revolution would have
been regarded by foreign courts as a thoroughly national cause,
and the chances of European intervention would have been
multiplied tenfold. A movement guided by those whose names
were recognized as the traditionary leaders of their country,
and whose adhesion to it was a guarantee for its policy and
conduct, would have utterly differed from the Red Republican
rising, which was inspired and directed by a nameless band
of secret assassins. But why should the great powers of
Europe interfere and incur the hazard and the sacrifices of a
general war, when the men most deeply interested in the cause
122 THE RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT IN POLAND.
for which it would be undertaken shrunk from risking life or
property in its prosecution.
On the other hand, the proprietors might have given their
frank adhesion to the policy of the Government ; they might
have recognized its genuine anxiety to increase the liberties
and develop the resources of Poland ; and they might have
pronounced, as the fact was, that they regarded the Eed party
with detestation and terror. Even a successful revolution, far
from improving their position, would only have subjugated
them to that dangerous faction ; and the few who entertained
hopes of the success of the revolt, believed it would be fol-
lowed by a reign of terror and anarchy before any settled
form of government could e rest ored.
Such an adhesion would have been consistent with their
interests and their honour. Their leading men, and those
best informed among them, were convinced the revolt would
not eventually succeed, for they were satisfied that Europe
would not intervene. The struggle, therefore, could only lead
to ruin; and although they were not loyal to the Russian
Government, the most patriotic among them would have de-
served well of their country and their class if they had opposed
the insurrection to the utmost.
There were, however, among them men of different disposi-
tions and hostile views. The hatred of Russia which some of
them felt would have hurried them into the ranks of the
insurgents ; the Conservative party, on the other hand, would
have given in their adhesion to the Government. A large
and important section wavered in their views, and favoured
an expectant and ambiguous policy, which would have kept
up friendly relations with both parties, and pledged them to
neither.
Never was there greater want of a leader than at this
moment, but none was forthcoming ; for Count Andrew Za-
moyski, who had alone been recognized as head of the mode-
rate party, and who would almost certainly have done his
utmost to preserve the peace of his country, was in exile, his
rival was in power, and there was no one to take the place of
the absent leader.
There was, also, a patriotic party among the Poles, who
DESIRE FOR NATIONAL UNITY. 123
insisted it was not to misgovernment that their struggles for
freedom were due ; they contended that an intense yearning
for national unity and independence animated them, and that
if the Russians had ruled them ever so wisely the same con-
test for freedom would eventually have ensued.
It was useful to point to cruelty and oppression, for by
citing examples of these they secured the sympathies, and
possibly tjhe assistance of the nations of the West ; but the
great wrong done them was the partition of their country,
and this was the grievance they were determined to redress.
Neither had the conscription ought to dd with their revo-
lutionary purposes ; it had precipitated the outbreak, for it
enabled violent men to summon the country to arms; but
that outbreak was premature and unfortunate, it was opposed
to the wishes of the White party, and was directly in con-
tradiction to the settled policy of preceding years. The
revolutionary committees had for a long time agitated the
country, and summoned it to prepare for a great and
approaching contest; they had circulated their ideas among
all classes, they had won converts on every side, and had
laid the deep foundations of opinions which must eventually
upheave the. supremacy of Russia.
But the struggle would not be one for the restoration of
a kingdom defined by arbitrary caprice ; it would be waged
for the independence of Poland, as Poland was constituted
of old, of every province, town, or village in which Polish
nationality was the prevailing element, no matter whether
now oppressed by Russian, by Austrian, or by Prussian
bayonets.
The insurrection was commenced in the Congress kingdom,
because in that portion of ancient Poland the national element
had the freest range. In Posen every official, from the
governor of a province to the meanest clerk, was German
by nation and anti-Polish by sympathy ; German was the
only language employed in public offices and courts of law,
and, with an inconsiderable exception, in schools and colleges.
In Galicia somewhat more liberty was apparently given to
the Poles, because the peasants were so bitterly hostile to
the proprietors, that such liberty could not be abused; the
124 THE RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT IN POLAND.
Galician soldiers who guarded the Austro-Russian frontier
were zealous anti-revolutionists, for they regarded the insur-
gents as the confederates of their late masters, and the
natural enemies of the peasantry both in Poland and Galicia.
In the Congress kingdom, however, the Poles had many
advantages. Severe as was the Emperor Nicholas, and
anxious as he was to blot out their nationality, he yet always
discriminated between the Kingdom and the Western pro-
vinces. The stipulations of the treaty of Vienna had not
been utterly useless, and, though he oppressed the Poles of
the Kingdom, their language remained to them, their nobles
filled public offices throughout the Russian empire, and in
many particulars their nationality was respected. The people,
also, were of the race, and shared the religion of the land-
owners, and it was believed they would rally to the banner of
their country when the hour of trial came.
The reforms introduced by the Emperor Alexander had a
very different effect from that which the friends of the Poles
in Western Europe attributed to them ; instead of conciliating
the disaffected proprietors, and inducing them to abandon
their revolutionary designs, they simply made them more
determined to rebel. It had this effect because they thought
the substitution of Polish for Russian officials had enormously
increased their power over the people, and facilitated all the
operations by which an insurrection can be carried on ; and
because, in the intended settlement of the land question by
the Government, they foresaw that their influence would be
lessened, and, if the revolutionary movement were long post-
poned, would be utterly destroyed.
The singular want of political foresight which was the dis-
tinguishing characteristic of the Polish proprietors, was no-
where more apparent than in this great error. They should
have accepted frankly the reforms introduced; they should
themselves have worked the institutions accorded them ; they
should at an early period have solicited their extension ; and,
by the lead they took in the conduct of public affairs, have
taught the people to recognize in them their natural leaders.
In this position, and with the entire body of officials at their
call, the kingdom of Poland would rapidly have become the
REVOLUTIONARY PROCLAMATIONS. 125
centre of a new and more formidable organization ; an organ-
ization which would have attracted Posen and Galicia to her,
and would probably, in the end, have extorted from Germany
and Eussia the unity at which it aimed.
An " order of the day " of the revolutionary " chief of the
town of Warsaw " was issued on the 4th February, which was
couched in the following terms : " As numbers of landed
proprietors, instead of serving their country in their residences,
are wasting their time and their money in Warsaw, they are
hereby desired to return forthwith to their homes, unless
exempted from their obligation by the chief of the town, and
to fulfil their duty to their country, more especially those who
are young. All functionaries of the organization are to carry
out this order." After several meetings, the proprietors,
unable to come to any conclusion, separated, and it was
understood that each of them was to act as he thought right ;
many of them returned to their estates, and while they care-
fully avoided any open act of rebellion, they subscribed largely
to the support of the insurrection, and afforded the insurgents
all the shelter and aid they could possibly extend to them.
Immediately after the conscription had been carried into
effect, the Central Committee had published a proclamation in
which it had said, " a system of recruiting like this has never
yet been seen. It is worthy of its author, of that great and
vile criminal, that traitor to his country, Wielopolski. . . .
' The Wielopolskis/ the father, and his son Sigismund, and
all the criminal band who have taken part in the recruitment
at Warsaw, together with all those who have up to the present
time assisted, or who are about to assist, these wicked attempts
at usurpation, shall be outlawed, and it is permitted to every
one to judge, and to execute them without incurring any sort
of responsibility, either before God or before his country."
Within three weeks of the publication of this manifesto, an
attempt was made to give effect to the sentence it pronounced ;
poison was mixed with the provisions that were sent to the
house of the marquis, and he, his family, and servants, all
partook of it ; but the attempt failed, and though it caused
much suffering, no deaths resulted from it.
120
CHAPTER IX.
Excesses of the Insurgents. Their Position, and Character of their Bands.
Battle of Wengrow. Progress of Revolt. Concentration of Russian
Troops.
EVERY effort was made by the revolutionary party to continue
the struggle. Various bands scattered through the kingdom,
harassed the Russians by the guerilla warfare they carried on ;
the vast forests, and the difficult nature of a great portion of the
country they occupied, made it extremely difficult for regular
troops to act efficiently against them ; and although, when an
engagement took place, it almost invariably terminated in
favour of the Russians, the dispersed insurgents quickly re-
assembled and resumed the offensive. These bands constantly
pressed villagers into their service, notwithstanding their
unwillingness to take part in the struggle. In many cases
they had recourse to violence and even murder to procure re-
cruits, and one instance* may be cited as an example of the
terrorism to which they had recourse.
A band of horsemen, under the guidance of a priest, rode
towards a village intending to stir up the peasants to revolt.
Stopping at the first cottage, and finding the owner of it
absent, the priest inquired of his wife where he was to be
found. She refused to inform him, and he, in a transport of
rage, murdered her by stabbing her with a knife, and then
set fire to the dwelling. The peasants thronging to the place,
manifested the greatest horror at this unprovoked assassination,
and the band, seeing how strong was the popular feeling against
them, departed without carrying their intended conscription
into effect. Determined to revenge this crime, the villagers
sent the following day to the insurgents, to assure them they
were ready to join them, if the priest would explain to them
what they were to do, and where they were to march. Accord-
* See Lord Napier's letter to Earl Russell, 8th February, 1863.
EXCESSES OF THE INSURGENTS. 127
ingly, the priest came ; but lie had hardly begun to speak,
when they attacked and killed him on the spot.
It was by deeds such as these that the insurgents gradually
changed the passive dislike with which the peasants regarded
them into open enmity, until at length they actively exerted
themselves to assist the Government and repress the revolt.
Instances of barbarous cruelties committed by the insurgents
upon their prisoners, excited the strongest feelings of horror
in the Russian forces. On the night of the 22nd January,
fifteen soldiers were hung by the insurgents, after having
been first horribly mutilated by them ; and it is impossible to
wonder, though one deeply may regret, that for some time
afterwards the comrades of the murdered men refused to grant
quarter to the insurgents, saying, " Remember the 22nd
January," as they cut them down.
Another well- authenticated instance of the excesses which
inaugurated the revolt, is the case of a soldier who was tied
to a tree, his feet and hands were then cut off, and while he
was screaming in agony, a cigar was put into his mouth, and
he was asked whether he wished to have it lighted.
The events which marked the outbreak of the revolt roused
the Government from its delusions and its apathy. It was
no longer possible to mistake the nature of the rising. It
was civil war, not a riot. It was the deliberate act of an
organized party, who had long been meditating armed resist-
ance, a party which must be met and crushed now and for
ever. Even the Marquis Wielopolski was compelled to acknow-
ledge that stern measures were inevitable ; after some hesita-
tion he admitted that acts of vigour were required, and gave a
reluctant consent to the counsels of men of more practical
ability than himself. His enemies exulted over him. The
minister who, a few months since, had thought to govern
Poland by trusting her people, had now twice acknowledged
the worthlessness of his theories. He had vaunted the effect
of the constitutional reforms he was pledged to introduce, and
then (like the drunkard indulging in a last carouse the night
before he intends to take the pledge) he had relied on an
infamous conscription ; and now, only ten days later, he threw
conciliation to the wind, and trusted for the triumph of his
128 THE RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT IN POLAND.
policy to the weight of the Russian sword. How could
monarch or people confide in a statesman whose theories were
so utterly thrown aside in the first hour of trial ?
The kingdom of Poland was declared in a state of siege,
and was divided into seven sections, each of- which was placed
under the charge of a military officer. These sections were
A.ugustovo, Plock, Kalisk (including the Warsaw and Brom-
berg railway), Warsaw (including part of the Warsaw railway
lines to Petersburg and Vienna), Radom, and Lublin.
In the Augustovo district the greater part of the insurgents
appeared on the north, bordering on the province of Kovno,
thus threatening to carry the insurrection into Lithuania; a
portion, however, acted in the south-east, in a district which
was well fitted for partisan warfare, and were not dispersed
until they had injured several portions of the railway between
Kovno and Konigsberg ; they reunited a few days after their
defeat, and passed into the province of Grodno, where they
were again dispersed by troops sent against them from Wilna,
The insurrection spread rapidly in the district of Plock,
which is chiefly inhabited by small proprietors and Schlachta,
and several actions took place there which terminated in the
defeat of the insurgents.
In the section of Warsaw, and the adjoining province of
Grodno, the only acts of the insurgents deserving notice were
the temporary destruction in several places of the railway, and
the interruption of communication by telegraph.
It would be endless to particularize all the petty struggles-
which at this time occurred. Unimportant in themselves, and
resultless in their consequences (for the defeated bands re-
assembled, by appointment, in a few days' time), it would only
be to present to the reader the confused details of paltry
skirmishes in an unknown land skirmishes presenting no-
features of interest; not illustrated by any known act of
heroism or magnanimity; and which, at most, never rose in con-
sequence beyond the most ordinary incidents of a guerilla war.
In the encounters between the Russian troops and the insur-
gents the losses were very unequally divided, and many hostile
:>mments were made upon the " lying "bulletins," which
stated some considerable number of the enemy were slain,
CONSTITUTION OP THE INSURGENT BANDS. 129
while the troops lost "their invariable one Cossack." Without
attempting to solve the question of whether or no the losses
of the Russians were unduly lessened, I shall point out the
explanations given me by those who contended that the
bulletins were true, and then leave my readers to draw their
own conclusion.
The insurgents were raw and undisciplined levies, no more
conversant with war than are English yeomen and shopkeepers ;
and they had to contend against well-organized troops. Few of
the insurgents had muskets; most of them were only armed with
pikes, scythes, and sticks; the Russians were perfectly armed,
and carried rifles.
An idea of the nature of the bands may be formed by a
description of one which was defeated at Semititski, on the
8th February. It was said to have numbered 5,000 men.
Every 1,000 men had a company of rifles, 200 in number, and
that company was divided into four platoons. The riflemen
were armed with double-barrelled guns and muskets, while
the other 800 men of each 1000 formed four companies, and
were armed with lances and scythes. The riflemen wore black
(chamarkas) coats ; while the other insurgents wore coats of
similar shape, made out of rough grey cloth. So much organ-
ization was, however, seldom met with ; in general the bands
had practically none, and were miserably armed and clothed.
The bands were generally formed from priests, landowners,
lesser nobles, petty officials, and such peasants as had no
land, bnt were engaged as workmen by the landowners. The
peasants who had land uniformly refused to join. Very
often both the peasant workmen and mechanics from towns
were induced through misrepresentation to join the insurgents.
Thus they were told that the Government had determined to
seize as recruits all men between the ages of sixteen and thirty,
and were urged to fly into the forest and join the bands, to
avoid this compulsory enlistment. When they did so, perfect
strangers to them became their leaders, and explained to
them that they now formed part of the national army, and
promised them arms, food, clothes, and pay. These promises
were, however, seldom fulfilled, and the ordinary food given
to the insurgents was a piece of bread and a glass of spirits.
130 THE RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT IN POLAND.
Many of them, finding how miserable was their condition,
wished to leave the band and return home ; but their leaders
threatened them with death if they did so, and fear kept them
to their colours. Many of the leaders, desirous of augmenting
the numbers of their men, and wishing the rebellion to appear
thoroughly national, endeavoured to secure the assistance of
the peasants by acts of violence and cruelty. Their attempts
were, however, vain; but fear sometimes prompted them to
help the insurgents by giving them money and food.
The actions fought by the contending parties were of the
character which generally distinguishes a partisan war. For
the most part they avoided an encounter with considerable
bodies of troops, while they plundered the posts, custom-houses,
treasuries, and frequently the villages where no soldiers were
stationed ; they had neither the organization nor the arms to
resist a regular force, and when they were forced to fight, they
generally resisted only for a short time and then dispersed,
seeking shelter in some adjoining forest, having arranged that
on an appointed day and at a fixed place they should meet
again. The only chance the Eussians had of destroying a
band completely was when they could cut off their retreat to
the woods and compel them to fight.
The preceding remarks must not be considered to have an
invariable application. Among the ranks of the rebels were to be
found men of honour who would not stoop to deceive or misuse
peasants ; of true courage, who failed to recognize as patriot-
ism the plunder of a strong-box or the robbery of a mail ; and
who tried with vain and hapless chivalry to wring from the
armed hand of Russia the freedom which was the prize for
which they strove.
The bands which operated in Lithuania generally came
there from the Kingdom, and, except in the province of Kovno,
where many of the crown peasants joined them, did not meet
with much support from the lower orders.
The Roman Catholic clergy exerted all their influence in
the cause of the insurgents, and, openly preached rebellion
to the lower orders. Encouraged by the comparative impunity
with which they carried on their operations, the insurgents
abandoned the system which alone had secured it to them, and
LANGIEWICZ. 131
in three different quarters formed themselves into considerable
corps d'armes.
The principal of these bands was concentrated near the
town of Wachock, in the government of Radom, and consisted
of from 3,000 to 4,000 men. They were commanded by Lan-
giewicz, formerly a professor in a Polish military school in
Italy, which had been recently closed by the Italian Govern-
ment, who had now come to Poland with many of his pupils
to assist in the insurrection. This band destroyed the bridge
over the Pilica at Bialobrzegi in order to intercept the com-
munications with Warsaw, and made every preparation to
resist the enemy. The country held by Langiewicz was well
adapted for the warfare he carried on, for it is one of the
few mountainous districts which vary the otherwise mono-
tonous plain of Poland ; it is studded with vast forests and
morasses, giving those who are acquainted with the neigh-
bourhood great advantages over strangers, and affording the
former ample shelter and opportunity for re-forming themselves
in case of defeat. There are also in this neighbourhood many
government forges for manufacturing iron, of which large
deposits are found here, and the insurgents took possession of
them, and fabricated scythes, knives, and other rude weapons,
with which they armed themselves. The neighbourhood of
the Galician frontier was another advantage this situation
possessed, for it enabled supplies to be securely received from
the Austrian territory; it facilitated the junction of exiles
who desired to aid them^ and it permitted the insurgents to
establish constant communications with Galicia, and thus with
the nations of Western Europe. The vicinity of the Austrian
frontier also secured a safe refuge from the enemy in case of
defeat.
In the first week in February, four of the eight towns in
the government of Eadom were in the hands of the insurgents,
who established a species of provisional government there,
appointed the old chiefs of districts to act in the same capacity
for them, issued passports to traders who desired to pass their
lines, and ordered a conscription amongst all classes, peasants
included, of all males from eighteen to thirty-five years of age.
The second band had its head-quarters at Wengrow, in the
132 THE RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT IN POLAND.
district of Lublin, near the Lithuanian frontier ; it was esti-
mated to consist of 3,000 men, among whom were many
fugitives from Warsaw and a number of small freeholders.
A division of the Smolensk regiment was sent against them
from Siedlee ; its head, a Russian colonel, reconnoitred the
ground, and halted about ten miles from Wengrow. When his
report reached Warsaw, it was resolved to attack the insur-
gents at daybreak on the 4th February : the colonel, at the
head of his regiment, with the aid of the artillery from Siedlee,
was to attack it from the south, while Major- General Krudner,
leading troops sent from Warsaw, was to attack it from the
north. When, however, the troops under General Krudner
approached the town, they found it already in the hands of the
Smolensk regiment, who on the previous day had taken it,
inflicting heavy loss on its defenders. This engagement was
rendered remarkable by a charge which insurgents, who were
armed only with scythes and pikes, made upon the artillery of
the Russians. The attempt was unsuccessful; but it was a
very gallant one. The residue of the shattered band retreated
across the Bug.
The third band, about 2,000 in number, established itself
in some forests near the town of Lovicz, in the neighbourhood
of the railway from Warsaw to Vienna, and confined itself
to intercepting the railway communication between the two
places, and cutting the telegraph wires.
At the first outbreak of the revolt, the Russians appear to
have been uncertain how to act ; they had a large army in the
kingdom, estimated at 100,000, and certainly in truth not less
than 80,000 men, in addition to at least 50,000 more who were
stationed in Lithuania and the Western provinces. The insur-
gents never amounted to 20,000 at any one time in arms, and
they were undisciplined, badly armed, and unused to war; it
seemed, therefore, that there should have been little difficulty
in putting down the revolt. But although the Russians were
numerous, their strength was wasted by being scattered over a
large extent of country, where they garrisoned all the towns,
and even every important village. Unless they withdrew from
these places, they had not the power to bring any considerable
force into the field, and if they withdrew from them, it was to
ENGAGEMENT AT WINCHOCK. 133
allow the rebels to take possession of them, and apparently to
gain great successes over the authorities. The choice was one
of considerable difficulty; but it was eventually resolved to
abandon the outposts which hitherto had been occupied by
small bodies of troops, who were peculiarly liable to be
attacked and cut off in detail ; to concentrate the troops in the
larger towns, and to form moveable columns which should
pursue and attack the rebels wherever they drew to a head.
This determination was not, howeve^ arrived at before the
Government had sustained considerable losses ; for in many
towns the insurgents had seized the public funds, together
with arms and ammunition captured from the garrisons who
held them ; and such losses were not only intrinsically serious,
they were far more important as giving confidence to the
enemy, and as tending to persuade the peasants that the
authorities were the weaker party, and were unable to protect
them.
On' 3rd February, a considerable force, consisting of foot
soldiers, dragoons, and Cossacks, with two cannon, marched
against Langiewicz. When they were about a mile and a half
from the town of Winchock they were attacked by some
insurgents, who were armed with scythes and pikes. The
Cossacks, at the head of the force, fell back right and left to
allow the artillery and the tirailleurs to open fire upon the
enemy. At the first sound of the cannon the inhabitants of
the town quitted it, and took refuge in the adjoining forest.
The troops marched on the place, while the tirailleurs flanked
them upon both sides. The insurgents, after a short conflict in
the streets, fell back in confusion, and the troops occupied the
town. The official journals at the time represented this action
as a most calamitous defeat for the insurgents, and alleged
that their forces were totally dispersed ; but subsequent events
did not confirm these statements j and while it is clear the rebels
suffered a severe check, and were driven out of Winchock, it
will be seen hereafter that they were not dispersed, but that
they continued the struggle in which they had adventured
themselves for some months longer.
134
CHAPTER X.
Policy of Prussia. Her Government of Posen. Convention with Russia for
Rendition of Criminals. Debate in Prussian Chambers. English
Despatches. Policy of Austria. Loyalty of Peasants and Clergy in
Galicia. Anti-Russian Feeling of Austrian, French, and English Press.
PEUSSIA and Austria had viewed the outbreak of the insur-
rection with great and reasonable anxiety. Accomplices in
the original partition, ratifying and confirming the policy which
dictated that act by their share in the treaty of Vienna and
the territorial arrangements it effected, there was every pro-
bability, if the Kingdom were revolutionized, that the Poles of
Galicia and Posen would fly to arms. Yet there was much in
the position of the two great German powers which was likely
to induce them to adopt a very dissimilar line of action now.
When Posen was first ceded to Prussia, the province lay
waste and desolate. Its miserable inhabitants were reduced
by prolonged wars and scarcely less disastrous peace to almost
a condition of barbarism. Cities once populous and thriving
were deserted ; houses were tenantless, churches in ruins.
Through the country the wretched peasants, wasted with
famine, brutalized by war, without education, freedom, or
enlightenment, were the helpless slaves of merciless masters.
Those very masters were little their superiors save in the
power they possessed to domineer over and oppress them, and
they had neither knowledge nor refinement through which there
was any hope that the country might be raised from her
degraded state.
It was not, therefore, simply as a conqueror that Prussia
came. Posen was necessary for her security ; but it must be
Posen humanized and strengthened her people must be
educated ; her cities refilled ; her blighted industry revivified ;
her altars rebuilt; and her prosperity restored. Frederick
was not unequal to the exigency. Oppressed as Prussia
was with costly military establishments, exhausted as she had
PEUSSIAN GOVERNMENT OF POSEN. 135
been by sanguinary and long-continued war, still that great
sovereign was to Posen a liberal and enlightened benefactor.
Roads were constructed through forest and morass ; in villages
the most remote schools were introduced, and churches rebuilt
and endowed; a postal service was organized, agriculture
nourished, and an industrious population gathered in her towns.
Posen, as Posen now is, has been the creation of Prussia, and she
may well be proud of the triumph her civilizing arm has won.
The conduct pursued towards the conquered province by
Prussia has for many years past excited the bitter indignation
of the Poles. Anxious to ensure the continuance of the pros-
perity he had founded, it was the policy of the descendants of
the Great Frederick to encourage the " noiseless Gerinaniza-
tion " of Posen. In all directions a spendthrift proprietary
wasted their fortunes in luxury and extravagance ; reduced to
poverty, they had forced their estates into the market, and the
Germans were encouraged by their Government to purchase
them. An orderly and industrious proprietary succeeded to a
bankrupt and dissolute nobility ; land long laid waste was
cultivated with anxious care; comfortable houses, well-
arranged farms, and a contented peasantry, changed the face
of the country : though the Polish was still an important
element in society, it had no longer a preponderating
influence; and every year witnessed the developing pro-
sperity and the increasing Germanization of Posen. The
process which had been so thoroughly effected in Silesia as to
leave no trace of its original Polish origin, was working here,
and there was every reason to suppose that another half-
century would obliterate all that was Polish in the province
of Posen.
It was therefore natural that the Prussian Government
should view with great alarm any insurrection in the kingdom
of Poland which might by possibility extend to its own terri-
tories. War in the kingdom of Poland, so often devastated,
so depopulated, and where civilization and improvement had
made such scanty progress, might be of little import; but
war in Posen, war which should destroy her peaceful villages,
which should ruin her rising commerce and her thriving agri-
culture, would undo the painful work of fifty years, and
136 THE KUSSIAN GOVERNMENT IN POLAND.
obliterate that noble triumph which the slow and stolid industry
of Germany had won over the light and reckless Poles.
In the year 1857 a convention had been entered into
between Russia and Prussia, having for its object the ren-
dition of political and criminal refugees. It related, first, to
all individuals who deserted from the active service of the
respective armies, and to individuals who had only obtained
leave of absence, and who in fact belonged to the reserve ;
second, to all individuals who were prospectively liable to
military service in the state which they had left ; and, third,
to criminals who had fled from the state in which they had
committed crime in order to escape from the pursuit of justice.
In this convention a clause was inserted, couched in the fol-
lowing terms : " Neither deserters, nor individuals subject to
military service, nor criminals, can, on the part of the State
which claims them, be pursued in the territory of the other
State, either by any act of violence or arbitrary authority, or
clandestinely. It is, in consequence, forbidden that any
detachment, military or civil, or any secret emissary, should
pass the frontier of the two states with this object."
Early in February, confused rumours spread abroad of a
treaty alleged to have been entered into between Eussia and
Prussia for affording each other mutual aid in the suppression
of disturbances. The most exaggerated reports were circu-
lated as to the stipulations of this treaty ; and Sir Andrew
Buchanan, the English minister at Berlin, writing to the
Foreign Secretary on 14th February, stated, as the result of
his inquiries, that he believed ' ' it has been agreed that the
commanders-in-chief of the two Governments will keep each
other informed of the movements of the troops under their
orders ; that if the troops of the one Government should
retire before the insurgents into the territories of the other,
they will be allowed to retain their arms, and to recross the
frontier as soon as they may be in a position to do so, and
that the troops of either Government will be at liberty to
pursue insurgents into the territory of the other."
These reports were strengthened by the terms of a procla-
mation addressed to the inhabitants of Posen by the president
of the province, and the general in command there. It stated
DEBATE IN THE PRUSSIAN CHAMBERS. 137
that "the armed insurrection which has broken out in the
kingdom of Poland against the lawful authority of the Go-
verninent, has changed our immediate neighbourhood into the
theatre of bloody events ; but whilst the cruelties perpetrated
by the insurgents inspire the greatest horror, they at the
same time afford the certainty that this criminal undertaking
will bring about the destruction of those whose fanaticism has
made them partakers in it. . . We fear that attempts will be
made to seduce individual inhabitants of the province to a
participation in the insurrectionary movement of the neigh-
bouring country; a participation which, if even only an
indirect one, but substantiated by any public manifestation, or
by any act of support or assistance, of whatever kind, would
have to be regarded (considering the notorious tendencies of
the insurrection) as an undertaking against the laws of this
country, and might therefore involve the heavy penalties of
treason."
Under the influence of the prevailing rumours, a stormy
debate took place on 1 8th February in the Prussian Chamber.
The minister, M. von Bismarck, was asked whether any con-
vention had been concluded between the two Governments for
the suppression of the insurrection in Poland ; and if so, what
were its contents. He answered, that the Government did
not intend to reply to the question. M. Waldeck denounced
the convention, which he assumed to have been entered into,
" as something so monstrous that it was difficult to find the
proper category among public acts wherein to range it. It
was nothing more or less than the sending over of gendarmes
and armed police to a country whose existence had hitherto
depended on police and gendarmes. And this was a part to
be undertaken by a state that pretended to be at the head of
German civilization. The man whose face did not flush with
shame at such a thought was not worthy to be a Prussian or
a German." The speaker protested that it was an absurdity
to suppose that fugitives could endanger the security of
Prussia, and declared that the true protection of the latter lay
in the contrast the administration of her Polish possessions
offered to the system of Russian rule. The only parallel he
declared for this ignominous convention, was to be found in
/
138 THE EUSSIAN GOVERNMENT IN POLAND.
the sale of his troops during the last century, by the elector
of Hesse, to the British Government for subjugating the
revolted American States. " But/' he continued, " the day
for a policy of this kind is past, and kings can no longer
treat the lives of their subjects as private property to be
employed no matter on what frivolous or Quixotic adventures.
An intervention on our part let us not disguise the fact from
ourselves would be denounced by the whole civilized world.
Austria condemns it, England openly condemns it, France
rejoices at the opportunity offered her of making herself
popular at our expense. Even in Russia the principles upon
which such an intervention would be based have of late come
discredit, and the Emperor Alexander has himself endea-
voured to adopt a more liberal policy. . ."
Lord Russell, on the same day that this debate took place,
wrote to Sir A. Buchanan, instructing him to procure a copy
of the convention; and on 21st February he saw the French
ambassador, and learned from him, that although his Govern-
ment was not in possession of the text of the convention, they
knew enough of its purport to form an opinion unfavourable
its prudence and opportuneness ; and that they considered
Prussia had, by its conduct, revived the Polish question.
.^- The reticence of M. von Bismarck had produced its natural
result ; the people of Prussia believed their Government had
entered into some humiliating capitulation for hunting down
the insurgents. France, only too happy to seize the opportu-
nity she would gladly have created, was preparing by energetic
protests to pave the way to future action ; while the minister
of England, unwilling to be left behind in the race of diplo-
matic liberality, thought it necessary that he too should write
something, that he too should interfere.
On the 2nd March, the very day upon which Lord Russell
wrote the despatch from which extracts will be presently
made, a letter from Sir A. Buchanan reached him. In that
letter he stated that M. von Bismarck had read to him the text
of the convention ; that it was of an informal character, was not
divided into articles, and was to the following effect : " That
disturbances having broken out in the kingdom of Poland
which might endanger property and tranquillity in the frontier
CONVENTION BETWEEN RUSSIA AND PRUSSI
provinces of Prussia, it was agreed between the two Govern-
ments that the troops of either should be authorized, on the
requisition of the military authorities of the other, to cross
the frontier, and, in case of necessity, should be permitted to
pursue insurgents into the territory of the other : and it was
further stipulated that either of the contracting parties should
be at liberty to terminate this agreement." Sir A. Buchanan
added that ' ' not only was the convention incomplete from no
ratifications having been exchanged, but, as its existence also
depended on the will of the contracting parties, it could not
be considered a binding agreement."
On the same day a despatch from Lord Napier reached the
Foreign Office, in which he stated that he had seen Prince
Gortschakoff, who had explained that the agreement was
simply one for the maintenance of security on the borders of
the two countries.
' ' The insurgents were in the habit of falling on the custom-
house stations and other localities where public funds were
deposited. It was necessary that the agents of Government
should be enabled to withdraw with their funds from threat-
ened posts to places of safety, if necessary, even on foreign
territory. Such a liberty was assured for them ; and if they
were pursued by the rebels, the latter, in their turn, would be
followed by the Russian troops over the frontier until they fell
in with an armed force of Prussians."
It would perhaps be difficult to collect from these commu-
nications anything to justify the statements in Lord RusselPs
next despatch to Sir A. Buchanan ; but on the very day he
received them, he wrote as follows :
" The convention which has been concluded between Russia
and Prussia relating to the affairs of Poland has caused con-
siderable uneasiness in this country.
" The powers of Europe were disposed to be neutral in the
contest between the Russian Government and the Polish in-
surgents.
" Prussia has departed from this course.
' ' My inquiries, as well as a despatch from Lord Napier, have
led me to believe that the convention contains
" I. An agreement that Russian troops, upon crossing the
140 THE RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT IN POLAND.
frontier of Prussia, shall not be disarmed, as would be required
according to international usage, but shall be allowed to retain
their arms, and to remain and to act as an armed body in
Prussian territory.
" IL A permission for Russian troops to pursue and capture
Polish insurgents on Prussian territory."
Sir A. Buchanan was directed to inform the Prussian Govern- "
ment, that it was clear that they thus made themselves a party
to the ' ' war raging in Poland " that there was no necessity
for their so doing ; that it was an act of intervention unjustified
by necessity; that it would alienate the affections of the
Polish subjects of Prussia, and " give support and counte-
nance to the arbitrary conscription of Warsaw."
In obedience to his instructions, Sir A. Buchanan saw M. von
Bismarck on the 5th March ; read him the despatch ; was in-
formed that no such clause as that first cited by Lord Russell
existed in the convention; that the stipulation permitting,
under certain circumstances, the entry of Russian troops on
Prussian territory would have been restricted and defined by
instructions issued to the frontier authorities, but that it had
now been decided that in no case would such entry be neces-
sary ; that in no instance had Russian troops been allowed to
cross the frontier and attack the insurgents ; and that, in fact,
the convention was a dead letter, as the instructions necessary
for carrying it into effect had never been drawn up.
It was no longer possible for the Foreign Secretary to per-
severe in his demands or his comments, so on the llth March
he withdrew his request for a copy of the convention, and
concluded with the remark, ( ' the crossing the frontier with
money from unprotected and insulated custom-houses, with-
out any formal convention, must be considered as too unim-
portant to deserve serious notice."
While such was the policy of Prussia, which had something
to lose by the spread of the insurrection, Austria, from the
difference in the condition of her Polish possessions, was able
to regard the future with equanimity and adopt with compo-
sure a role of unaccustomed liberality.
Galicia had never been Germanized, the Polish element pre-
ponderated there, and among men of education and property
AUSTRIAN POLICY. 141
the Austrian Government was as much detested as was the
Russian rule by the same classes in the Kingdom. But the
peasants were devoted to their Emperor ; they considered the
freedom which they had obtained in 1848 as the guerdon for
their loyalty in 1846, when they murdered a thousand of the
Galician rebel proprietors; and they were prepared to give
further proofs of their fidelity, in the hope that they thus
might obtain fresh concessions and extended rights. The
Roman Catholic priesthood also were the loyal upholders of
Austrian supremacy ; they preached submission to constituted
authority, and exerted themselves to the utmost to prevent
any revolutionary outbreak.
Austria had thus good reason for believing that there
would be no successful insurrection in Galicia. It was, indeed,
at least open to question whether she would not be strength-
ened rather than weakened by the reconstitution of the Poland
of 1772, provided such a reconstitution made the kingdom
absolutely independent of Russia. The intervention between
her own and the Russian frontier of a strong military power,
seeking nothing from her, regarding her as an ally, professing
the same religion, and to a great extent having interests in
common with her, would go far to counterbalance the loss
of a province which gave her no real strength, and where she
knew that her rule was utterly distasteful to all the educated
classeA,of the population.
Swayed by these considerations, and by the exigencies of
ler own internal policy, which rendered it all-important to
ler to earn a character for liberality, the conduct of Austria
vas marked by impartiality and justice. All attempts to
enrol men in Galicia were discouraged, and as far as pos-
sible repressed, and the meeting of the provincial Diet at
Lemberg was adjourned to prevent revolutionary speeches
being pronounced there, and also to prevent the younger
members of it from compromising themselves and their friends ;
but the Austrian minister, Count Rechberg, discouraged any
idea of a military convention between the two Governments,
and resolved to be guided in his treatment of political fugi-
tives by the ordinary usages of civilized nations.
The German Liberal press adopted a line of decided sym-
142 THE RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT IN POLAND.
pathy with the Poles. " If we would express the feelings
which prevail in Austria/' said the Botscli after, " with refe-
reSce to the Poles, we should be guilty of an untruth were we to
maintain that we do not wish them success. We speak of the
feeling expressed in private and social life. It would be
unnatural were it otherwise. . . . Austria has a right
to protest before Poland and the world against the share
ascribed to her in the iniquitous deed of partition. She has
done whatever she could, and she will continue to strive
against adding bad to evil. She will endeavour, by means
of a liberal and humane government, to ameliorate the con-
dition of the Austrian Poles, to save them from entering upon
rash and foolish enterprises, and from a darker fate ; the rest
she will leave to Providence ; and though reproach may be
cast upon her for so doing, we are sure that a vast majority of
the Austrian people will applaud her policy. No Austrian
can for a moment entertain the thought of another holy
alliance with Prussia and Russia, with Bismarck and Gort-
schakofF."
The anti-Russian feeling in England and France was care-
fully stimulated by the agents of the revolution. Extra-
ordinary statements were circulated and believed, of unheard-
of cruelties practised by the troops not only against the insur-
gents, but against peaceful and unarmed inhabitants. Equally
*"fmprobab!e accounts were propagated of Polish heroism,
magnanimity, and success. It was no uncommon thing to
read of bands armed with scythes and pikes, putting to flight
regular troops many times more numerous than themselves,
and the only circumstance which appeared in the minds of
thoughtful men to shake confidence in these strange recitals,
was the fact that the insurrection seemed ever advancing, but
yet never to make any way ; and a hundred well-contested
fields and brilliant victories failed to give them (after the
defeat of Langiewicz) the command of a single province,
fortress, or even town.
Examples without number of the gross exaggerations of the
press might easily be adduced, but it will be sufficient to
instance the reports which the Viennese correspondent of the
Times, on 3rd February, judged sufficiently trustworthy to
EXAGGERATIONS OF THE FOREIGN PRESS. 143
embody in his letter of that date. He stated that in Galicia
it was said that more than 200,000 men had risen against the
Russian Government, but that it was known in Vienna, that
not even a fourth of that number was actually under arms >
that about 10,000 conscripts had been taken to the fortresses
of Warsaw, Modlin, and Lublin ; and, quoted from the Vienna
Presse,. that M. von Valbezen, the French consul in "Warsaw,
had said a few words to the Archduke Constantino in favour of
the conscripts confined in the citadel ; and the consequence of
his interference was, that seventy prisoners were shot.
When it is remembered that certainly at no one time were
more than 20,000 insurgents ever in arms ; that the conscrip-
tion was only carried out in Warsaw, and the number of
conscripts did not exceed 2,000, of whom many had escaped,
and that prisoners in Russia are only put to death after legal
trial, and after sentence has been pronounced against them,
the absurdity of the statements thus submitted to English
readers will be sufficiently apparent. _
It was, perhaps, an error in the Russian Government not
to take care that these reports should be promptly and fully
contradicted; but they regarded them as canards, weighing
nothing with well-informed or educated persons, and therefore
as too contemptible to be worthy of denial. If public opinion
were only influenced by the intelligent and instructed, such a
course might have been wise and prudent ; but as it, unfor-
tunately, is more frequently swayed by ignorant clamour and
blundering good intentions, they allowed themselves to be
greatly prejudiced by their haughty silence.
144
CHAPTER XI.
The Emperor Napoleon. His presumed Designs on Prussia. Exasperation
of the French People. Temporizing Policy of the Emperor. Sympathy
in England with the Insurgents. Debate in the Lords. Despatch of
Lord Russell Reply of Prince Gortschakoff.
THE policy of the Emperor Napoleon was constantly the theme
of anxious inquiry and hypothesis. Men asked themselves
what that mysterious silence, which nothing broke, portended,
and over what thoughts that impassive countenance kept guard.
Did the master of the army of France intend to launch its
magnificent legions against the myriads of the Czar, to resume
the strife which in 1856 he had so hastily abandoned, and to
avenge the misfortunes, if he did not repeat the catastrophe,
of 1812 ? Would he, the conqueror of Magenta and the vic-
torious diplomatist of Solferino, now strive to arouse a second
nation from its death-like sleep ? And if he did, for what
hidden purpose would that war be waged ?
Men did not trust the Emperor Napoleon ; they admitted
^Jlis^ability, wondered at his^xeticence, dreaded his power;
they did not credit his professions, or believe in the integrity
of his views ; and now they anxiously inquired with what
object he would draw the sword, and, looking round them,
surveyed the Continent of Europe, and endeavoured to dis-
cover how France would indemnify herself for the cost and
hazard of war.
At first the Emperor had avoided all interference in the
Polish question ; his ambassadors had expressed no sympathy
with the struggling nation ; the official journals had been
silent, and the warlike tendencies of the French press had
been restrained. Then came the alleged convention with
Prussia, and immediately his policy was changed. He saw,
men said, the germ of a great opportunity, and he would not
let it pass. It was not Russia he desired to encounter, it was
POLICY OF THE FRENCH EMPEROR.
not Poland he panted to free ; it was Prussia he longed to
humiliate, it was the Rhenish provinces he desired to win.
There was colour for the inference, for to Prussia the
Emperor attributed the revival of the Polish question, and ""*")
from the hour he had done so he followed it up with perse- /
verance and determination. When the provisions of that /
memorable convention had been explained, the English /
minister had deemed them so trivial as to be unworthy of /
further inquiry or comment. How then did it happen, when /
the stimulus was withdrawn, that the vane of French diplo- I
macy pointed to war, and her press exhausted its bitter and I
unsparing energy in denunciations of Prussia as well as her /
northern ally ? How did it come to pass that in official pam- /
phlets she was significantly menaced in the name of peace,/
and threatened with conquest in the cause of European order ?*1
These things are never done by accident in France ; whence,\
then, did their inspiration originate ?
Meanwhile the passions of the French people were fully
roused ; an European war was certain to give them new tri-
umphs to celebrate, and a war for Poland appealed to some
of their proudest recollections and most generous impulses.
They remembered how nobly the Poles. had fought in the
battles of the great Napoleon, and they felt his betrayal of
their cause as the one dark blot on the scutcheon of his fame;
it was, they thought, a holy undertaking to redeem from
bondage that chivalrous and patriot race ; and they desired
to lay the lance in rest against what they conceived to be th
darkest and most barbarous tyranny that modern history h
seen. Being disposed for decisive action, their feelings were
* In one of those historical references in which French pamphleteers
delight, and from which they have the faculty of proving whatever suits their
momentary purpose, Prussia is warned to be submissive ; and then, as an
intimation of what she might expect in case she proved contumacious, the
author alludes, in the following terms, to the history of another age :
" Posterity will one day ask why, during the last six years of his reign,
Napoleon showed himself without mercy to Prussia. It is because Prussia
is the power that injured him most, by compelling him to fight her, and
destroy her when he wished to extend, fortify, and increase her." "UEmpereur,
la Pologne, et I' Europe"
L
fw
o-p
146 THE RUSSIAN GOVEENMENT IN POLAND.
maddened by the tidings which daily reached them. Unheard-
of atrocities, from which neither sex nor age, nor rank nor
sacred duties availed to shield their victims, were chronicled
with monotonous regularity; telegrams summarized them,
correspondents dilated on their details, leading articles were
passionately eloquent upon the same themes, and the people
implicitly believed everything that was thus conveyed to_ them.
Amid all this excitement, diplomacy moved on with clock-
work regularity, ever approaching nearer and nearer to the
momentous hour when mere words would be of no more avail,
and still the Emperor sat impassively gazing on the scene,
and still he made no sign.
Sometimes in history, and frequently in every- day life, a
silent man acquires a character he little merits for ability and
knowledge. Perhaps, when years have rolled by, when the
present generation has passed away, when the little incidents
that look so great to us are all reduced to their true dimen-
sions, the future historian may question the depth of that
wisdom which it now so greatly embarrasses us to plumb. Is
it not possible that the Emperor indicated no policy simply
because he did not know what policy to pursue ? Is it not
possible that he was embarrassed by the efforts of former
years, and by his own conduct, which had been often vigorous,
often fortunate, but never straightforward ?
His position was certainly difficult. The occupation of Koine
I embarrassed him, while it insulted Italy and contradicted every
aspiration and utterance of his life. His army in Mexico,
instead of finding their march to the city of Montezuma a
mere triumphal pageant, was thinned by an ignoble foe and
decimated by a fatal climate ; and this war, regarded by the
French people with unmixed aversion, was costly, inglorious,
and apparently interminable. His finances, known to be con-
fused, were suspected of being seriously disordered, and those
who were most conversant with them seemed to view them
with the gravest alarm. Meanwhile the people, first tortured
into silence by massacre and exile, then bribed into acquiescence
by trophied monuments and two successful wars, were at length
aroused; at length they bethought themselves that they were
worthy of being more than a nameless mob, whose only destiny
POLICY OF THE FRENCH EMPEEOR.
147
was to applaud their Emperor, or swell an unanimous vote
whenever he appealed to a plebiscite to confirm his sovereign
decree.
Thus encircled by difficulties, it needed a strong will to
shape a policy and adhere to it without deviation or sub-
terfuge. A war for the liberation of Poland would reburnish
the tarnished popularity of the Empire, and if England and
Austria were allied with France, it would be morally certain
of success. The financial difficulties of the moment might be
tided over, for in the lavish expenditure of modern war an
existing deficit may be included in the loans it is necessary to
contract ; while the clang of the trumpet, the glitter and the
triumphs of war, would divert the thoughts of the people from
the dangerous path of liberty and self-government.
So far the course was smooth and very apparent. Strong
remonstrances might be indulged in, if Austria and England
concurred in them ; a war might securely be waged if those
two powers would lend their active assistance; and in the
mean time the press might continue to excite the people;
French officers might be encouraged or permitted to join the
patriot levies, and contributions might be collected in their-
aid. If Russia yielded to diplomatic representations, France!
would claim the glory of reconstituting the liberties of Poland ;1
if war were the result, she might arrogate to herself
prouder boast of reconquering her independence.
The danger was that France, by the vehemence of her
representations and the passion of her people, might be
hurried into the conflict, while the prudence of Austria and
the pacific tendencies of England might sever her connection
with the only nations whose joint action would ensure her
triumph in such a war.
To"""protect himself against this eventuality, the Emperor
tried, a few weeks later than the time which my narrative has
now reached, to lure Austria and England into arrangements
for joint action in case the six points, to be hereafter noticed,
were not conceded ; but those cabinets had then gone further
than prudence would have counselled, and the Emperor tried
in vain.
Other projects suggested themselves, and presented sub-
L 2
ACVJ-4 \A. j I
f the!
* *r " i
148 THE RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT IN POLAND.
stantial advantages as an offset to the perils which environed
them. The kingdom of Italy was yet imperfect, and its
warlike monarch, a satellite revolving round the Napoleonic
sun, was ready to assist a benefactor who yet had princely
rewards to bestow. An Italian army might doubtless be
marshalled in a new combination against Russia, under a king
whose astutest and most successful action had been a similar
alliance during the Crimean war. In the North, the hope of
recovering her lost possessions might hurry Sweden into the
field; in the East, the hardy tribes of the Caucasus, with
French assistance, would give occupation to a large army ;
while Turkey might be incited to commence a holy war, and
along her far-extended frontier find employment for the
Russian sword.
France, we are told, alone among nations, goes to war for
f an idea, yet she would scarcely find in that of Polish indepen-
l dence compensation for the costly uncertainty of the strife.
\ Whence, then, was profit to be extorted, and from whom were
\ territories to be wrung? The Rhenish provinces was the
1 answer; and Prussia, the inextricable ally of her mightier
neighbour, was to be the prey. The war-cry of " the Rhine "
would rouse the enthusiasm of France ; it would strengthen
that dynasty which is ever telling the world how much it
requires ' f consolidation ;" it would silence all opposition, and
1 be a great and glorious realization of another Napoleonic idea.
\ Such, it would appear, was the position in which the French
^-Emperor was placed, and such were the different courses open
to him to pursue. Doubtless each had its advantages, and
against each there was much to be alleged ; one fact alone
was evident, that something quickly must be done. The
choice was full of difficulty. He could not withdraw from
Mexico, and admit his enterprise had failed ; on the contrary,
he must support it with fresh troops, and continue the
contest till success had crowned his intervention. He could
not anticipate from day to day the extent of this drain on his
resources, nor, in face of its possible requirements, could he
prudently involve himself in European war. Meanwhile, his
people were hourly becoming more impatient of inaction, were
asking what the policy of the Government was to be, and
DEBATE IN THE HOUSE OF LORDS. 149
were contrasting diplomacy at St. Petersburg with extirpa-
tion in Poland.
Unprepared to reply to these demands, anxiously weighing
and balancing the merits of every scheme, it is little to be
wondered at that the Emperor was silent ; it is not surprising
that he let events drift whither they would go, hoping ere
long to discover the direction of the current, and resolved to
guide the vessel of the State accordingly. His silence, while
it did not complicate affairs, gave him one enormous advan-
tage, for it enabled him, whenever he decided on a policy, to
announce it like a thunder-peal. He knew the French passion
for stage effect, he knew how certainly a coup de theatre
secures their admiration, so he folded around his irresolution
a sibylline garb, and when he spoke, he gave his hesitatin
ition the likeness of an oracular decree.
In England, also, a strong feeling in favour of the insur-
gents was manifested ; day after day the press teemed with
repetitions of the false reports with which foreign journals
were filled, and incessant appeals were made, in powerfully
written articles, to the former condition and 'future hopes of
Poland, the hapless victim of a sullen and remorseless tyranny.
On 20th February, Lord Ellenborough, in the House of
Lords, took occasion to make remarks of a very seve
character both on the conscription, to which he attribu
the revolt, and on some of the other acts of the Russia
Government.
In reply, Lord Russell stated, that to those who knew what
was the progress of events in Poland, the insurrection was
not unexpected. He alluded to the demonstrations which
had taken place in Warsaw, and stated, though apparently
peaceful, their necessary result was concession on the part of
the Government, or violence on the part of those who shared
in them ; and after a review of recent events in Poland, and
an allusion to the conscription, he stated, " the feeling pro-
duced by such a measure may be imagined. The persons
who were engaged in secret societies, who meant to rise in
insurrection at some time, though probably they would never
have carried out that intention, were driven to despair, and
thought, if they must serve as soldiers, they would rather shed
150 THE RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT IN POLAND.
the last drop of their blood upon their native land of Poland,
than waste their lives in distant lands in the service/of Russia."
Urged on by the feeling thus excited in England, and by
the fact that France announced her intention pf remonstrating
with Russia, Lord Russell, on 2nd March, addressed the fol-
lowing despatch to Lord Napier :
" Her Majesty's Government view with the greatest concern the state of
things now existing in the kingdom of Poland. They see there, on the one
side, a large mass of the population in open insurrection against the Govern-
ment ; and, on the other, a vast military force, employed in putting that in-
surrection down. The natural and probable result of such a contest must
be expected to be the success of the military forces. But that success, if it
is to be achieved by a series of bloody conflicts, must be attended by a
lamentable effusion of blood, by a deplorable sacrifice of life, by wide-spread
desolation, and by impoverishment and ruin which it would take a long
course of years to repair.
" Moreover, the acts of violence and destruction on both sides, which are
sure to accompany such a struggle, must engender mutual hatreds and
resentments, which will embitter, for generations to come, the relations
between the Eussian Government and the Polish race.
" Yet, however much Her Majesty's Government might lament the existence
-^ of such a miserable state of things in a foreign country, they would not,
perhaps, deem it expedient to give formal expression to their sentiments,
were it not that there are peculiarities in the present state of things in Poland
which take them out of the usual and ordinary condition of such affairs.
" The kingdom of Poland was constituted, and placed in connection with
the Russian empire by the treaty of 1815, to which Great Britain was a
contracting party. The present disastrous state of tilings is to be traced to
the fact that Poland is not in the condition in which the stipulations of
that treaty require that it should be placed.
" Neither is Poland in the condition in which it was placed by the Emperor
Alexander I., by whom that treaty was made.
" During his reign a national Diet sat at Warsaw, and the Poles of the
kingdom of Poland enjoyed privileges fitted to secure their political
welfare.
" Since 1832, however, a state of uneasiness and discontent has been
succeeded from time to time by violent commotion and a useless effusion of
blood.
" Her Majesty's Government are aware that the immediate cause of the
present insurrection was the conscription lately enforced upon the Polish
population ; but that measure itself is understood to have been levelled at
the deeply rooted discontent prevailing among the Poles, in consequence of
the political condition of the kingdom of Poland.
" The proprietors of land and the middle classes in the towns bore that con-
J
REPRESENTATIONS OF THE ENGLISH GOVERNMENT. 151
dition with impatience ; and if the peasantry were not equally disaffected,
they gave little support or strength to the Russian Government.
" Great Britain, therefore, as a party to the treaty of 1815, and as a power
deeply interested in the tranquillity of Europe, deems itself entitled to
express its opinion on the events now taking place, and is anxious to do so
in the most friendly spirit towards Russia, and with a sincere desire to pro-
mote the interest of all the parties concerned.
" Why should not his Imperial Majesty, whose benevolence is generally and
cheerfully acknowledged, put an end at once to this bloody conflict by pro-
claiming mercifully an immediate and unconditional amnesty to his revolted
Polish subjects, and at the same time announce his intention to replace with-
out delay his kingdom of Poland in possession of the civil and religious
privileges which were granted to it by the Emperor Alexander I., in execu-
tion of the stipulations of the treaty of 1815 ?
" If this were done, a national Diet and a national administration would
in all probability content the Poles, and satisfy European opinion."
When Lord Napier read this despatch to Prince GortschakofF,
the latter replied, that the insurrection was the result of a
deep-laid conspiracy, widely organized in foreign capitals ; that
its explosion had only been hastened by the conscription. It
was, he said, a democratic and anti-social movement, conceived
in the pernicious notions of which Mazzini was the author and
the symbol, and in these designs the Poles had been enlisted
by nattering their natural illusions, which pointed, not to the
objects indicated in Lord Russell's despatch, but to the
severance of Poland from the Russian crown, to national in-
dependence, to the restoration of the limits of 1772. The
insurrection only included the mechanics of the towns, the
indigent nobles, and the clergy. The landed proprietors and
great nobility had collected for security under the guns of
the citadel of Warsaw ; the peasantry were decidedly on the
side of the Government, moved by a sense of the benefits
which it had conferred upon their order, and disgusted by the
exactions imposed on them by the roving band of marauding
insurgents. Some, indeed, of the upper classss might join in
the patriotic delusions of a restoration of ancient Poland, but
their eyes were only sealed to the absurdity of such expecta-
tions, owing to the countenance extended to them by foreign
governments.
Referring to the suggestion that the constitution of 1815
should be restored, Prince Gortschakoff said : " The constitu-
152 THE RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT IN POLAND.
tion of 1861 embodied a complete autonomy. National insti-
tutions were granted by it, with a modified representation
adapted to the form of political existence in force under the
Imperial Government. Poland was now ruled by institutions
purely Polish. There was a directing Minister /a Pole, enter-
taining national sentiments of the most decided character ; a
Council of Administration, composed of Poles ; a Council of
State, containing Poles taken from the several ecclesiastical
and civil orders of the community, and embodying some
representative elements, in which general laws for the welfare
of the kingdom were elaborated; there were provincial,
district, and municipal councils in descending order, all
purely elective, charged with the local and material interests of
the country. This national representation was not cast in the
same mould as that which was designed by the Emperor
Alexander I., or that which existed in England, but it formed,
nevertheless, a system of national and representative institu-
tions adapted to the condition of Poland and its relations with
C /Russia. The kingdom of Poland enjoyed an absolute adminis-
XI trative independence. Even the department for Polish affairs
^ in the Russian capital had been abolished, and the only insti-
tution common to the two countries was the army. The new
, .institutions granted to Poland opened a wide field for activity
vand material prosperity to the country. With regard to the
amnesty, he stated that, while a prompt and unconditional
pardon could not be conceded to those who were actually in
arms against the authority of their sovereign, it had always
been the intention of the Emperor to grant a large measure
of amnesty to his revolted subjects after the cessation of
resistance, excluding only the principal authors of a move-
ment which had caused so many calamities in the kingdom.
The ill success of English diplomacy has ever been pro-
verbial, but on the questions to which the Polish revolt gave
rise it was even more unfortunate than is its wont. Our
statesmen, with few exceptions, have never been conversant
with foreign politics, and almost every continental crisis has
found them acting hastily, or unprepared to act at all ; still we
have a policy upon some great questions, and upon them, if
our rulers do not act wisely, they at least act in accordance
153
with precedent and the traditions of the past. Of Poland, how-
ever, they appeared to be completely ignorant ; the discussions
in the Houses of Parliament were scarce worthy of a debating
club, while Lord Russell's despatches were hardly equal to
school-boy themes. When the English ministry interfere
between a powerful sovereign and his revolted subjects, it was
at least to be expected that their spokesman and representa-
tive would understand the question upon which he wrote ; that
he would not betray, whenever he put pen to paper, an ex-
traordinary ignorance of history, of the events passing before
him, and even of the despatches he received from his own
ambassadors. Something more was surely to be expected
than the recapitulation of newspaper reports, the adoption
of captious common-places, and the indulgence in boastful
utterances, to be repudiated in the hour of peril.
Yet the perusal of Lord Russell's despatches must convince
every impartial reader that their general character has not
been mis-stated, and it must ever be matter of regret that
where the honour and dignity of England were involved, they
were intrusted to such rash and inadequate guardianship. In
truth, however, Lord Russell was placed by the exigencies of
our system of government in a position where his previous
political experiences availed him nothing, and for which his
habits of thought and action rendered him singularly unfit.
The great and solitary achievement of Lord Russell's life,
the conduct of the Reform Bill, gave him a hold on liberal
opinions in England, which even his subsequent career has
failed entirely to loosen. Many excuses have been made
for a time-serving, captious, and undignified policy, because
the great revolution in our representative system, which was
planned and carried out by abler men, was erroneously ascribed
to his mediocre intellect and faltering tongue.
The knowledge of partisan tactics, learned in the House of
Commons, was'little qualified to aid Lord Russell in the con-
duct of foreign affairs ; he had now to deal with a statesman of
European reputation, whose great abilities had been con-
spicuously shown throughout an illustrious career. Trained
from his youth in diplomacy and statesmanship, Prince
Gortschakoff was fully competent to master the difficulties
154 THE RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT IN POLAND.
before him ; his despatches are models of logical argument,
and they breathe throughout a fixed determination to uphold
the honour and integrity of the Eussian empire. Always
courteous in the tone adopted towards England, it will be
found that he relied in the early part of his negotiations on
common interests, treaty rights, and ancient friendship ; to an
ally he was willing to concede much, and his despatches were
most temperate and conciliatory. As the negotiations, how-
ever, continued, and Lord Russell became more menacing in
his tone and more exacting in his requisitions ; as he lent the
great name of his country to the cause of anarchy and
European disorder, the replies of Eussia made it clear that to
threats she would never yield. Far from showing the cunning
and chicanery which we too generally attribute to our Northern
ally, there never was a series of state papers in which a national
policy was more frankly avowed. Eussia believed herself to
be in the right, she knew that she was powerful, and while
she desired peace, she did not shrink from war.
The great diplomatic triumph which the Prince achieved
was, however, his celebrated despatches to the ambassador at
the French court ; despatches in which, with pitiless severity,
he anatomized the diplomatic history of the past, ably
vindicated the policy of Eussia, and exposed the falsehood
of the allegations upon which the French Government was
preparing to draw the sword.
The effect of these despatches on the Eussian people will
not lightly be forgotten by any one who witnessed it ; they
regarded the prince as the noble and eloquent champion of
his country, and responded with an unanimous voice to his
words.
155
CHAPTER XII.
Langiewicz's Campaign ; his Defeat. Kesumption of Power by the
National Government.
IT is very difficult to follow with certainty the military events
which succeeded the battle of Wenchock. It is clear,, however,
that the main hope of the insurgents consisted in the army under
General Langiewicz. This force amounted to three or four
thousand men ; but they were undisciplined, imperfectly armed,
and unaccustomed to war -, and it was necessary for their leader
as- much as possible to avoid a general engagement. He
harassed the enemy by a partisan system of warfare, keeping
them ever in doubt where he would strike the next blow, and
embarrassing them by the rapidity of his movements, and not
unfrequently by their audacity. Thus gradually habituated
to face regular troops, his followers learned steadiness and
endurance, and, before long, bodies of men armed with
scythes opposed themselves without shrinking to the Russian
bayonets.
The system adopted by the Government gave the insurgents
the advantage of being the apparent masters of the larger part
of the country, for, in consequence of the Russian forces having
been withdrawn from many of the smaller posts, they were able
to boast that they had chased their foreign enemy into his
fortifications, and that beyond them he did not hold one inch
of Polish ground save that whereon his armies trod.
Gradually the new system adopted by the Russians enabled
them to collect larger bodies to take the field against the
rebels ; but even then this change in their tactics produced at
first no answering result. Heavy masses of troops might, in-
deed, slowly march through the disturbed districts; but the tread
of their ponderous columns was heard afar, and they marched
through a country dreary and desolate, but in which there was
156 THE RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT IN POLAND.
no sign of an armed and living foe. If, however, a small
detachment ventured to separate from the main body, it was
assailed and cut off by overpowering numbers ; and then the
revolutionary press rung with their triumph, and Europe was
required to recognize an independent Poland* because a few
soldiers, and perhaps a sous-officier, had been vanquished in the
forests or morasses of a country that was strange to them.
However much the revolutionary press might deceive others,
it could not hide from the leader of the insurgents the despe-
rate nature of the contest in which he was involved. A Central
Committee sat at Warsaw, and nominally governed the whole
movement. Its secret members were fluent writers, and inun-
dated the country with flowery proclamations and sanguinary
decrees ; but they gave no sign of capacity for the work they
had undertaken, if their actions were scanned by those who
knew what were their sources of information and power : the
tricks of the juggler astonish the ignorant boor, but the accom-
plice who has arranged the cards, or prepared the machinery,
detects the faults and the blunders that the spectator never
observes.
The movement, if it was indeed to become a national one,
required a single mind to direct it. Through the whol e country
there were multitudes of independent detachments fighting
without plan or purpose, and finally falling victims to their
ignorance of the necessities of their position. It was neces-
sary they should be controlled, that their rash valour should
be utilized, that their selfish wishes should be checked, that
their sanguinary excesses should be restrained ; and all these
ends could only be effected by placing the entire control of the
movement in the hands of one competent chief. There was,
perhaps, another motive for the work to be now undertaken ;
it was necessary to win the confidence of the great nobles ; it
was necessary to give them some pledge that a socialist pro-
paganda would not direct the revolution, and no such pledge
could be given while the Secret Committee reigned. The first
act of that committee, an act by which the insurgents were
now irrevocably bound, had startled and offended them ; for
they saw in the alienation of the peasants' land the carrying
out of a policy to which they had ever been opposed, and they
PROCLAMATION OF LANGIEWICZ. 157
anticipated with gloomy forebodings the future acts of a party
which had thus inauspiciously begun to govern.
Moved by these considerations, Langiewicz took a step
which for the moment effectually superseded the power of
the Central Committee. After some consultation with the
officers about him, he published the following proclamation :
" FELLOW CITIZENS, The most devoted children of Poland have commenced,
in the name of God, the combat provoked by the violence and oppression
exercised by the Muscovite domination. They have commenced it against
the eternal enemy of liberty and civilization, against the Muscovite intruder,
the oppressor of our nation ; they have commenced it for the liberty and inde-
pendence of our country. In the unfavourable circumstances in which the
enemy has provoked the explosion of the insurrection by the excess of oppres-
sion, the contest, begun with empty hands against the armed multitudes of
Russia, has continued not only for nearly two months in a great portion of
our country, but increases and spreads further and further, thanks to the
activity and devotion of the whole people, who are resolved to become free or
to perish. Polish blood flows in torrents upon many fields of battle ; it flows
in the streets of our towns and villages, which the Asiatic enemy is utterly
destroying, massacring inoffensive inhabitants, and abandoning to pillage the
remains of their possessions. In view of this life-and-death struggle, in view
of the murders, pillage, and flames with which our enemy marks his route,
Poland sees with grief, by the side of the grandest devotion and enthusiasm
of her children, the want of a military and avowed leadership capable of pre-
venting the scattering of the forces which have been called forth, and of
arousing those who still slumber. It follows, from the general situation of
affairs, as well as from the nature of the struggle which is proceeding, that
outside the camp of the insurgents there is not to be found throughout the
whole territory of the country a spot where a central power publicly avowed
could establish itself ; and this is the reason why the Secret Provisional
Government, which emanated from the former Secret Central Committee, has
not been able to present itself in open day before the nation and the whole
world. Although there are in the country men who are far above myself in
capacity and merit, although I appreciate the extent and gravity of the
duties which in a position so difficult weigh on the supreme national power,
I assume, nevertheless, with the consent of the supreme National Govern-
ment, the supreme Dictatorship, prepared to deposit it when we shall have
shaken off the Muscovite yoke, in the hands of the representatives of the
people. I assume it in consideration of the urgency of the circumstances
which imperatively demand a prompt remedy, in consideration of the neces-
sity of increasing the forces of the nation by the concentration of the civil
and military powers in one hand, directed by one sole will, in this murderous
contest against hostile troops. In reserving to myself the immediate direc-
tion of military operations, or in claiming the power of transferring, if neces-
158 THE RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT IN POLAND.
sary, the military command in chief to other chiefs in provinces which will
be named, I deem it useful at present to confide all the civil administration
of the insurrection, as well as that of the freed territory, to a private civil
government which will act under my inspiration and control. The powers
and organization of this government will be indicated in a special publication.
In taking the dictatorship I commence nothing new, but simply finish the
work of the National Government. I confirm, then, and proclaim again in
all their entirety, the fundamental principles expressed in the manifesto of
the Provisional Government, dated January 22nd, in the name of which the
flag of the national contest for liberty and independence was raised, especially
the liberty and political equality of all the sons of Poland, without distinc-
tion of belief, of condition, or of birth ; also the giving, under conditions, of
the landed property, subjected until now to rents or charges, to the rural
population, with indemnity to the proprietors, who will be saved from harm
out of the funds of the State.
" And now, peoples of Eoyal Poland, of Lithuania, and of Ruthenia you
who form one nation in the name of God I call you once more to uni-
versal and immediate insurrection against Muscovite oppression and bar-
barity. The concord of all the children of Poland, without distinction of
class or belief, the community and universality of efforts and sacrifices, and
the unity of the object, will raise the scattered forces to a power which will
be fatal to the enemy ; they will procure independence for our country, liberty
and happiness for our descendants, and will assure immortal glory to those
who may meet the death of heroes in this sacred struggle. To arms,
brothers ! to arms ! for the independence of the country.
" General MARYAN LANGIEWICZ, Dictator.
" Head-quarters, Goscza, March 10."
Intelligence of this decided step struck the Central Com-
mittee with astonishment ; but it was better to submit to the
usurpation than to disavow it ; for the latter course would have
disclosed to the world those dissensions which it was fatal at
such a moment to avow. The Committee, therefore, wrote a
secret letter to the Dictator, which curiously illustrates their
embarrassments and internal feuds :
" GENERAL, The news of your proclamation as Dictator, notwithstanding it
could not be considered by us otherwise than as a coup d'etat, was at first
welcomed by us with joy. All, without distinction of opinion, were ready to
accept the revolutionary illegality, and to pardon a deed which might be
regarded as the act of a man who felt the strong necessity of saving the
country from falling. We also took into account the circumstances which
would not permit of the formation of a political combination, however patent.
It was almost without deliberation that it was decided to print and publish
your manifesto ; every means had been resorted to in order to gain for you in
LETTER OF THE CENTRAL COMMITTEE. 159
public opinion as general an adhesion as possible, and the Government, con-
vinced that the direction of the movement had passed into strong hands,
hailed with joy the approach of the moment when it could withdraw from
power. In effect your voluntary declaration that you looked upon yourself as
the heir of the revolutionary and national policy of the committee, was for it
a guarantee that you would not overturn the bases laid by the committee, and
was the strongest proof that you would not allow yourself to be guided by
the Eeaction, at all times the most sanguinary enemy of the rising and the
men who have sprung from it.
" Nevertheless, at the moment when we printed your proclamation we
learnt with unspeakable grief the circumstances which preceded your assump-
tion of the dictature. Never did we suppose that the soldier of St. Croix
and of Staszow, who needed no other consecration than the benediction of
the revolution, sought support from political intriguers who deserved nothing
but contempt. From esteem for yourself, and for the honour of the revolution,
we were willing to admit that your good faith had been surprised in the most
shameful manner, and we could explain at a future time with what object this
was done. It was only from that conviction that we did not suspend the
publication of your manifesto ; we did not wish to depart from the course we
had adopted before the reception of that news, and we did not refuse you our
concurrence, of which you have had occasion more than once to appreciate
the value and importance. We have nothing to say against the principle
of the dictature, we have no feeling against you personally, as you have
up to this time acted so as to merit our esteem and gratitude ; we
have, therefore, no objection to make against the exercise of the dictature
by you, provided that you will exercise it vigorously and for the good of the
country ; but we declare frankly, once for all, that from regard for the good
of the country and the rising, from esteem for ourselves and for you, we
will never support, we cannot and do not wish to support, your present
entourage.
" We ask you, General, to reflect coolly for a mome.nt, and you will com-
prehend that our speaking in other language to you would be at the present
tune, on our part, an unpardonable crime.
" When on the memorable night of the 22nd of January, at a signal given
by us, you placed yourself at its head in one of the palatinates, the men whose
agents now crawl at your feet, in order to destroy you more easily and to
cover the revolution with opprobrium those men pronounced against the
revolution, and with an impudence of which the Reaction alone is capable,
proposed to bestow revenues upon you on condition that you would desert
the ranks of the army, and that you would betray the country. Without
doubt, the revolutionary party, represented by the Provisional National
Government, was not then able to bring any military succour to aid you ; but
do not forget that, thanks to its previous activity and its labours alone, you
found an inexhaustible material of devotion and patriotism, from which by
your superior talent, which we have constantly appreciated, you profited for the
formation of your valiant legion. Do not forget that, General, and do not
1GO THE RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT IN POLAND.
conclude from the weakness of its military preparations, any weakness in the
revolutionary party, which, reduced to rely on its own strength alone, and in
spite of the obstacles thrown in its way by the Reaction, has brought about
events that have increased your power.
" We have mentioned above the manner in which you treated with the
department of landed proprietors. Nevertheless, when baving profited by
the moral dispositions of the country, you had, with indefatigable activity,
organized a considerable armed force, then that department commenced
carrying on around you a series of intrigues unworthy of a generalissimo
intrigues that we must absolutely lay bare before your eyes.
" Count , who giving himself out as the representative of the'
National Government, placed in the hands of skilful intriguers the corner-
stone of the machinations carried on around you in order to insure your
destruction, never was sent by this Government nor was provided with any
plenary powers. In order that you may learn what this Count is, we
refer you to General Wysocki, and from him you will learn the history of
certain receipts fabricated by Mr. - , for problematical sums. As to the
political convictions of Mr. , who can have nothing in common with
those of a revolutionary organizer like you, General, we refer you to the Czas
of the past year. Mr. is an adventurer \vhorn a gentleman would be
ashamed to speak to. The name of the honest Bentkowski has probably been
mixed up with this intrigue in the same manner as yours has been, that is to
say, by taking advantage of his good faith. These people, who represented
nobody, who had nothing in their possession, could not offer anything to you,
and from them you could not accept anything. According to our conviction,
the dictature was conferred by Malogoszcz and Skala. You had no need of
these men, nothing attaches you to them. Separate yourself from them,
therefore, for that separation alone can save you, and with you save also the
cause.
" Reflect, General, on the end to which they tend. The list of ministers
and of divers other functionaries presented for your sanction, contains only
the names of General Wysocki and some other worthy persons, who, it can-
not be denied, will not on any account seat themselves on the same bench
with intriguers, whose only aim in slipping into your camp was to ruin the
revolution. The dictature has a right to make use of the services of men of
all parties and all convictions ; but it has not a right to sacrifice the principles
from which it originated. We acknowledge accomplished facts, but no civil
government can establish itself, nor shall it be established, without our con-
sent ; for all the portions of the country occupied by the enemy are in our
hands, and can be governed by our permission alone. Do not forget that, in
assuming the dictature you have taken upon yourself, before history, the
country, and us, all the responsibility of the manner in which you exercise it,
and that all complications resulting from your resolutions will fall on yourself
alone.
" You have still our adhesion and our concurrence, as the hero of our revolu-
tion, the conqueror of Staszow and of Malogoszcz ; they belong to you alone,
LETTER OF NATIONAL GOVERNMENT TO LANGIEWICZ. 161
for you have repulsed Mieroslawski. For us you are the representative of
the new idea, for them only an instrument. Choose. We have still a firm
conviction that a momentary mistake, which the greatest men have not
escaped from, will be forgiven, and that in your political career you will show
yourself, General, before the country and before us as pure as you were at
Piaskowi Skala. If, against our expectation for the misfortune of the
country and of the rising our hopes fail, do not forget that as surely as we
now offer to you our support, we will commence proceedings against you. If
the revolution should be defeated once more, it will be your fault, General.
As to us, in the interest of the future of the country, we will preserve our
principles unshaken and intact.
" And now we cry with all our might * Hurrah for the dictature, and down
with reaction.'
" Waiting for your reply, we are with profound esteem, &c.,
" Warsaw, March 16, 1863." (L.S.)
The time had, however, passed for these controversies ; ere
this letter could reach him, the Dictator was engaged in the
struggle which was to prove fatal to his hopes and to those of
his country.
The concentration of the Russian forces had enabled them
to bring into the field a force of upwards of 12,000 men to
act against Langiewicz in the province of Radom. Slowly, but
very surely, they marched against him, leaving nothing to
accident, but closing every avenue of escape as they advanced.
A strife so unequal could not long continue. Langiewicz did
everything that an able and gallant officer could do to save
a falling cause. At one time, swooping down upon some
isolated detachment as it painfully threaded its way through
the forests and morasses of Radom, he would defeat it. At
another time he would rally his disorganized masses after they
had been vanquished by the enemy, inspire them with fresh
courage, and teach them how, for the sake of their country,
to fight and suffer again. But the Russians gathered round
him in all the strength of overpowering numbers, discipline,
and arms. There was no prospect of success for his irregular
levies, when they had to contend under such conditions with
veteran and well-commanded troops. His men, armed with
scythes and pikes, might win an occasional triumph over the
irregular horsemen of the Don, but they had no chance against
M
102 THE RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT IN POLAND.
the men who at Sebastopol had made four nations feel their
patient and abiding courage. And thus the storm increased,
and the waters gathered round him, and little by little he
found himself hemmed in, till in the increasing gloom all
prospect of their subsidence vanished, and no tirk of security
was nigh.
Yet to the last he bravely bore up against the difficulties
which were overpowering him. On three sides the dense
masses of the Russian army encircled him. Opposed to his
scythes and pikes were a powerful artillery, and regiments
armed with rifles ; while hanging on his flanks, skirmishing in
his front, and spreading over the country on all sides, were
clouds of Cossack horsemen. Nearer and nearer they came,
and there seemed no way of avoiding the unequal contest
they strove to drive him to accept, unless he retreated across
the frontier and submitted to be disarmed by the Austrians.
He evaded his enemies ; their troops were within three miles of
his little army, when by a sudden march he turned their flank,
and freed himself from the toils once more. The respite
was of short duration. From every direction troops were
collecting to oppose him. Two days later, on the 18th
March, he was attacked by a small Russian corps, which he
defeated. On the following day he fought his last battle
and gained his last victory. He was stationed at a little
village named Busk, some twelve miles from the Austrian
frontier, when he received intelligence that a strong detach-
ment under Prince Schahoffskoy was menacing him from the
south. Other troops threatened his right wing on the east,
and to the north, at a distance of some twenty-five miles, the
formidable ramparts of Keilee, and the troops who manned
them, precluded all hope of escaping on that side. He
retreated to a wood near the village of Grockowiska, and
was attacked by the Russians there. In consequence of the
nature of the ground, the Polish cavalry were unable to act,
and the whole burden of the day fell upon the Zouaves and
scythemen. The Russians charged them with the bayonet ;
but the charge was gallantly withstood, and repelled with heavy
loss. Finding they met with a resistance so obstinate and
effectual, the Russians retreated, leaving the field of battle in
LANGIEWICZ SURROUNDED BY THE RUSSIANS,
possession of their adversaries, and took up their position at
Pynczow, some five miles to the north.
Surrounded by his enemies, who, although for the moment
repulsed, were daily gathering strength; c.onscious'that another
battle, should it even be a victory, would only weaken his
weary and diminishing army ; perceiving that his position was
fast becoming untenable, owing to the increasing power with
which he was at length brought face to face ; finding it im-
possible once more to break through the opposing force, and
take up some fresh position ; Langiewicz saw that the time was
rapidly coming when he would be able neither to fight nor
fly, and when, if he took no step to avoid a catastrophe so
disastrous, he would be obliged to lay down his arms and
surrender at discretion. That night he assembled the officers
of his staff in a council of war, and consulted them on the
critical condition they were placed in. It was determined, in
presence of the overpowering forces which had taken the field
against them, that it was hopeless to keep together a consider-
able army ; that all that was possible was to resort once more
to a guerilla war ; and it was resolved that the force should be
subdivided into bands, each of which was to act independently
of the others, and to retreat from before their enemies in a
different direction.
It was rumoured, and the report was confirmed by Langie-
wicz's proclamation, that dissensions in his own camp hastened
the inevitable conclusion; that men were jealous of the
Dictator ; that they had their own objects to serve, and their
own proteges to favour ; and that they willingly saw the down-
fall of one whom they regarded as the representative of a party
more moderate than their own.
After leaving his camp, Langiewicz drew up a proclamation,
which was the next day circulated among his troops. In this
document he stated it was necessary that he should now
organize bands and detachments who were fighting in other
parts of the kingdom, and that to do so he should leave them
for a short interval. After recalling the struggles and victories
of his troops, he continued :
u The Russian agents, hiding themselves in your ranks, make it necessary
M 2
](J4 THB RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT IN POLAND.
for me to depart secretly, and without bidding you farewell. The same
reason, also, prevents my informing "you of my ultimate destination.
" Gathering round me some superior officers to be appointed to the com-
mand of forces worse officered than yourselves, I require no more than an
escort of thirty lancers to accompany us a short distance on our way.
Before leaving, the force under my immediate command* has been divided
into several corps, each under a separate general, and with special orders as
to the march and work that lie before them.
" Companions in arms ! in the face of God and the presence of my army,
I took the oath to fight to the last. This oath I have kept and shall keep in
future. You, too, have sworn to serve the country and obey my commands.
The oath of the soldier is equally inviolable with that of the general. In the
name, then, of God and country, continue the struggle, and fight the Mus-
covite, while fighting remains the only means of restoring the liberty and
independence of the country.
" But a few hours after my departure calumny denounced me as a traitor, an
embezzler, and a thief. The same infamous slanderers instigated desertion in
the camp, and, while intending to destroy me, they only benefitted Muscovy
and prepared an easy triumph for the foe. The adherents of the ambitious
criminal I have to thank for all this are not aware, or, if they are aware,
utterly ignore that my only object is to establish the liberty and independence
of the country."
When the news reached the camp that the Dictator had
left them, grief and terror took possession of the multitude.
He was gone the one master-mind which had given them
victory, and found shelter for them in defeat ; he was gone,
and within sight were the threatening armies of their enemy,
ready to renew a conflict which could only end in the discom-
fiture of the leaderless and broken Poles. To no purpose did
the officers explain how the war was now to be conducted; to
no purpose was the Dictator's proclamation distributed among
them, for the only idea it conveyed to them was that their
leader had deserted them. In their despair they listened to
no counsel and obeyed no commands, but hastily retreating
from the ground they occupied, they broke their ranks and
fled for safety to the Austrian frontier. Some, however, were
less dispirited, and instead of losing all faith in their country
and their cause, united themselves to other detachments in the
kingdom, and strove to carry on a guerilla war.
Leaving the camp with a few of his officers, Langiewicz
attempted to reash Podolia, to take the command of a band of
FLIGHT OF LANGIEWICZ. 165
insurgents in that province ; before, however, he had gone far,
he met with a Russian corps whose numbers rendered it
impossible for him to pass or successfully attack them. He
avoided the danger by crossing the Vistula and entering
Galicia, where he trusted that a French passport in which
he was described as a M. Waligorski would protect him. Re-
presenting himself by his assumed name, he requested the
Austrian commander to permit him to continue his journey
unmolested. On being told that this request could not be
granted without express permission from the higher autho-
rities, he finally declared himself, and placed himself under
the protection of the Austrian Government. And now,
crowding over the frontier, poured the shattered fragments
of the late insurgent army. Broken, dispirited, famished,
shivering, and weary, the inhabitants of Cracow and Tarnow
could scarce persuade themselves that this was the celebrated
army whose deeds had been so widely told. Were these
wounded boys who were carried to the military hospital the
Zouaves and the scythemen of whom they had heard so much ?
And were these fugitives, who had not among them a weapon
or an uniform, the men who a week ago were thought com-
petent to annihilate the power of Russia and re- erect in
Warsaw a national throne ?
Yet so it was. The dictatorship of ten days was ended,
and all chance of success in the struggle for national freedom
seemed to have died with it. Doubtless brave and enthusiastic
men might still be found to peril life and liberty in the cause
of Poland; doubtless there yet remained able and daring
plotters who would carry on their mysterious schemes for
the revivication of their country ; but there was nowhere to
be found in the ranks of the insurgent party those combined
qualities which the Dictator alone possessed, a true patriotism
unstained by selfish hopes and criminal ambitions ; a dauntless
courage which never swelled into boastfulness or sunk into
ferocity ; self-possession when perils of all kinds thickened
round him ; and a mastery and power over the minds of others,
which converted a disorganized rabble into a phalanx of steady
soldiers.
He fought "no more for Poland; he was the guiding star
166 THE RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT IN POLAND.
of the movement, and when his light was lost in the gloom of
an Austrian dungeon, the insurrection dwindled into the ordi-
nary insignificance of a guerilla and partisan war.
No sooner had Langiewicz failed in his enterprise than he
was treated with the justice the world ever* metes out to
the unfortunate. Denounced, as we learn from his own pro-
clamation, even while at the head of his army, what had a
friendless prisoner to expect at the hand of his cowardly
detractors ? He was represented as having deserted his troops,
as having sold them to the Eussians, and as having only
thought of his personal ease and security. To such an
extent were the passions of some of the fugitives excited
against him, that the Austrians were compelled to provide
him with an unusual guard, not for the purpose of prevent-
ing his escape, but to secure him from the violence of the
mob.
There was not only a character to be blackened, there was
an inheritance to be won. A little while, and some daring
hand might be stretched out to grasp the Dictatorship and
assume the direction of the confused masses who were still
in arms. Disorganized and broken, there might yet be found
some one who coveted the dangerous pre-eminence and shrunk
not from the risk that it entailed.
The Central Committee had yielded to the decided action
of Langiewicz, but they were by no means disposed to pass
by so fair an opportunity of recovering their lost dominion.
A dictatorship they professed was a mistake, large armies were
a mistake also, and in future the liberation of Poland was to
be effected by guerilla bands. Probably they thought the
isolated efforts of insignificant men would be more easily con-
trolled by them than the movements of a captain whose ability
was acknowledged, and who had under his command an
effective corps. Their ideas seldom seem to have soared be-
yond the murder of an employe or the plunder of a strong-
box, and it was natural they should seek to be secure from the
irksome dominion of ascendant genius.
They published a proclamation, therefore, in which they
styled themselves the Provisional National Government, and
m the folio wing terms resumed the authority they had so lately
surrendered :
THE NATIONAL GOVERNMENT RESUMES POWER. 167
" FELLOW COUNTRYMEN, The Dictatorship of General Langiewicz having
ceased on the 19th March, the chief authority of the country returns into
the hands of the Provisional National Government at Warsaw, who have
never left off their governmental duties, and are the only and sole legally
constituted authority of the country. Fellow countrymen ! the return of
power into the hands of men who have called forth the rising, and persever-
ingly directed it, ought to be a guarantee to you that the movement will
continue, and that it will not end without victory. Yes, we will fight without
weariness, without being disheartened by ill-success or deterred by any ob-
stacles. We will not concentrate the whole cause in one person, whose fall
may occasion the destruction of the rising ; and, strong in our possession of
the confidence of the nation, we will boldly stand forth against all factions
which might attempt to create, without our consent, any new power or au-
thority. Fellow countrymen ! we grasp again with faith and confidence the
helm of the National Government, and, practical in devising remedies in
cases of emergency, we are confident in being able to avert the danger which
threatens us in consequence of the fall of the Dictatorship.
" Faithful to the cause the standard of which, upheld by us, sets aside
every misunderstanding of party, we invoke the whole nation to obedience.
" To arms ! In the face of the foe, in the face of our falling brethren, the
place of every Pole is in the ranks.
"By authority of the Central Committee of the Provisional National
Government.
" The Commissioner Extraordinary,
" STEPHEN BOBROSKI."
168
CHAPTER XIIL
The National Government. The Peasants and the Government. Public
Feeling in Russia. Addresses to the Emperor. The Amnesty. Its
Eeception by Insurgents. English Cabinet.
PUBLIC attention had long been drawn to the self-styled
National Government. It was alleged that two antagonistic
powers ruled in Poland.
The first, legitimate only in name, was presided over by a
prince of the imperial house, assisted by a long train of expe-
rienced councillors ; was supported by a huge army ; obeyed
by a vigilant police ; in its hands were all the honours by
which ambitious spirits may be won, and all the emoluments by
which mean men may be bought ; everything was at its dis-
posal, and it scrupled not to use its advantages to enforce its
evil ends. Nor was its power bounded by its traffic in venality ;
it armed with unsparing severity and injustice the hand of the
executioner against all it suspected of being its foes ; it filled
the dungeons of Warsaw and every other Russian citadel with
men whose only crime was their nationality and the independ-
ence of their spirit ; it sent those against whom it harboured
the most paltry suspicions to waste their lives in ignoble warfare
on the frontiers of Asia, or find a living tomb in some Oura-
lian mine. And yet, despite all this power, all this illimitable
capacity to cajole, to bribe, and to punish, the Government
could scarcely hold its own within its armed fortresses and
military camps.
Beyond those narrow boundaries it was alleged that every
one bowed in reverent submission to the orders of the
National Government ; that mysterious tribunal whose faintest
wish was a command, but whose constituent parts were utterly
unknown.
In the citadel of Warsaw the Russians ruled, in the streets
of the same city the National Government were supreme.
THE NATIONAL GOVERNMENT. 169
The one power issued decrees for the levying of taxes ; the
taxes were paid, but they were paid to the collectors of the other.
This secret administration was carried on with infinite daring
and success. Admirably informed by its unknown agents, it
was aware of every resolution taken in the vice-regal council-
chamber ere the ink had dried by which that resolution was
recorded, and consequently was often able to parry or antici-
pate an intended blow. Equally well informed of the move-
ments of the Eussian troops, the transport of provisions, and
the convoy of arms, it had often the opportunity of intercept-
ing a detachment or harassing a march, and thus obtained
the successes which filled Western Europe with rumours of its
achievements, and persuaded the world that the insurrection
was maintained by powerful armies, who waged against the
troops of Russia a not unequal war.
The explanation of the apparent mystery, so far as there
was any truth in these exaggerated views, was, however, very
simple. Almost without exception, the Polish officials were
favourably disposed to the revolt ; and it has already been
seen that throughout the kingdom the civil officials were all
Poles. They not only did nothing to check the schemes of
the National Government, they did everything in their power
to advance and further them. The information, of which they
became officially the masters, they placed at its disposal ; the
operations they were directed to carry out, they endeavoured
to thwart and render useless ; and, in short, all their efforts and
all their opportunities were employed in undermining the Go-
vernment whose rank they held and on whose salaries they lived.
The police, which, under ordinary circumstances, would have
been certain to discover some traces of the conspiracy, were
also Poles ; many incidents, from time to time, demonstrated
that they actively sympathized with the insurgents ; there was
reason to think, in many cases, that they directly obeyed the
orders of the National Government ; it was certain that in no
case did they discover its emissaries or denounce its schemes.
The army was faithful : but what could the army do ? they
were in a hostile country, surrounded by spies, and many of
their secret enemies were so placed as to be able to give
them orders, instead of openly fighting against them in the
170 THE RUSSIAN GOVEENMENT IN POLAND,
rebel ranks. All the army could do was to act upon its
instructions, and put down insurrection whenever the rebels
drew to a head.
The peasants were helpless, passive, and expectant ; their
sympathies were mostly with the Government, for in the
Government they recognized the only power which as yet had
moderated the intolerable oppression of their lords ; and they
believed it would confer on them the land for which they
now were compelled to work, and which in justice and equity,
they conceived, long since should have been their own. But
the peasants had no power to counteract the secret organiza-
tion of their masters, and if they had had such power, they
would have feared to exercise it.
Another cause of the success of the National Government
was to be found in the scrupulous respect the Russian authori-
ties paid to the Catholic Church. Although there was every
reason to suppose that the priests of that Church were inti-
mately connected with the leaders of the insurrection, although
it was known that they encouraged their congregations to
give it every aid in their power, and although for a long time
past the pulpit had been little less than a revolutionary
rostrum ; yet the advisers of the Grand Duke, either from
policy or weakness, instituted no inquiries into the relations
existing between this clergy and the insurgents. The clergy,
thus feeling themselves secure, took an active part in the
insurrectionary orga-nization ; secret printing-presses were con-
cealed in the monasteries, and the proclamations of the
National Government were printed by them ; arms and uni-
forms were sent thither as to a place of assured safety ; and
it was in the same precincts, at a later date, that the daggers
and poisoned stilettos, with which the hired bravos employed
by the National Government were to be armed, were found
concealed.
The machinery, therefore, by which the National Govern-
ment was carried on was very simple; it depended on the
corrupt support of Polish officers, the treachery of the Polish
police, the weakness of the Government, and the secure
alliance of the Roman Catholic priesthood.
The proclamations of the National Government, its pass-
THE POLISH NATIONAL POLICE. 171
ports, and its orders, were issued anonymously, but were
stamped with an official seal, and bore about them all outward
signs of proceeding from some constituted authority. It
appointed governors of towns, and all other officers, in rivalry
of the Russian Government ; it had command over many of
the railway employes, its letters and missives were delivered
with more than the regularity of the post; and it had a se-
cret press which chronicled its acts, misled public opinion,
and circulated fabricated news.
The National Government strove to prevent the proprietors
from leaving their estates ; and, as already mentioned, at the
very beginning of the revolutionary struggle issued an order
desiring the nobles in Warsaw to return to them, for its
power was great over the nobles dwelling in isolated chateaux,
or small towns adjoining their properties ; and it could compel
such men to pay any exaction they imposed, and obey any
orders they issued.
In May, however, the National Government went further,
for it endeavoured to prevent proprietors from leaving their
estates without first procuring its passports ; and issued
another decree ordering all proprietors residing in foreign
countries to return to Poland.
The most efficient weapon it wielded was its secret police.
They were mainly recruited from the Schlachta and the artisans
in the larger towns. It was the duty of this police to execute
the sentences of their employers; and as those sentences
were almost invariably death, this body was nothing else than
a band of hired assassins.
These men were the blind tools of a sanguinary system.
They knew not who were their employers ; they knew not
what crimes they might be instructed to commit; but they
entered the service prompted by mercenary motives, or, at
the best, by a mjost criminal patriotism.
The following statement shows the way in which the
services of these men were secured :
" On the 8th of July, at a late hour at night, there were arrested in one of
the streets of Warsaw, Antoine Heine, fireman, aged 27 years ; Ignace
Stefanowski, care-taker of a house, aged 35 years ; and Auguste Zawistowski,
fireman, aged 37 years. All carried daggers, and on Heine was found a
172 THE RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT IN POLAND.
written order of the so-called chief of the rebel gendarmes to assassinate one
Fritsche, sergent de ville of the fourth circle.
" On inquiry, it proved that all three formed part of the insurrectionary
organization of Polish gendarmes, which had for its object political murders.
Heine had been affiliated to the society by one Francois Nowicki, who in
consequence of this information was likewise arrested.
" These four avowed that they had consented to charge themselves with the
execution of political murders, and had taken the oath required of them ;
Heine and Zawistowski in the cloister of the Trinity before a priest whom
they did not know ; Stefanowski and Nowicki, in the house of the so-called
chief of the gendaraies, before a priest of the same cloister, whom they could
not, they said, recollect, as they had taken this oath in a dark garret. Fifty
copecks (Is. 7d.) a day was paid them as members of this organization.
" The 7th July,Heine and Zawistowski had each received, in the town, from
Stefanowski, a dagger, and Nowicki at the same time gave them the order for
the assassination. These three men Heine, Zawistowski, and Stefanowski
assembled in a cabaret, and were arrested at ten o'clock at night, as they
were on the point of starting for the accomplishment of the murder."
When public opinion had recovered its tone, and loathing
was excited by that sanguinary system which at first had
only produced dismay, the great proprietors indignantly dis-
avowed all participation in these deeds of blood. The
National Government, they said, were mechanics and students,
men without education, or youths in their teens; they did
not recognize its jurisdiction, they disclaimed many of its
acts, and they protested against being identified with its
crimes.
The disclaimer came too late ; * for weeks and months that
Government had been obeyed, and the homage rendered to it
was cited to Europe as the most convincing evidence of
* The best proof of this is the speech of Prince Czartoryski, as reported in
the Times, May 11, 1863 : "Is it not a subject of consolation and of hope
for our future prospects to see a nation so united in its efforts and so well
disciplined in its struggles? A Polish Government has been established
under the very eye of the enemy and in the midst of its spies and its execu-
tioners, which has no executive force at its disposal, and which dispenses
with police and gendarmes (?) ; which has no name, and the commands of
which, nevertheless, are not the less executed throughout Poland. The
entire country is subject to it, and all we emigrants obey it. Our people,
whom our enemies have always accused of disturbance and anarchy, have
given a decisive proof of their obedience to Government of their respect for
authority, provided it be national."
MURDERS BY THE NATIONAL POLICE. 173
Polish unanimity. Its first act, the free gift of land to the
peasant, had been confirmed by the proprietors, who thus
testified their approbation of its rule, although they could
only do so by abandoning the principles they had championed
for upwards of thirty years ; and they qualified this act of un-
conditional obedience by no protest against murder, robbery,
and arson, till those crimes had destroyed the popularity and
undermined the power of the National Government.
It was indeed impossible that any political grievance should
be held to excuse such a system. The murder of Minnislewski,
a literary man who supported the policy of the Marquis
Wielopolski, is an example of it. He was sentenced by the
National Government to death as a traitor, for some unknown
offence, and his murder is thus described : " It is said that he
was warned some days beforehand that he was to die, and
after receiving the warning never went out without being
accompanied by two police agents. The day, however, of the
murder being committed, there happened to be a street fight
near the door of his house, and one of the attendants took
the chief of the brawlers into custody. Just then, a barrel-
organ began to grind forth " No, Poland is not lost/' and the
remaining attendant, having a sharp ear for forbidden tunes,
and being moreover a man of zeal, arrested the offender before
he had got to the third bar. At that moment the long-meditated
blow was struck. The appointed executioner (who by this time
must be a practised hand) had followed Minnislewski into the
house, and, seizing him from behind,- and laying his hand over
his mouth to silence his cries, stabbed him to the heart. The
executioner, or murderer, or whatever he is, got into a carriage
when he had done the deed, and calling to the police agent
who had an ear for music, said to him, ' You amuse yourself
by running after organ-players, and you don't see that in that
house a man is being assassinated/ "*
At length the unpopularity which these murders brought
upon the National Government was so great that, in a special
circular addressed to its " Diplomatic Agents," it thus en-
deavoured to vindicate them :
* Letter of correspondent in Times of llth June.
174 THE RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT IN POLAND.
" In various announcements of the national authorities, and more particu-
larly in the decrees of the provost of Warsaw, the public have been informed
that sentence of death has been passed on persons proved to have acted as
Muscovite spies. The Muscovite journals, in viewing these executions in
another light, endeavour to misrepresent their bearing and character. Above
all, they have attempted to circulate the news that the National Government
is relying upon murder as an incentive to patriotism, which would have died
away without the application of this particular means. *
" The National Government never entertained the idea of supporting by
executions a cause whose entire force lies in the principles it represents, and
in which it persists ; in those principles on which all good Poles are agreed,
on the principles, in fact, of culture and civilization, which are everywhere
disregarded and trodden under foot by the Muscovites. These principles are
our only object and incentive. By them incited, we seek, at the price of so
many sacrifices, that liberty which alone can restore us the blessings of a
civilized and well-ordered commonwealth. It is very evident,- and who can
be more convinced of it than the National Government ? that executions
would be utterly insufficient to create a spirit of patriotism among the
people, even for a time, were it determined to abandon the country and
surrender Poland to her foes. In our eyes, they are no more than an
inevitable evil, to be employed in obviating still greater evils ; no more than
a means of protection, justified as the only efficient arms against a hostile
power, which does not even shrink from calling to its aid the services of
some miserable and corrupt individuals.
" The exceptional character of our judicial proceedings, which, however, is
modified by the strictest regard to the correctness of the evidence, will be
justified in the eyes of unprejudiced observers by our unexampled position.
In all history it would be impossible to find a parallel to the system of
injustice, robbery, murder, and incessant contempt of all rights of humanity
so long imposed upon our country by the Muscovite Government, and now
carried on with increased wickedness and barbarity. The daily aggravating
character of Muscovite espionage and terrorism, whose savage deeds are
denounced in so many reports of our patriotic police, alone induced the
-National Government to have recourse to exceptional measures, which in the
history of our commonwealth, and under an ordinary state of things, would
never have occurred. But it is existence itself which we have hourly to
defend. If some abandoned ruffians have been visited, here and there, with
execution, a glance at the real state of things will suffice to show that we
should have failed to breathe the soul of patriotism into the people had it
not been its own will to pass through the trials awaiting it. Nor is it at all
doubtful that the lawless executions, whose heart-rending spectacle the
Muscovite authorities are thrusting before our eyes, will be altogether power-
less in quenching that spirit.
" A comparison between our official notifications and those of the Musco-
vites will serve to unveil the faults and unprincipled character of their
reports at the side of our indisputable facts. Thus, for instance, the murders,
CIRCULAR OF THE NATIONAL GOVERNMENT. 175
whose private and criminal nature was announced and publicly exposed by
the National Government, were converted into political executions by the
enemy, who, at the same time, endeavoured to sully the memory of the slain
by adding them to the number of their tyrannic allies. But what is
revolting above all, persons altogether unconnected with the national police
and the execution of our sentences, have been carried off to the gallows,
only to protect the Muscovite courts against the reproach of inefficiency.
Thus Kaminski was hung at Warsaw, and the two brothers Rewko wski, Lipowicz
and Jablonski, at Wilna. But even here Muscovite effrontery and wicked-
ness does not stop. While glossing over their atrocities, their papers have
been made to slander their victims, and start a whole system of mendacious
attacks from the very beginning of our revolt."
The vindication of the National Government, therefore, is,
that in the cause of culture and civilization they committed
murder, and that the espionage and terrorism of Muscovite
agents rendered it necessary they should do so. They should
show how culture and civilization can be injured by espionage,
and how far the Russians attempted to repress them by
terrorism.
The pretence that spies alone were murdered is completely
false, and could only be advanced to deceive Europe ; no one
in Poland would be misled by it. The allegation that Lipowicz
and Jablonski were unjustly executed is, I have reason to
believe, equally so, for I was present at the time, and was
assured by members of the court-martial that they had con-
fessed the crimes with which they were charged.
But it was not murder only which disgraced the National
Government. Their secret organization was often defective,
and their agents committed excesses which added to the
hatred with which the peasants regarded them.
In looking through some of the records of legal proceed-
ings at Wilna, I found a document, of which the following is a
literal translation :.
ACT.
Arrived at the property of Pomoossya, which belongs to the proprietor
Rossohatsky, I found the peasants holding some land at a rent under a
contract concluded two years ago. I read them the manifesto of the 2nd
January, 1863, and, in the name of the National Government, gave them
those lands as their own property by virtue of this Act. I commanded the
176
THE RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT IN POLAND.
UNITED ARMS\O
OF
POLAND
AND
A\ LITHUANIA.
proprietor Rossohatsky that he should never require any rent or service from
them, which he solemnly promised with oath (under menace of death).
The present Act, written in three true copies, is given to the participating
parties.
Attest the exactness of this Act. Pomoosya, the 3rd July, 1863.
The Chief of the 3rd Section of \
the Military District of > SOONDER.
Trock )
The Aide-de-Camp MEKALINSKT.
The Secretary SIIIRPENSKY.
Vdivodship of Wilna,
The Chief of the District of Trock.
The history of this document was as follows. A band of insur-
gents arrived at the estate of the proprietor B-ossohatsky; they
summoned the tenants, and informed them that the National
Government had given them their land free from all claim on
the part of the proprietor. They then sent for the proprietor,
and were equally explicit with him. Under menace of death,
as they are careful to record, they made the unhappy man
subscribe whatever document, and take whatever oath they
pleased, and then they handed the formal instrument, sealed
with the official seal, to the liberated peasants and the plun-
dered proprietor. Before departing, however, they made a
demand for money on the peasants, to which the latter entirely
demurred : there seemed in their eyes to be an inconsistency
in first giving them land, and then asking them for roubles,
which they were very anxious their new friends should not be
betrayed into ; but the band became importunate ; where they
had asked roubles they gradually lessened their demand till
it dwindled into copecks, and at length, under the pressure of
requests they could, and menaces they could not, resist, the
peasants surrendered their cash to the band, which forthwith
departed.
The liberators gone, the next question was what was to be
done with the document they left behind them. Proprietor
and tenants alike regarded it as valueless, and, on the whole,
ACTS OF THE NATIONAL GOVERNMENT. 177
they judged it best to take it to the nearest Russian authority,
depose to the facts, and leave it in his custody.
The mischievous interference of the National Government
did not stop even at acts like these ; it meddled with public
contracts, with private employment, with the management
of estates.
Sir Morton Peto and his partners had contracted to con-
struct some waterworks in "Warsaw, and on the llth of May
the following decree on the subject was issued :
" ART. 1. The contract relating to waterworks for the city of Warsaw,
concluded on the 20th day of April of the present year, between the Presi-
dent of the city of Warsaw and the foreign contractors, Sir Samuel Morton
Peto, Member of Parliament, Edward Ladd Betts, and the house of John
Aird & Co., is hereby dissolved, and must be regarded as null and void.
" ART. 2. We entrust the carrying out of this decree to the civil and
military functionaries."
A German or Frenchman was employed on the Warsaw antl
Petersburg Railway in a position of responsibility. He and
his family were solely dependent on the salary he received from
his situation. He was a man who did not mix in politics, and
who, as far as he knew, had never done a thing to offend any
political faction. Re was warned to quit his situation, and
leave Warsaw within two days. He hesitated ; to him the
change was ruin ; he thought the warning might have been
given him in error, or that at least he would be allowed to
plead his cause before the invisible tribunal which condemned
him ; but no, when the two days had passed, a second missive
reached him, telling him that as a foreigner the National
Government gave him twenty-four hours more in which to
depart r if he did not leave within that period, his life would
pay the forfeit. So in terror the miserable and ruined man
shook the dust from off his feet and left the accursed city.
Pages could be t filled with the recital of similar actions, but
my only object is to show the general scope and tenour of the
policy of the National Government^ and then leave it to the
reader to judge whether such a tyranny could be willingly
endured by a high-spirited and patriotic race.
One mistake into which the National Government was
betrayed bears on it the impress of such utter incompetence
N
178 THE RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT IN POLAND.
that it should be recorded. It forbade the payment of taxes
to the established Government ; so its officers naturally levied
on the goods of the defaulters ; thereupon a decree was pub-
lished forbidding any one to buy the goods so taken in execu-
tion ; and in consequence, goods and live stock were seized and
sold at the most absurd prices ; a cow or a horse might be
bought for a few shillings, and other things in the same pro-
portion. Of course the loss fell on the proprietors who
obeyed the National Government.
In opposition to the secret organization, the Government
resolved to bring a new and untried power into the field. The
peasants had not been prompt to side with either party, but
their sympathies were opposed to the insurgents. The cry
in favour of Polish nationality seemed to their dull but very
practical common sense to mean, if not the restoration of
serfdom, at least the withholding of all those rights which they
believed should have been granted to them more than half
a century before. The Polish landowners never attempted to
give the peasants land till they saw the Government would
insist on it, and then the scheme they propounded was only
proposed for the almost avowed purpose of embarrassing the
authorities ; the proclamation of the Central Committee was
worthless, for it had no power to confer the land it pretended
so generously to alienate ; and supposing the committee were
eventually to succeed in procuring the independence of their
country, what guarantee was there that it would act up to its
own proclamation ?
On the other hand, the Russian Government had evinced a real
desire for the amelioration of the condition of the peasants. In
Russia it had emancipated them and secured them their land ;
in Poland, before the troubles broke out, it had shown similar
intentions, and had it not been for the insurrection, would
perhaps by this time have accomplished its wishes. Moreover,
it was the stronger party, and would in the end be certain to
prevail. Moved by these considerations, the peasants, as a
class, early declared in favour of the Government, and assisted
it both by the intelligence they procured for it, and by seizing
and delivering up fugitive insurgents to the troops.
On the 6th of March the Grand Duke issued a proclamation,
THE GOVERNMENT AND THE PEASANTS. 179
by which, after recognizing the loyalty of the peasants and the
assistance they at all times gave the troops, he directed the
village authorities to employ watchmen for the purpose of
examining all suspected persons, whether residents or travel-
lers. The peasants, elders, and bailiffs were also desired to
apprehend all armed individuals and persons belonging to
insurgent bands, as well as marauders, and to convey them
to the nearest military station. These instructions were to be
carried out without committing excesses, and without doing
any violent or arbitrary act.
On the . following day General Nazimow issued a similar
proclamation to apply to four of the governments under his
charge.
The step which the Grand Duke had thus taken was viewed
with the utmost displeasure by the great Polish nobles. Since
the revolt had broken out, they complained that no overture
had been made to them by the Government,
They had crowded into Warsaw the moment the safety of
the State was imperilled ; they had consulted anxiously how
best to serve their country and their sovereign, and his repre-
sentative had given them neither encouragement nor thanks.
This they had silently endured, though it betokened suspicion
and dislike. On the 3rd of March, the fete-day of their king,
they had thronged to the levee of the Grand Duke, despite the
threats of the revolutionary propaganda, and in so doing had
incurred great peril ; yet the Grand Duke did not notice them.
And now, three days after that vain humiliation, the Govern-
ment which had treafed them so disdainfully gave the signal
for a war of classes ; it placed in the hands of a barbarous and
ignorant peasantry the right to command and to tyrannize
over their masters ; it gave to men who were no better than
the neighbouring serfs, authority to arrest the most powerful
nobleman of Poland. Whose house was sacred from their in-
trusion ? whose stable or farm-yard was secure from robbery ?
and what guarantee was there that duties ostensibly bestowed
on them in the interests of the State, might not be converted
to the vilest purposes that revenge could suggest or avarice
indicate ?
In haughty displeasure the great nobles withdrew from the
N 2
180 THE RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT IN POLAND.
Council of State. Nothing less, they pronounced, was intended
by this step than the plunder of the mansions and imprison-
ment of the persons of the proprietors, and subsequently the
partition of their estates among those who were formerly their
serfs. It was a socialist alliance between arbitrary power and
the dregs of the people, and was levelled at all the education,
all the intelligence, and all the patriotism of Poland.
To comprehend these incoherent utterances, it must be re-
membered that the land question was yet unsettled; the
wildest notions upon that subject had been afloat, and the
peasantry "had doubtless entertained very utopian ideas as to
the advantages they were to possess when their new position
was ascertained.*
And these were the men, the proprietors urged, whom the
Government were about to trust ; these were the men who,
temporarily at least, were to hold sway over their former mas-
ters ; who were to be salaried for watching, and bribed for
denouncing them; and who would see in every estate that was
forfeited through their false witness, additional booty which a
grateful Government would ere long divide among them. In
truth, in many places, the peasants were neither courteous nor
intelligent ; they were uncouth, suspicious, and exacting ; and
if they were zealous guardians of the public peace, it cannot
be denied that their mode of preserving it was open to grave
complaint.
The peasant guard were a rough-looking police, and as they
were drawn up at the railway stations armed, but dressed in
their ordinary clothes, they appeared to be men who would not
be very discriminating or very tender in their treatment of
their captives. Nor indeed were they. At Mohileff, day
* An amusing illustration of their theories was given a few months pre-
viously in a remote district of Russia. The serfs on an estate waited on the
proprietor, and told him they had been seriously considering how best to
avail themselves of their new property when the land became their own ;
that they had settled most points, but that on one they could not agree, so
they thought, as he was a man of education, they had better refer to him for
advice. They knew how to cultivate the soil, but would he tell them into
what species of manufactory they had better convert his castle, as soon as, by
the Emperor's benevolence, it became their own ?
CONDUCT OF THE PEASANT GUARD. 181
after day, the proprietors were brought into the town in their
carriages ; on either side of a prisoner, whose hands were tied,
would be a peasant armed with a musket or a sword, while
another sat upon the box beside the driver, and others accom-
panied the equipage to preclude the possibility of rescue.
Thus, one after another, most of the proprietors were brought
into the town, and handed to the Russian authorities, that the
charges against them might be investigated. One day the
Governor was waited on by a body of peasants from a particu-
lar estate ; they represented that, on all the properties round,
the peasants had captured their masters and brought them
into the town ; their master, however, was, unluckily for them,
staying at his town house, and all their neighbours mocked
them as being alone unable to bring in their prisoner. Would
the Governor, therefore, in order to save them from ridicule,
permit them to seize the carriage of their master and his
person, put him into it, and deliver him as a prisoner to the
authorities ?
Nevertheless a regular government cannot justly be blamed
in revolutionary epochs for putting confidence in a class upon
whose loyalty it can depend. Granting that the boors of Poland
and the "Western provinces are somewhat uncouth ; granting
that men who had received no education were not as fit for their
offices as the members of the Metropolitan police ; it must
still be remembered that fidelity, not refinement, is required
in civil war, the honest and loyal performance of duty, not
courtly insincerity and the traitor's smile. If, indeed, the Go-
vernment had promised that the plunder of the wealthy should
remunerate the services of the poor ; if it had promised to
partition among the faithful serfs the property of their late
masters; if it had sought to create a servile insurrection
against them, and a repetition of the Galician outrages of
1848; then, indeed, there would have been reason for an
accusation which now falls to the ground as utterly cause-
less.
This complaint is, in truth, but the murmur of a defeated
faction. The support of the peasants was essential to both
parties, and the insurgents as well as the Government made
every effort to secure it ; had they succeeded, and had their
182 THE EUSSIAN GOVEKNMENT IN POLAND.
ranks been filled by the people their oppression had alienated
from them, nothing would have been heard of socialist
theories, and a war of classes would not have been denounced.
The resignation of the independent members of the Munici-
pal Council of Warsaw quickly followed, and a further
evidence, beyond the limits of the kingdom, of the feeling
among the higher class of the Poles, was conveyed by the
resignation of the marshals of the nobility in Lithuania. Thus
isolated by the retirement of the Poles who had taken part in
public affairs, the Marquis Wielopolski became an object of
suspicion both to his own countrymen and to the Kussians.
The feeling of the former is sufficiently evidenced by the pro-
clamation already cited, by which the Central Committee
authorizes any one to murder him, and by the infamous
attempts upon his life, which have also been referred to. The
feeling of the Russians was of a different character; slowly
they began first to wonder at the errors so able a man had
committed, then to question the sincerity of the advice
he tendered, and at length to suspect some deep-laid and
Machiavellian conspiracy to annihilate the Eussian power and
restore the supremacy of the Poles. Suspicion once awak-
ened soon finds food for itself, and when a nation is deter-
mined to discover premeditated treachery, every insignificant
and unimportant fact has a tendency to confirm the creed.
In all grades of society the Marquis was spoken of as a
traitor who was secretly plotting for the independence of
Poland.
Yet, apparently, the opinions the Marquis professed were
those that he really held ; and, holding such opinions, his
course of action was such as many men under similar cir-
cumstances would have adopted. It is impossible to forgive
the conscription that one black and damning act which
must ever remain a blot upon his scutcheon ; yet, even here,
we should be wrong in visiting him with the same con-
demnation an English statesman would under similar cir-
cumstances deserve. There is nothing in his conduct to throw
doubt upon his really entertaining the views expressed in his
letter to Prince Metternich ; he despaired of a free Poland,
he detested Austrian treachery, and he shrunk from the
UNPOPULARITY OF THE MARQUIS W1ELOPOLSK1. 183
political system of Prussia. In Russia he recognized a nation
sprung, like his own, from the Sclavonic race, having much in
common with Poland and sharing in her deep-seated detesta-
tion of Germany ; he saw in her a young, a powerful, and
an ambitious people, under whose supremacy Poland might
advance in physical and moral development ; he believed the
time would come when the superior ability and education of
the higher orders of the Poles would secure for them a large
share in the government of Russia ; and he was anxious that
no vain struggle for an independence they could never obtain
should retard the era he anticipated. We cannot blame him
for discountenancing a nobility who he felt were hostile to the
cause for which he struggled; neither can we denounce him
for arming the peasants with unaccustomed power, for the
peasants were loyal, and in the death-grapple of nations it
is impossible always to select the weapons to be used.
The progress of the insurrection had been watched with
deep anxiety by all classes in Russia. So long as it was
thought that the autonomy or even independence of the
Congress kingdom was the utmost the insurgents desired to
obtain, the struggle had been regarded with an equanimity
approaching to indifference ; but of late they had avowed that
the Poland of 1772 was the object for which they strove j that
autonomy they did not value, and that absolute severance
from Russia was their only aim. Moreover, there were
rumours that the Western powers had made representations
to the court of St. Petersburg which unduly interfered with
the internal policy of the empire.
These reports deeply moved public opinion ; the Western
provinces had long been regarded as wholly Russian, and her
people would never consent to surrender them unless they
were torn from her as the issue of a long and calamitous
war. .
As evidence of this change in the feeling of the nation,
Lord Napier's letter to Lord Russell of 4th April is very con-
clusive.
" The first signal," he writes, " of patriotic agitation against Poland has
been given. The Assembly of Nobility of the government of St. Petersburg
184 THE RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT IN POLAND.
have adopted by acclamation the accompanying address to the Emperor,
expressive of their determination to support the integrity of the empire. In
case of intervention or menace from abroad, this spirit will run very high.
In the Polish question all the national and religious passions of the Eussian
people are touched. The recruits in the Russian provinces are coming in
with unusual alacrity, and go off under the impression' of an impending
'holy war.' I was not present when the address of the Assembly was
adopted, but I am informed that there was a scene of enthusiasm, in which
the feeling of devotion to Eussia was, no doubt, at least as strong as that of
devotion to the sovereign. It is not so much the insurrection in the
kingdom of Poland which arouses the indignation of the Russians, as the
alleged views of the Poles on the frontier provinces, extending even to the
sacred city of Kieff. The frontier provinces are the traditional battle-ground
and debateable land between the Polish and Eussian nations. They will
never be relinquished by Eussia without a mortal struggle."
The address was couched in the following terms :
" The nobility of the government of St. Petersburg, being animated by an
ancient devotion to the throne and to their native country, consider it their
sacred duty solemnly to express to you, sire, the sentiments by which they
are inspired. The pretensions of the Polish insurgents to the possessions of
Eussia fill us with grief and indignation. Our enemies conceive the era of
the great reforms undertaken by you for the happiness and welfare of the
State is a favourable one for their attacks upon the integrity of the Eussian
empire ; but they are deceived. The nobility, tried in devotion and abnega-
tion, and sparing neither exertion nor sacrifice, will, in connection with all the
orders of the nation, know how to take its stand firmly and immovably in
defence of the territory of the empire. Let the enemies of Eussia know that
the spirit of our ancestors lives in us, the spirit which succeeded in
establishing the unity of our beloved country."
But it was not alone from St. Petersburg that, such
addresses came ; from all parts of the kingdom and from all
classes they poured in ; assemblies of nobles, municipal bodies,
merchants, and peasants, all vied with each other in their
professions of loyalty and of patriotism; the Government,
which so long had struggled against the general apathy, was
at length impelled onward by the violent blast of public
opinion ; its difficulty now was rather to restrain the passion
of the people than to arouse their zeal.
The situation had greatly changed ; no longer opposed by
an army which, under the command of a competent general,
defied their power ; no longer having any open opponent save
the guerilla bands, who might, indeed, annoy, but who could
THE AMNESTY. 185
never seriously damage it ; wielding an overpowering army,
and supported by an unanimous people, the Government felt
that the time had arrived when it could offer pardon to the
rebels without the offer being construed into an evidence of
weakness.
Accordingly, on the 31st March (12th April) a proclamation*
signed by the Emperor appeared, in which, after exonerating
the Polish nation from the responsibility of the revolt, and at-
tributing it to external influences, he offered to consign the
past to oblivion, and then continued: "Therefore, ardently
desiring to put a stop to an effusion of blood as useless as it
is regrettable, we grant a free pardon to all those of our
subjects in the kingdom implicated in the late troubles who
have not incurred responsibilities for other crimes, or for
offences committed while serving in the ranks of our army,
who may before the 1st (13th) of May lay down their arms and
return to their allegiance ; " and, after alluding to the liberal
institutions recently conferred on Poland, he added, " While
continuing for the present to maintain these institutions in
their integrity, we reserve it to ourselves, when they shall
have been tested by experience, to proceed to their further
development, in accordance with the requirements of the
times and of the country/-'
The insurgents, ever deceived as to their true position and
prospects, and, perhaps, misled by a few ambitious partisans
who were unwilling to return to their former insignificance,
treated this amnesty with scorn. They regarded it as an
evidence of want of power ; they assumed it would never have
been offered by the Russian Government unless it had felt
convinced that in no other way could the insurrection be put
down ; and, instead of thinning the rebel bands, the effect of
the amnesty was to urge hundreds into the field.
The Provisional* Government issued a proclamation. "An
amnesty," they said, "has been announced by the Russian
Government, as also a promise to maintain the existing
institutions. Poland is well aware what confidence she can
place in this pretended amnesty and in the promises of the
* See Appendix C.
186 THE RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT IN POLAND.
Russian Government. But, to avoid any mistake, we formally
declare that we reject all these false concessions. It was not
with the intention of obtaining more or less liberal institu-
tions that we took up arms, but to get rid of the detested
yoke of a foreign government, and to reconquer our ancient
and complete independence. It is for this, and for this
alone, that the nation makes great sacrifices, and does not
spare its blood. No man who has the love of his country at
heart can be indifferent to the blood which has been shed, to
the destruction of property which has occurred, to the fact
that towns have been burned down, and that the whole
country is desolated. Every honest patriot will indignantly
reject the so-called favours and concessions of the Czar. We
have taken up arms ; arms alone must decide the issue of the
struggle/'
The amnesty took the Russians by surprise ; they had had
their passions violently excited by what they regarded as the
thankless and disloyal conduct of the Poles ; they were
making great sacrifices to subdue them, and they were not
prepared for this sudden act of clemency. They thought
that the excesses of which the insurgents had been guilty, the
murders they had committed, and the devastation they had
caused, demanded something more discriminate than a pro-
miscuous pardon. The enthusiasm of the people was checked,
and the press was dumb.
The English ambassador regarded it from a different point
of view : it was, he said, conceived in a tone of humanity
and clemency, which was congenial to the character of the
Emperor, and was undoubtedly consistent with the interests
of the Imperial cabinet and the wishes of the English
Government.
Not so, however, thought Lord Russell. He addressed a
despatch to Lord Napier,* in which he stated that an amnesty
can lay the foundation of peace in only two cases ; the first
of these was where the insurgents had been thoroughly de-
feated, and only waited for a promise of pardon to enable
them to return to their homes ; and the second was, if the
* See Appendix, Lord Russell's letter of the 24th April, 1863.
LOED RUSSELL ON THE AMNESTY. 187
amnesty were accompanied with such ample promises of the
redress of the grievances which gave occasion to the insur-
rection, as to induce the insurgents to think that their object
was attained.
The former of these events, he stated, had not happened,
because the insurrection was more extensive than it had been
a few weeks before.
The second of these proposed cases, he pronounced, did
not arise ; for after the evidence the conscription gave of the
worthlessness of the existing laws, he said the insurgents
would not be satisfied to recur to them.
The promise to develop existing institutions, he also de-
clared to be unsatisfactory, because he said that promise was
contingent on their working well ; and as the Poles had
refused to co-operate in carrying them out, it was impossible
they should work at all. He followed up this observation by
a quotation from Lord Durham' s despatches, thirty-one years
previously, in which he alleged that hatred existed between
the Russians and the Poles ; and remarked, " Her Majesty's
Government observe that the feelings of hatred between the
Russians and the Poles have not in the lapse of thirty years
been softened or modified; " and concluded that the amnesty
would give no solid security to the most moderate of Polish
patriots.
Yet impartial observers will probably agree with the view
taken by the Ambassador, rather than with that of the Foreign
Secretary.
In his despatch of 2nd March, Lord Russell urged upon
the Russian Government the propriety of proclaiming an
immediate and unconditional amnesty, and of restoring the
constitution granted in 1815. At that time the army of
Langiewicz was in the field, and gave the revolution an
apparent strength which precluded the Emperor from adopting
a suggestion which would have been construed into an evidence
of fear. The defeat of the Dictator changed the nature of
the situation. It was to be assumed that no one would see
in wandering bands, acting without concert or arrangement,
an aggressive power dangerous to a military state. The
Emperor, therefore, was free to follow the dictates of a humane
188 THE RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT IN POLAND.
disposition, and without compromise of dignity, to extend
his pardon to those who would lay down their arms. Objections
to this act of mercy came with no good grace from the Minister
and Cabinet who five weeks before had recommended it.
Neither does the second objection of Lordr Eussell appear
to rest upon a more satisfactory basis. If indeed the English
Minister had shown that the institutions of 1815 had within
them any self- maintaining power which those recently granted
did not possess ; if he could have proved, although an emperor
or a government might break the Eecruitment act of 1859,
that the constitution of Alexander I., once restored, would have
been beyond their reach ; then his argument would have been
intelligible, though perhaps it would have been open to
dissent. But, in truth, there is nothing to prevent armed
power setting law at defiance whenever it is so disposed ; and
the only guarantee a constitution can possess is to be found
either in the physical power it vests in those who are interested
in its preservation, or in the character and honour of the
prince who gives it.
Did history lead Lord Eussell to think that the constitution
of 1815 could sustain itself ? We look into her pages, and find
that from the moment of its birth to that of its dissolution, it
was never observed; to restore it would have been to invite a
repetition of those sad and shameful scenes in which the revolt
of 1831 had its origin ; it would have been to place before
the Eussian Government the ever present example of how
freedom can be repressed ; and it would have been to
substitute for institutions really fit for the requirements of
the country, a paper constitution, which, as we shall here-
after see, contained little more than a mockery of national
representation.
The argument, however, which of all others Lord Eussell
should have avoided, was that which was founded on the
refusal of the Poles to assist in the development of liberal
institutions. Lord Eussell knew from the despatches of
Colonel Stanton, that the resignation of the Polish members
of the Council of State, and provincial and municipal assem-
blies, was due, not to the conscription or to any act that
provoked the revolt, but to the employment of the peasants as
INCONSISTENCIES OP LOED RUSSELI/S DESPATCHES. 189
a temporary rural police; that this delegation of power to
them had irritated the higher orders, and so they resigned
en masse ; it was the result of the bad feeling which existed
between different classes in Poland, and not of any hostility
which the Grovernment had provoked. Taking, however, Lord
Russell's statement as correct, it was the most damning
argument which could be adduced against granting the Poles
any free institutions at all ; for if " the co-operation of native
Poles of property and character" could not be secured in
favour of the institutions recently granted them, what chance
was there that they would give their aid in working the
revived institutions of 1815 ? The national party had never
asked the restoration of that constitution; they regarded
it with complete apathy; the insurgents had studiously
disavowed all sympathy with it ; and no one could indicate in
what way it would advance the interests of the people, of
progress, or of good government. The logical deduction from
Lord Russell's letter would seem to be that the Poles would
not aid in working free institutions, and therefore (not that
the constitution of 1815 should be restored to them), that
free institutions were not fitted to their present state of social
or political development. But the fact is, the Poles would
have gladly assisted in carrying out liberal institutions, and
the letter of the English Minister appears to have been
written hurriedly and without due thought. The way in
which it wound up, also, was an outrage on all the forms of
diplomatic courtesy. England recognized Russia as her friend
and her ally, yet Lord Russell, for the sake of indulging in
the infelicitous luxury of an apt quotation, cast at her one of
those sneers which, even when they are not openly noticed,
are seldom overlooked or forgiven.
190
CHAPTER XIV.
Moral Force. Fabricated Intelligence. Mouravieff. Mourning Proclama-
tion. Debate in the House of Lords. Property-tax. Sequestrations.
GREAT reliance was expressed from time to time in England
on the " moral force " exercised by public opinion. It was
alleged that the Poles neither asked for nor desired armed
interference ; all they hoped was sympathy on the part of our
people and Government in the struggle they had commenced ;
such aid was worth far more than money, arms, or men, and
the Russians could not long ignore it or withstand its power.
The theory may be correct, its application was certainly
erroneous. Two parties were in arms. On one side were
the insurgents strong in their conviction of the justice of
their cause, they certainly did not require the moral force
which foreign sympathy could afford them ; on the other side
was the Government the moral force which public opinion
could bring to bear upon it was certainly great ; but then it
was the public opinion of Russia, and not that of England,
which was thus effectual. For almost the first time in the
modern history of Russia, its Government was surrounded by
strong evidences of national support ; and this was the moral
force by which its acts were vindicated and its policy upheld.
The public opinion of England might have swayed the Russian
mind, if the subject had been one on which our superiority
was admitted, in consequence of our deeper knowledge of
liberal institutions; but here we had no knowledge which
gave us any special opportunity of arriving at a just result.
The Russians found, on this subject, that the most pernicious
doctrines were promulgated in England, and learned that they
were founded on fables more preposterous still. The most
ridiculous assertions, the grossest calumnies, the most trans-
parent falsehoods, were not too absurd to find credence
among our people; and out of that huge pile of mendacity
MORAL FORCE. 191
and folly they selected the materials from which their boasted
public opinion was created. The Russians naturally dis-
regarded a conclusion based on such premises, and declined
to be guided by it in their present action or future policy.
If, indeed, those men who insisted on the moral force
of English opinion, had endeavoured to diminish its value,
they could not have taken a surer way to do so than that which
they persistently adopted. Public declamation was poured
forth, in which Russia was denounced as a semi-civilized
state ; her Asiatic barbarism was continually railed against ;
she was described as the violator of treaties, the perfidious
instigator of troubles in friendly states, the insincere friend,
and the relentless enemy. The press stimulated the illusions
of the people ; extraordinary stories of successes which the
insurgents had never won, were balanced by equally extra-
ordinary statements of wrongs they had never suffered ;
documents were forged and attributed to the Czar, so pal-
pably and clumsily manipulated,* that even the most credu-
* As examples of these documents, the following may be mentioned :
Towards the end of May the Paris papers spread the report that in Livonia
the sect of Old Believers (the Dissenters of Russia) had massacred all the
Catholics, in consequence of an order from the Emperor. The translation of
this pretended order having appeared in some papers, its authenticity was
denied in the Journal de St. Petersbourg, which challenged the authors of the
statement to produce the original Russ. This they did, entitling it, " Docu-
ment trouve sur les Raskolniki (vieux croyants) apres les massacres de Livonie
des 27, 28, et 29 avril, 1863." This document was not only one which never
did or could have emanated from a public department, or from any other
well-informed source ; but it was full of faults of syntax, of spelling, of
grammar, and of construction, and was such a production as an individual
knowing by ear a few Russian words might have drawn up with the aid of
a dictionary, but without a grammar. Some of the words employed are
used in their wrong sense, and could only have been arrived at in the
manner suggested. f
A few months subsequently a London journal stated that the Emperor had
commanded the Russian language to be introduced into all official proceedings
in Poland. The fact was at once denied, and then, in confirmation of it, a
translation of an order appeared, in which Prince Dolgorouki commanded
the change to be made. Unfortunately for him, the person inventing the
intelligence forgot the difference between the New and the Old Style, or over-
looked the fact that official documents emanating from St. Petersburg are
192 THE RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT IN POLAND.
Ions were astounded, and for a time withheld their belief.
And thus was public opinion made the prey of designing
always dated according to the latter. Allowing for this difference, the copy
of the order was in the hands of the Paris correspondent of the journal in
question within twenty-four hours from the time when the order was signed.
The post would have taken about four days to deliver it !
In November a still more astounding revelation was made by the same
correspondent :
" I will now give you a document which, I tell you beforehand, will be
contradicted by the Russian Government as soon as it appsars. Indeed, I
scarcely expect that your readers will credit it, and yet I can assure them I
derive it from a source worthy of unlimited confidence. It is proposed by
the Imperial Government of St. Petersburg, acting on a traditional idea of
the Empress Catherine, to destroy Protestants and Poles in one great massacre
something like that of St. Bartholomew. The Euthenian provinces are des-
tined to be the scene of the first act of this bloody tragedy, and these are the
steps which the Imperial agents are taking to prepare it. The military com-
mander of the district, having received an ukase from St. Petersburg, sends
privately for each pope, and has an audience tete-a-tete, of course with him,
during which he compels the pope to write from his dictation, and sign with
his own name the following order, which being thus only left in the hand-
writing of the persons who are to execute it, can easily be disavowed by the
Government. This copy has been received from an honest pope, who, regard-
less of consequences, carried it off to one of the provincial landowners to
denounce the horrid plot, and ask advice what to do. Here is the text of
the ' ukase,' which has been sent me by the hereditary chief of the Polish
emigration :
" ' His Majesty the Emperor has ordered me to inform you that you will
shortly receive a circular from his Majesty requiring you to organize in all
the orthodox churches of Eussia a solemn service, to pray the Omnipotent to
save the Church and the Empire from another invasion of the French, and
twenty other pagan nations, and that then you must also execute the imperial
order which now follows := His Majesty believes that the religious service will
be more acceptable to God if you bring to him as a holocaust the life of all
the Poles. Therefore you are commanded to prepare, as is your duty, the
peasants of your parish to execute the imperial will the evening before the
day named for the holy ceremony, so that no Pole or Eoman Catholic shall
escape. You must appreciate the serious importance of this charge, which
his Majesty confides to your known loyalty, and you will keep strictly the
secret confided to you. The violation of that secret on your part will be held
to be a state crime of the gravest order, and punished with the extremest
possible severity.'
" Such is the document, a copy of which is now before me, and which one
hesitates to ask any Englishman to believe, and yet, when I spoke to a Polish
MOEAL FORCE. 193
men, who, to obtain a moment's sympathy, scrupled at no
falsehood which they thought could blacken their enemies or
improve the position of their own party.
The moral force of public opinion is doubtless very useful
in correcting home abuses, but it does not aid in controlling
the events of distant war. Public opinion in England was
strongly excited by the war between the Northern and
Southern States in America ; but its moral force did not
save one burning city or one wasted farm. Public opinion
was equally excited by the Polish struggle, and in the result
was equally inefficacious. The Russian army conquered while
its Government negotiated, and the only result was to impress
the stronger nation with the belief that it had been unduly
interfered with, and to leave on the minds of the weaker the
conviction that it had been encouraged and betrayed.
If the effect of the intervention of the Western powers was
thus disastrous so far as Russian policy and public opinion
were concerned, it was no less prejudicial to the Poles, owing
to the false hopes in which it led them to indulge. They
believed that the Western powers would not restrict them-
selves to a diplomatic negotiation, but that they would extort
with the sword concessions the pen was powerless to win.
Once entertaining anticipations so delusive, they persuaded
themselves that the terms on which peace or war depended
could be dictated by the National Government instead of by
the Cabinets of the West ; and they resolved to dispel all illu-
sions as to the moderation of their views, and let Europe know
in an authoritative manner what objects they intended to achieve.
In a manifesto, therefore, published by the Central Com-
mittee at the end of March, they declared that they abhorred
the constitution of 1815, and the rights springing from it, for
they were given by the Congress of Vienna, where their
gentleman yesterday, he said : ' Believe it ! Of course I believe it ; and the
Government are further prepared, no doubt, to throw the blame of the
massacre on the fanaticism of some of the lower clergy ; and when the crime
is over, punish them, and even some of the popes on whom they find the
ukase, for the murders they have themselves commanded.' "
This effusion was translated into the Journal de St. Petersbourg with some
unflattering comments on the facile disposition of those who believed it.
O
194 THE RUSSIAN GOVEENMENT IN POLAND.
national feelings were insulted, and where their nation had
no representative. The treaty which confined the kingdom
within its present frontier they repudiated, and they declared
the principles of eternal justice required that Poland should
be re-established in her former limits; that tjie Kingdom and
Western provinces should be torn from Russia, and that Galicia
and Posen should be voluntarily ceded by Austria and Prussia.
Popular feeling, roused by the conduct of the Poles, chilled
somewhat by the amnesty, was now again excited to the
utmost, and men of all parties and shades of opinion united in
requiring that the ablest man who could be found should be
appointed to rule over the disturbed provinces. In the
kingdom it was believed that the Grand Duke would succeed
in suppressing the revolt ; in the south-west, General Annen-
koff held the discontented factions in control ; but in the
North-western provinces it was felt by men of all ranks and
opinions that the wavering policy of General Nazimoffmust
be altered, and that a sterner ruler must be found to govern at
Wilna. The individual who was pointed out alike by the people
and their rulers was General Mouravieff, and he was appointed
by the Emperor the Governor of the North-western provinces,
and reached Wilna on the 26th May.
General MouraviefF had the character of being one of the
most resolute and determined officers in the Russian service.
He had been thoroughly trained during a long life in the iron
system of the late Emperor; he had taken part in the sup-
pression of the rebellion of 1831 ; he had subsequently con-
tinued for some short time in the army, and then held high
rank in the civil service. Men differed in their estimate of
him ; some pronounced him stern, harsh, and unfeeling ;
declared him to be a false friend and a cruel enemy ; spoke dis-
paragingly of his abilities as well as of his honesty ; enume-
rated the offices he had held, and asked how it happened, out
of their inadequate salaries, that he had heaped up wealth.
He had for some years been Minister of the Domains, and
they pointed to the crown lands, and asked during his
administration what useful reform had been introduced, what
recognized abuse had been extirpated ; was it not, they in-
quired, the fact that his own benefit and the advantage of his
CHARACTER OF GENERAL MOURAVIEFF. 195
useful friends had ever been more considered than the public
good ? was it not the fact that they had made large fortunes,
while the interests of the State were never consulted ? General
Mouravieff was unpopular also with the Liberals of Russia, for
he had no sympathy with their doctrines or hopes. A man of
the old school, he disliked innovation and dreaded change, and
from the emancipation downwards he viewed with extreme
disquietude all the reforms which were so greatly changing
the political and social relations of his countrymen.
While he thus had his enemies, he had also a large number
of adherents ; they declared him to be a most able administrator,
a true and kind friend, and a conscientious servant of the
State. The fortune he had acquired, they said, was the gift of
a grateful sovereign, who had appreciated his merits, and thus
rewarded them.
But whatever might be the dispute as to some of his ante-
cedents, all Russia was confident he was the only man who was
fit to rule at Wilna. A turbulent nobility, who had conspired
as they pleased, while the nerveless Nazimoff governed, required
to be restrained by a strong and steadfast hand ; the peasants,
who were suffering persecution because they would not rebel,
were entitled to be protected by the Government to which
they were faithful ; the Russian officials should have a chief
to whom they could look up with confidence ; and finally the
army must be so handled that the rebellion might forthwith
be crushed.
General Mouravieff was exactly suited to meet the difficul-
ties of the moment with energy and success. He was not a
man of great and far-reaching views, who looked with a
statesman's glance through the mists and uncertainties of the
future ; nor could he take any very liberal or generous estimate
of the policy suited to the present ; but he was a man who,
having a task to perform, would perform it thoroughly ; who
would concentrate his energies on it ; who would bring to bear
upon it all the resources of a strong common sense, guided by
the experience collected in a long and varied official career.
There was a singleness and intensity of purpose about all his
acts which carried much weight with it ; no one about him
could doubt his intention to quell the revolt, or fail to see that
o 2
196 THE RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT IN POLAND.
he would deem no measure too severe which was calculated to
effect that end.
His remarkable energy gave new life to the executive.
Officers, whose official routine began a little before noon,
shuddered when they heard that the general received the
reports of his subordinates at from six to nine a.m. ; but they
were obliged to attend him. During the whole day to five or
six o'clock, except for an hour devoted to exercise, he sat in his
cabinet writing, dictating, and transacting the business of his
office ; at eight o'clock at night he recommenced his labours,
and generally did not cease until two in the morning.
His knowledge of the character and capabilities of those
who surrounded him was very great, and he used them accord-
ingly ; he was prompt to take a resolution and slow to vary it ;
if intelligence were suddenly brought to him of an unexpected
difficulty, he would, without hesitation, give his orders, which
were precise, appropriate, and generally successful. He possessed
an extraordinary memory, which enabled him to recall at will
the obscure occurrences of many bygone years ; every paper he
had signed, every interview he had held seemed graven im-
perishably on his mind. He was not a cruel man, but he
appeared indifferent to the sufferings which were caused by the
measures he adopted, and his enemies availed themselves of
that fact to denounce him as the embodiment of harsh and
malignant energy. The proclamations which he issued soon
after his appointment clearly indicate the nature of his policy
and the view he took of the exigences of the public service.
The act which of all others tended most to excite popular
feeling against General Mouravieff was one which, had it been
properly understood, would have attracted little or no notice.
It has been already shown that one of the symbols of the
revolutionary party was the constant use of mourning, and
this badge was continued without intermission from " the
Warsaw massacres " to the date of his appointment.
In grave and anxious periods, when rebellion devastates a
country, and the ordinary machinery of civil government is
displaced, every sign of insubordination or of opposition to
the law must be repressed with decision and promptitude.
The North-western provinces were in a state of siege, and
THE MOURNING PROCLAMATION OF GENERAL MOURAVIEFF. 197
the Polish women took every opportunity to mark their
hostility to those who imposed it ; feminine invention taxed
itself to the utmost to mortify the authorities and cover them
with contumely and scorn : in a thousand ingenious ways the
Russians were taught to feel that the educated classes de-
tested them, and gave at least their moral support to the
revolutionary cause.
With some of these demonstrations it was obviously impos-
sible to interfere. The Poles absented themselves from the
theatres, and the actors performed to empty houses ; the public
walks were deserted by the animated crowd which formerly
gave them life ; and when a Polish lady met a Russian officer
in the street, she would cross it in order to avoid him : all
these annoyances it was necessary to bear, and they were borne
in silence.
The wearing of mourning, however, stood in a very different
category ; it had become the emblem of disaffection to the
Government, and of adherence to the insurgents ; it was as
purely a party badge as an orange ribbon is in Ireland, or a
white cockade was formerly in France, and neither precedent
nor public law, nor the usages common among civilized nations,
prevented the Government from suppressing its use.
Believing it to be essential that these overt acts of insub-
ordination should be stopped, General Mouravieff issued the
following order :
"Even before political troubles broke out in this country, the larger
portion of the female population of the town of Wilna commenced wearing
different kinds of mourning, in order to signify their sympathy with the
revolutionary movements in the kingdom of Poland. The mourning con-
sisted of black dresses with or without white borders, or black bonnets with
white feathers, together with certain tokens previously agreed upon, such as
metal bracelets with the arms of Lithuania and Poland combined, broken
crosses with crowns o,f thorns, &c. These manifestations still continue
in greater or less degree. As, however, all sympathy with the present
insurrectionary movements, equally with rebellious acts, is forbidden by law,
the general commanding in the country has ordered the governmental chief,
upon the 31st May (12th June), to issue the following directions, in order to
suppress these criminal manifestations :
" 1. Proclamation is to be made throughout the town of Wilna that
mourning and the wearing of black dresses and other revolutionary symbols
cannot at present be permitted.
198 THE RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT IN POLAND.
" 2. Officials are to be instantly dismissed from their posts in all cases where
females belonging to their families have appeared publicly in black dresses or
other mourning garb.
" 3. Females, without distinction of position, calling, or nationality, who
appear in public places in black dresses, or generally attired in mourning, or
with revolutionary accessories to the toilette, are to T5e punished in the
following way : For the first offence a fine of 25 silver roubles ; for the
second offence a fine of 50 silver roubles. Upon repetition of the offence
such women are to be arrested, in order that they may be treated as persons
who participate in the insurrection.
" 4. In case the guilty party do not pay the fines imposed, a sufficient
portion of their property is to be immediately sold to defray the amount.
" 5. The fines are to be paid over to the governmental chief, and will be
devoted to the support of families in the rural districts whose houses have
been plundered and devastated by the insurrectionary bands.
" 6. Persons mourning for their nearest relatives must produce legal proofs
to the police of the actual death of such relatives. They will only be allowed
to wear mourning for the period recognized by ordinary custom upon
compliance with this requisition.
" 7. All that has been ordered in the above six paragraphs relates equally to
individuals of the male sex found publicly wearing mourning symbols,
as also to persons furnished with czamarks, confederatkis, long boots above
their trousers, or other tokens of the insurrectionary party.
" The governmental tribunal has communicated this present order by special
circular to all district police courts for their general guidance."
Such was in its integrity the celebrated ' ' mourning pro-
clamation" of General Mouravieff. It was subsequently
represented in England and France to have been couched in
very different terms, and the fabricated versions of it were
used as a principal reason for urging intervention upon the
Governments of Western Europe.
The addition of corporal punishment which the papers in
the Polish interest introduced was, of course, one of those
shameless inventions with which, throughout the whole
struggle, they disgraced their cause : there was absolutely
no foundation for it.
The administration of General Nazimoff had induced the
Poles to trifle with the orders of Government, and there was
an expectation that this decree would not be persevered in :
it was an empty menace, and might be disregarded with
impunity. On the day when the mourning was to be dis-
carded, there was no sign of the proclamation being obeyed,
THE MOURNING PROCLAMATION. 199
and all parties anxiously anticipated the conduct of the
governor.*
* I believe the following account to be an accurate narrative of this
transaction : " It is a grave misfortune, both to Russia and England, that
the reports which are accepted in most of the London papers as true are
almost uniformly penned by the emissaries of ' the National Government.'
These statements are frequently devoid of any foundation, and generally they
so represent facts as completely to falsify the truth. The reports which
excited so great an outcry against Mouravieff are a good example of the way
in which violent opinions are generated. There was a lull in political
feeling ; men suspected that the interests of liberty and good government
were not exclusively on the side of the insurgents, and began to weary of a
contest in which a thousand successful battles had failed to yield them an
inch of territory, or secure them even a passing indication of popular support.
"Just, then, to raise the sinking hopes of the friends of Poland, the
public were electrified by a report that the sanguinary Mouravieff had deter-
mined to administer the knout to every woman who wore mourning.
Enthusiastic Radicals summoned other people to arms ; they entreated the
Poles, great and small, to sing the ' Mourir pour la Patrie^ and promised
to wreathe chaplets of cypress and laurel, and hang them above their graves.
"The Liberal journals re-echo the startling cry ; England is told that the
widows and orphans of Poland must weep in silence, and wear gay colours at
the tomb of the loved and lost ; and then a picture is limned, by a cunning
hand, of the Spartan heroism of the matron who will wear black, and who is
handed over to the polluting custody of the Calcraft of the knout. The
readers of the journals referred to are told how hideous a punishment this
Polish lady is fated to undergo, how the flesh shrinks, though the mind is
constant yet, until at length, surrounded by a crowd of unsympathizing
butchers, the spirit emancipates itself from the bleeding and mangled corpse
to wing its angry way to the throne of justice and retribution.
" These are effective themes when handled well ; and if the shield had no
other side, the chameleon no other hue, certainly the insurgents would have
found in Mouravieff as able an ally as they had already secured in Wielo-
polski. Unluckily for them, however, history is in the main a castle of
truth, and in this instance its voice will ere long penetrate through Europe.
The facts are these : General Mouravieff had confided to him by his sovereign
the supreme command of a district in the throes of insurrection ; his prede-
cessor had been a weak, uncertain administrator, whose orders of to-day were
frequently revoked on the morrow, and the Poles, supposing the new gover-
nor to be a man of similar temperament, believed, though he might threaten,
he would never dare to act.
* * * *
" In Wilna, on the Sunday after the proclamation, came the trial of strength.
The Polish ladies all wore black, and paraded themselves before the Russians
200 THE EUSSIAN GOVERNMENT IN POLAND.
General Mouravieff was, however, a man of very different
character from his predecessor, and when he put his name to
the proclamation he had fully resolved that it should be obeyed.
With firmness but without acting in an offensive manner, the
regulations he had imposed were carried out, a few fines were
levied, and mourning was discontinued. The completeness of
this easy triumph will readily be understood when it is men-
tioned that the whole amount of fines levied under this pro-
clamation did not exceed 700 roubles.
In August, when I visited Wilna, there was nothing un-
usual in the dresses of the ladies, and they would have at-
tracted no notice had it not been for the notoriety of the
" mourning" regulations. Having obtained their victory, the
authorities used it leniently, for a little piece of coloured rib-
bon, or a coloured flower in a bonnet, was deemed a sufficent
compliance with the order, although they were worn over a
dress which would otherwise have been considered an infringe-
ment of it.
The people of England were supplied with a very different
version of this proclamation. They were persuaded that if any
lady thrice offended against the regulation she would be sub-
jected to the punishment of the knout, and popular feeling was
and the governor. He would not dare to punish them ; were they not noble ?
The proclamation was only a threat, and they would 'put the governor
down ! '
" Alas for the ardent, unthinking confidence of feminine patriotism ! An
extremely civil, gentlemanlike individual approached the carriage of the
principal offender. He raised his hat, and informed her that, as an employ^
of the Government, he was directed to inquire why the lady he addressed
wore morning. Had she lost a relative, or for what cause was she in black ?
' I am a Pole, sir,' was the haughty reply. The official regretted that such
should be her only answer, for in that case he was bound to ask her for 25
roubles, for which he begged to hand her the receipt. If she had not the
money with her, he begged she would not distress herself ; he would send for
it to her residence in the afternoon.
" The fines were duly paid, and from that day forth the ladies of Wilna have
arrayed themselves in all the colours of the rainbow. Their patriotism could
not sustain the practical test the governor applied to it, and since that hour
all parties have felt assured that a decree signed by him will be enforced,
and they have obeyed without attempting to evade it."
MISREPRESENTATIONS IN THE HOUSE OP LORDS. 201
excited to the utmost on the strength of this most absurd and
groundless charge. Yet we can hardly blame this credulity when
we find that great names were not ashamed to pledge them-
selves to the truth of the calumny, and that a quondam Cabinet
Minister, who had himself in former times been ambassador at
St. Petersburg, repeated a yet more loathsome fabrication.
Lord Clanricarde is reported* to have said in his place in
the House of Lords " Since March, when our representations
were first made, General Mouravieff had been appointed, whose
proclamations could not be read without horror and indigna-
tion. Few people knew the full extent of these proclamations.
Among other things, women wearing mourning in the streets,
no matter what bereavement they might have undergone, were
to be treated like common women of the town, registered,
and subjected to all the examinations to which that class were
liable." And he concluded by moving for reports of " atro-
cities " committed or threatened by Eussians or Poles since
1st May, and by inquiring " whether her Majesty's Government
had reason to hope that the civil war now raging in Poland
would be henceforth conducted according to the rules of civil-
ized warfare."
Lord Ellenborough the same night said " There have been
atrocities mentioned arising out of the proclamationswithrespect
to the treatment of women, which it appears to me impossible
that any one who lives in civilized Europe should at any time
have sanctioned. The man who outrages a woman makes man-
kind his enemy, and exposes himself to all the loathing he
excites. And yet it is impossible to doubt that under the
orders of Mouravieff and Mouravieff is at this time appa-
rently the favourite agent of the Russian Government these
atrocities have been committed."
"When these noblemen found it necessary thus to lay the lance
in rest on behalf of 'the women of Poland, there is every excuse
for those who had not their advantages, if they credited the
fabrications which had thus deceived their superiors in rank.
The next step of political importance taken by General
Mouravieff was the issue of a proclamation on the 13th (25th)
* Times, July 25, 1863.
202 THE RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT IN POLAND.
of June, by which he imposed a temporary property tax of ten
per cent, on the income of the landed proprietors. At the
same time he required the chiefs of the various governments
under his command to give him a return of the names of such
individuals as had satisfactorily evidenced their loyalty to the
Government, in order that he might lighten the imposition so
far as they were concerned, or grant them such time for its
payment as he might see fit. In other cases the tax he im-
posed was to be paid within seven days, and if default was
made in so doing, the movable property of the defaulter was
to be seized and sold to liquidate the claim.
This severe proclamation was issued for the purpose of
depriving the Poles of the means of encouraging the revolt.
It was known, although the Lithuanian proprietors had not
in any great numbers personally joined the insurgents, that
they had given them every encouragement they believed they
could safely extend to them. In addition to affording them
shelter when they required it, they supplied them with horses,
provisions, and all other requisites that their estates afforded,
and above all, placed at their disposal every rouble they could
command.
The tax, therefore, which General Mouravieff imposed upon
the proprietors he defended on the plea that it only deprived
them of money which would otherwise have found its way into
the military chest of the insurgents; and while he thus crippled
the resources on which the leaders of the revolt depended, he
prevented the proprietors from committing acts of treason
which would have been fatal to themselves.
A few days later a circular was addressed by General
Mouravieff to the chiefs of the various governments under his
authority. He stated, information had reached him that many
proprietors furnished the insurgent bands with provisions,
under the pretext of being forced so to do, and that they gave
no information to the authorities of the movements of the bands,
which were composed mainly of their sons, parents, friends,
and servants. In such cases the chiefs of the governments
were instructed to place a sequestration on the goods of the
offender ; the corn and flour were to be given to the troops,
and the horses and waggons appropriated for transport pur-
SEVERE MEASURES OF GENEKAL MOURAVIEFF. 203
poses. The proprietors and their stewards were to be arrested
and tried by court-martial, and their families compelled to quit
their properties.
This order vested in the hands of military officers summary
powers of the most extensive kind. Execution preceded
judgment, and the property of any landowner in the country
was at the mercy of informers and spies. In a period when
men's minds were exasperated in the highest degree by mutual
wrongs, when a contest raged, in which race, religion, and
national sentiments were all involved, it was too much to
expect that the Russian official would preserve the calmness
and equity of the judgment-seat.
The acts for which the Polish proprietors might lose their
property were certainly acts of hostility to Russia, but in some
cases at least they were so natural as hardly to rank as crimes.
If, as stated in the circular, the immediate relatives, friends, and
servants of a proprietor requested temporary assistance or
shelter, his heart must have been very hard, or his loyalty to
Russia very overwhelming, if he sent word of their move-
ments to the nearest military station; and where a band forcibly
extorted aid from the fears of a proprietor, it was scarcely just
to sequestrate his property for the offence.
On the other hand it must be remembered that if terrorism
had been deemed a valid excuse, there was not a Polish pro-
prietor who would not loudly have alleged it. Under cover of
such a pretext, the insurgents would have invariably been
received ; the horses, the arms, the money of the landowners
would have been at their disposal; and even their servants
and sons would have been enlisted, likewise without their
consent, in the ranks of the rebels.
Even as it was, the story told by three-fourths of the Polish
prisoners was that against their will they were forced into the
bands, and they frequently elaborated ingenious stories to
account for their presence there. I asked prisoner after
prisoner in Warsaw and Wilna, how they came to join in the
insurrection, and almost without exception (save where they
had been tried and condemned), there was the same attempt
to prove that they were forced into it. Similar attempts would
have been made with greater success by the landed proprietors,
204 THE RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT IN POLAND.
and it was absolutely necessary for the authorities to refuse
to recognize coercion as a valid plea.
While, therefore, it is impossible to defend on abstract
grounds this decree of General Mouravieff, and while it is open
to the charge of a recklessness of civil rights* which must be
pronounced unjust, it must yet be acknowledged to be a for-
midable instrument of war. The man who openly declares
that he will sequester the property of any one who has
afforded the least asylum to insurgents, and who shows by his
subsequent acts that he is determined to act upon that decla-
ration to the uttermost, is very likely to suppress all open
sympathy with revolt ; whether the measure is a wise or just
one is a different question, and one upon which few individuals
will give precisely the same reply.
Yet it would be unjust to omit from consideration the
difficult and exceptional circumstances under which General
Mouravieff assumed the government. He knew that "the
nobility, clergy, citizens, and scattered gentry" were all
opposed to the Kussian supremacy ; he knew, from his
point of view, that they were all traitors, and that, what-
ever might be the difficulties attendant upon proving their
guilt, they were all nevertheless equally culpable. If he had
gone into the first six country houses he approached and
arrested their owners, he might have found it difficult to
justify the act, but none the less he would have been certain
that most of the men he arrested were implicated in the revolt.
In well-ordered communities the right to life has ever been
deemed more sacred than the right to property, and if one has
to be sacrificed in order that the other may be preserved, it
is the right to property which would everywhere be aban-
doned. The Russians urged this principle in justification of
the acts of Mouravieff. He saw the predatory bands with
which the country was infested not only waging open war,
but indulging in wholesale assassination ; he saw these bands
encouraged and sheltered by men who as a class were hostile
to the Government ; and, if this system was allowed to con-
tinue unchecked, the whole country would become a scene of
terrorism and murder. The authorities were not to be blamed
for the wild chaos into which the acts of the rebels and the
EXECUTIONS BY OEDEE OP GENEEAL MOURAVIEFP. 205
complicity of a hostile proprietary had hurried the country ;
and if, for the sake of preserving order and protecting life,
some civil rights were for the moment endangered, such was
the necessary and unavoidable penalty which attached to the
lawless plots of a guilty faction.
The executions in his government were few in number, if
the crimes for which they atoned are taken into account.
Some Polish officers holding commissions in the Russian
service who were found at the head of insurgent bands, were
shot or hanged ; but in any country such would have been their
fate. They may be the objects of commiseration, for it is fair
to assume that a mistaken sense of duty led them to forsake
their colours ; but in every army desertion to the enemy is
punished with death. Some priests also perished; but they
were either guilty of murder or had used their churches as
revolutionary temples, where the creed of treason and assassi-
nation was preached. The remainder of those who suffered
death were, almost without exception, men who had been
guilty of cold-blooded murders or else members of that in-
famous corporation of hang rig gendarmes who were hired
by the National Government to commit political assassina-
tions.
The whole number of these executions up to a recent date*
was 128, of which about 40 were officers and men who had
deserted from the army and joined the insurgents. Although
it is to be regretted that so much blood was poured out upon
the scaffold, it is not a large number of executions, considering
the circumstances of the period and the nature of many of
the acts by which the insurrection was debased.
* These numbers were given me by General Mouravieff personally, on
17th March, 1865.
200
CHAPTER XV.
Seriakoffski, his Capture and Execution. Attempted Murder of the Marshal
of Nobility at Wilna. Death of Nullo. Rising in Kieff. Wysocki's
Invasion. Letter of a Patriot Pole.
AMONG the leaders of the insurgents in Lithuania, the most
remarkable and most ill-fated was Seriakoffski, a captain in
the Russian army. He was a Pole by birth, and while very
young had for some trifling offence been appointed to serve in
a regiment stationed in the distant government of Orenburg.
He appears to have been a man of quick feeling and perception,
but of little depth. Professedly devoted to the service of his
superiors, his mind was secretly filled with schemes of vast
and ill-regulated ambition, and while he held rank in the
service of Russia and received its pay, he was pondering in
secret how its power might be shaken and the independence
of Poland achieved. He early acquired the confidence of the
Minister of War, and distinguished himself by his efforts to
procure the abolition of corporal punishment in the Russian
army. He was sent by the 'Government to several countries
in Europe to inquire and to report upon their systems of
military discipline and the substitutes they adopted for the
lash, and the report which he presented upon this subject was
in a great measure acted upon by the Government. The road
to rapid preferment seemed now to be open to him, but his
mistaken patriotism and misplaced ambition destroyed his
prospects.
The Russian Government in no instance compelled Polish
officers to serve against their countrymen ; on their intimating
that they preferred to serve elsewhere, their desire was readily
acquiesced in, for the Russians made every allowance for a
national feeling, which they respected even while endeavour-
ing to control it. Seriakoffski therefore had not the excuse of
being driven to fight either for or against his countrymen. He
SERIAKOFPSKI. 207
was in the Kussian service, and could not without dishonour
be false to the colours under which he served, and the oaths
of fidelity which he had taken. If he was determined to rebel,
he should have resigned his grade, and then, though impru-
dent, he might have escaped shame. But the Russians charge
him with more than ordinary treachery, for it is alleged
that, under specious pretexts, he obtained money from the
Government, which he subsequently applied in furtherance of
the revolt ; and it is said that he formed a plot to surprise the
great fortress of Diinaburg, availing himself for that purpose
of an official mission in connection with its inspection and
government.*
He was appointed by the insurgents commander of their
forces in Lithuania, and waged war with the success of
an ordinary guerilla chief. At length, on the 7th May,
intelligence was conveyed to the Russian forces at Medeika
that the band of Dolengo (under which name Seriakoffski was
known) was in the neighbourhood, and some Cossacks and
infantry attacked it.
The insurgents hastily retreated into a forest which skirted
the main road ; but the Russian commanding officer did not
think it prudent to follow them, as he believed it was their
design, when his troops were disordered in the wood, to sur-
round and cut them off.
Two days later, the Russians in the mean time having been
reinforced, they marched against the insurgents. Seria-
koffski's little army, amounting to 1,500 men, was posted on
the border of a dense forest ; the right flank rested on the
village of Gondischki, and the left on a muddy brook. In
front of this position were scattered about 300 skirmishers, and
at some distance in the rear were compact masses of scythe-
men. The Russian skirmishers and Cossacks opened a
murderous fire upon the enemy, on whom they inflicted heavy
loss, and following up the attack, they endeavoured to surround
* I received this information from a source which I believe to be well in-
formed, but a copy of the depositions taken at his trial which I was promised
has not reached me, and I am therefore unable to speak with certainty as to
the truth of these charges.
208 THE RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT IN POLAND.
them on all sides. The scythe-men charged the left flank of
the Russians and endeavoured to disperse them; but they
were received by a steady fire from the Russian troops,, to
which, inefficiently armed as they were, they had no means of
adequately replying. The conflict was too unequal, and their
ranks were quickly broken ; nearly 200 of them were killed,
and the remainder fled.
The account of the capture of Seriakoffski, which occurred
a few hours after the defeat of his band, is given in the fol-
lowing terms by a Russian officer who was engaged in the
affair. It is so characteristic of the nature of the struggle,
and gives so vivid an idea of the views of the men who mixed
in it, that I introduce it without change or condensation.
" The day that followed the affair of the 27th, the peasants
of the neighbourhood began bringing in prisoners, one or two
at a time : after some hours they numbered, including those
taken by our troops, about 100 men. They were all proprie-
tors (pani) or Schlachta. The soldiers surrounded the prisoners
and addressed speeches to them : ' Oh you, you Poles/ they
said, ' why do you rebel against the Government ? what can
you want ? you have land and money j it is far better for you
to sit at home. Do you look like soldiers ? No ; it is a real
shame ! ' Among the prisoners was one young man who looked
silent and sullen. The Russians asked him, ' Who are you,
where are you from, are you a Pole ? ' He simply answered,
' I know nothing/ Several such persons were met with ;
their silence is owing to the interference of the priests, who
make them swear, if they meet a Russian, that they will be
dumb. If they torture you, say the priests, you go direct to
Paradise and are a martyr : thus all the Schlachta are per-
fectly convinced, if they get shot in a wood, that they will go
straight to heaven.
" An officer of the Hulans, who was among the troops, ap-
proached one of the prisoners, saying ' Good morning, Stani-
chewski, are you, too, in the band ? this is a pleasant way of
renewing our acquaintance ! ' ' As you see/ answered the
other ; ' I beg your pardon for not having executed your com-
mission ; you gave me money to buy an opera-glass, but I
could not/ This surprised us, and we surrounded him, and
CAPTURE OF INSURGENTS. 209
made inquiries. It appears he was a lieutenant- cap tain, who
had left our service very recently to take an appointment in
the excise in the district of Wilcomirsk. A month before he
was captured,, he was going to St. Petersburg, and then had
received the commission from the officer, but he was stopped
by persons who were strangers to him, and threatened with
death if he did not obey. He entered the band of Seriakoff-
ski, and on the 26th commanded the right wing : he was the
leader of the scythe-men. I do not know whether one can
believe him, but he was the only Pole worthy of compassion.
Every insurgent had his history one was innocent, another
was in the band by compulsion. The commander of the
band affirmed that he entered it at the instigation of the
ladies. When his neighbours went into the woods the ladies
sneered at him, and he went also, to avoid being an object of
scorn. Some, however, of the insurgents acknowledged that
they went of their own will.
" In the evening an officer of the Koperski regiment arrived
with some soldiers at the house of a proprietor : it was situated
in the middle of some swampy ground in a wood, and was
completely closed ; they surrounded it a window then opened,
and a voice said, ' Enter, I am here, Seriakoffski.' In addi-
tion to Seriakqffski they found Kolichko and part of Seria-
koffski's staff, twenty-one in number, who, after the battle,
had been conveyed to this house, which belonged to a count,
who was himself in the band. This place was 18 wersts
(12 miles) from our staff at Medeika. Having heard of this
occurrence, our general sent me with forty riflemen to convey
the prisoners to our staff.
"We arrived at the house at twelve o'clock at night.
The first room was occupied by our soldiers j I then entered
a room guarded by two sentinels, in which were twelve
prisoners ; they were all asleep on straw, except one, who had
a handsome but displeasing countenance, and who introduced
himself as Kolichko ; he told me he had been at the military
school at Genoa ; he added, that the Government had tried for
two years to arrest him for political offences, but that he had
always contrived to escape. Even the linen of those who slept
was black, as a sign of mourning.
p
210 THE RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT IN POLAND.
" I entered the next room, and was struck by what I saw.
In the middle of the room, on a large bed, lay the wounded
Seriakoffski; two doctors, in Polish costume, sat near his
pillow ; in another part of the room six wounded men were
lying on the straw. One very handsome young man approached
me on tiptoe, bowed, and said, f I am Count Kossachoffsky,
adjutant to our general/ I could not restrain a smile, and
answered, ' Do put an end to this comedy ; wake Seriakoff-
ski ; I have orders to convey him and all of you to our staff
at Medeika/ But Kossachoffsky answered in the same tone,
' Lieutenant, it is perfectly impossible, the wound of our
general is dangerous ; wait till seven o'clock in the morning,
when the crisis will be over/ The doctors likewise approached,
and made the same request in French, hoping I should relent ;
at the same time the Poles, endeavouring to frighten us, said
the band of Mazkiewitch, the priest, was advancing to deliver
Seriakoffski. This made me anxious ; I woke up the self-styled
general ; he said, ' You are come to fetch me, but I cannot go
at present ; wait till seven o'clock ; it will be better for you to
bring me alive than dead ; I can then be of more use/ I
answered him that his requests were rather suspicious. At
about two o'clock in the morning, faint rays of light entered the
room; I told everyone to get up and dress it was done,
but with very great ill-will. At last they were all placed in the
conveyances prepared for them. Seriakoffski, as a wounded
man, was to be placed in an open carriage found in the house
of the proprietor; but he would not come out, requesting
some tea, as it would give him new strength. I allowed it ; but
the preparations were unduly protracted; I therefore ap-
proached Seriakoffski, and said, ' Seriakoffski, report describes
you as a man of iron will ; prove it ; what can a cup of tea
matter to you ? ' He immediately went out and seated himself
in the carriage with the doctor and his adjutant.
" Before reaching Wolkomir we saw a beautiful place,
almost a palace, which belonged to the adjutant. This man
young, rich, and handsome could easily have fled to his own
house after the affair, as no one knew he had been in the
battle. ' I could not leave my general in misfortune/ said he,
pressing Seriakoffski's hand. I do not know whether Seria-
CONVERSATION WITH SERIAKOFFSKI. 211
koffski had moral influence over the persons about him, but his
personal appearance was not attractive ; he had a yellow, sickly
face, and dull, strange eyes.
" We continued our journey. I began to ask Kolichko about
the state of the band. ' I have been leader of this band/ he
said, ' for three months ; I acquired strategic knowledge in
the school of Genoa ; the Russians have been trying to take
me for two months, but I always escaped, and often passed
between two detachments without being caught ; it is Seria-
koffski' s fault that I am taken ; if I had not joined him, I
should still be in the woods with my band/ ' Why, then, did
you join him?' I asked. 'He is our commander; we must
obey him/ On several papers SeriakofFski had signed,
' Commander (Woiwode) of Lithuania and Kovno/ Ko-
lichko accused Seriakoffski of refusing him permission to
attack Medeika when it was only garrisoned by one company
of Eussian soldiers. ' Seriakoffski/ he continued, f is a clever
man, but no military chief, he is not energetic enough/ In
general he spoke unfavourably of him ; it was easily seen that
Kolichko was very vain.
' f We approached a wood and advanced very slowly. I was
sitting near Seriakoffski, and began to talk to him. ' I left
Kovno with three men/ he said, ' and soon had a band of 1,000.
Our march through the provinces was a real triumph, c'etait
une protestation sanglante ; we were everywhere received
as if we belonged to one family ; the peasant women brought
their sons to us, but we would not take them/ I could stand
this no longer, and told him it was all untrue. We had fol-
lowed him step by step, and seen the ravages he had made
on the property of the unfortunate peasants. He found an
answer immediately. f We ordered the peasants to complain
of us, that you might not touch them/ At this moment, some
insurgents emerged from a wood and waved their hats in
token of surrender. Two Cossacks therefore arrested them.
One of these men was seventeen years old, with a wounded
hand. I asked him if he was in the band of his own will.
'No/ he replied, 'they threatened to hang my father if I
did not join/ < He lies/ said Seriakoffski. ' Well, Seria-
koffski/ I said, 'you must have a great load on your con-
p2
212 THE RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT IN POLAND.
science; what miseries you have caused/ He replied,, f lt
is nothing ; these bloody seeds will give white flowers ; Po-
land must do something to record her existence/ 'Why/
then/ I inquired, ' were you going to the Baltic provinces,
where the peasants would have met you with axes, and where
you would have perished with hunger ? ' t All the band together
formed 5,000 men/ he said ; f in a week I might have had
double that number, and with 10,000 men I could have roused
the Baltic provinces/ I really do not know how much further
the imagination of Seriakoffski might have carried him, but
we had reached Medeika."
The wound of Seriakoffski was mortal, and he used every
endeavour in his power to prolong the legal proceedings, that he
might avoid the ignominy of a public execution. The attempt
was vain ; no doubt of his guilt could be entertained, and there
were no circumstances in his case which, in the view of a
military tribunal, could be alleged as the slightest extenua-
tion of his crime ; but Seriakoffski had been honoured and
esteemed by men high in rank in the public service, and if
any intercession could have availed him/it would have been
forthcoming on his behalf. He had been only married a few
months, and his young wife entreated ministers and men
high in the confidence of her sovereign to supplicate for her
husband's life. They listened to her with respect, they sym-
pathized in her despair, but they held out no hopes that
the boon she asked would be granted. She went to Prince
Souwaroff,* the kindness of whose heart is only equalled by
the charm of his manners, and entreated him to use his all-
powerful influence to avert the desolation that hung over her.
He knew that in such a case all entreaty was in vain; she
had begged to learn the truth from him, and he told it to
her kindly but firmly. "Madam," he said, "you desire to
know the truth, and I dare not trifle with you ; I will not say
that your husband's life cannot be spared, for with God nothing
is impossible ; but unless He interposes His omnipotent arm
to save him, his life will not be spared ; the offence he has
committed is one which the Government cannot pardon."
* The Governor-General of St. Petersburg.
EXECUTION OP SERIAKOFFSKI. 213
The sentence of the court-martial was that Seriakoffski
should be hanged, and it evoked a deep burst of indignation
from his friends, which to this hour has not subsided. They
contended that, as a Russian officer, he should have been shot,
and that the mode of execution resorted to was a needless
insult to a brave but most unfortunate enthusiast ; and they
ascribed it to the fiendish cruelty and malevolence of General
Mouravieff that this last indignity was put upon him. Such a
charge, however, is very unjust ; for according to martial law
in Russia, the court passes its judgment upon the criminal,
and in that judgment the mode of execution is prescribed ; the
law further directs that the sentence shall be confirmed or
disallowed by the governor of the province, and that it shall
be carried into execution within twenty-four hours. The sen-
tence passed was in strict conformity with martial law; the only
course open to General Mouravieff was to confirm it, and the
cruelty, if cruelty there were in the sentence, must be attri-
buted to the court-martial, and not to the superior officer, who
simply confirmed its doom.*
Towards the end of July the insurrection in Lithuania was
practically at an end ; a few bands of robbers rather than insur-
gents were sometimes met with, and the country was unsafe
for peaceful travellers ; for all military purposes, however, it
was completely in the hands of the Russians, and the proprie-
tors throughout the provinces under the charge of General
Mouravieff signed addresses expressive of their contrition for
what had occurred, and of their loyal resolution for the future.
The National Government viewed these addresses with the
* Many absurd statements were circulated upon the subject of his execu-
tion. It was said that the English ambassador had written to request Gene-
ral Mouravieff to spare Seriakoffski's life, and that General Mouravieff had
declared that he would teach the English ambassador not to interfere with
him, and forthwith ordered his prisoner, although it was about midnight, to
be hanged, without giving him a moment to prepare for death.
Another story equally false represented that Seriakoffski was hanged imme-
diately opposite the windows of his wife, and that the first intelligence she
had of his -doom was the spectacle of his dead body suspended before her eyes.
Both these stories, as will be gathered from the statements I have made in
the text, are untrue.
214 THE KUSSIAN GOVERNMENT IN POLAND.
greatest alarm. They disclaimed its authority ; they held it up
to public odium as an unjust and usurping power ; they pro-
fessed the devotion of the men who signed them to the Russian
Emperor, and solicited the protection of the Russian army.
The Press which was in the pay of the Emigration described
these addresses as having been extorted by menace and vio-
lence : the proprietors, it declared, were at the mercy of the
Russians, and no man's life or property was secure if he re-
fused to sign any document Mouravieff or his myrmidons might
require him to subscribe. This argument, however, was a
dangerous one to employ ; for the more completely the proprie-
tors were at the mercy of the authorities, the more evident did
it become that the insurrection was finally extinguished.
It was therefore necessary to resort to violent means to
repress these indications of returning loyalty, and the National
Government resolved, by the murder of one of the offenders,
to prevent any repetition of the fault. An address to the Em-
peror had been signed on behalf of the nobility of Wilna by
M. Domeiko, their Marshal.
On the morning of the llth of August, in broad daylight, and
without a sign of concealment or fear, a stranger presented him-
self at the house of the Marshal and requested to see him. He
gave no reason for his visit, but there was nothing in his ap-
pearance to create alarm, and he was admitted without hesita-
tion into the house. After waiting some little time, he was
shown into the room where M. Domeiko received his business
visitors. The ordinary salutations over, the stranger presented
to the Marshal a paper, having the appearance of a government
despatch, and as he took it from his hand, stabbed him with one
of those long double-bladed daggers upon which the National
Government relied for the propagation of their principles.
The wound was not mortal, and the cries of his master brought
a servant into the room. This man grappled with the assassin,
and endeavoured to arrest him ; he too was stabbed severely,
and the assassin then left the house. As he passed out of the
porte cochere he said to the wife of the porter, whom he met
there, " Hasten up stairs, your master is ill I go for a doc-
tor." Suspicion being thus disarmed, he for the moment
escaped ; but subsequently, owing to an informality in his pass-
ATTEMPTED MURDER OP M. DOMEIKO. 215
port, he was arrested, and was executed for the crime. The
paper presented to the Marshal was subsequently found to
be his death-warrant, issued by the National Government.
The deliberation and the general immunity from punishment
with which this class of crime was committed are evidences of
the extent to which the town populations sympathized with
the revolt. In fact, in this particular, the assassinations com-
mitted by order of the National Government were as remark-
able as the agrarian murders which were some years since so
common in Ireland. In both cases there was a wide class-
feeling in favour of the criminal, which prevented the magni-
tude of his crime from being appreciated, and gave him an
unfortunate immunity from punishment. Among the town
populations of Poland this feeling extensively prevailed during
the earlier part of the insurrection ; but it gradually wore away,
owing to the frequency and causelessness of these murders,
and was replaced by a feeling of fear, loathing, and disgust.
While such was the course of events in Poland and the
Western provinces, the Emigration continued to distort facts,
and the journals in their pay to circulate the most grotesque
misrepresentations.
About this time the Polish Committee in Paris issued an
address, in which they stated that, " In the middle of the 19th
century the Muscovite despotism presents a spectacle of atro-
cities unknown even in the annals of barbarous times. The
deceitful mask which covered Russia has fallen off, and the
barbarous Mongul appears in his hideous nakedness. The
cruelties of Tamerlane and Ivan the Terrible pale before the
horrors of the Government of Alexander II.
" Exasperated by the moral support that the sympathies of
the civilized world have given to the Polish insurrection,
Eussia has launched her most savage hordes against Poland,
and the autocrat has delivered over the victim as a prey to his
most ferocious proconsuls. The war is no longer a war, it is
a horrible carnage. Pillage and burnings are the order of the
day; the gibbets are kept standing; fusillades and grape-
shot shed streams of blood. Neither age nor sex are spared,
and priests, while clothed in their sacred robes, are delivered
without trial to the hangman.
216 THE RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT IN POLAND.
" To stir up the flame, and crown the work of destruction,
in contempt of all social laws, the Muscovite Government
appeals to passions the most odious ; it endeavours to place
the torch and the axe in the hands of the peasants, and excites
them to assail the proprietors, whom it promises they may
plunder.
( ' Europe shudders at the recital of these atrocities
but for Poland more is required than empty wishes.
" Poland defends her religious creed and her domestic
hearths ; she demands her liberty and independence, and she
will not cease to combat until she has reconquered from the
oppressor her frontiers of 1772. The National Government
has declared that Poland repudiates every negotiation (trans-
action) as suicide, as treason, and from the Vistula to the
Dnieper, the whole nation has vowed to perish rather than to
treat with the foreign tyranny.
" Between Poland and the Muscovite despotism there is,
then, a deadly strife (duel a mort) ; between a Christian people
which is associated with all the progress of modern civilization,
and claims rights the most dear and the most sacred, and
the barbarous Mongul, who represents brute force, and tram-
ples divine and human laws under its feet, there is hence-
forward an abyss of blood.
" Will Europe suffer that humanity shall be thus insolently
outraged ? Will she permit this war of extermination to be
prolonged to the eternal shame of the nineteenth century ?
"People of the West, hear the cry of alarm which this
martyred nation raises ! it is over its body that despotism
hopes to force its way to the heart of civilization. But God
is with us, and his justice will make us triumph."
While the Emigration thus endeavoured to stir up Western
Europe, the Roman Catholic clergy did their best by word and
act to goad the ignorant peasantry and the sluggish masses
to take part in the revolutionary movement.
A portion of the over-excited and feverish population of
Warsaw having persuaded itself that it had seen a fiery cross
in the air, the news spread through the city that the sign of
victory had shown itself, and an immense crowd collected at a
spot thought to be advantageously situated for viewing the
MIEACULOUS INTERPOSITIONS ON BEHALF OF THE POLES. 217
phenomenon. The commissary of the fifth and sixth police
quarters of Warsaw made a formal report on the subject of
the supposed aerial cross, saying that it was to be seen "just
above a pear-tree in front of the house No. 2487," and that
it had caused a crowd to assemble, whereby the public peace
was likely to be disturbed. The Russians, finding that some
intimate connection existed in the popular mind between the
pear-tree and the miraculous symbol, ordered the former to
be destroyed, and the tree, which is said to have been in full
bloom, was cut down. This appears to have had the effect
of dispelling the apparition ; at least, no more was heard of
it, and the crowd broke up, lamenting only the fall of the
pear-tree.
Another example of miraculous but vain interposition on
behalf of the insurgents was witnessed and officially recorded
in the government of Grodno. A shepherdess twelve years
old saw four birds come down from Heaven, who, when they
reached the earth, changed themselves into as many saints ;
a chariot descended at the same time from Heaven, to which
four horses were yoked. These saints said to the girl,
" Poland will assuredly live, and that which the Poles are
unable to accomplish, God will accomplish with his thunder-
bolts. Go and make this known to holy Poland !" The
shepherdess stated that one of these personages was an
angel, the second a cardinal, but she did not know who the
two others were. The saints then took their seats in the
chariot, and returned to Heaven.
Here, also, the Eussians failed to acknowledge the truth of
the alleged revelation, and they deprived the over-officious
commissary of police who recorded it of his place, and handed
him over, together with the cure who had vouched it, to be
tried for their excess of faith.
The insurgents sustained a severe loss about 5th May, in
the death of Francisco Nullo, a general in their service. He
had been a distinguished officer in Garibaldi's army, and he
brought with him from Italy thirty or forty of his former
comrades, by whom he was greatly beloved. He was asso-
ciated in command with Miniewski, and their little force
consisted of some gentlemen calling themselves the "Zouaves
218 THE RUSSIAN GOVEENMENT IN POLAND.
a la mort," and the Italian company. They assembled at
Cracow, intending to invade Poland from that neighbourhood.
Instead of acting stealthily, and in a manner calculated to
prevent their proceedings being remarked, the "Zouaves^
made their progress a pageant and a show ; their friends
accompanied them to the plains of Wola, outside the city,
and then took an affecting farewell of them. The consequence
was, that the Eussians were perfectly informed of their move-
ments, and prepared an overwhelming force with which to
oppose them. The hostile bands met, and the insurgents
taking shelter in a wood, kept up an ineffectual fire on the
Russians, which the latter, owing to the superior weapons
with which they were armed, replied to with success. Finding
his men were being sacrificed unavailingly, Nullo determined
to charge and endeavour, in a hand-to-hand encounter, to
change the fortunes of the day ; the " Zouaves a la mort,"
however, preferred remaining under cover, and Nullo received
a fatal wound almost on the moment of leaving the wood.
Then ensued a strange and unexampled scene. Maddened by
the death of the leader whom they loved, the Italians called
out his name in the accents of bitterest grief; they sobbed,
they shrieked, and by a general impulse rushed upon the
enemy, and found a glorious death on the field they could not
win.
The " Zouaves a la mort " were not so indiscreet ; they
retreated in a manner somewhat hurried and disorderly, and
few of the friends who paid them so sad an honour on the
plain of Wola had the additional sorrow of counting their
heroes among the slain.
The Russians knew how to respect a noble foe. The follow-
ing day they buried Nullo with all the honours of war. The
army was drawn up in line, and saluted his remains as they
were carried past. A solemn mass was performed in the
church of Olkusz for the repose of his soul, and Prince Scha-
koffskoy, the commander of the Russian forces, with his staff,
and detachments from each regiment, and all the Polish
population of the town, followed him to the grave.
The peasantry of the South-western were even more
hostile to the insurgents than those of the North-western
DEATH OP NULLO. 219
provinces. Whatever may be their race, their language and
customs are Russian, their religion is almost exclusively that
of the Greek Church, and no bond of common interest unites
them to the proprietors of the soil. Their masters have never
been their friends ; they are not so easily trampled on as the
natives of the north-west, and consequently have not sub-
mitted to the same ignominious thraldom ; but the cruelty,
the injustice, and the persecutions of many years have left a
deeper scar behind, and they regarded the insurgents with
undisguised enmity. Emancipation they considered to be the
gift of the Emperor against the will of the nobles, and it was
in him only that they trusted to grant them their land in fee.
The proclamation of the revolutionary Government, by which
it assumed to give them the land, and the adoption of it by
such of the proprietors as failed to demand their quarter's
rent when it became due, did not win them. They considered
this as a cunning device practised simply to delude them, and
believed that concessions accorded in the moment of danger
would be withdrawn in the hour of success.
The peasants somewhat unnecessarily feared, if the insurgents
were victorious, that they would again be reduced to servitude ;
but their alarm on the subject of their land does not appear
so causeless, when we remember the tenets on that subject held
by the Polish proprietors up to the very commencement of the
revolt; their conversion was suspiciously sudden, and the
peasants might well doubt its sincerity.
They soon satisfied themselves that the Russians were the
stronger party, and being quite clear on this point, gave full
play to their loyalty. They afforded them information, and
supplied them willingly with food when they required it ; they
assisted them wherever it was in their power, captured sus-
pected persons, and hunted down fugitive Poles.
The difference in religion created a wide gulf between the
peasants and the insurgents, and the result of a close inquiry
will be to show that religion has had far greater influence than
race in this contest. The Greek has universally sided with the
Russian Government ; the Roman Catholic peasant has fre-
quently done so also ; but the superior classes who profess the
Roman Catholic faith have invariably given more or less overt
220 THE KUSSTAN GOVERNMENT IN POLAND.
assistance to the revolt. In the provinces of Podolia, Volhynia,
and Kieff, the Roman Catholics numbered only 476,236 out of
a population of 4, 7 13,48 6.
The peasantry having thus evidenced their feelings, it was
evident that no inroad into their provinces had a chance of
success ; but the insurgents organized an ill-timed and ill-
advised rising, which took place at Kieff towards the end of
May. Numerous individuals, and among them many of the
students of the university, daily quitted the town. They pro-
cured their passports without difficulty, and the only measure
of precaution the Government adopted was to confiscate such
depots of arms as they were able to find. On the 27th of
May the streets were thronged with Poles dressed in the
national costume ; they hurried up and down in an agitated
manner ; they crowded the doorways of shops, and purchased
provisions of all kinds.
The students hired the horses of a dragoon regiment, and
rode into the country, where many of the proprietors in the
district and some of the artisans of the town joined them.
An armed force followed them, and at Borodinski, a place a
short distance from the town, encountered and completely
defeated them. This victory was so easily won, that one
soldier killed and ten or eleven wounded was the total loss the
Russians sustained.
The reason for this easy triumph was apparent when the
prisoners were seen. Among them were schoolboys of thir-
teen and fourteen years old ; their armament was incomplete,
their commander was a riding-master of the university, and
the unlucky insurgents were suffering greatly from wounds
caused by their new high-heeled boots, which they thought it
patriotic to wear, but which sorely pinched them on their
march .
The troops would have had more trouble in arresting the
fugitives than in defeating the enemy, had it not been for the
exertions of the peasants. The inhabitants of the adjoining
villages, armed with any weapons they could procure, scoured
the country in all directions and attacked and arrested the
insurgents. Day after day for some weeks they brought them in
as prisoners to Kieff, and delivered them over to the authorities.
RISING IN KIEPF. 221
This was the only attempt of any importance made by the
insurgents in that neighbourhood.
Nevertheless the National Government desired to show that
the South-western provinces sympathized with the revolt, and
only waited a favourable opportunity to rise against the Russian
Government. The extreme ignorance which existed in Western
Europe of the social and political condition of the various parts
of the Poland of 1 772 facilitated the leaders of the insurrection
in the attempt, and very trifling successes or a long continu-
ance of guerilla warfare in those provinces, would have enabled
them to effect it. It was therefore resolved, as far back as the
end of March, that an expeditionary corps should rendezvous
at or in the vicinity of Lemberg, and thence invade Yolhynia
on the first opportunity that offered itself.
It was not an easy task either to procure the men or the
weapons required for this attempt, for . the Austrian troops
were on the alert, and were constantly intercepting suspicious
travellers, and searching for and finding the arms which the
insurgents had concealed. Moreover, the peasants of Galicia
were bitterly hostile to the Poles, whom they not unnaturally
recognized as akin in race, object, and feeling to their own
landlords men whom they had never had reason to sympa-
thize with or respect.
The insurgents were received into the houses of the Galician
Poles, and were concealed there in great numbers for various
periods, until at last the expeditionary corps having col-
lected on the frontier, all was prepared for the invasion of
Volhynia.
It had been originally intended that the force should consist
of about 4,000 men, and be divided into five bands, who were
to cross the frontier at different points. The combined move-
ment was to be directed by General Wysocki, formerly the
leader of the Polish legion in Hungary, and the title conferred
upon him by the National Government was "General com-
manding in the province of Lublin, and in the Ruthenian
Provinces."
When the moment of march arrived, it was found that about
1,200 was the total number of men who could be equipped
and sent into the field, and these men were divided into two
222 THE EUSSTAN GOVERNMENT IN POLAND.
detachments, one of 750 under Wysocki, the other of 450
under Major Horodycki, an officer who had also seen service in
the Hungarian war.
In the Times' correspondent's letters we have a very
interesting narrative of the expedition, and highly instructive
sketches of the men who took a share in it,
" With all the admiration/' he says, " which I sincerely feel
for the Langiewiczs, Frankowskis, Narbutts, Padlewskis,
Horodyckis, Gliszminskis, and so many other noble-minded
soldiers who have given dignity to the Polish movement, and
who are now, for the most part, in prison or in the grave,
there is one class of the Polish insurgents which I confess I
cannot stand at all. These are the men and boys who are
to the true patriots of the insurrection what youths who enter
regular armies for the sake of the uniform are to true soldiers.
For six weeks you may see them strutting about the streets
and talking loud in the coffee-houses of Cracow and Lemberg,
proud of their martial bearing, very proud indeed of their
boots, and boasting of all sorts of things they are going to
do, but have not yet done. Houses are open to them which
at other times and under other circumstances they would not
be allowed to enter ; they have only to say that they are going
into the cavalry to have excellent horses placed at their
disposal, and there is scarcely anything they may not get by
asking for it or hinting that they are in need of it. Then
they are allowed to pay, and even themselves receive, an
undue amount of attention from women, for the Polish ladies
look upon patriotism as the first virtue, and are too patriotic
themselves to imagine that those insurgents who are the most
ferocious when they are a hundred miles away from the
frontier can be among the mildest when they find themselves
in presence of the enemy ; and that, while the bravest and
most pure-minded men in Poland are literally sacrificing
themselves beneath the Eussian sword in the supposed interest
of their country, ' ces messieurs bottes ' (as I have heard them
called by their own sex) are sniffing the battle a very long
way off, and gracefully lounging on the Austrian barrier at
least a mile from the scene of action. On the morning of the
invasion of Volhynia (it was all over by 2 p.m.) a Polish
DESCEIPTFON OP WYSOCKl's AEMY. 223
gentleman arrested in my presence more than twenty of these
faint-hearted patriots as they were hurrying from the rear of
Wysocki's detachment to the Galician frontier. They had not
the slightest idea who this gentleman was ; but he threatened
to report them to the National Government, took their names
down, caught new fugitives one by one as they came up, and
did it all in such a tone and decision, and with such an air of
authority, that when he ordered them to form, and marched
them to a convenient little nook in the wood which lines the
right side of the road to Radziwilow, the score of armed men
obeyed their unarmed, self-appointed chief, and were forced to
proceed like lambs to the ambuscade, from which, if the oppor-
tunity presented itself, they with some sixty who afterwards
joined them, were to fire upon the Russians. Then, finding that
the Russians were not coming, they were lions once more, and
boasted how they had been the last men to leave the field of
battle (the action, as could be seen, had just begun), and how
the rest of the detachment had been cut to pieces, and they
alone had lived to tell the story, which they certainly told in
the nursery sense of the word.
( ' ' Ces messieurs bottes ' are, after all, not the worst members
of the Polish insurrection. What is to be said of the gentle-
men who are not bottes, because they have no boots, and who
have also no shirts, and who come to the insurgent camp
clothed with vermin and rags ? And is there any excuse for
making brave officers risk their lives and reputations in
endeavouring to lead such miserable creatures the refuse of
the Polish towns against Russian troops who are no more
' demoralized' in Volhynia than they were in the Crimea,
and who can certainly make as good a stand against a horde
of Polish ragamuffins as they did against the well-trained
soldiers of France and England ?
" ' I thought/ said one of Wysocki's captains to me, when
I went to see him in the hospital at Brody, where he is
lying with a bullet in his leg, ' I thought I should have found
the same sort of men fighting here that I found in Hungary
when I was in the Polish legion. It was too bad to give me
such rubbish to command/
" ' If you could have seen your men beforehand/ I inquired,
224 THE RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT IN POLAND.
f would you have left England and your wife and family to
take charge of such soldiers ? '
<f ' Of course not/ he replied. ' It is no use trying to lead
men who cannot be got to follow. I was not merely disap-
pointed but disgusted, when I saw what material I had to deal
with.'
" e What class of men had you in your company ? ' I con-
tinued ; ' do you think I could call them vagabonds ? '
(< ' Well, they were covered with lice, and were the sort of
persons you might find in swarms for any sort of work in
Whitechapel. I should think vagabonds just the word for
them.'
" ' And how long did they remain under fire ? ' I asked.
" ' Only for a few minutes. I was hit about twenty minutes
after the battle had begun, and already half my company had
got away. I had only forty men left. I believe they all wan-
dered into the woods, and dispersed as soon as I was carried
to the rear. People will be abusing the general ; but he did
his best, and the officers did their best to support him. The
first and fourth companies were the only ones that did any real
fighting. The others had so many bad men among them that,
taken altogether, they were quite worthless.' '
This was the force with which the National Government
proposed to revolutionize Yolhynia, a province where the
people were opposed to them, and which was efficiently held
by a large and well-appointed Russian army. Contrasting the
greatness of the end intended with the poverty of the means
employed for effecting 'it, the only conclusion at which it is
possible to arrive is that the National Government knew the
expedition was certain to meet with immediate and igno-
minious defeat, but that they organized and sent it forth in
order that they might advertise the spread of the insurrection,
and persuade the great powers of Europe that it was extending
to all the provinces included in the Poland of 1772.
The first object of the invaders was the capture of Rad-
ziwilow, an unimportant town, about two miles from the
Austrian frontier ; and the two detachments, commanded by
Horodycki and Wysocki, were to approach it from different
quarters, and simultaneously attack it.
DEFEAT OF WYSOCKI. 225
Horodycki' s detachment advanced, and not meeting with
that under the command of Wysocki, marched into Eadzi-
wilow, which they entered about three o'clock a.m. In the
market-place, a small Eussian force, variously estimated at from
five hundred to nine hundred men, was drawn up, and a conflict
immediately ensued. The engagement lasted for upwards of an
hour, and ended in the entire defeat of the insurgents, who
lost their commander, Horodycki, many other of their officers,
and a very large proportion of their men. So utterly were
they beaten, that when, at seven o'clock, Wysocki reached the
neighbourhood of the town, he thought they could not have
arrived, but that the sound of firearms would bring them to
his aid.
While Horodycki's detachment was thus being cut to pieces,
the men under the command of Wysocki had difficulties of
their own to encounter. They were pursued by the Austrian
troops, and were compelled to take a long circuitous route to
the frontier, and when at length they arrived before Eadzi-
wilow, they had marched nearly thirty miles, and had had
nothing to eat for twenty- four hours.
In front of the town, some eight hundred Eussians had taken
up a position, and Wysocki, unconscious of the misfortunes
which had overwhelmed him, looked anxiously round for the
promised aid of Horodycki. As the succour came not, the
action commenced ; but it was not of a character to test the
steadiness or military capacity of the invading force. There
were no charges, no hand-to-hand encounters, not even any
steady firing, and the cavalry were not engaged. The opposing
parties were hundreds of yards distant from each other,
the Poles taking shelter in a forest, from which they fired on
the Eussians, while the latter concealed themselves in some
standing corn, whence they returned the fire of their eneniy.
In this ignominious skirmishing hours wore away, and
General Wysocki, finding he could make no impression on the
Eussian troops, and that he had already lost several of his
best officers, was reluctantly obliged to retreat. He buried his
arms, and recrossed the Austrian frontier.
Major Synkiewicz, the second in command of Horodycki's
detachment, "had to take refuge in a large pond or lake,
Q
226 THE RUSSIAN (.'OVERNMENT IN POLAND.
where ho remained for eight hours, while the peasants who
had been pursuing him stood on the banks, armed with
scythes, and ready to murder him if he returned to dry land.
The major had swum to a little island of mud, and there
remained concealed among rushes and weeds," until he at last
thought of taking his Italian hat off, and sending it floating
along the water. Then the peasants thought their victim was
drowned, and went home to dinner."
The ill success of this expedition excited great discontent
in Galicia. The papers in the interest of the insurgents com-
plained that blow after blow was striking them, while their
own most carefully prepared attempts invariably failed. The
false reports, too, which excited Western Europe were begin-
ning to lose their value, and it was found, in some instances,
that they disheartened those they were intended to encourage.
The following is an extract from a pamphlet entitled,
"Letter of a Patriot Pole/' addressed, in the autumn of 1863,
to the National Government :-
" What pleasure I and my brave companions in arms expe-
rienced on finding, in those copies of foreign newspapers which,
occasionally reached our forest, the announcement of the rapid
increase of the forces of the insurrection, the news of so many
victories won from the enemy ! Pursued by superior forces,
driven as we were like fallow-deer, we breathed more freely
on learning that on other points our brothers were victorious,
and that from all parts of the east and of the west succours
were hastening their arrival to join with us in the great work
of the liberation of our country. Intoxicated with happiness,
every one forgot his sufferings, some their wounds, others the
enervating effect of continual privations, when one day, among
the catalogue of victories of which the papers spoke, we found
the recital of that which our legion had achieved over two com-
panies of infantry and fifty Cossacks. Our amazement was
indescribable. On the day mentioned in the despatch, there
had been no encounter; we were not in all more than 186 men,
instead of 1,500, as the telegraph alleged, and, alas ! in place
of being victorious, we had taken that very morning the reso-
lution to disperse, and each of us to join other bands more
fortunate and more numerous than our own. Four of us were
LETTEE OF A PATRIOT POLE. 227
in the tent of Count A. to read with eagerness the bundle of
papers sent him from Cracow, and to communicate to each
other what we found remarkable among them. It was B.
who met with the passage in question ; I observed that he
grew pale as he turned over the paper which he held in his
hands. As he was wounded in the leg, I thought his wound
must have re-opened ; but he handed me the journal, saying,
in a voice trembling with rage, f Read ! ' We read, all three
of us, this ill-omened despatch, the count in a loud voice, the
other two of us following him with our eyes ; and never shall I
forget the terrible effect those five lines of print made upon us.
" So, these recitals of victories, these narratives of successes
won over the enemy, were nothing but lies ! We had the in-
controvertible proof that they had lied once, we were entitled
to believe that the other f brilliant affairs,' the other ' complete
defeats of the Muscovites ' were equally false. But if all this
was a lie, the sympathies of the people for the cause we de-
fended might also exist only in the imagination of those who
deceived us ; and then what were we ? Adventurers, filibus-
ters, a band of brigands, acting by the order of its chiefs, and
pursuing an object altogether selfish ; an object which the
people repudiated.
" This idea upset us. We wished to know the truth of all
these shams ; we wished to ascertain for ourselves what was
true and what was false in all that was said and published on
the revolutionary movement ; we wished to know if we were
the dupes of an intriguing minority or the champions of a
truly popular cause. Under the influence of the first burst of
passion, we adopted the most extreme resolutions : to protest
publicly against the falsehood of the would-be patriots ;
to write to the Central Committee at Warsaw, and require
them to tell us what was true and what was invented in the
statements which described the insurrection as gaining strength
every day ; and, finally, to call together all our companions in
arms, to read to them the lying despatch, and send them into
various districts in Lithuania, Podolia, &c., with the commis-
sion to personally satisfy themselves of the condition of things,
and to return on a day fixed to advise together on that which
we had to decide. Nothing of the kind was done. The
Q 2
228 THE RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT IN POLAND.
night, a sleepless night to all four, brought reflection with it,
and the very excess of our grief caused renewed courage and
hope to fill our hearts. The news of the victory that they said
we had gained, was false ; but this might be explained by an
unintentional error; the name of a place, written indistinctly,
or a mistake in printing might have caused what we found
there. This explanation was highly improbable, but it was
possible ; we finished then by admitting it, so easily do
we believe what we desire, and so much pain would our
patriotism have caused us, had we thought that the brilliant
successes of our brothers in arms in other districts had not been
more real than our own. We, who had braved death which
the Muscovite carbines scattered amongst us ; we, who had
faced in our ranks the Cossack pikes, we were afraid to look
the truth in the face, we were afraid to say that we were de-
ceived, we were afraid of losing our courage if we admitted
what we thought, and, not to discourage our comrades, we
resolved to deceive them, or at least not to undeceive them as
to the value of the favourable intelligence which stimulated
their patriotic zeal.
' ' With one accord we burned the paper containing the false
despatch, and gave the remaining numbers to our companions
in arms, which they read in a loud voice, a reading which was
more than once interrupted by the cry of f Vive la Pologne '
caused by the recital of the 'victories' gained over Mus-
covites."
229
CHAPTER XVI.
The Six Points. Public Opinion in Russia. Diplomatic Correspondence.
Analysis of the Six Points. Proclamation of the National Govern-
ment. Cessation of Foreign Interference.
AFTER prolonged negotiation between England, France, and
Austria, the three great powers agreed to urge on Russia six
points, which, in their opinion, should be conceded by her to
the insurgents ; and in a letter addressed by Lord Russell to
Lord Napier, on 17th June, these points were embodied.*
Lord Russell prefaces the more important portions of his
despatch by accepting the offer of Prince Gortschakoff " to
enter upon an exchange of ideas, upon the ground and within
the limits of the treaties of 1815." Before, however, com-
mencing this discussion, the Foreign Secretary states that, in
the opinion of the English Cabinet, there were two leading
principles upon which the future government of Poland ought
to rest : the first of these was the establishment of confidence
in the Government on the part of the governed; the second
was the stability of law over arbitrary will. Doubtless, both
these principles are very important, but neither is exactly
attainable amid the convulsions of a civil war; and it will
presently be seen that the six points submitted for acceptance
to the Government of Russia were not so well calculated
eventually to secure them, as were the liberal institutions
recently granted by the Emperor, and so scornfully rejected
by the Poles.
The six points demanded of Russia were :
1st. A complete and general amnesty.
2nd. National representation, with powers similar to those
which are fixed by the charter of 15th (27th) November, 1815.
3rd. Poles to be named to public offices in such a manner
* See Appendix.
230 THE RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT IN POLAND.
as to form a distinct national administration, having the con-
fidence of the country.
4th. Full and entire liberty of conscience; repeal of the
restrictions imposed on Catholic worship.
5th. The Polish language to be recognized in the kingdom
as the official language, and used as such in the adminis-
tration of the law, and in education.
6th. The establishing of a legal and regular system of
recruiting.
These six points were in the English despatch supplemented
by the additional stipulations : That there should be a pro-
visional suspension of arms, to be proclaimed by the 'Emperor
of Russia, and that there should be a conference of the eight
Powers which had signed the treaty of Vienna.
The first difficulty which the consideration of these six points
creates, is to know with what aim they were proposed for the
acceptance of Russia. They were so framed that she could
not accept them without compromising her own dignity;
while, at the same time, their acceptance would have placed
the Poles in a worse position than that which they occupied
under the recent decrees of the Emperor ; and it was quite
clear that if the Russians accepted them, the Poles would not.
For what purpose, then, were they proposed ?
No doubt, in politics, where the feelings of the people are
strongly excited, it is sometimes necessary to minister to their
ignorant sympathies and pander to their national vanity.
Public opinion in France had for many months been carefully
misled by lying telegrams, long, circumstantial, and artful
misrepresentations from " the seat of war," recitals of Musco-
vite atrocities, of Polish sufferings and Polish wrongs, and high-
wrought appeals to the mighty and magnanimous race which
alone among nations goes to war for an idea. Thus the Emigra-
tion had succeeded in creating a very strong war feeling among
the excitable population of Paris. In England, these feelings
were to some extent reciprocated; there was an uneasy throb-
bing of the popular pulse, which any accident might stimulate
into a fever for war ; public meetings (many of them certainly
insignificant, but more than one of them respectable) had
sympathized with the Polish cause ; members of both Houses
THE SIX POINTS. 231
of Parliament had made strong speeches in its behalf; and
there were signs that much was expected of the Government,
and that something must be done. Moreover, the conduct of
the Opposition was not reassuring : almost as numerous and
powerful as the Government they desired to overthrow, their
policy was an expectant one ; they did not declare themselves ;
and if the Government took no steps to advocate the Polish
cause, it was at least possible that the Opposition might step
in, and by the adoption of a bold and advanced line of action,
enlist popular sympathies entirely on their side.
It was necessary, therefore, that something should be done
what should that something be ?
It has already been seen how little was really known in
England of the merits of the Polish question ; the false reports
which the National Government spread through the medium
of the press, had persuaded the people that the Poles under
the Russian Government were the victims of a cruel and
jealous despotism, and consequently the six points would be
supposed to secure to them a great increase in their liberty and
rights. The people who in England were clamouring in favour
of the Poles would probably be satisfied, or at least silenced,
if those points were conceded. Was there not reason to
suppose that Russia would willingly grant them ? If they in
some slight degree modified the institutions she had already
conferred on Poland, such modifications were not on the side
of liberality ; there was nothing in them which could by possi-
bility interfere with her present intentions on the subject of
liberalized institutions, or with her future views ; and if there
was some indignity in adopting a series of resolutions dictated
to her by other powers, she would probably overlook it and
think her acceptance of the prescribed points an easy way of
avoiding a disastrous war.
But the ministers of England, and perhaps the autocrat of
France, forgot that Russia of to-day is not the Russia which
obeyed the Emperor Nicholas. They were ready enough to
applaud the liberal institutions recently granted to the great
Empire of the North; they overlooked the fact that those
institutions, together with the expectation of others of a more
advanced kind, had created a public opinion there. While
232 THE RUSSIAN GOVEttNMENT IN POLAND.
they praised the Emperor Alexander for sowing the seed, they
failed to recognize that the plant had already struggled to the
surface ; that day by day it acquired importance and increased
power ; and that no emperor and no council of ministers
could longer ignore it. There was, at length, a public opinion
in Russia, patriotic in its character, and decided in its tone.
The Russians who, in the earlier stages of the Polish agitation,
were most disposed to regard it with favour, and to consider
it as a struggle for reasonable constitutional freedom, had now
taken the alarm, and beheld in it a conspiracy to dismember
their venerated empire. Had the revolutionary parties a year
previously aimed at the autonomy, or even complete inde-
pendence, of the kingdom of 1815, they would have found a
large party among the liberal Russians who would have en-
couraged, or at least would not have opposed, the attempt ;
but the revolutionary programme, when it was extended to
the Western provinces, threatened to dismember the empire >
and this attempt every true Russian was determined to resist
to the utmost.
Moreover, the press and the people had been taken into the
confidence of the Government, and they were flattered and
influenced by so unusual a condescension. The policy of the
Emperor had been avowed ; it had been shown that he had
conferred franchises and immunities on his rebel subjects, and
only waited till ihe insurrection was ended to endow them
with more; he had offered them, an amnesty which they had
insolently spurned ; he had done all that a wise and benevolent
monarch could do to win their confidence, and his efforts had
been in vain.
The tide which had flowed so high in favour of the Poles,
now ebbed beyond its ordinary margin, and they were regarded
as influenced by a morbid antipathy to Russia an antipathy
which no good intentions and no reasonable concessions would
ever avail to remove.
These feelings of hostility were aggravated beyond measure
by the interference of the allied powers. An intensely na-
tional feeling sprang up, which, reasonable or not, would be
listened to and would be obeyed. It may well be doubted if the
Government could have withstood this feeling had it been so
PUBLIC OPINION IN RUSSIA. 233
ininded; as it was, the national sentiment gave power and
expression to the policy on which it had resolved. Had it
compromised the honour of Kussia by complying with the six
points, such compliance with the dictates of foreign powers
would have involved it in measureless difficulties with the
very men whose co-operation it secured by taking a more open
and manly course.
The English Cabinet addressed their despatch to a nation
whose honour and self-esteem were deeply pledged to a stead-
fast line of action, a nation which had roused itself to a
full sense of its own power, and was determined to main-
tain its rights. At this moment its new-born sense of its
duties and its destiny made it more than usually jealous of
foreign dictation ; and, well advised as Lord Russell was of
the internal condition of the country, it is inexplicable that he
should have chosen such a crisis for blending supercilious
advice with menaces but half concealed.
The suggestion of the six points might almost be regarded
as an insult to an independent state ; but one at least of the
preliminaries suggested by Lord Eussell was yet more
humiliating
What likelihood was there that a powerful sovereign would
te proclaim a suspension of arms " between himself and his
rebel subjects ? It would be at once to acknowledge them as
belligerents ; to give them a status and a consideration to
which no act of theirs had ever entitled them ; and to invest
them with an importance which would subsequently have
given the great powers of Europe the most obvious excuse
for interfering on their behalf. Insurgents may be recognized
as belligerents by foreign powers when they keep large armies
in the field, hold possession of fortified places, and have a
regular and avowed Government which can be made to answer
for its shortcomings and misdeeds ; but to ask the Emperor
of Russia to recognize the guerilla bands which infested
Poland as a belligerent power, was certainly an unprece-
dented act of eccentric statesmanship. Doubtless it was in
the power of Russia to accede to this request; but was it
reasonable to demand it ? If her armies retired to the frontier
or contented themselves with crowding into camps or fortifi-
234 THE RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT IN POLAND.
cations, where was her guarantee that the rebels would lay
down their arms ? There was no known authority which
could bind them, no recognized power with which it was
possible to negotiate. And if Russia, at the instance of
three nations, retired from the struggle, those- nations would
have been bound in honour and equity to impose similar
terms upon the rebels in arms. Suppose, however, the rebels
did for the moment acquiesce, and at the end of a few weeks
again broke out in insurrection, what would have been our
remedy? To compel the Imperial Government to perform
its treaties, England could blockade its ports, capture its
shipping, and lay siege to its citadels ; but what was her hold
upon the invisible conclave calling itself the National Govern-
ment ? How could she treat with it, and how punish it for
a breach of faith ? Common prudence should have taught
Lord Russell not to treat with a body which could not
answer for those it professed to govern, and which it was
impossible to punish or bring to a reckoning should it trifle
with him. This proposal, too, was made when the illusions as
to the power of the insurgents were dispelled; when their
armies were broken, their leaders in prison or flying from
the scene of the insurrection ; and when day by day the
Government was gathering strength, and the rebellion itself
was dwindling down into the compass of guerilla war.
To make this unpalatable overture more galling still, Lord
Russell proposed to cite the London newspapers as authorities
to prove that the Russians had committed excesses in Poland !
If he wanted to show that excesses had been committed (and
when has there been a civil war unstained by them ? ) the Am-
bassador at St. Petersburg and the Consul- General at Warsaw
were the sources from whence his information might justly
have been drawn. But their despatches were too true too
matter of fact for any such use to be made of them ; so, to
point a paragraph, and give a sting to uncalled-for counsel,
Lord Russell relied on the chance rumours which had found
their way into foreign and hostile journals.
There is, again, a difficulty arising out of this despatch,
which conveys the idea that Lord Russell was really ignorant
of the subject matter of the treaty upon which he wrote. It
THE SIX POINTS.
235
is clear that the treaty of 1815, which relates to Poland, refers
only to the duchy of Warsaw, or rather to what is now known
as the Congress kingdom. Lord Russell, however, cites a
conversation between Lord Castlereagh and Alexander I.,
which conversation relates to a scheme that was never
carried out, and in citing it contrives so to introduce " the
Polish provinces, formerly dismembered," as to make it
appear that he referred as much to the Western provinces as
to the Congress kingdom. Whatever may be the right of the
powers who were parties to the treaty of Vienna to interfere
with the government of the Congress kingdom, it is clear
they have as little title to interfere with the Western pro-
vinces as they have to dictate to England how the Isle of
Man or Jersey are to be ruled ; and thus, if the " suspension
of arms " had been granted at the instance of Lord Russell,
half the insurgents would have been included in its operation,
while the other half would have been unaffected by it. This
objection, however, is not singular to the question of sus-
pension of arms, it runs through all the proposals of the
English Government.
The six points taken seriatim were liable, among others, to
the following objections :
An amnesty had already been offered by the Government to
such of the insurgents as would lay down their arms ; it had
been conceived in a humane and liberal spirit, and the excep-
tions from its operation were only such as were necessarily
made. That amnesty, however, had been rejected by the Poles;
it had been regarded by them as an evidence of weakness ; it
had encouraged the malcontents ; and it had damped the zeal
of loyal men. Alive to the evil results of that measure, the
Russian Government was indisposed to repeat an offer which
had been thus misinterpreted ; and it was most unlikely that it
would yield to foreign pressure a concession which could only
be politic if it were an act of voluntary clemency.
The second stipulation, that a national representation should
be granted, with powers similar to those fixed by the charter
of 15th (27th) November, 1815, deserves investigation. Bear-
ing in mind what the present Emperor had granted in the
way of constitutional freedom to the kingdom of Poland, and
236 THE RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT IN POLAND.
remembering that he was pledged to develop the new insti-
tutions so soon as they had fairily taken root there, let us see
for what advantages the Western powers wished to barter
them away.
The Diet of 1815 consisted of two chambers'; the first com-
posed of a nominated Senate, and the second of Deputies from
the different communes. The legislative power resided in the
person of the king and in the two chambers of the Diet.
In the sovereign was the sole power to summon, adjourn,
prorogue, and dissolve the Diet. It was provided, however, that
it was to sit once in two years, and that its session was to last
for thirty days. It was to deliberate only upon such projects
of law as were submitted to it on the part of the king by the
Council of State, and those projects of law it had no power to
alter, but could only submit representations for the considera-
tion of the Council, of the amendments it desired to introduce.
The sole subjects submitted to it, and they, as has been
shown, were only discussed after, and in obedience to directions
from the sovereign, were the augmentation and reduction of
duties, contributions, taxes, and such other matters as might
be specially submitted to it by the Crown.
Thus the national representation for which the Western
powers contended was a Diet composed of a king, a nominated
and an elected chamber, meeting for thirty days once in two
years, and restricted to the discussion of such laws and such
questions as were directly referred to it by the Government.
The revival of this institution would not have benefitted
Poland. It had never worked to its advantage, and its re-
stricted powers and its occasional session were not calculated
to advance her interests now. Free and unfettered parliamen-
tary discussion has done much for England ; but does any one
suppose that a Parliament having no power to originate a dis-
cussion, to amend a bill, or to stray out of the narrow limits of
a ministerial programme, would be of any value in preserving
or enlarging popular freedom ? The institutions recently
granted to the Poles were not, it is true, founded on our model,
but they were suited to the requirements of the country ; they
met the demand for local legislation ; they confided to muni-
cipal government many important details of administration ; .
NATIONAL DIET. RELIGIOUS TOLEEATION. 237
atd above all they paved the way to extended liberties in the
future. No friend of constitutional freedom would have sug-
gested the exchange of these substantial advantages for the
illusory benefits to be derived from the reconstitution of the
abandoned Diet.
The third and fifth stipulations evidence the same want of
knowledge of the existing circumstances, as the second does
of the past history of the kingdom. It has already been seen
that all the civil employes, from the Marquis Wielopolski to
the lowest clerk in the public offices, were Poles; that the
Kussians had all been dismissed ; and that, while the Polish
language was universally employed, the Russian was every-
where exluded from public offices, and the transaction of public
business.
The fourth stipulation, providing for full and entire liberty
of conscience, and a repeal of the restrictions imposed on
Catholic worship, is equally unintelligible. The Catholic
Church was burdened by no restrictions ; her services were
performed in public, and with all the solemnity her clergy and
people chose to invest them ; the number of her temples was
unlimited, as was also the number and dignity of her priests.
The only restriction by which the Catholic Church was in any
degree shackled was to be found in the law which prescribed,
where a Catholic married a member of the Greek Church, that
the issue of the marriage should be brought up in the ortho-
dox faith; but this law, objectionable as it doubtless is, has
no particular reference to the Roman Catholic Church ; for in
every case of a mixed marriage, where one of the parents is of
the Greek persuasion, the children are educated in that faith.
Moreover the Catholics would hardly do wisely in mooting
this question, for, wherever a Catholic intermarries with a Pro-
testant, the Church will only consent to the marriage on con-
dition that the children shall be educated in the Catholic faith ;
and the number of disciples they thus gain exceeds their
losses under the existing law.
The sixth stipulation was the establishment of a legal and
regular system of recruiting. This legal and regular system
of recruiting, our minister should have known, was provided
for by a law of 3rd (15th) March, 1859. The real ground of
238 THE RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT IN POLAND.
complaint was, that instead of acting upon that law, as legally
he was bound to do, the Marquis Wielopolski ignored it, and
acted under the old system, instituted in 1816, and which that
law abolished.
Regarded from another aspect, these proposals were equally
strange. The insurgents were fighting not for their rights
under the treaty of Vienna, but for complete independence of
Russia. They cared nothing for the treaty ; they asked for
no amnesty ; they would agree to no suspension of arms ; they
refused even to recognize the Treaty kingdom. They required
the restitution of the Poland of 1772, freed from Russian in-
fluence and supremacy, and declared repeatedly that nothing
else would satisfy them.
The following is an extract from one of the proclamations
of the National Government issued when these proposals were
under discussion : " The National Government pronounces
that Poland repudiates negotiation as suicide, as treason, and
declares that the whole country from the Vistula to the
Dnieper has vowed to perish rather than treat with the
foreign oppressor." Yet in the presence of all these difficul-
ties English statesmen propose impracticable expedients, and
base them on inferences they deduce from treaties which
extended only to the ancient duchy of Warsaw.
The reply of Prince Gortschakoff to these representations*
of Lord Russell was felt to be conclusive ; and although it
appears to have excited the deep resentment of the Foreign
Secretary, he saw the only choice before him was acquiescence
or war. The Cabinet of St. James's was not willing to involve
the country in hostilities on behalf of Poland, so another wordy
and ill- written despatch f was closed with an assurance which
was couched in the following language : ' ' If Russia does not
perform all that depends upon her to further the moderate and
conciliatory views of the three powers ; if she does not enter
upon the path which is opened to her by friendly counsels, she
makes herself responsible for the serious consequences w T hich
the prolongation of the troubles in Poland may produce."
* See Appendix. Prince Gortschakoff's despatch of 1st July, 1863.
t See Appendix. Lord Russell's despatch of llth August, 1863.
CLOSE OF THE DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE. 239
The language employed by the French press had been more
violent than that of our own ; its Government also had done
much to stimulate the hopes of the insurgents. The Palais
Royal, if not the Tuileries, was thrown ostentatiously open to
the representatives of the national cause, and rumour alleged
that French gold and French arms were unsparingly lavished
in support of the insurrection. Poland had claims on the
magnanimity of a Napoleon which it was hard for the head
of that aspiring house to disavow ; and when significant words
were spoken which pointed to armed redress; when officers
were sent to join the insurgents and report on their numbers,
their prospects, and their plans ; when the friends of Poland,
whether English senators or the leaders of the Emigration,
had ready access to the Emperor and his ministers ; when,
above all, the diplomatic correspondence of France grew more
and more hostile and threatening in its tone, it was natural
that the insurgents should count on the aid of France, and
that his Polish clients should sustain the rebellion until their
imperial patron had time to unsheathe his sword.
It would occupy too much space to dwell at length on the
correspondence between France and Russia. It must suffice
to say, that while the language of M. Drouyn de Lhuys was cer-
tainly more dignified than that employed by Lord Russell, it
indicated graver displeasure and more determined opposition.
It was well understood, when the despatches of June 17th
were sent, that France had resolved to follow up her remon-
strances by an appeal to arms; but France had reckoned on
the support of the English administration, and that support
failed her.
The despatches of Prince Grortschakoff humiliated the pride
of the French Emperor ; they questioned his statements ;
they denounced his motives ; and they challenged his power.
Yet their language, bitter in all the courteous refinement of
diplomacy, gave no handle to those who were unprepared to
throw their sword into the scale ; and submission, if sub-
mission were decided on, must be silent unless it were
prophetic.
The French Emperor retired from the contest, sullen, indig-
nant, complaining of the conduct of his allies, looking back
240 THE RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT IN POLAND.
with vain and undignified regret at the past ; he endeavoured
to reassert his position, and become once more the arbiter of
Europe, by inducing its nations to meet in council beneath
the shadow of his throne. The dream was a vain one ; a short
uncourteous refusal from Lord Russell awoke him from his
delusion ; and he was compelled to accept in its integrity the
humiliating truth, that his policy had been an error, and that
his prestige had received a severe, if not a fatal blow.
241
CHAPTER XVII.
Dispute between the White and Red Parties. Public Opinion in Russia.
Resignation of Wielopolski. Embarrassing Position of the Grand Duke.
Excesses of the National Government. Robbery of the Treasury.
Compulsory Loan. Death of Lelewel. Hopeless Character of the Revolt.
Resignation of the Grand Duke. Appointment and Character of Count
Berg. His Policy. Attempt upon his Life. The sacking of the Za-
moyski Houses. Suppression of Mourning. Close of the Insurrection.
BY the beginning of the month of June the revolt had ceased
to be formidable. A long train of disasters had been unre-
lieved by a single success, and on all sides the insurgents were
losing ground, and their bands were being defeated and dis-
persed. The lofty aspirations which had animated men like
Seriakoffski had died out, for it was seen that the peasantry
had no sympathy with the insurrection; the hopes of the
White party had been crushed when Langiewicz fled; and
every day the prospects of foreign intervention, in which some
among the insurgents trusted, were becoming more doubtful
and remote.
The insincere alliance between the Red and White parties
was rudely shaken by these continued failures. It is impos-
sible to trace with precision the changes which from time to
time took place in the National Government. That mysterious
body was always nominally the same, but its policy varied
from month to month, and these variations were believed to
reflect successive changes in its personnel. In truth it was
impossible for two parties whose opinions differed so greatly
to continue to act for any considerable period harmoniously
together ; for a time they might unite, and, forgetful of the wide
difference which existed between them, they might act in con-
cert against the common foe ; but it was certain that success or
failure must alike be fatal to their union. The rupture which
had thus been distinctly foreseen was precipitated by the
242 THE RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT IN POLAND.
overthrow of Langiewicz. That general was regarded as the
representative and champion of the White party, and his defeat
was accepted as an evidence that its policy was faulty or its
patriotism insincere. His defeat also, as we have already seen,
threw the conduct of the insurrection into the hands of the
Red party, and they attempted by a sanguinary and relentless
course of action to compensate for diminished numbers and
waning reputation.
The views of the E-ed party* are expressed with great dis-
tinctness in a pamphlet which about this time was published
by, it is stated, one of the members of the ancient revolution-
ary organization of Galicia.
In this pamphlet the failure of the revolt of 1830 is attri-
buted to the weakness and folly of its leaders. On the present
occasion, however, the author stated the insurrection was
commenced under other auspices, and the unarmed agitation
and the propaganda, which was working through all the Polish
provinces and through all classes of society, had prepared the
ground for revolution.
Two parties had, at the commencement of the national
organization, formed themselves the White party and the
party of action.
The White party desired to accomplish " organic changes
by reform, by government measures, by the development of
national prosperity and material well-being in a word, by
all those half-measures which the revolution had long since
repudiated. Their rally ing-point was the Agricultural So-
ciety."
" The other party, from which the Central Committee sprung,
resolved to organize all Poland, politically as militarily, both
towns and villages, and to create for this purpose a national
Junto. In order to give the people the stimulus necessary to
induce them to pass from the influence of dreams to that of
action, they were incited by the crimes committed at Warsaw
* In Appendix B will be found a letter of Mieroslawski, dated as far back
as March, 1861, in which the policy and aims of the Red party are stated
unreservedly. This letter shows that the unarmed agitation and subsequent
revolt were even then resolved on, and that no concessions on the part of the
Russian Government would have prevented it.
VIEWS OP THE RED PARTY.
243
crimes which had the advantage of satisfying the impatient
and moderating their feverish excitement/'
The author insisted that the party of action had given a
signal proof of its ability by so adroitly profiting by the re-
cruitment to precipitate a national rising. The White party,
however, rejected the movement, deemed it infatuated, refused
pecuniary contributions to it, and even quitted the country.
The Czas compromised the success of the revolution by de-
claring that it did not exist, and that there was nothing save a
desperate resistance to the recruitment. The result was, that
when their share of the national contribution was demanded
from the Cracow Jews, they replied they would not pay until
the revolution had really broken out.
" Although the insurrection had lasted more than five
weeks, and the importation of arms and warlike stores was
not stopped along the Austrian frontier, not one of the bands
was properly equipped.
<f The Central Committee had not punished the White party
as they deserved. It should have given them some token that
the national organization was not alone called upon to strive
with the Muscovites, but that it ought to exterminate all
parties opposed to itself, and govern the people exclusively
by means of its own adherents . . . But moral courage was
wanting to the Central Committee. The opposition terrified
it; it had not sufficient courage to act in a revolutionary
spirit against the Whites ; it had the weakness to treat with
them, until, after numberless concessions, it admitted into
its councils those who were altogether strangers to the
insurrection.
.... " Composed of incapables, the Committee dis-
tinguished itself by the worthlessness of its acts and the
inefficacy of the half-measures it adopted ... If the in-
surrection has continued, it is owing to the enthusiasm of
that section of the Poles which constitutes the heart of the
nation. In the next place, it is because the White party are
convinced that thus they can increase their power, and that
this is the only means to destroy the influence of Mieroslawski,
who is their bugbear, and whom they regard as a socialist
vampire . . . After the preliminary agitation and the enfeeble-
R 2 -
244 THE RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT IN POLAND.
ment of the Central Committee, the revolution entered on the
much to be regretted period of dictatorship. The "White
party, although almost absolute masters of the situation,
were haunted by the phantom of a Mieroslawski dictatorship,
and resolved to protect themselves by a dictator of their
own. At the commencement of the movement they had
cast their eyes on Langiewicz, whose pliability they had
discovered.
" The Czas extolled his clumsy skirmishes, as though they
were incomparable military exploits. After having magnified
his name and increased his influence, they offered him money
to disband his troops, hoping to terminate the insurrection.
.... The nation, which discerned not this mass of intrigue,
accepted with enthusiasm the puppet which they presented to
it. The White party triumphed, and the Committee remained
open-mouthed, asking itself how Langiewicz had dared to
proclaim himself dictator. Instead of energetically opposing
and punishing him, and proclaiming him and his assist-
ants traitors and knaves, the Committee addressed him in a
diplomatic note, and vociferated ' Long live the Dictator/
"The country is organized neither politically nor in an
administrative sense. There are a multitude of papers, official
or semi-official, and all even those that are not secret, white,
red, yellow, and violet without distinction of colour chant
hymns of praise to the Central Committee. They lie deli-
berately, under the pretext of patriotism and unity."
" Faithful to this system of invention, the Czas and other
journals conceal our losses, the terrible state of our affairs,
and thus plunge the people in apathy. . . Thus it has often
happened that it has not been weapons that were required for
combatants, but combatants for weapons.
" Organs of public information have a right to mislead
popular opinion, so long as there are diplomatic negotiations
pending, and if the Junto had not wished to crush the head of
this diplomatic hydra, it is that it deceived itself into the
belief that it would find safety from its efforts. It is with
this view alone that the Central Committee have furnished
Ladislaus Czartoryski with powers enabling him to cringe in
DISUNION BETWEEN EED AND WHITE PARTIES. 245
imperial and princely ante-chambers, unmindful that this
family of Czartoryski never worked save for its own aggran-
dizement " (pro domo sua).
The programme traced by this pamphlet for the future was
as follows : " Firstly, it is necessary to retrace our steps, and
replace the revolution on the base originally intended for it.
It is indispensable to unite to the national territory the pro-
vinces usurped by the Germans, not by the bonds of a feeble
union, but by those of an intimate, organic, and irrevocable
fusion. Secondly, it is necessary to create a revolutionary
tribunal to which the Junto shall itself be subject. This
tribunal will be the representative of the popular conscience,
and will exercise the executive power with a firm and resolute
hand ; it will punish with inexorable justice, and its sentences
must be executed by a well-organized body of executioners.
Thirdly, it is necessary to act vigorously beyond the country,
in order to terminate the isolated action of parties, and to
sever the last links that unite us to Czarism. To this end it
is necessary to get rid of the Czar, his brother, and the
Marquis Wielopolski. It is necessary to get rid of, or at
least to remove, Mouravieff, Annenkoff, Nazimoff, Schakoff-
skoy, Dlatowski, Droutzki, Gavidoff, etc., etc. ; and it is
necessary to do it, even should it cost thousands of lives and
hundreds of thousands of roubles/'
This pamphlet is a curious proof of the disunion which
existed among the revolutionary parties. It was apparent
from the first moment of their ill-starred coalition that the
objects for which they strove were dissimilar, and that they
sought to attain them by means which greatly varied. Both,
it is true, desired to win the independence of their country ;
but in the way in which that independence was to be achieved
they widely differed. One party would have secured it by
peaceful progress, the other depended on revolutionary war-
cries and the assassin's knife. During the unarmed agitation
they worked together, and perhaps the difference in their
ulterior views was forgotten amid the excitement of that
strange period ; and after the revolution broke out, they for a
short time acted together, for they felt it absolutely necessary
to forget their mutual distrust in face of the common foe.
246 THE RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT IN POLAND.
Soon, however, the feuds, temporarily stifled, broke out again
with redoubled violence, and the pamphlet from which the
foregoing extracts are taken shows how irreconcilable they
were.
The condition of affairs in the Congress kingdom did not
satisfy public opinion in Russia; there was no system laid
down by the authorities, and persevered in without deviation.
Everything appeared to be done as chance or caprice dic-
tated. The intentions of the Grand Duke were kind, his
character was humane, and the desire of the Marquis Wielo-
polski was apparently to be merciful and conciliatory ; yet the
administration occasionally acted with great harshness, some-
times with unwise haughtiness, and constantly with misplaced
clemency. The Russians contrasted the condition of affairs in
Warsaw with that which they witnessed at Wilna. General
Mouravieff they admitted was perhaps too severe a governor,
but he had pacified the country over which he ruled; the in-
surrection was crushed ; property was secure, and life was only
imperilled when assassins were sent thither by the revolu-
tionary Government which sat at Warsaw. In the kingdom,
however, all was different ; bands of insurgents traversed the
country with impunity, terrorism everywhere prevailed, and
under the very shadow of the Russian court and army murder
was daily committed with impunity. Surely it was not diffi-
cult to detect a conspiracy whose ramifications were so widely
spread, whose staff was evidently so numerous, and whose print-
ing-presses were so busy. Among all the hundreds who were
employed in the manufactory of treason, surely an able govern-
ment could at least detect some of the subordinates ; and if
they failed to do so, it must be because at heart they sympa-
thized with the insurgents. The Russian mind is prone to
theorize ; and from the facts before them, which simply showed
that there was a lack of vigour in the administration of the
affairs of theCongress kingdom, many wild ideas were broached
and clung to with great pertinacity.
The Marquis Wielopolski was held up to universal execra-
tion. The Poles denounced him as a traitor who had sold his
country to the Russians ; the Russians regarded him as a
traitor who had taken office only to betray them ; so that at
RESIGNATION OF WIELOPOLSKI.
247
the same moment he was an object of hatred and suspicion to
two parties who agreed upon no other point. He still had
faith in his policy; his proud and self-reliant spirit was
unbroken by difficulties, and he presented an assured front to
the enemies by whom he was assailed ; but all confidence in
him was lost, no one credited his sincerity or was disposed
to trust in his judgment ; and it was felt on all sides that his
retirement was inevitable. He resigned, and left the country.
The position of the Grand Duke, if less ambiguous, was
equally embarrassing. He had come to Poland anxious to
conciliate an alienated race ; he had endeavoured to deserve
their confidence and win their esteem. His first efforts had
been answered by an attempt upon his life ; later on, the
country had plunged into anarchy and revolt. The attempt
upon his life had not induced him to relax in his endeavours
to benefit the people subjected to his care, and he had essayed
to suppress the revolt by mild and moderate measures : he
had failed, and nothing now remained save a stern system of
repression, which was alien to his character and repugnant to
his inclinations. Moreover, it did not become a prince of the
Imperial house to be the administrator of such a system, and
he foresaw the necessity of retiring from his high office, in
order that a substitute might be appointed who, without
inconsistency or dishonour, could adopt a severer policy.
The atrocities committed by the " hanging gendarmes "
were calculated to excite the attention of the Russians, for
they have been rarely equalled in cruelty or in number.
Detailed lists of them from time to time appeared in the
public journals, and the victims, by the beginning of July,
amounted to five hundred. To such a condition was Poland
reduced, that months after the Grand Duke had resigned, it
was currently stated in Warsaw that a murderer could be
hired who would take the life of any individual if he received
a few roubles for the deed.
In addition to the murders committed by the agents of the
National Government, its other acts were calculated to excite
very angry feelings in the minds of its enemies. The system
of terrorism introduced by it was brought to bear upon every
rank, and upon occasions the most trifling. For example,
248 THE RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT IN POLAND.
two orders 'of their agents were found on the person of a
proprietor in the province of Kowno. By the first of these
orders he was directed, on pain of death, to present himself
in the insurgent camp immediately, to receive instructions
from the commander ; by the second he was "directed, at his
own cost, to feed and attend to four horses which were sent
him from the camp, and warned, in case he did not look after
them properly, that he would be put to death, and that his
property would be utterly destroyed.
On the 9th of June a daring robbery of the public treasury
was discovered at Warsaw. The cash it contained was
counted every week, and the money in question had been
reckoned six days previously.
The office in which the money was lodged was locked and
sealed every evening, in the presence of an inspector, and a
guard was stationed at the door day and night. The chief
cashier was assisted in the receipt and payment of money
by an inspector and three clerks. Each cash-box had two
keys one remained with the inspector and the other with the
cashier. Some days previous to June 9th the cashier was ab-
sent without leave, and his assistant having inquired for him,
found him ill in bed. A messenger from the War-office having
brought an order for 170,000 roubles, a soldier was sent to the
sick man for the key ; but it was found impossible to open the
cash-box, the lock having been damaged. A locksmith was
sent for, and when the cash-box was forced open, a deficiency
was discovered of 3,000,000 roubles in bonds of the Credit
Foncier of the kingdom of Poland, of 300,000 roubles in gold,
and of 400,000 roubles in bank-notes. The same day the
inspector and clerks disappeared. A decree of the National
Government shortly afterwards acknowledged the receipt of
the stolen securities, and pronounced that the thieves had
deserved well of their country for what they had done.
On the 5th of July the National Government decreed that a
compulsory loan should be raised for carrying on the struggle
in Poland. The amount was to be 21,000,000 florins (or
575,000), and it was to be raised in three issues of 7,000,000
florins each. The management of this loan was intrusted to
Prince Ladislaus Czartoryski and two coadjutors, and in their
THEFT PROM THE TREASURY.
249
decree the National Government stated that the existence of
the insurrection sufficiently guaranteed the return of the money,
and arrangements would, it was stated, be made for the half-
yearly payment of interest.
The assessment and negotiation of this loan " on the most
opulent capitalists of the country " was left to the department
of Finance of the National Government.
The decree was met by a proclamation from the Russian
authorities, warning the inhabitants against contributing to
this loan, and stating that doing so was an offence punishable
with all the rigour of martial law, and that neither terror of
the revolutionary emissaries, or ignorance of the law or procla-
mation, would be accepted by the authorities as an extenuation
of the offence.
On the 6th September the cause of the insurgents received
a severe blow in the defeat and death of the partisan leader
who had taken the name of Lelewel.
This individual during his short career had shown courage
and capacity. He had had some military experience, having
served in the Engineers during the Hungarian campaign of
1 848-9, and he brought it to bear with great effect in Poland.
He was remarkable for the celerity and daring of his move-
ments, his self-reliance, the confidence with which he inspired
his men, and the promptitude with which he seized any advan-
tage the errors or incapacity of his opponents placed within
his reach.
He had made two inroads into the kingdom from Galicia,
and on each occasion, after gaining some successes over his
enemy, had been compelled by the pressure of superior num-
bers to disband his troop and make them separately seek for
security in flight.
Once again in Galicia, he occupied himself in preparing
the materials for a third expedition, and he collected together
many of those who had formerly been under his command,
and, combining them with fresh levies, formed a band of from
700 to 800 strong. Towards the end of August these men
crossed the Austrian frontier in little detachments of some
fifty men each, so as to escape the observation of the Austrian
and Russian troops. They crossed in perfect safety without
even meeting with an enemy.
250 THE RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT IN POLAND.
For about a fortnight Lelewel occupied himself in exercis-
ing his band and in drilling the new recruits who joined him.
He had penetrated some forty miles into the kingdom, when,
on the 3rd of September, he was attacked by the Russians, with
whom he had a severe engagement. The Poles lost upwards
of 100 men, and a very large number of their officers. " The
most remarkable event of the day was a charge of the insur-
gent cavalry,* in which ninety-seven men started, and only
twenty-two returned. The charge was directed against the
Russian artillery, and was so far successful that the artillery-
men were driven from their guns, and the guns (four in
number) spiked. The Poles, however, had to pass an ambus-
cade of sharpshooters before reaching their destination ; they
had to meet Cossacks on the other side, and they were charged
by Cossacks as they were returning. It may be said that
the insurgent cavalry was entirely destroyed in this heroic
attack, for of the twenty-two men who rejoined the detach-
ment, some were wounded, some unhorsed, and scarcely a
dozen were in a fit state to continue their service. On the
other hand, the enemy's artillery was completely silenced. It
appears that the precise preconceived aim of the charge,
undertaken at such terrible risk, was not merely to spike, but
to capture the guns. Lelewel had fourteen experienced gun-
ners with him, and not being able to reach a spot where
artillery of his own awaited him, resolved to try whether he
could not furnish himself with a battery at the expense of the
enemy."
The insurgents laid claim to the victory, alleging that they
had pursued the Russian troops for some miles ; but on the
following day their enemy was seen hovering near. On the
5th, skirmishes took place between them, and on the 6th
Lelewel found his little army was surrounded by the enemy.
All that remained for him was to endeavour to fight his way
through them, and so regain the Austrian frontier ; but to
cut his way through superior numbers, and then retreat in
safety for forty miles, was indeed a forlorn attempt. The
* This account is principally taken from the Times of September 22iid,
and is a summary of the 1 narratives of insurgents.
DEATH OF LELEWEL. 251
result may readily be anticipated : at the very commencement
of the battle, Lelewel received a wound in the left arm, and
shortly after, as he was leading his infantry to the charge,
was mortally wounded by two shots in the body. Their leader
fallen, the insurgents were repulsed on all sides, and those who
did not fall in the fight, or were not captured by the Russians,
were arrested by the Austrians on crossing the frontier.
It is difficult to understand why these continued expeditions
left Galicia. The Russians were in such force in the kingdom,
that the utmost the insurgents could accomplish was to maintain
themselves there for a few weeks, and then retreat across the
frontier. They gained no successes of the smallest import-
ance ; their constant study was how best to escape the forces
by which they were surrounded; and the first important
conflict was sure to terminate in their defeat. So long as it
was possible to deceive the nations of Europe by fabricated
intelligence and lying telegrams, there might have been a
political reason for throwing the lives of brave men away.
But in September the bubble had burst ; men were no longer
deceived by victories existing only on paper, and terminating
in a hurried flight across the Gralician frontier. Yet one band
after another marched into Poland, only to be annihilated,
their leaders hurried into the tomb, their rank and file into
an Austrian or Russian dungeon.
Most mournful indeed became the strife. No glory was to
be gained by death in some ignoble skirmish ; no crown of
martyrdom was to be won beneath the shadow of a Russian
scaffold; but brave and generous and devoted men still
sacrificed their lives in paltry enterprises ; still thought they
rendered their country an acceptable offering by pouring forth
their blood in desperate and fruitless services.
The leaders of many of these bands could ill be spared by
their sorrowing countrymen. Brave and chivalrous, their
minds impressed with those vague and beautiful ideas of
freedom which alone are given to the young, they were
spurred into action by chimeras of which most men only
dream. Boys who should have been at school, carried their
impetuous daring into the foremost ranks of war; they in-
spired unimpassioned men with much of their own valour, and
252 THE RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT IN POLAND.
with something of their own enthusiasm. The portrait of one
of them, a lad of nineteen years of age, lies before me now.
The bearer of an ancient name, nobility and energy are
written on his brow ; he was the leader of a band of men,
who, many of them his equals in station, and" most of them
his superiors in age, " were proud to follow one who was so
proud to lead them/' And now he Ijes in his early grave,
one of the costly sacrifices of an utterly unavailing strife ;
his house is desolate ; the patrimony of his race a forfeit ; and
in an obscure garret of a foreign capital, his father lingers
out his broken-hearted years.
These men must not be confused with the unprincipled
leaders of a sanguinary faction. They had nothing in common
with the National Government or the executioners and hang-
men in their pay. They were the worthy representatives of
a gallant race, inheriting all its traditions, and unfortunately
many of its errors.
At the end of August the Grand Duke Constantine resigned.
He had not governed Poland long, but during his brief supre-
macy events had crowded rapidly upon each other; the mode-
rate views which had animated him had resulted in the out-
break of revolt ; the reforms to which he and his minister had
trusted, had indignantly been rejected by the men he had
striven to benefit ; Poland had appealed to the sword, and the
time for conciliation was gone by. The policy which, twelve
months before, he had endeavoured to institute, was utterly
out of date ; and martial law, and not constitutional rule, was
now supreme in Warsaw.
It needed no distant commentator to remind him of the
change. The nobles and proprietors of Poland no longer
thronged his palace; some of them had fled to Germany, to
England, and to France, that they might not witness the de-
solation of their country, or be suspected of treachery by
either of the contending parties; others had sought refuge on
their estates, and were there breathlessly watching the progress
of a revolt which had all their sympathies, but none of their
active aid; while others again had immured themselves in
their Warsaw mansions, where, in gloomy solitude, they held
aloof from their Russian masters.
APPOINTMENT OP COUNT BERG AS VICEROY.
253
The lower orders were infected with the virus of the
National Government. The assassinations which daily dis-
graced the city, the immunity of the murderers, the impossi-
bility of detecting the men who composed, printed, and
published the proclamations of the insurrection, proved that
among the town population moderation had been tried in
vain.
The measures which failed to win the Poles excited the
deepest indignation in Russia. The long-suffering which strove
to reclaim the insurgents without having recourse to extreme
severity was misconstrued, and the humanity which dictated
the policy of the Grand Duke was ascribed to indifference,
incapacity, or disaffection. He could no longer govern with
advantage to the kingdom or honour to himself. His was
not the hand which could suitably preside over a system
of punishment and repression; and if, despite all his efforts,
such a system was inevitable, it must be administered by other
hands. He had done his best to reconcile Poland to Eussia, but
his efforts had failed ; and he therefore resigned his office, and
retired from the country he had vainly striven to serve.
His successor in his high office was Count Berg, a nobleman
who had for some months held an important place under him,
and who was well acquainted with the condition of affairs in
Poland.
Count Berg was well qualified for the post he was selected
to fill. A man of mature years and great experience, he had
spent his long life in the public service. His courtly and
polished manners, it has been well remarked, carried the
memory back to distant times, and reminded those who met
him of the noblesse who thronged the halls of Versailles in
the great days of Richelieu and of Louis XIV. He was well
qualified in tranquil times to preside over the stately hospi-
talities of a court, for the only trace of age about him was to
be found in an intimate knowledge of men and of events
which have already become subjects of curious inquiry on the
part of the present generation. From the close of the great
European struggle to the present time, there were few men
eminent in politics or literature to whom he was personally
unknown, and while to the Continental he could converse of
254 THE RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT IN POLAND.
Metternich, Polignac, or the first Alexander, to the Englishman
he could speak of his personal recollections of Castlereagh,
Wellington, and Byron.*
In addition to this knowledge of men, the new Viceroy
had travelled extensively, and scanned all he "had seen with
an observant eye. His various duties had led him to an
intimate acquaintance with Asiatic as well as European Russia.
The Caucasus, with its warlike tribes, the distant Altai range,
Siberia, with its winter snows and its summer garb of flowers,
had all been traversed by him, and from each he apparently
had brought home something of interest which he had stored
up in the garner-house of his memory. Most of the countries
of Europe and their capitals were also familiar to him, and
from each of them he had collected some information which
guided him in his views of foreign and domestic politics.
In addition to these varied experiences, he was not unac-
customed to rule in his sovereign's name. The appointment
he held immediately before his departure for Poland was that
of Governor of Finland, a post scarcely second in difficulty or
responsibility to that of the kingdom itself.
The new lieutenant had little sympathy with modern
liberalism ; his opinions had been formed in an age and under
auspices which showed it no favour, and he saw in the revolt
one of its strange and portentous developments. As a patriot,
he was constrained to oppose to the utmost a conspiracy which
sought to dismember his country, and as a religious man, he
resolved to quell an unexampled outburst of violence and
crime.
The policy he adopted was energetic, effective, and severe.
The immunity with which murders were committed was attri-
buted by him, in a great measure, to the large number of
Poles employed in the police : these men were known to be
disaffected, and they were yet employed for the repression of
crimes with which they sympathized. Every effort was now
made to recast the entire force; Poles were gradually weeded
out of it, and Russians were appointed in their room; the
result was, that life and property became more secure, and
* Count Berg met Lord Byron in Greece, and told me several anecdotes
of their acquaintance.
ENERGETIC MEASURES OF COUNT BERG.
255
that the assassins of the National Government no longer
pursued with ease and immunity an unchecked career of crime.
A vigilant watch was maintained upon the officials connected
with the railways, and it was discovered that in numerous
instances they were in league with the insurgents. The
information they possessed of the contemplated movements
of troops, the ease with which they could retard them, and
the command they had over the telegraph, made these men
valuable members of the revolutionary organization, and their
dismissal greatly crippled its activity.
The monasteries and convents, which had hitherto been free
from interference, were now subjected to the most searching
scrutiny. Their immunity from surveillance had led to their
being the repositories of many of the secret printing-presses ;
the proclamations which had been so mysteriously issued had
frequently been struck off by their inmates or by conspirators
in their confidence; and the current of the literature of the
insurrection was dammed up and choked by the system Count
Berg adopted. Occasionally, indeed, a proclamation or a
gazette struggled into existence ; but it was at rare intervals,
and usually bore about it traces of haste and fear. The
revolutionary press was paralyzed, and the unanimity in
action of the various sections of the revolution was thereby
destroyed.
The monasteries had afforded shelter for more than printing-
presses. They had been converted into sanctuaries by the
gendarmerie of the National Government, and under the
shadow of their walls the assassin had escaped red-handed
from his pursuers. In many of the monastic buildings poi-
soned daggers were discovered, which, together with uniforms,
weapons, and ammunition, could not have been secreted there
without the cognizance and consent of the fraternity. These
discoveries led the authorities to take possession of the
buildings which had thus been used; and in many of the
monasteries of Warsaw, as for example that of the Bernardines,
a portion was set apart for the reception of the Russian
troops.*
* When, at a later date, I visited that monastery, its military and
ecclesiastical occupants were apparently living in harmony together. The
256 THE RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT IN POLAND.
In addition to these alterations introduced by Count Berg,
an altered system gave increased efficiency to the army ; at
length all the troops at the disposal of the Government were
regulated by one mind, and formed, as it were, parts of one
machine, whose province it was to crush the revolt; and
gradually, but certainly, the insurgent bands were defeated,
and order restored to the districts their agitation had
convulsed.
There are no stirring events to record in connection with these
operations. Slowly, silently, and surely the revolt was crushed,
and in dying made no sign ; a few ignoble skirmishes, some
isolated acts of gallantry, or an occasional murder, leave
nothing for the historian to comment upon or to record.
Measures of repression, skilfully conceived and inflexibly
carried out, were followed by their natural result the sup-
pression of the insurrection.
Before the curtain fell upon the struggle, the National
Government made one effort to divert the current of misfortune
which was setting in against it. The measures which Count
Berg had organized (for even before the resignation of the
Grand Duke he had for some time been virtually the ruler of the
country) were gradually depriving the insurrection of its
power and vitality ; but if Count Berg could be removed, the
insurrection might perhaps be revived; it was determined,
therefore, that he should be assassinated in the streets of
Warsaw.
In one of the principal streets of the town are two large
houses adjoining each other, and known as the Zamoyski
House and the Zamoyski Palace. They belong to Count
Andrew Zamoyski. These houses are built in the form of a
quadrangle round a square plot of garden, and the only com-
munication existing between them is through a door in one of
the wings, which opens into a short passage communicating
monks, as a body, seemed to have reconciled themselves to their schismatic
visitors ; they allotted to them certain corridors, with the cells they contained,
and gave them some rooms on the ground floor, where their cooking was
carried on. The services of the Church were not interrupted, and no
inconvenience of any consequence, except to the insurgents, resulted from
the interference of the Government.
ATTEMPT TO ASSASSINATE COUNT BERGL 257
from one quadrangle to the other. The rooms in that portion
of the two houses facing the street were, in September, 1863,
let out in separate apartments to numerous tenants.
A few weeks after his appointment to the office of lieutenant,
Count Berg returned from one of the hospitals he had been
inspecting, and his road lay through the street in which the
Zamoyski houses stood. He was seated with an aide-de-
camp in an open caleche, and an escort of five Cossacks
followed immediately behind his carriage, while an officer
rode on either side. As he passed the Zamoyski House, a
gun was fired at him from a window on the second or third
floor j the ball entered the back of his great coat, and passed out
without injuring him ;* a second time the gun was ineffectually
fired, and immediately afterwards several Orsini bombs were
flung from the same window, which exploded beneath the
carriage, and under the feet of the horses. Out of the nine
horses belonging to Count Berg and his attendants, eight were
wounded, six so severely that it was necessary to kill them ;
the aide-de-camp received a severe contusion, and the carriage
was struck in seventeen different places. f
The Zamoyski House and Palace, were immediately taken
possession of by the troops, their inmates were placed under
temporary arrest, and instructions were issued that the contents
of both mansions should be destroyed. When the soldiers first
entered, they made some attempts at plundering ; but orders
were quickly circulated prohibiting it ; and from the time they
reached the troops they were implicitly obeyed. The furniture,
* These facts were stated to me by Count Berg, and the great coat he wore
was shown to me : it contained the two holes made by the musket-ball, and
was a good voucher for the accuracy of the narrative, if any confirmation
were needed.
t The statements made by the Russian press that a subterranean passage
existed between the two houses were untrue. I made particular inquiries of
the officer in command there, and ascertained not only that no such commu-
nication exists, but that there are not even vaults to either house. The only
access is that which has already been described.
On the other hand, the statement made by the organs of the insurgents
that a street or lane divides the palace from the house is equally false ; they
bear about them evident marks of belonging to the same owner, and the
facilities for communication existing between them gave the authorities some
excuse for treating them as the same property.
s
258 THE RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT IN POLAND.
books, works of art, and other valuables, were taken or hurled
into the courtyard ; they were deliberately fired, and, without
exception, destroyed.
The most exaggerated reports were circulated by the revolu-
tionary party, of excesses they alleged had been committed
during the f{ sacking of the Zamoyski Palaces." Prisoners
were robbed and insulted ; children were thrown out of the
windows by the infuriated soldiery; and, in short, these
writers tasked their well- trained powers of invention to the
utmost, in multiplying charges of cruelty and wrong.
All these representations were, however, utterly false.
Opinions may well differ as to the expediency or the justice of
the act of confiscation \ but it was carried out in strict pur-
suance of the directions given, in perfect order, and with no
unnecessary harshness. Some acts of plunder were at first
committed by the soldiery, but, in obedience to the officer in
command, they at once desisted.
Subsequent inquiries brought to light some curious incidents.
The time of Count Berg's passing through the street was
known, and a few minutes previously, in front of the Zamoyski
House, an individual, passing along the street at a gallop, gave
a signal with his whip, and the moment the caleche arrived
opposite the house, a white handkerchief was waived from one
of the windows, apparently as a signal for the discharge of the
Orsini bombs.
For some hours previously to this attempt, scarcely any car-
riages had passed through the street ; and although it cannot
be supposed that the intended assassination was communicated
to any large number of individuals, the authorities inferred
from these and other circumstances that the revolutionary
agents must have cautioned their friends not to pass that
way.
The measures adopted by Count Berg for the repression of
the revolt were very severe, and some of them cannot be
defended on the ground of justice ; their only vindication must
be the plea of necessity, and the excuse that they were adapted
to the strange and wayward people they were intended to curb.
In the abstract, nothing could be more unjust than this
forfeiture of the Zamoyski property. Its owner was in France,
CONPISCATIOM OP THE ZAMOYSKI PALACE. 259
the dwellings were let out to numerous lodgers, over whom he
had no control, and the attempted murder was an act which he
was too wise to have sanctioned ; yet his property was sacrificed
because some assassin temporarily resided there, and made his
landlord's house a manufactory for hand-grenades. Neverthe-
less, however unjust the confiscation may be deemed, it is
certain that no act of the Russian administration had so bene-
ficial an effect in Warsaw ; it impressed the Poles with the
conviction that the Government was thoroughly in earnest, and
that, no longer a thing to be cheaply indulged in, rebellion was
a costly and a dangerous game. From the hour when the
forfeiture was proclaimed, and the Poles found that no station
was a shelter from the severities of the Russians, the revolution
in Warsaw was paralyzed, and order restored.
The National Government lost its prestige in Poland, and
many circumstances made its discomfiture apparent. It had
ordered that every one connected with the Official Journal
should abandon his employment by the 1st of October ; but the
1 st of October came and passed, and none of them obeyed the
decree. In Warsaw, with the apparent intention of provoking
a trial of strength and of proving that the National Govern-
ment was no longer obeyed, Count Berg, on the 2nd of October
issued the following proclamation :
" For the last two years the city of Warsaw has been a den of crime, and
the principal source of all the misfortunes which overwhelm the country. For
this reason the Government is obliged considerably to increase the expenses
of the state, which expenses have been caused by the present deplorable state
of things. The Government is also bound to assist the numerous cases of
distress originating from the same cause. Justice demands, therefore, that
this increased expenditure should not be borne by the treasury of the king-
dom alone, but that the city which tolerates and protects so large a number
of perjurers and murderers should also bear part of the expenses arising from
the present condition of the city. Taking these matters into consideration,
I am compelled to impose an extraordinary contribution on the city of War-
saw, and order as follows :
" 1. An extraordinary contribution will be levied from all house proprie-
tors and owners of plots of ground in Warsaw, and the suburb of Praga, at
the rate of 8 per cent, of their net income, which shall be calculated from the
returns of 1861.
" 2. This contribution is to be collected by the 1st of November of this
year.
" 3. Whoever has not paid his contribution by the above date, will be com-
9 2
260 THE EUSSIAN GOVERNMENT IN POLAND.
polled to do so by a military execution, and in the increased proportion of
12 per cent, upon his property.
" 4. House and other proprietors have a right, if their property is mort-
gaged or otherwise burdened, to deduct 8 per cent, from the legal interest
they are paying.
" 5. The Committee of the Interior will convey to the magistrate of the
city of Warsaw that it shall be his duty to issue such regulations as are indis-
pensable for the carrying out of this decree.
" In communicating the above to the Administrative Council, I call upon
them to issue the necessary orders."
The National Government issifed a proclamation threatening
all who paid this tax with death ; and subsequently published
in the revolutionary papers the names of those citizens who
first paid the tax, and summoned them before the secret
tribunals to answer for their crimes. Nevertheless the tax
was paid and the menace disregarded.
On the 27th of October an order, to take effect from 10th
November, prohibiting mourning except for the loss of a
relation, was published in Warsaw. Offenders were to be
subjected to fines estimated on the following scale : a woman
on foot was to pay 10, in a hired carriage 15, and in a
private carriage 100 roubles. If the offender was the wife or
child of an official, "that official lost one month's pay. The
ladies of Warsaw discussed this proclamation (as the terms
were known some time before it was to be carried into effect)
anxiously. In a spirit of fervent patriotism, one lady deter-
mined to be fined five times, another ten, and a third twelve;
but their resolution failed them in the hour of trial ; mourning
was entirely discontinued, and not a single fine had to be
demanded.
On this occasion the National Government gave a striking
evidence of its waning power; it had to the present time
forbidden all compliance with the orders of the Russian police ;
it now changed its tactics, and published a proclamation
directing that the authorities should be obeyed; and the
reason it assigned was the desire that the ladies of Warsaw
should be protected from insults at the hands of the Russian
soldiers ; but it was felt universally that the true cause of its
altered tone was its conviction, in any case, that the police
order would be obeyed.
COLLAPSE OF THE INSURRECTION,
261
From this date the insurrection may be considered to have
ended. The revolutionary agitation which had for years been
gaining over converts to the national party, and which had
ever been increasing and consolidating its strength, had
utterly collapsed when arrayed in arms against the might of
an established government. The resources of men and money
which had long been anxiously hoarded up, were vainly
lavished in one brief and inglorious struggle. The improve-
ments which had been creating wealth and paving the way
to power, were paralyzed and arrested by the presence of intes-
tine strife. The national character, which Europe had hitherto
regarded as chivalrous, high-souled, and impassioned, had
been sullied by the homage it rendered to the occult Govern-
ment. The propagandism which had for years been converting
Letts, Ruthenians, and Russians into Poles, had been detected,
and its practice rendered impossible for the future ; while the
cup from which Poland might have drunk in the invigorating
draughts of constitutional freedom had been dashed to earth
in the fevered paroxysm of civil war.
It was, indeed, full time that the contest should end.
The deeds which daily stained the streets of the capital
with the blood of murdered men, and the executions which
sternly avenged the slain, had induced a carelessness of the
lives and an indifference to the sufferings of others, which
roused the apprehensions of every wise and patriotic Pole.
Commerce was extinct, ordinary employment there was little
or none ; but assassination had grown into a trade, and this
loathsome trade nourished. Throughout the kingdom, also,
other classes of crime and demoralization were rapidly extend-
ing their baneful influence, and even the men who longed for
national independence were anxious that tranquillity should
be on any terms restored. It was acknowledged that the
insurrection had failed ; it was foreseen that years must elapse,
and the politics of Europe be again disturbed, before there was
any prospect of a successful rising, and it was felt that the
continuance of an abortive revolt would only lead to the sacri-
fice of many lives and the further embittering of national
hatreds.
The occult Government could no longer control the expres-.
262 THE RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT IN POLAND.
sion of these feelings or the conduct to which they naturally
led. The active aid it extorted from the proprietors when its
power and organization were unbroken, it was unable at this
crisis to exact ; and thus while the Eussian resources were for
the first time guided by a skilful and accustomed hand, the
cause of the insurrection was deprived of the material assist-
ance and the prestige of secret power by which it had hitherto
been upheld.
Such were the conditions under which the contest was now
waged, and day by day the bands of desperate men who con-
tinued it were slain, defeated in battle, or driven across the
frontier. At length, the long cold winter of the North set in ;
the hardiest were unable to keep the field ; and, conquered
partly by their enemy and partly by a climate that no one
could resist, the last of the revolutionary bands dispersed, and
the Polish insurrection was at an end.
263
CHAPTER XVIII.
Resum6 of the Narrative.
MY narrative is ended. I have traced, to the best of my
judgment, the progress of events, the cabals of diplomatists,
and the motives of the party of action; and endeavoured,
without favour or partiality, to present them dispassionately to
my readers. My work is necessarily imperfect; for materials,
doubtless, exist which would explain some facts at present ill
understood, and alter the lights and shades in which the
historical painter would pourtray the men he endeavoured to
describe. Many details might also be filled in which would
interest the general reader, and invest the story with a degree
of personal interest to which it now has little claim.
Such incidents would render the narrative more attractive,
but would scarcely add to its historical value. The great
danger in treating of the Polish insurrection is that leading
principles may be lost sight of in a mass of individual expe-
riences. Writers of unquestionable veracity have in Galicia
and Posen mingled with the insurgents and with those who
sympathized in their aims ; they have listened with unfortu-
nate credulity to their statements, and given them a wide
and instant publicity. A knowledge so acquired has its value
in so far as it enables an author to master details that a
stranger will not understand, and may furnish materials for
some spirited sketches and the introduction of some inter-
esting descriptions ; on the other hand, such an acquaintance
with details often prevents their possessor from rightly appre-
ciating principles ; dwarfs his view of the subject which he
treats to the level of the petty chiefs who surround him ; and
degrades the history of a national crisis into the chronicle of a
local emeute. Let us endeavour to form a more impartial
estimate, and base it on facts which admit of no cavil or
dispute.
264 THE RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT IN POLAND.
In the earlier pages of this work I have traced the history
of Poland and the Western provinces during the reign of the
Emperor Nicholas, and shown that it was one long con-
spiracy on the part of a monarch to denationalize a people. It
was the supremacy of an unbending military despot, who ruled
his subjects on the same principle on which he ruled his army,
and who considered that in this instance his subjects were
mutinous, and must be treated with more than ordinary
severity. Such a tyranny justified resistance, and almost
demanded it. When Hungary was in arms, or when the war
in the Crimea was draining away the Russian army, every
true friend of liberty, careless of the European complications
it would, have eventually involved, would have hailed with
enthusiasm Poland's efforts to be free. In face of that cruel
persecution, the whispers of expediency would have been
forgotten ; and, despite the stipulations of world-famed con-
gresses and the traditionary wisdom of ancient statecraft, the
kingdom of Poland might have been constituted anew. But
then the hapless land made no struggle for freedom, and gave
no signs of national life. Perhaps the iron had entered so
deeply into her soul that she was conscious only that she was
a slave ; perhaps she thought herself unable to compete
successfully with the master of a million bayonets, and gazed
with fear upon the citadel which frowned beside her ancient
capital ; perhaps she thought that the tyranny, whose blighting
influence was everywhere felt, had organized its secret
agencies with so much skill that an informer was present in
every company, and a spy was lurking by every hearth.
Whatever the reason, Poland, from the suppression of the
revolt in 1831 to the death of Nicholas, stirred not; and when
her oppressor died, the sympathy which would have over-
borne all ordinary prudential considerations died out also.
Europe could not recognize in the Poland of 1857 the same
conditions which had won for her so mournful an interest
twenty-five years before ; and as political and social improve-
ment were seen moving on with a steady and measured step,
it was felt that time, patience, and mutual forbearance would
yet weld two hostile races into one united people.
In her captivity, however, opinion had been silently forming,
RESUME. 265
though it was not evidenced by any outward signs which other
nations recognized, and a fierce and deadly hatred of Russia
had sprung up among the educated classes, which was the
more dangerous because it was unavowed. Opinions nurtured
in secret are always extreme, for they are unchecked by dis-
cussion, inquiry, and minute investigation ; and we accordingly
find that the views of the disaffected in Poland were remarkable
for their violent and uncompromising character. That among
the great proprietors were to be found many men of moderate
opinion is unquestionable ; but in political and revolutionary
contests, moderate men lose their weight, and although they
may guide the State through peaceful waters, when the
storms are raging and the vessel is drifting on the rocks,
it is the determined partisan who invariably springs to the
helm.
In the absence of deep-seated disaffection, the reforms of
the Emperor would have won the confidence of his people ;
and as it was, two parties, who were respectively represented
by the Marquis Wielopolski and Count Andrew Zamoyski,
were opposed to any revolutionary action ; but the sentiments
of loyalty or prudence which restrained them had no weight
with less cautious politicians, and violent men refused to
recognize that any change in their position should make a
corresponding alteration in their policy. The heavy hand of
tyranny no longer oppressed them; their Church was free
from persecution ; their universities were restored ; the founda-
tion of representative institutions was laid ; and a practical
autonomy was granted to them. All these concessions they
would gladly have accepted thirty years before ; but the day
for such compromises was gone. Complete independence they
now required, and nothing else would they accept, and that
independence was to extend to the whole of ancient Poland,
from Dantzic to Odessa, and was to be obtained by the recon-
quest from three of the great powers of Europe of territories
which had been theirs for the greater part of a century. This
visionary scheme was avowed with greater or less distinctness
throughout the period of the insurrection and the agitation
which preceded it. It was not convenient to give it reality by
stirring up revolt in Galicia or Posen, but it was understood that
266 THE RUSSIAN GOVEENMENT IN POLAND.
these possessions were to be revolutionized after Poland and
the Western provinces had been torn from Kussia.
Reviewing this programme dispassionately, it is difficult to
understand how any statesman could be so rash as to encourage
it : it threatened to kindle a strife in Europe which might last
for thirty years, and then leave behind it hatred and jealousies,
the memory of injuries unatoned, and of humiliations yet to
be obliterated, which would be the fertile source of many a
future war.
The Poland springing into existence after such a preliminary
struggle, would probably, if any success had been achieved,
have included the Congress kingdom and some few of the
adjoining governments. It was perfectly clear, however, that
a state so constituted would be regarded as only a portion of
that which was eventually to be formed ; and it would have been
the centre of a religious and political propaganda, having for
its object the spread of the Roman Catholic religion and the
re-establishment of the Polish supremacy over all the provinces
of the kingdom of 1772.
Apart from the danger of encouraging such revolutionary
ideas and efforts, the injustice of the scheme should have been
patent to the statesmen of Europe; for why should the
Western provinces of Russia, with their population of 9,868,771,
be remitted to the domination of the 1,046,947 Poles those
provinces contain ? and why should the religious education of
the country be confided to the Roman Catholic clergy, although
their Church scarcely numbers within her pale one-fourth of
that same population ? Again, it would have been very unjust
towards the German settlers who have done so much to culti-
vate and reclaim various parts of Poland, more especially of
Posen, to have subjected them to the rule of an arrogant and
hostile race ; and it would have perilled the advancing rights
and civilization of the peasants, over which every philanthropist
and statesman desires to keep anxious guard.
Neither is there any reason to suppose that the Poles are
more fit for self-government now than they were a century
ago. The unarmed agitation did indeed evidence that under
the pressure of strong excitement they could act in concert ;
that they could make considerable sacrifices in the supposed
RESUME. 267
interests of their country; and that the Russian supremacy
was unpopular among a large proportion of the city and
privileged classes. Yet this very combination seems to
evidence, with almost as great distinctness, that the educated
classes were misled by sentiment, vanity, and vague historical
theories, and that in action they altogether lacked the inspiration
of a sound and vigorous policy. From the inferior orders, the
mechanics of the towns, and the petty Schlachta, no enlightened
resolve was to be looked for, and they joined with ignorant
enthusiasm the unarmed agitation in the earlier stages of the
struggle, and with ferocious brutality the insurrection which
subsequently occurred.
The changes which the moderate party among the Polish
nobility silently worked by the introduction of schools, the
teaching of their national traditions and language among the
peasantry, and the gradual amelioration of the condition of
the poor, were doubtless calculated to serve their cause; but
the unarmed agitation itself was a foolish and mischievous
device, which only drew down on them the suspicion of
their rulers, and induced them to take unusual measures for
the preservation of the Kussian supremacy.
When the insurrection actually broke out, nothing but the
overwhelming necessities of the hour served to give even the
semblance of unity to the efforts of the disaffected ; and in a
very few weeks the contentions of the Red party and the
White, of the nobles and the democrats, of Langiewicz and
Mieroslawski, betrayed to all who studied the question the
utter hopelessness of the revolt. But, even supposing it
possible for the effort to have been successful, the moment
independence was won, fresh difficulties must have arisen ; for
the democrats would never have allowed their exertions and
their sacrifices to result in the coronation of a Czartoryski in
the cathedral of Warsaw ; and the leaders of the emigration
and great proprietors and magnates of Poland would never
have permitted the Red party to have dictated to them the
future constitution of their country. The -immediate result of
a successful insurrection would probably have been anarchy ;
and that anarchy, if terminated without the overthrow of the
newly-constituted state, would have been followed by a
268 THE RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT IN POLAND.
condition of things still more to be deprecated, and yet more
threatening to the peace of Europe a state of things in
which a policy of aggression and conquest must have been
adopted by the Poles with the avowed object of re-conquering
in its integrity an ancient kingdom according t(7 its limits at a
date capriciously selected by themselves. Who could foresee
the complications such a policy would engender, or any
termination of the dissensions it would immediately induce ?
Despite these considerations, which rendered it madness
to afford the insurgents encouragement or aid, it is impos-
sible to have witnessed without compassion the headlong
valour and the fervent patriotism which gave life and reality
to their cause. They were mistaken in their highly-coloured
visions of the past ; but, in the midst of a miserable present,
was it not natural that they should thus deceive themselves ?
Does not the Jew look fondly back to the mythical tales
with which tradition has surrounded the history of his race ?
Does not the Irish peasant, as he sits at night by the dim
peat fire, chant in a voice of low and monotonous dreaminess
the deeds of mighty chiefs and sages who only find existence
in that traditionary lay ? Who, indeed, would not allow for
national prejudices and the pride of race ? What statesman
or what historian can fail to recognize in them the most
unfailing stimulants to future exertion? Prostrate a race
may be, miserable in outward appearance, without the rights
of free men, trodden in the dust, outcasts and slaves ; yet, if
they still cling to the memory of a prouder and a happier era,
if in their humiliation they yet resolve that the day of their
resurrection shall dawn, we may be sure that there exists
among them the spirit to do and to suffer nobly, and that
in some future exigency they will vindicate their ancient
fame.
The struggle between Russia and Poland was necessarily
short, for the resources at the disposal of the National
Government were utterly inadequate to the end it had in
view. When the forces of Langiewicz were scattered, there
remained no army in the field ; and although the wandering
bands which haunted the forests and marshes of the Congress
kingdom retained a show of organization, their efforts were
RESUME. 269
as futile for all military purposes as are those of the brigands
in Southern Italy. The annihilation of the only army that
made a stand against the Russians served to bring out in
clearer relief the acts and the principles of the National
Government, and men witnessed with amazement the esta-
blishment of a secret tribunal, in face of which rank had
no immunities,, and before which innocence was no protec-
tion. Its decrees sentenced men to death, and the dagger
of the murderer carried out the doom. Everywhere was
terror. The police professed to be paralyzed j but they, it
was alleged, were leagued with the guilty. Men high in
rank and office declared themselves unable to combat this
unseen power, to protect the victim, or to avenge the crime.
Great names were muttered as though they sat on this secret
committee, and it was whispered that the proudest nobility of
Poland were not too proud to mingle in this conclave of
assassins. Meanwhile the avowed emissaries of the National
Government counted among them the historic names of Czar-
toryski and Sapieha. It was all but recognized by the French
Government, and was spoken of considerately by English
Ministers of State. It declared itself to be the only exponent
of the will of the people ; it issued its proclamations, appointed
its officers, levied its taxes, published its gazettes, and tra-
vestied in every practicable form the. operations of a regular
government. It identified itself with the Polish cause, and
in an evil hour for themselves the insurgents permitted the
assumption. Perhaps this ready submission to the occult
Government was a necessity. The Poles saw they were com-
pletely overmatched, and felt that internal dissension would
accelerate the ruin of their cause ; they clung, therefore, to
the only body which had about it even the semblance of
authority or action. Nevertheless, however necessary this
acquiescence may have been, it greatly injured their cause
among educated and thinking men. What is the principle,
such men demanded, upon which this Government is con-
ducted? And the inevitable reply \\as, that it was terrorism
carried to a pitch that had never been surpassed ; that it was
power derived from, and solely reliant upon the dagger. Its
malignant influence was not restricted to important enemies j
270 THE RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT IN POLAND.
it extended its proscriptions to every class, and murdered for
every fault. Orsini bombs were devoted to governors of pro-
vinces ; the poniard was prepared for travellers who failed in
the devotion this new sovereignty demanded ; while for the
peasant and the soldier there were tortures and mutilations,
the hangman's rope, and the grave, into which, yet living,
they were flung.
These outrages contrasted painfully with the previous
conduct of the Poles, and the Kussians asked what had be-
come of that high and holy patience which this nation of
martyrs claimed as their inheritance ? For three years they
said the Poles had held their national fasts, had observed
their national anniversaries, and proclaimed that by meekness
and long-suffering they would put to shame the counsels of
the violent and the power of the mighty. During that period
Russia had looked on with a troubled consciousness that she
had no weapons wherewith to oppose an unarmed movement ;
her policy had been wavering, weak, and ineffective ; and the
public opinion of Europe had pronounced against her. Now,
without any adequate reason, the Poles had quitted their
vantage-ground, and descended into the arena ; they had
staked their cause on the vulgar arbitrament of war, and dis-
carded the enormous advantages their former attitude had
secured them. Nor was this all; for their false and trea-
cherous nature was fully displaying itself in the acts of men
who reduced murder into a system, who robbed for the sake
of their country, and forged in the interests of truth !
It was under the influence of passions thus excited and
expressed, that the struggle was subsequently carried on ;
assassination on one side seemed to call for a stern system of
repression on the other; and the dictates of the supposed
necessity were acquiesced in. Repudiating the calumnies
which found too ready a credence in France and England,
it will yet be admitted that some of the measures adopted
by the Russian authorities tended to shake the rights, and
therefore to destroy the value of property ; and that there was
somewhat too great a disposition to assume that every Polish
proprietor was a traitor, and to punish him as such, unless
his innocence was proved to the satisfaction of a government
RESUME. 271
official. Some of the orders of General Mouravieff are
certainly open to the former of these charges, and although
the latter be not susceptible of such direct proof, it is
believed by a considerable body of his countrymen to be
equally true.
The feature in the Russian policy which excited the greatest
indignation among the Poles, is one for which an impartial
observer will not blame it. The great proprietors, the officials
of Polish descent, the Catholic clergy, the professors of schools,
and the educated classes generally, had plainly evinced their
disaffection ; it was only natural, therefore, that the Govern-
ment should appeal to the masses. An arrogant and high-
spirited aristocracy beheld with speechless anger the repre-
sentative of the Emperor place weapons in the hands of
peasants, who had never been so trusted before ; permit them
to arrest suspicious persons, even when those persons had
recently been their masters ; and reward them for their zeal
in the public service, even when that zeal had been misplaced,
and the license given to them had been exceeded. In civil
convulsions, however, distinctions of rank are frequently
obliterated, and a Government assailed by conspirators may
well prefer a loyal peasant to a malcontent noble.
The harshness with which the peasants had formerly been
treated, made the change more marked and unpalatable, and
the Polish proprietor, under the surveillance of his former serfs,
bore the infliction as impatiently as would a South Carolinian
if he were imprisoned and watched by his own slaves.
Prompt to take advantage of every opportunity, the dis-
affected party denounced the Government for socialist ten-
dencies, and described emancipation and the subsequent
arming of the peasants as the two first acts in a drama of
which confiscation was to be the catastrophe. By this artifice
they enlisted on their side much of the sober and temperate
opinion which had not hitherto pronounced itself, and iden-
tified themselves in the minds of those whom they misled with
the cause of order, property, and enlightenment.
The action of diplomacy reflected little credit on the wisdom
or steadfastness of Western Europe. The despatches of Lord
Russell were speeches in disguise, and speeches more worthy
272 THE RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT IN POLAND.
of the hustings than of a parliamentary assembly. As bids
for popularity they might have succeeded, if Kussia had been
terrified by them ; but as they were fruitless,, they covered
their author with ridicule and odium. To interpose and not
to be regarded, to threaten and not to strike/ to parade the
name and power of England before the world, while he
inwardly was convinced that he could never guide her into
war these were not acts of wisdom or high policy, and were
unworthy the traditions of his office or the antecedents of his
country.
Moreover it is evident that the Foreign Secretary had no
accurate knowledge of the subject upon which he treated ; for
he allowed alleged cruelties at Wilna to be urged in both
Houses of Parliament as reasons for interposing on behalf of
the Poland of 1815 : he pressed on the acceptance of the
Russian Government six supposed reforms, some of which
were already in existence, and others were absolutely inad-
missible; and he made statements which were utterly at
variance with the information furnished to him by the Ambas-
sador at St. Petersburg and the Consul- General at Warsaw.
The most favourable construction that can be placed upon his
acts is to suppose that he really desired to embark in a war of
liberation, and that he was only restrained by prudential con-
siderations, and the remonstrances of less ardent colleagues.
Be this, however, as it may, there is no doubt that the atti-
tude taken by him helped to induce the insurgents to prolong
a hopeless contest ; that it encouraged the Emperor of the
French in his schemes of ambition and of conquest ; and that
it shook the confidence of Russian statesmen and the Russian
people in the honour and good faith of England.
The tortuous policy of France gradually inclined to war.
After watching carefully the currents of popular opinion, and
after meditations, lengthy if not profound, on the chances of
the struggle in which he might possibly be involved, the Im-
perial Sphinx determined to try the arbitrament of arms. To
pave the way to such a consummation, French gold and French
blood were lavished in maintaining a guerilla war ; a servile
press adroitly imitated the utterances of a free people, and
preached the doctrines of a fantastic liberalism to a nation
RESUME.
273
which was itself enslaved. History was invoked in order to
revive dormant animosities; treaties were misconstrued to
justify interference in the internal affairs of another state ; and
diplomacy did its utmost to pave the way to a war for which
armies were silently collecting, and campaigns had secretly
been planned.
The passions of the French people were thoroughly roused,
and the language of their statesmen became more stern
and menacing. The Emperor perhaps relied on English aid
and Austrian endurance, on the willing help of the Polish
nationality, and the unpatriotic indifference of the Eussian
people on the prestige of past triumphs and the confidence
of Europe in his own far-seeing wisdom. Probably too he
felt that some device was needed to divert the attention of his
people from Mexico and Kome, and that a scrutiny of his
home administration offered nothing in palliation of foreign
and ignominious embarrassments.
The cast was dangerous, but it possessed attractions for one
who gambled with empires for his stake, and apparently the
risk was slighter than it eventually proved to be, while there
seemed to be spoil obtainable which it was subsequently im-
possible to grasp. The calculation, however, was erroneous
in every particular.
It is not surprising that foreigners often mistake us. The
empty clamour, which sounds so loudly and is so little worth,
seems to them the voice of the governors as well as of the
governed ; and they cannot understand debates arranged for the
purpose of winning notoriety for a partisan. When they wade
through the columns of monotonous dulness with which ob-
scure members weary their hearers, they construe their unre-
futed accusations into the scarcely veiled menaces of parties
and cabinets ; when they read of meetings which members
of both Houses attended, and over which Lord Mayors pre-
sided, they imagine they peruse the semi-official announce-
ments which precede an open rupture. It was, however,
strange that the Emperor of the French should have fallen
into this error; he must have known that the Polish cause
had at most only a sentimental hold on the sympathies of
274 THE RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT IN POLAND.
England, and that, in deference to her sentiments, England
never goes to war ; that the prominent leaders of the friends
of Poland were men who, however respectable, had no poli-
tical weight; and that the liberal policy of the Emperor
Alexander had disarmed much of the anti-Russian feeling
which the despotic rule of his father had provoked. If in the
person of Lord Russell he found a confederate or an instru-
ment, it was evident that the sway of the Foreign Secretary
over the external policy of his country did not extend beyond
the penning of voluminous despatches.
The chances of assistance from Austria were even less
encouraging. Embarked in a career of constitutional de-
velopment, her statesmen found it prudent to adopt a tone
of enlightened liberality, and the 1 ^ united with France and
England in diplomatic representations which bound them to
no ulterior policy. One fatal inheritance, however, was always
present to their thoughts ; and although they might not have
regretted any humiliation to which Russia might have been
subjected, their liberal dreams of a restored Poland were
scared by the fear of Galicia in revolt. In the cause of Polish
independence it was impossible for Austria to unsheath her
sword.
There remained the Polish nationality, and we have seen
what that term includes. If a French army had ever reached
the frontier of the Congress kingdom, there is no doubt a
considerable number of recruits would have gathered to its
camp. Prudential considerations would no longer have re-
strained many who had estates to lose and rank to forfeit, if
they joined in a fruitless insurrection. Yet the success of
such a crusade would have been very doubtful, the penalty
of failure would have been hard to bear, and the guerdon
of a successful war, unless Prussia were involved in it,
would faintly recompense the risks and the peril of the
enterprise.
The expectations which were based on the indifference of
the Russian people were equally erroneous, and their attitude
would have precluded submission, even if their rulers had
been disposed to acquiesce in the demands of the intervening
RESUME.
275
powers. In the course of my narrative I have shown how
deeply public opinion was roused by the insurrection, and
with what a proud and confident spirit the demands of diplo-
macy were met. There was no sacrifice which would not
willingly have been submitted to for the sake of preserving
the honour and integrity of Russia, and the nation rose as one
man to vindicate her independence. It was this unanimous
resolution which gave unwonted weight to the masterly
despatches of Prince Gortschakoff, for it was felt that his
policy was supported by the will of an united people.
From the time that these despatches were written the Polish
question was virtually at an end ; the alternative presented to
Western Europe was acquiescence or war, and as war involved
risks which neither England nor France cared to run, acqui-
escence became a necessity. Ceasing to be an European
question, the Polish insurrection shrank back into its natural
dimensions ; it became merely the revolt of a disaffected class,
a class which might have some claims on the generous
sympathy, but had none on the armed support of foreign
nations.
Unaided by the Western powers, it was certain that the
insurrection must fail. A guerilla war might, indeed, be
persevered in until winter drove the insurgents from their
forests and other lurking-places ; attacks might from time to
time be made on posts which were defended only by a few
soldiers, and detachments still be assailed as they crossed
morasses or wound their way through woods. Sometimes also
officials might be assassinated or peasants tortured and
robbed. Such deeds were neither war nor insurrection, they
were simple acts of brigandage, and would be so accounted
by every impartial man ; translated, however, into the lan-
guage of telegrams and special correspondents, they wore a
very different complexion, and for months after the revolt was
virtually ended, the people of England and France regarded it
as an existing struggle. At length winter set in, the bands
were completely dispersed, and the Polish insurrection of 1863
was definitively suppressed.
The time had now arrived when dissimulation was of no
T 2
276
THE EUSSIAN GOVERNMENT IN POLAND.
advantage to the Government. If its liberal professions
were made with a fraudulent design, if it simply waited its
opportunity to crush all improvement, and to revive the
blighting rule of Nicholas, there was no one who had now the
power to oppose it. Victorious over his rebel subjects, equally
successful in his contest with diplomatic adversaries, the
Emperor saw Poland prostrate before him, silently awaiting
her doom.
277
APPENDIX A.*
TABLE I. Showing number of Poles as compared to other races
in Western Provinces.
Name of
Government.
Russian.
Letts.
Poles.
Jews.
Other
Nations.
Per-
centage
of Poles
in every
lOOJnha-
bitants.
4 ( Witebsk
428,651
139,295
63,432
62,628
10,189
9-2
^ ( Mohilew
g [Minsk ...
jf Wilna...
719,229
736,175
184,688
945
64,149
418,880
27,238
116,789
154,386
102,855
96,981
76,802
387
2,892
3,318
3'2
11-5
18'4
( Kowno...
1
^ [Grodno ..
6,852
293,489
730,933
201,897
25,189
193,228
101,337
94,219
40,727
6,814
27
24-0
1 fKieff ...
1
^/ Volhynia
1,370,250
1,042,694
38,026
20,535
83,351
174,100
225,074
183,890
1,655
5,208
4-6
12'2
| [ Podolia
Total ...
1,170,485
209,234
195,847
43,428
12-9
5,952,513
1,614,660
1,046,947
1,139,633
114,618
10'4
TABLE II. Showing the number of Free-born, Apanage t and
Serf-born Individuals in Western Provinces.
Government.
Free-born.
Apanage.
Serf.
Witebsk
Mohilew
Kovno ... '
Wilna
142,831
75,378
281,816
229 923
13,336
9,412
106
446,233
572,269
364,646
402,549
Grodno
Minsk
Volhynia
Podolia
Kieff
243,529
128,828
242,251
324,906
304,573
361,302
599,160
864,161
1,041,051
1,121,062
Total
1,974,035
22,854
5,772,433
[Jews and Colonists are not included in this table. Old soldiers are
numbered in the Apanage column.]
* This and the two following tables are taken from A. von Buschen's
work " Bevb'lkerung des Russischen Kaiserreichs in den wichtigsten statis-
tischen Verhaltnissen dargestellt. Gotha, Verlag von Justus Perthes, 1862."
278
THE RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT IN POLAND.
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279
APPENDIX B.
PLAN OF THE EXISTING INSURRECTION.*
" HASTEN to Warsaw in order to obtain the fullest information as to the spirit
and tendency of the demonstration of the 25th February on the subject
of the resolution of the Agricultural Society relating to the grant of land
to the peasants. Take this grant as the starting-point of all the measures
destined to prepare for the national rising, and make use of the masses, who,
by virtue of this wholesome resolution, have received lands in full and perpetual
ownership, as the foundation-stone of the regeneration of the State.
" In traversing the eastern countries to the most distant limits of Poland,
spread the news that the Agricultural Society, in evidence of its solicitude
for the people, ordered, on the 24th February, the proprietors in all the pro-
vinces, without exception, to endow the peasants spontaneously with all the
lands hitherto liable to statute labour (corvee). Admit no discussion on this
matter ; declare it in laconic terms and as an accomplished fact.
" In order to obtain permission from the Government that this order,
emanating from the capital, be imposed on all the provinces, the Lithuanian
and Ruthenian proprietors should send immediately to St. Petersburg a
deputation intended to unite with that of Warsaw, and to submit itself
implicitly to the injunctions of the latter.
" Our oppressors wiil not succeed in disuniting us if we are ourselves
united.
" Write and print in the Russian language proclamations to inform the
people of the benefits which come to them from Warsaw ; combine the stipu-
lations and the payments to be made to the proprietors in such a manner that
this measure may surpass by far the advantages offered by the regulations of
the St. Petersburg ukases.
" If the Czar, which it is difficult to suppose, should give his consent imme-
diately to everything, spread at once the report that he has done it by
intimidation, and that even he submits to the orders which are imposed on
him from Warsaw.
"Organize in this case national solemnities, numerous and clamorous
popular meetings directed by the lesser nobility (Schliackta). It is they also
who should guide the people, without the smallest interference of priests or
officials.
" Immediately after, openly, without the least hesitation, even though it
* This document may be regarded as the programme of the Red Republican
Party.
280 THE RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT IN POLAND.
involve a great loss, it is necessary to give effect to the resolution taken at
Warsaw, without waiting, from which God preserve us, for the initiative of
this application to come from St. Petersburg.
" The position of the Schliachta will be still more favourable if the Czar
refuse to sign the ukase confirming the resolution of Warsaw, or if he delay
the matter until the preparations for the insurrection are complete.
" Charge the Central Committee of Action (Kapitoul) at Warsaw to occupy
the attention of Europe by newspaper correspondence and by deputations
sent to the Governments of France and England.
"1. On the one hand, the opinion of the Western masses must be kept in
a state of the most feverish excitement by means of ever-growing manifestations
of the vitality of Poland and the impotence of Kussia. To this end informa-
tion must be sent to all the German, French, English, and Italian journals,
invented, if necessary, on the civil commotions in Kussia which shake the
power of the Czars, and on the serious and irreconcilable dissensions which
have broken out between the peasants, the boyards, and the employes ; insisting
particularly on the distress of Russia, financial and administrative, on the
avenging and disintegrating influence exercised by the Polish idea on that
structure created by Peter the Great, and which is now falling into ruins.
" It is necessary to persuade the world that Czarisni can only be vanquished
by the Poles.
" 2. On the other hand, the Governments of France and England must be
wearied with complaints and grievances emanating from Warsaw, fabricated
for the purpose, and professedly remaining unnoticed at St. Petersburg. It
is to be observed that these deputations will obtain nothing at first ; but that
must not cool our zeal, for our principal end should be to compromise these
Governments with that of Eussia, and, moreover, to furnish us with an
occasion to complain of their indifference.
" We confidentially inform our fellow-citizens that these counsels have
been given to us by persons in a position to know well the policy of the
Tuileries, and who have cited to us the example of the Italians, who have
succeeded in obtaining in a few years, by the force of patriotic perseverance,
the overthrow of all diplomatic obstacles, in persuading the Emperor of the
French to accomplish what he had never wished, or even thought of doing,
and in forcing his Government, whether they would or no, to aid them in
their attempt for emancipation.
" But God preserve us from employing emigrants in these missions, for
this would be the best way of giving to the Western Governments little
sympathizing in general with the Polish movement an excellent pretext for
holding themselves apart from all relations with this movement.
" It is important, above all, to avoid those intriguers of the Hotel Lambert,
who have abandoned the country, who have completely accustomed them-
selves to scrub (frotter) the ministerial antechambers in foreign countries, and
who have covered themselves with ridicule in the eyes of all those who are
little disposed in favour of our cause.
" The national emissaries should avoid too frequent resort to the Tuileries,
where they may be easily detected ; but, as a set-off, they should visit the
Palais Royal (residence of Prince Napoleon), where they are sure to receive
every kind of assistance and informati6n. The Deputy G. L. M. is in a
APPENDIX. 281
position to furnish all the instructions and explanations required for this
purpose.
" We repeat, these deputations must not expect from their proceedings and
the parade of their grievances any other result than smoothing the way
destined in the future to bring insurgent Poland nearer to the West, and to
intimidate the Russians and the Germans by the belief that the Governments
of France, of England, and of Italy are in secret relations with the Polish
movement.
^"We ought, in reality, to content ourselves with the knowledge that each
Warsaw demonstration brings us nearer to t$ie Italians, the Hungarians, and
all the nationalities which aspire to break the Austrian chains. In regard
to this, there is complete accord between Mieroslawski, Garibaldi, and
Klapka.
" 3. Restrain as long as possible, in the interior of the country, the propa-
ganda of agitation within the limits of purely economic reforms ; anticipate
in every way an armed insurrection until the tribunes of the Schliachta have
brought the whole population of the Western provinces to a degree of patriotic
exaltation equal to that of the people of the Mazurie. In this way await the
offensive operations on the part of the Muscovite troops ; and, from the very
commencement of these operations, whatever may then be the degree of
maturity of the insurrection, join, without the least hesitation, for life or for
death, the masses of the people ; do not abandon them until the definitive and
glorious deliverance of the Kzecz pospolita; take possession of them, and
lead them wherever the desperate struggle against the oppressors may
require.
" All should foresee no long-sighted policy being able to mislead them
the fatal elements, erostatiques, and even Khaidaniachiques, which will arise
in this period of agitation, engendered by the leaven of a society corrupted
by long servitude ; but, at the same time, the duty of every one will be the
quieting of these elements by practical sacrifices on a grand scale, and the
alleviation of the fate of the people as much as may be possible and as means
may permit. What, above all things, is necessary is to heal society by the
discipline indispensable for military preparations, because none of the pseudo
tribunes will sustain this trial.
" Besides, for the incurable demagogues it will be necessary to open the
cage, that they may enroHhemselves on the other side of the Dnieper ; that
they may there propagate the Cossack haidamatchina against the priests, the
boyards, and the officials, by insinuating to the peasants that it is they who
strive to maintain them in servitude. It will be necessary to hold in readiness
an entire store of troubles, and to cast them into fire already kindled in the
interior'of Muscovy. Let all the agitation of little Russianism remove itself
to the further side of the Dnieper ; it is there that will be found the vast
field of Pougatschew for our retarded chmelnitcheivstchina*
* This word is derived from Chmelnicki, a Polish gentleman, and chief of
the insurrection^ the Cossacks against Poland in the first half of the seven-
teenth century. " The name is stated by Russian writers to be associated with
scenes of the most horrible cruelty and brutally atrocious acts.
282 THE EUSSIAN GOVERNMENT IN POLAND.
" It is from there that our Panslavic and Communist school is composed.
There is all the Polish herzenisme. Let it prepare silently and for a long
time the enfranchisment of Poland by rending the entrails of Czarism. Here
is a work as worthy as it is easy for the demi-Poles and the demi-Kussians,
who at present occupy all the degrees of the civil and military Government
in Russia. Let anarchy replace everywhere the Russian Czarism, from which
in the end the Russian nationality, our neighbour, will deliver and purify
itself.
" Let us leave others to be seduced by the delusion that this Radicalism
will promote your liberty as well as ours : but to transport it within the
limits of Poland would be to betray the country ; and this crime should be
punished by death, as treason to the State. Within our country Radicalism
must limit its impatience to preparations for the insurrection ; on all points
of the frontier must be introduced into the country powder, good arms, single-
barrelled fowling-pieces but not double-barrelled and, if it be possible,
carbines and all kinds of iron household utensils ; all the manufactures of
articles in iron in the hands of the Poles should be appropriated to the pre-
paration for war ; everywhere it will be necessary to prepare the materials
necessary for cavalry and convoys, in order that all may be ready the instant
when the necessity for them is felt.
" In the mean time it will be necessary to prepare and to organize the
population beforehand, in the continual expectation of a sudden outbreak of
war. In doing all this, it is necessary not to lose sight of the fact that the
Schliachta furnish more volunteers for the cavalry, the citizens and the popu-
lation of the woody countries for the sharpshooters, and the mass of peasants
for the scythemen. All should be objects of solicitude and of particular care.
Further, the pupils of the technical establishments may join the engineers or
the artillery.
" The Poles of the Mosaic persuasion will work in factories with the
needle, &c. &c. Everywhere let impatient patriotism understand that a
period of suspense, which is to be one of activity and preparation, is indis-
pensable to us in all respects, as much for the purpose of bringing back
the people, especially in Lithuania, in Russia, and Galicia, to their ancient
reliance upon, and submission to, the Schliachta, of which they have lost the
habit under the influence of a long Muscovite and Austrian servitude, as for
their material armament ; and, finally, to await, in an approaching future,
one of two consoling eventualities a foreign war or an insurrection in
Russia. May it please God that both may take place.
" 4. It is only the fortunate concurrence of favourable circumstances in
the interior and the exterior of the country which should be considered as
the signal for a general insurrection in the whole country of Poland. Con-
sidering, however, that many provinces are in an exceptional position, and
might, consequently, form an exception to the general rule, the insurrection
should be organized in the following order :
" (a] The masses of the agricultural population, prepared by the preceding
economic agitation, armed with anything which may come to their hands,
but absolutely under the command of the Schliachta, will hasten from all
parts to the town of the district, annihilating by their unexpected attack the
garrison of the oppressors, immediately barricading the streets and trans-
APPENDIX. 283
forming the buildings into blockhouses, so that the town may take the appear-
ance of a fortified castle.
" (&) The chiefs will choose, as quickly as possible, the best men from
among this crowd, under the denomination of the first levy, distributing to
them the best arms, especially arms which are not fire-arms, provisions for
three days, and conducting them to a camp agreed on by the Wolwodie, or
the Government, avoiding as much as possible any encounter with the enemy
until all the levies are united in the same detachment, under the command
of a single leader.
" As at least half of the fire-arms will remain in the towns of fortified
districts, for the reserves, the chiefs of the camps of Wolwodies must rely
principally on the cavalry and the scythemen ; if, at each halt, they exercise
the foot-soldiers, without intermission and with indefatigable zeal, to the
easy management of arms, and teach the lancers to despise the enemy's
fire, by inspiring them with the ardent desire to rush upon them, then
the army will be sufficiently formed. The scythemen must be taught to
lie on the ground before the fire of artillery, and to charge at a rapid
pace under the fire of musketry. All the arms, whatever they may be,
must be kept near some companies of sharpshooters, which must not be
separated from the battalions of scythemen in any evolution, not even for an
instant, with the sole exception of cases where the sharpshooters disperse
themselves ; and then they must disperse in sight of the scythemen.
" Menaced with an attack by the enemy, the sharpshooters must shelter
themselves in the squares of the scythemen as well as in intrenchments
formed of palisades ; and it is from the third rank, above the heads of the
kneeling scythemen, that they will deliberately fire (avec sang froid), allowing
the enemy to approach as near as possible.
" The convoys, indispensable in every insurrection, must be placed in
tabors, similar to those which were formerly in use among the Cossacks, the
Poles, and the Tcheques. During the combat these tabors must be formed
with the reserves, in the manner of movable fortifications, and in case of
defeat, their retrograde movement must not be commenced until the enemy's
attention is distracted, if only for a time, by some well-calculated offensive
movement on our part.
" (c) The detachment, already exercised during the marches which will
have preceded its general union, and trained during the few days which it will
have passed in camp, must now march, according to the exigency of the case,
either against the nearest detachment of the enemy, or for the chief place of
the Government.
" It is at this phase of the insurrectionary action that our preliminary in-
structions must cease, because this phase of the local insurrection must
absolutely correspond with that in which the foreign legion will be found
ready to fly to the aid of the insurrection.
" 5. The agitation in the interior of the country must not only not distract
the people and prevent supplies being furnished, by material as well as moral
means, to that army which is forming outside the country ; but, on the con-
trary, this anchor of safety so near to them must be considered as the surest
basis of the whole affair. Consequently, let none of the capital specially
designed for this sacred object be retained under any pretext of more pressing
284 THE RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT IN POLAND.
need for interior operations ; but let it be forwarded in time to the central
fund of the legion, because foreign affairs are the most powerful lever of our
whole enterprise ; and God grant that we may not be taken unawares in the
midst of a fatal irresolution.
" N.B. In the present situation of affairs, the people must not allow to
the enemy either recruitment or forced disarmament. The negotiations with
the Muscovite Government will furnish a crowd of eloquent arguments on
this subject ; but if these negotiations do not lead to the desired end, force
must be repelled by force.
(Signed) "Louis MIEROSLAWSKI.
"1st March, 1861."
285
APPENDIX C,
AMNESTY.
" SINCE the first news of the disturbances which have taken place in the
kingdom of Poland we have followed the impulse of our heart in declaring
that we did not consider the Polish nation responsible for an agitation which
is, above all, fatal to herself. We have attributed it alone to external influ-
ences that have long been brought to bear upon the country by certain
parties who have contracted, during the long years of an adventurous life,
habits of disorder, of violence, and of obscure plots, which have perverted in
them the noble sentiments of love for humanity, and even inspired the idea
of sullying by crime the honour of the nation.
"These manifestations of another age, long since condemned by the judg-
ment of history, are no longer in accordance with the spirit of our epoch.
The object of our present generation should be to establish the welfare of the
country, not by torrents of blood, but by the means of peaceful progress.
" This is the object we have had in view when, trusting in the Divine pro-
tection, we made before God and our conscience the vow to consecrate our
life to the happiness of our subjects.
" But, in order to accomplish to the full extent this vow, which we shall
always hold sacred, we need the assistance of all honest men who are sin-
cerely devoted to their country, and who show their devotion not by
interested calculations or criminal attempts, but by the maintenance of
public tranquillity under the protection of the laws.
" In our solicitude for the future welfare of the country, we are ready to
consign to oblivion all past acts of rebellion. Therefore, ardently desiring to
put a stop to an effusion of blood as useless as it is regrettable, we grant a
free pardon to all those of our subjects in the kingdom implicated in the late
troubles who have not incurred responsibility for other crimes or for offences
committed while serving in the ranks of our army, and who may before the
1st (13th) of May lay down their arms and return to their allegiance.
" It is upon us that the duty devolves of preserving the country from the
recurrence of these turbulent agitations, and to inaugurate a new era of its
political life. This can only commence by a rational organization of the local
administrative autonomy as a basis for the whole edifice.
" We have already laid the foundations in the institutions granted by us to
the kingdom ; but, to our sincere regret, the result has not yet been tested
by experience, owing to the intrigues which have substituted chimerical
286 THE RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT IN POLAND.
delusions for the conditions of public order, without which no reform is
possible.
" While continuing for the present to maintain these institutions in their
integrity, we reserve it to ourselves, when they shall have been tested by
experience, to proceed to their further development in accordance with the
requirements of the times and of the country. It is on!y by confidence in
our intentions that the kingdom of Poland will be able to efface the traces
of the present evils, and to advance surely towards the destiny which our
solicitude assigns it. We invoke the Divine assistance that we may be
permitted to accomplish that which we have ever considered to be our
mission.
(Signed) " ALEXANDER.
" St. Petersburg, March 31e, 1863."
287
APPENDIX D.
Extract from the Address of the Municipality of St. Petersburg to the Emperor,
April, 1863.
" Enemies, envious of the progress of Kussia, and only beholding in the
revival of society the fermentation of subversive elements, have conceived
the plan of striking a blow at the integrity of the Russian empire. They
dream of the possibility of tearing from it provinces which are the cradle of
the Russian orthodox faith, and which were restored to our common country
at the cost of torrents of Russian blood.
"We, the citizens of St. Petersburg, feel convinced that any attempt against
the integrity of the empire is an attack upon the existence of Russia, where
the sentiment of national honour and attachment to its sovereign is more
lively than ever.
" We do not reply to our enemies by hatred and a thirst for vengeance ; but
if it should please Providence to put Russia to the proof, we shall not recoil
from any sacrifice ; we will raise the standard for our Czar and for our
country, and will march wherever your sovereign will may think fit to
lead us."
288
APPENDIX E,
DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE.
EARL RUSSELL TO LORD NAPIER.
"Foreign Office, April 10th, 1863.
" MY LORD, Her Majesty's Government think it incumbent on them to
state once more to the Government of his Majesty the Emperor of Russia the
deep interest which, in common with the rest of Europe, they take in the
welfare of the kingdom of Poland.
" The general sympathy which is felt for the Polish nation might of itself
justify her Majesty's Government in making, in favour of the Polish race, an
appeal to the generous and benevolent feelings of his Imperial Majesty, who
has of late, by various and important measures of improvement and reform,
manifested an enlightened desire to promote the welfare of all classes of his
subjects. But with regard to the kingdom of Poland her Majesty's Govern-
ment feel that the Government of Great Britain has a peculiar right to make
its opinions known to that of his Imperial Majesty, because Great Britain, having,
in common with Austria, France, Prussia, Portugal, Spain, and Sweden, become
a party to the treaty of Vienna in 1815, her Majesty's Government are entitled
to interfere with regard to any matter which may appear to them to constitute
a departure from the provisions and stipulations of that treaty.
" By the first article of that treaty the grand duchy of Warsaw was erected
into a kingdom of Poland, to be inseparably attached to the empire of Russia
under certain conditions specified in that article ; and her Majesty's Govern-
ment are concerned to have to say, that, although the union of the kingdom
to the Empire has been maintained, the conditions on which that union
was distinctly made to depend have not been fulfilled by the Russian
Government.
" The Emperor Alexander, in execution of the engagements contracted by
the treaty of Vienna, established in the kingdom of Poland a national repre-
sentation and national institutions corresponding with the stipulations of the
treaty. It is not necessary for her Majesty's Government to observe upon
the manner in which those arrangements were practically administered from
that time down to the revolt in 1830. But upon the suppression of that
revolt by the Imperial arms those arrangements were swept away, and a
totally different order of things was by the Imperial authority established.
APPENDIX. 280
" Prince Gortschakoff argues, as his predecessors in office have on former
occasions argued, that the suppression of that revolt cancelled all the engage-
ments of Eussia in the treaty of Vienna, with regard to the kingdom of
Poland, and left the Emperor of Eussia at full liberty to deal with the
kingdom of Poland as with a conquered country, and to dispose of its people
and institutions at his will. But her Majesty's Government cannot acquiesce
in a doctrine which they deem so contrary to good faith, so destructive of the
obligations of treaties, and so fatal to all the international ties which bind
together the community of European states and powers.
" If, indeed, the Emperor of Eussia had held Poland as part of the original
dominions of his crown, or if he had acquired it by the unassisted success of
his arms, and unsanctioned by the consent of any other power, he could have
contended that might was equivalent to right, and without listening to the
dictates of generosity and justice, he might have punished a temporary revolt
of a portion of his Polish subjects by depriving the whole of them and their
descendants for ever of those privileges and institutions which his predecessor
had deemed essential to the welfare and prosperity of the Polish kingdom.
" But the position of the Eussian sovereign with regard to the kingdom
of Poland was entirely different. He held that kingdom by the solemn
stipulations of a treaty made by him with Great Britain, Austria, France,
Prussia, Portugal, Spain, and Sweden ; and the revolt of the Poles could not
release him from the engagements so contracted, nor obliterate the signatures
by which his plenipotentiaries had concluded, and he himself had ratified,
those engagements.
" The question, then, having arisen whether the engagements taken by
Eussia by the treaty of Vienna have been and are now faithfully carried into
execution, her Majesty's Government, with deep regret, feel bound to say
that this question must be answered in the negative.
" With regard to the present revolt, her Majesty's Government forbear to
dwell upon that long course of action, civil, political, and military, carried on
by the Eussian Government within the kingdom of Poland, of which the
Poles so loudly complain, and to which they refer as the causes which occa-
sioned, and in their opinion justified, their insurrection. Her Majesty's
Government would rather advert to the much-wished-for termination of these
lamentable troubles.
" What may be the final issue of this contest, it is not, indeed, for her
Majesty's Government to foretell ; but whether the result shall be the more
extended spread of the insurrection, and its assumption of dimensions not at
present contemplated, or whether, as is more likely, that result shall be the
ultimate success of the imperial arms, it is clear and certain that neither
result can be arrived at without a calamitous effusion of blood, a great sacri-
fice of human life, and an extensive devastation of property ; and it is evident
that even if Poland shall be reduced to subjection, the remembrance of the
events of the struggle will long continue to make it the bitter enemy of
Eussia, and a source of weakness and of danger instead of being an element
of security and strength.
" Her Majesty's Government, therefore, most earnestly entreat the Govern-
ment of Eussia to give their most serious attention to all the foregoing con-
siderations ; and her Majesty's Government would beg, moreover, to submit
U
290 THE RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT IN POLAND.
to the Imperial Government that, besides the obligations of treaties, Russia,
as a member of the community of European states, has duties of comity to-
wards other nations to fulfil. The condition of things which has now for a
long course of time existed in Poland is a source of danger, not to Russia
alone, but also to the general peace of Europe.
" The disturbances which are perpetually breaking oul among the Polish
subjects of his Imperial Majesty necessarily produce a serious agitation of
opinion in other countries of Europe, tending to excite much anxiety in the
minds of their Governments, and which might, under possible circumstances,
produce complications of the most serious character.
" Her Majesty's Government, therefore, fervently hope that the Russian
Government will so arrange these matters that peace may be restored to the
Polish people, and may be established upon lasting foundations.
" Your lordship will read this despatch to Prince Gortschakoff, and you
will give him a copy of it. " I am, &c.,
(Signed) " RUSSELL."
EARL RUSSELL TO LORD NAPIER.
" Foreign Office, April 24th, 1863.
" MY LORD, I have received and laid before the Queen your Excellency's
despatch of the 12th instant, inclosing a copy of a manifesto on Polish
affairs issued by the Emperor of Russia on 31st March (12th April).
" Her Majesty's Government have carefully and anxiously considered the
contents of this document, in the hope to find in it the germ of a restoration
of peace, and the hope of good government to Poland.
" I have to make to you the following remarks as the result of their
deliberations.
" An amnesty may lay the foundation of peace in two cases :
" 1st. If the insurgents have been thoroughly defeated, and are only
waiting for a promise of pardon to enable them to return to their homes.
" 2nd. If the amnesty is accompanied with such ample promises of the
redress of the grievances which gave occasion to the insurrection, as to in-
duce the insurgents to think that their object is attained.
" It is clear that the first of these cases is not that of the present insur-
rection.
" It is not put down ; it is, on the contrary, rather more extensive than it
was a few weeks ago.
" Let us, then, examine the amnesty with reference to the second of the
supposed cases.
"The Emperor, referring to the institutions which he has conferred
(octroyees) on the kingdom of Poland, says :
** * En maintenant encore aujourd'hui ces institutions dans leur integrite,
nous nous reservons, lorsqu'elles auront e"te" eprouvees dans la pratique, de
proceder a leur developpement ulte"rieur selon les besoins du temps et ceux
du pays.'
" This promise can hardly be satisfactory to the Poles. For it must be
observed, with regard to the institutions already given, that it was during
APPENDIX. 291
their existence that 2,000 young men were seized arbitrarily in one night,
and condemned to serve as soldiers in the Russian army, in defiance of jus-
tice, and even in violation of the law of 1859, so recently enacted ; so that
it is evident no security would be obtained by submitting again to the same
laws. With those institutions in full force and vigour, innocent men might
be imprisoned as criminals, or condemned to serve as soldiers, or banished to
distant countries, without a trial, without publicity, without any guarantee
whatever.
" As to the promise held out for the future, it must be observed that it is
made to depend on the practical working of these institutions, and on the
wants of the time and of the country.
" The first of these conditions alone destroys all reasonable hope of the
fulfilment of this promise ; for the practical working of the institutions
hitherto given depends on the co-operation of native Poles of property
and character, as members of the Council of State, and of provincial and
municipal assemblies. But the recent conduct of the Russian Government
in Poland has deprived them of the confidence of all Poles of this descrip-
tion and forced all such Poles to withdraw from the bodies in which their
functions were to be exercised.
" There are wanting, therefore, in this Imperial manifesto, the first ele-
ments of success ; namely, a guarantee of security on the one side, and the
feeling of trust and confidence on the other.
"In a despatch of Lord Durham, then ambassador at St. Petersburg,
dated in August 1832, Lord Durham says ' There has long been a jealousy,
nay hatred, existing between the Russians and the Poles.' Her Majesty's
Government had hoped that the present Emperor, by raising the social con-
dition of his Russian and securing the political freedom of his Polish sub-
jects, might have united both by the link of loyal attachment to the throne.
" This hope has been unfortunately disappointed, and it is with great pain
that her Majesty's Government observe that the feelings of hatred between
Russians and Poles have not in the lapse of thirty years been softened or
modified.
" The present amnesty does not appear likely to diminish the intensity of
the insurrection, or give any solid security to the most moderate of Polish
patriots. " I am, &c.,
(Signed) " RUSSELL."
PRINCE GORTSCHAKOFF TO BARON BRUNNOW.
" St. Petersburg, April I4th, 1863.
" M. LE BARON, On the morning of the 5th (17th) of April Lord Napier
delivered to me a copy, herewith enclosed, of a despatch from Her Britannic
Majesty's Principal Secretary of State relative to the present situation of the
kingdom of Poland.
" The first part of this document is devoted to a retrospective examination
of the question of right; the second expresses the wish that peace may be
restored to the kingdom of Poland, and established on a lasting basis. I will
reply to these two points of Lord Russell's despatch.
u 2
292 THE RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT IN POLAND.
" As regards the question of right, her Britannic Majesty's Principal
Secretary of State reproduces the arguments already recorded in his des-
patch of the 2nd of March ; I can, therefore, refer to the observations which
I then made to the ambassador of England.
" The Government of her Britannic Majesty takes a position on ground
where the Imperial Cabinet will never hesitate to meet it that of treaties.
" Nevertheless, it is here a question less of the text than of the interpre-
tation of treaties. We have the right not to admit without reservation every
interpretation which it might be wished to give them.
"Lord Russell says in his despatch that, by article 1 of the General Act
signed at Vienna, the 28th of May (9th of June), 1815, 'the duchy of
Warsaw was erected into a kingdom of Poland to be inseparably attached to
the empire of Russia under certain conditions.'
" Now, this is what the Act of Congress of Vienna stipulates in respect to
those conditions :
" ' Poles, subjects of Russia, Austria, and Prussia respectively, shall enjoy
representation, and shall obtain national institutions to be determined in
conformity with the political existence which each of the Governments to
which they belong shall consider it useful and expedient to grant to them.'
" The Emperor Alexander I. developed these principles in accordance with
his personal views. He granted to Poland the constitution of the 12th
(24th) of December, 1815. It was a spontaneous act of his sovereign will,
and it did not constitute an irrevocable engagement towards foreign powers,
inasmuch as the act of the constitution, posterior to the treaty of Vienna,
was not even communicated to them.
k 'Lord Russell contests the principle according to which the revolt of
Poland in 1830, having resulted in the declaration of the forfeiture of the
sovereign dynasty, should be held to annul the bases of political existence
granted in virtue of the Act of Vienna.
" Although history has more than once confirmed this conclusion of natural
right, theory may afford matter for controversy. We think it may be laid
down that if the revolt does not invalidate the national engagements, it at
any rate annuls the spontaneous development of them which had been
generously added, and which have led to fatal results to Poland and to
Russia.
" But the Principal Secretary of State of her Britannic Majesty gives to
this argument a prominent place in his despatch, while I had only inciden-
tally put it forward in the course of my conversation with Lord Napier.
" The English ambassador alludes to it in the following terms in the
despatch which he had the goodness to communicate to me :
" ' Prince Gortschakoff also said to me that, desiring to treat this question
in a spirit of conciliation and humanity, he had abstained from employing
an argument which lay at his disposal that of the right of conquest.'
" Moreover, everything has been said on both sides in this discussion, and
to prolong it on that ground would be a useless task.
{t I proceed to the second part of Lord Russell's despatch.
" The design of our august master is to arrive at a practical solution. We
assume that such is also the desire of the Government of her Britannic
Majesty. Since its aim is to see assured to the kingdom of Poland the repose
APPENDIX. 293
and welfare which are the objects of the solicitude of his Majesty the
Emperor, it appears to us difficult not to arrive at an understanding.
" The difference in our points of view lies in the fact that the English
Government appears to believe that the constitution of 1815 is the sole
panacea calculated to calm the present agitation of Poland.
" But the English Government and nation, whose practical good sense has
founded the greatness of England, can hardly assert that there is only one
form of government possible for all peoples, whatever may be their history
and development. Before arriving at the political maturity of which Eng-
land offers the example, there are many degrees to pass through, and each
nation must proceed in this path according to its own instincts. It is just
and natural that a sovereign, animated by the most benevolent intentions,
should calculate the bearing and extension of institutions destined to place
his subjects in the most favourable conditions of existence.
" The idea of our august master has been shown ever since his accession to
the throne, and cannot be ignored by any one in Europe.
" His Majesty has resolutely entered upon the path of reform. Belying
upon the trust and devotion of his people, he has undertaken and accom-
plished in a few years a social transformation which other states have only
been able to realize after a long lapse of time and many efforts. His solici-
tude has not ceased there. A system of gradual development has been
applied to all the branches of the public service, and to existing institutions.
It opens to Eussia the prospect of a regular progress. The Emperor
perseveres in it without precipitation or impulse (entramemenf), taking into
account the elements which it is the work of time to prepare and mature,
but without ever deviating from the line he has traced for himself.
" This measure has conciliated to him the gratitude and affection of his
subjects. We think it gives him a title to the sympathies of Europe.
" The same designs have not ceased to influence his Majesty since his
solicitude has been brought to bear upon the kingdom of Poland.
" We shall not enter here into an enumeration of the national institu-
tions, for the most part elective, with which this country has been endowed.
" They do not appear to have been sufficiently understood in Europe,
either on account of remoteness, or rather, because chimercial passions and
the interested labours of a hostile party have stood in the way of an equitable
and impartial judgment.
" The system inaugurated by our august master contains a germ which time
and experience must develop. It is destined to lead to an administrative
autonomy on the basis of the provincial and municipal institutions which in
England have been the starting-point and the foundation of the greatness
and prosperity of the country. But in the execution of this idea the
Emperor has encountered obstacles, which are found principally in the
agitations of the party of disorder.
" This party has understood that if it allowed the peaceable majority of
the kingdom to enter upon this path of regular progress, there would be an
end to their aspirations. Their intrigues have not allowed the new institu-
tions to be carried into effect. It has been impossible to show how they
work, or how far they respond to the real necessities and to the degree of
maturity of the country.
294 THE RUSSIAN GOVEENMENT IN POLAND.
" It is only when this experiment shall have been made that it will be
possible to pass a judgment upon this work and to complete it.
" The manifesto of the 31st of March indicates the wishes of our august
master in this matter.
" By the side of an act of clemency, to which it has been possible to give
a large extension since the dispersion of the most important armed bands,
the Emperor has maintained in force the institutions already granted, and
has declared that he reserved to himself the power of giving to them the
developments indicated by time and the requirements of the country.
" His Majesty can, then, refer to the past in the rectitude of his conscience ;
as to the future, it necessarily depends on the confidence with which these
institutions will be met in the kingdom.
" In taking a stand upon this ground, our august master considers that he
acts as the best friend of Poland, as the only one whose aim it is to secure
her welfare by practical means.
" Lord Eussell calls upon Russia to discharge those duties which, as a
member of European society, she owes to foreign states.
" Russia is too directly interested in the tranquillity of Poland not to under-
stand the duties of her position towards other nations.
" It would be difficult to assert that she has met, in this respect, with
scrupulous reciprocity. The continual conspiracy which is being organized
and armed abroad to keep up disorder in the kingdom is a fact of public
notoriety, the inconvenience of which principally consists in the moral effects
which the favourers of the insurrection deduce from it, in order to lead
astray the peaceable population by gaining credit for the belief in direct
assistance from abroad.
" In this manner we have seen -produced two influences, both equally
grievous that exercised by foreign agitation on the insurrection, and that
which the continuation of the insurrection itself exercises in its turn upon
public opinion in Europe.
" These two influences react one upon the other, and have ended by bring-
ing affairs to the situation which the Powers at present point out to the
vigilance of the Imperial Cabinet.
" It is asked of it to restore the kingdom to the conditions of a lasting
peace.
"The Powers are inspired with this desire by the conviction that the
periodical troubles of Poland cause to the states placed in the immediate
vicinity of its frontiers a shock, the reaction of which is felt by the whole of
Europe, that they excite the minds of the people in a disquieting manner, and
that they might, if prolonged, bring about, under certain circumstances,
complications of the most serious nature.
" The Government of her Britannic Majesty, in expressing this desire,
further relies upon the engagements of 1815, which affect the condition of
the different parts of Poland. We do not hesitate to declare that these
wishes are entirely hi accordance with those of our august master.
" His Majesty admits that in the peculiar position of the kingdom the
troubles which agitate it may affect the tranquillity of the adjoining states,
between which were concluded on the 21st of April (3rd of May), 1815,
separate treaties intended to determine the condition of the duchy of
APPENDIX. 295
Warsaw, and that they may interest the powers who signed the general
transaction of the 28th of May (9th of June), 1815, in which were inserted
the principal stipulations of these separate treaties.
" The Emperor believes that explanations on the basis and in the spirit of
the communications which have just been addressed to us may conduce to a
result conformable to the general interests.
" Our august master notices with satisfaction the sentiments of confidence
which the Government of her Britannic Majesty testify towards him in
relying upon him to bring back the kingdom of Poland to conditions which
would render possible the realization of his benevolent views.
" But the more the Emperor is disposed to take into account the just pre-
possessions of the neighbouring states, and the interest which the powers
who signed the treaty of 1815 show in a state of things which is the cause
of deep solicitude to his Majesty himself, the more our august master con-
siders it a duty to request the serious attention, to the true causes of this
situation, and to the means of remedying it, of the courts who have
addressed themselves with confidence to him.
" If the Government of her Britannic Majesty lays stress upon (releve)
the reaction which the troubles of Poland exercise on the peace of Europe,
we must be still more struck with the influence which the agitations of
Europe have in all times had the power to exercise upon the tranquillity of
Poland.
" Since 1815 this country has witnessed the development of a material
welfare unknown until then in her annals, while other states have in the
same interval undergone many interior crises.
" This repose was only troubled in 1830 by the consequences of commotions
coming from abroad ; eighteen years later, in 1848, while almost the whole
of Europe was convulsed by the revolution, the kingdom of Poland was able
to preserve its tranquillity.
" We are persuaded that it would be the same at present, were it not for the
continual instigations of the party of cosmopolitan revolution. If this party,
everywhere devoted to the overthrow of order, at present concentrates all its
activity upon Poland, a grave error would be committed in supposing that
its aspirations will stop short at that limit. What it seeks there is a lever to
overturn the rest of Europe.
" Those cabinets which attach importance to seeing the kingdom of Poland
return a moment earlier to the conditions of a durable peace, cannot there-
fore more certainly insure the realization of this desire than by labouring, on
their side, to appease the moral and material disorder which it is sought to
propagate in Europe, and thus to exhaust the main source of the agitations
at which their foresight is alarmed.
" We entertain the firm hope that in strengthening in this respect the ties
which bind them together, they will effectually serve the cause of peace and
of the general interests.
" I have the honour to request that you will communicate a copy of this
despatch to the principal Secretary of State of her Britannic Majesty.
" Receive, &c.,
" GORTSCHAKOFF."
296 THE RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT IN POLAND.
EARL RUSSELL TO LORD NAPIER.
"Foreign-office, May 2nd.
"MY LORD, Baron Brunnow came to me this morning, and, before
giving me a copy of the despatch of his Government in answer to mine to
your Excellency of the 10th of April, said to me in substance what follows :
' You have declared to me that the step which Lord Napier was instructed
to take was taken with a pacific intention. The Imperial Cabinet has
received your despatch in a similar spirit of peace and of conciliation.
" ' You have told me that the representation you have made is founded
upon the basis of the stipulations of the treaty of Vienna of 1815.
" ' The Imperial Cabinet on its part accepts this basis.
" * The Imperial Cabinet is ready to enter upon an exchange of ideas upon
the ground and within the limits of the treaties of 1815.'
" I enclose a copy of the communication of Prince Gortschakoff.
" I shall, in another and a later despatch, furnish you with the views of
her Majesty's Government upon the contents of that communication.
" I am, &c.,
" RUSSELL."
EARL RUSSELL TO LORD NAPIER.
" Foreign-office, June 17th, 1863.
" MY LORD, Her Majesty's Government have considered with the deepest
attention the despatch of Prince Gortschakoff of the 26th of April, which
was placed in my hands by Baron Brunnow on the 2nd of May.
"Her Majesty's Government are not desirous, any more than Prince
Gortschakoff, of continuing a barren discussion. I will therefore pass over
all the controversy regarding my previous despatch ; I will not endeavour in
the present communication to fix the precise meaning of the article regarding
Poland in the treaty of Vienna, nor will I argue, as Prince Gortschakoff
seems to expect I should do, that there is only one form under which good
government can be established. Still less will I call in question the benevolent
intentions of the enlightened Emperor who has already in a short time
effected such marvellous changes in the legal condition of his Russian
subjects.
" Her Majesty's Government are willing with the Emperor of Russia to
seek a practical solution of a difficult and most important problem.
" Baron Brunnow, in presenting to me Prince GortschakofFs despatch,
said, ' The Imperial Cabinet is ready to enter upon an exchange of ideas
upon the ground and within the limits of the treaties of 1815.'
" Her Majesty's Government are thus invited by the Government of
APPENDIX. 297
Russia to an exchange of ideas upon the basis of the treaty of 1815, with a
view to the pacification and permanent tranquillity of Poland.
" Before making any definite proposals, it is essential to point out that
there are two leading principles upon which, as it appears to her Majesty's
Government, any future government of Poland ought to rest. The first of
these is the establishment of confidence in the government on the part of
the governed.
" The original views of the Emperor Alexander I . are stated by Lord
Castlereagh, who had heard from the Emperor's own lips, in a long conversa-
tion, the plan he contemplated.
" The plan of the Emperor is thus described by Lord Castlereagh : ' To
retain the whole of the duchy of Warsaw, with the exception of the small
portion to the westward of Kalisch, which he meant to assign to Prussia,
erecting the remainder, together with the Polish provinces formerly dismem-
bered, into a kingdom under the dominion of Russia, with a national
administration congenial to the sentiments of the people.'
" The whole force of this plan consists in the latter words.
" Whether power is retained in the hands of one, as in the old monarchy
of France, or divided among a select body of the aristocracy, as in the
republic of Venice, or distributed among a sovereign, a house of peers,
and a representative assembly, as in England its virtue arid strength must
consist in its being a ' national administration congenial to the sentiments
of the people.'
" The Emperor Alexander II., speaking of the institutions he has given,
says, ' As to the future, it necessarily depends on the confidence with which
these institutions will be received on the part of the kingdom.'
" Such an administration as Alexander I. intended, such confidence as
Alexander II. looked for, unhappily do not exist in Poland.
" The next principle of order and stability must be found in the supremacy
of law over arbitrary will. Where such supremacy exists, the subject or
citizen may enjoy his property or exercise his industry in peace, and the
security he feels as an individual will be felt in its turn by the Government
under which he lives.
" Partial tumults, secret conspiracies, and the interference of cosmopolite
strangers, will not shake the firm edifice of such a government.
" This element of stability is likewise wanting in Poland. The religious
liberty guaranteed by the solemn declarations of the Empress Catherine, the
political freedom granted by the deliberate charter of the Emperor
Alexander I., have alike been abrogated by succeeding governments, and
have been only partially revived by the present Emperor.
" It is no easy task to restore the confidence which has been lost, and to
regain the peace which is now everywhere broken.
" Her Majesty's Government would deem themselves guilty of great pre-
sumption if they were to express an assurance that vague declarations of good
intentions, or even the enactment of some wise laws, would make such an
impression on the minds of the Polish people as to obtain peace and restore
obedience.
" In present circumstances it appears to her Majesty's Government that
298 THE RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT IN POLAND.
nothing less than the following outline of measures should be adopted as the
bases of pacification :
" 1. Complete and general amnesty.
" 2. National representation, with powers similar to those which are fixed
by the charter of the 15th (27th) November, 1815.
" 3. Poles to be named to public offices in such a manner as to form a
distinct national administration, having the confidence of the country.
" 4. Full and entire liberty of conscience ; repeal of the restrictions imposed
on Catholic worship.
<' 5. The Polish language recognized in the kingdom as the official language,
and used as such in the administration of the law and in education.
" 6. The establishment of a regular and legal system of recruiting.
" These six points might serve as the indications of measures to be adopted
after calm and full deliberation.
" But it is difficult, nay, almost impossible, to create the requisite confi-
dence and calm while the passions of men are becoming daily more excited,
their hatreds more deadly, their determination to succeed or perish more
fixed and immovable.
" Your lordship has sent me an extract from the St. Petersburg Gazette of
the 7th (19th) of May. I could send your lordship, in return, extracts from
London newspapers, giving accounts of atrocities, equally horrible, committed
by men acting on behalf of Russian authority.
" It is not for her Majesty's Government to discriminate between the real
facts and the exaggerations of hostile parties.
" Many of the allegations of each are probably unfounded, but some must
in all probability be true. How, then, are we to hope to conduct to any good
end a negotiation carried on between parties thus exasperated ?
" In an ordinary war, the successes of fleets and armies, who fight with
courage, but without hatred, may be balanced in a negotiation carried on in
the midst of hostilities. An island more or less to be transferred, a boundary
more or less to be extended, might express the value of the last victory or
conquest. But where the object is to attain civil peace, and to induce men
to live under those against whom they have fought with rancour and despera-
tion, the case is different. The first thing to be done, therefore, in the opinion
of her Majesty's Government, is to establish a suspension of hostilities. This
might be done in the name of humanity by a proclamation of the Emperor of
Russia, without any derogation of his dignity. The Poles, of course, would
not be entitled to the benefit of such an act, unless they themselves refrained
from hostilities of every kind during the suspension.
" Tranquillity thus for the moment restored, the next thing is to consult
the powers who signed the treaty of Vienna. Prussia, Spain, Sweden, and
Portugal must be asked to give their opinion as to the best mode of giving
effect to a treaty to which they were contracting parties.
" What her Majesty's Government propose, therefore, consists in these
three propositions :
"1st. The adoption of the six points enumerated as bases of negotiation.
" 2nd. A provisional suspension of arms, to be proclaimed by the Emperor
of Russia.
APPENDIX. 299
" 3rd. A conference of the eight powers who signed the treaty of Vienna
" Your Excellency will read and give a copy of this despatch to Prince
Gortschakoff. " I am, &c.,
" RUSSELL."
PRINCE GORTSCHAKOFF TO BARON BRUNNOW.
u St. Petersburg, July 1st.
" M. I,E BARON, Lord Napier has been instructed to give me the annexed
despatch from her Britannic Majesty's principal Secretary of State to read,
and a copy of it. We have pleasure in learning that Lord Russell admits
with us the barren nature of a prolonged controversy relative to the significa-
tion of the 1st article of the treaty of Vienna ; and that with us, likewise,
he desires to place the question upon ground which should offer more oppor-
tunities for arriving at a practical solution. Before taking our stand upon
this ground, we deem it useful to put in a clear light our positions respect-
ively. The Imperial Cabinet admits the principle that every power signing
a treaty has the right to interpret the sense thereof from its own point of
view, provided always that that interpretation remains within the limits
of the meaning that is possible to be put upon it according to the text itself.
In virtue of this principle the Imperial Cabinet does not dispute this right
in any one of the eight powers which have concurred in the general proceed-
ings of Vienna of 1815. Experience has, it is true, demonstrated that the
exercise of such right issues in no practical result. The experiments made
already in 1831 have had no issue but to place on record the divergence
of opinions. Nevertheless, this right exists. It extends as far as the limits
which I have indicated above, and is incapable of obtaining a wider range
but with the express consent of the contracting party most directly interested.
Accordingly, it depended upon the Imperial Cabinet to maintain the strict
application of this principle, observing the line of action taken towards them
in the course of the month of April last, with respect to events which occurred
in the kingdom of Poland. If, in reply to that appeal, they went further into
the subject, it was entirely owing to their perfect readiness to seek to con-
ciliate, and in order to reply with courtesy to an appeal which bore a similar
character. I will add that another cause was, that in the intentions which
his Majesty the Emperor cherishes towards his Polish subjects there was no
purpose which could dispose us to remove them from the light. This con-
sideration was perfectly brought out by your Excellency when you informed
the principal Secretary of her Britannic Majesty that the Imperial Cabinet
was ready to enter upon an exchange of views upon the basis and within the
limits of the treaties of 1815. That declaration we adhere to, and my
despatch of this day will furnish the best proof of our perseverance in the
same disposition. Having thus confirmed the genuine and sole character of
the invitation which we have addressed to the English Cabinet, we will permit
ourselves, after Lord Russell's example, to precede the observations which we
have to communicate to his Excellency by some reflections in reply to the
questions which he has entered upon and proposed at the outset.
300 THE RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT [N POLAND.
" The principal Secretary of State of her Britannic Majesty says that the
basis of government is in every case the confidence which it inspires in the
governed, and that the ascendancy of the law over the arbitrary element must
be the foundation for order and stability. A priori, we subscribe to these
principles. We will only recall to mind that their indispensable corollary is
respect for authority. The confidence with which a government inspires the
governed depends not only on the goodness of its intentions, but also on the
conviction imparted that it has the power of carrying them into effect If
Lord Russell affirms that partial tumults, secret conspiracies, and the influence
of cosmopolite strangers, will not shake a government based upon confidence
and respect for the laws, he will also admit that neither confidence nor legal
conduct would be possible were that government to allow that a fraction of
the people was vested with the right of seeking elsewhere than under the
legitimately constituted authority, by armed rebellion supported by hostile
or foreign parties, the well-being and the prosperity which they might declare
that they could not realize without the aid of inspirations from abroad. Lord
Russell places before us six articles, which he considers to be of a nature to
provide for the pacification of the kingdom of Poland. In communicating
them to us, her Britannic Majesty's Principal Secretary of State adopts in
part the point of view put forward by my despatch of the 14th of April. This
is an exchange of sentiments, and to that form of expression we have no
objection to raise. I have clearly indicated in the despatch to which I refer
the germs of practical conduct laid down by our august master, and the
developments reserved in his Majesty's purpose to be given them when he
should deem the proper time to be come. In comparing them with his own
views, Lord Russell will convince himself that the greater part of the
measures which he points to have already been decreed or prepared on the
initiative of our august master. The Principal Secretary of State of her
Britannic Majesty expresses the hope that the adoption of these measures
would lead to the complete and permanent pacification of the kingdom of
Poland. We are unable to share this hope without certain reserves. Viewing
the subject as we do, re-organization of the kingdom must in all cases be pre-
ceded by the re-establishment of order in the country. That result is dependent
upon a condition to which we had called the attention of the Government of
her Britannic Majesty, and which is not only unfulfilled, but is not even
alluded to in the despatch of Lord Russell. We refer to the material assist-
ance and moral encouragement obtained from abroad by the insurgents.
We are not aware from what sources of information the Government of her
Britannic Majesty have formed their judgment of the state of affairs in
Poland ; we must presume that they are not of impartial origin. Indeed, we
find Lord Russell himself establishing a kind of similarity between the news
published by the St. Petersburg journal from statements furnished under the
control and upon the responsibility of the recognized agent of the Govern-
ment, and the information of every kind which the London journals borrow,
without discernment or any guarantee, from the most suspected publications
of the Polish revolutionary press. The confidence inspired by these publica-
tions has more than once given cause for declarations which, in spite of the
formal denials given to them by daily events, have contributed to mislead
opinion in England. In this manner have been propagated, in relation to
APPENDIX. 301
the brave Russian soldiers who fulfil in Poland a painful duty with devotion
and self-denial, calumnies and outrages which all Russia has felt with pro-
found indignation. If Lord Russell were exactly informed of what passes in
the kingdom of Poland, he would know, as we do, that wherever the armed
rebellion has striven to acquire substance, to give itself a visible head, it has
been crushed. The masses have kept aloof from it, the rural population
evinces even hostility to it, because the disorders by which agitators live ruin
the industrial classes. The insurrection sustains itself alone by a terrorism
unprecedented in history. The bands are recruited principally from elements
foreign to the country. They gather together in the woods, and disperse at
the first attack to reunite in other places. When they are too closely pressed
they cross the frontier, to re-enter the country at another point. Politically,
it is a stage display intended to act upon Europe. The principle of action of
the directing committees from without is to keep up agitation at all cost, in
order to give food for the declarations of the press, to abuse public opinion,
and to harass the Government by furnishing an occasion and a pretext for a
diplomatic intervention which should lead to military action. All the hope of
the armed insurrection is in this it is the object at which it has laboured
from its rise.
" Lord Russell will admit that in this situation the measures which he
recommends to us would with difficulty find application practically. The
greater part, I repeat it, have already been decreed ; the state of the country
has, up to the present time, paralyzed their execution. As long as that con-
dition of things shall subsist, the same causes will produce the same effects.
The presence of armed bands, the terrorism of the central committee, and the
appearance of an immediate pressure from without, would, moreover, take
from these measures the fitness of time, the dignity, and the effectiveness
which we could promise ourselves in their spontaneous adoption. We will
go further. Even when they could be put into execution with the full exten-
sion with which they are invested in the mind of the principal Secretary of
State of her Britannic Majesty, they would have no prospect whatever of
attaining the result which he has in view that of pacifying the country. If
Lord Russell follows attentively the productions of the press devoted to the
Polish rebellion, he must be aware that the insurgents demand neither an
amnesty, nor an autonomy, nor a representation either more or less complete.
The absolute independence of the kingdom even would be for them only a
means for arriving at the final object of their aspirations. This object is
dominion over provinces where the immense majority are Russians by race
or by religion ; in a word, it is Poland extended to the two seas, which
would inevitably bring about a claim to the Polish provinces belonging to
other neighbouring powers. We desire to pronounce no judgment upon these
aspirations. It suffices for us to prove that they exist, and that the Polish
insurgents do not conceal them. The final result at which they would arrive
cannot be doubtful. It would be a general conflagration, which the elements
of disorder scattered through all countries would be brought to complicate,
and which seek for an opportunity to subvert Europe. We have too much
confidence in the principal Secretary of State of her Britannic Majesty to
allow that he can approve an object as irreconcilable with the peace and with
the equilibrium of Europe, with which are bound up the interests of Great
302 THE RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT IN POLAND.
Britain, as they are with the maintenance of the treaties of 1815, the only
basis and the only starting-point of the overtures which he has just made to us.
Lord Eussell quotes a passage related by Lord Castlereagh of a conversation
which that statesman had with the Emperor Alexander I. in 1815, and which
mentions the project formed by this sovereign to combine the duchy of
Warsaw * with the Polish provinces anciently dismembered, into a kingdom
under the sovereignty of Russia, with an administration in accordance with
the wishes of the people." This idea was a passing inclination of the Emperor
Alexander I., and one which that sovereign did not accomplish when he was
enabled to consider more maturely the interests of his kingdom. At all
events, this question must be excluded even in an exchange of ideas made
within the limits of the treaties of 1815. The only stipulation of these
treaties which can have made it appear doubtful that the Emperor of Russia
possessed the kingdom of Poland by the same title as that by which he holds
his other possessions, the only one which might have made his rights
dependent upon any condition whatever, and which explains the possibility
of an exchange of ideas with foreign courts upon the subject of his relations
with that portion of his dominions, is the vague phrase of article 1, which
says ' that the Emperor of Russia reserves it to himself to give to this state,
enjoying a distinct administration, such an internal extension as he shall
deem advisable ;' and that article which says * that the Poles, the respective
subjects of the high contracting parties, shall obtain representation and
national institutions, regulated in conformity with the mode of the political
existence which each of the Governments to which they belong shall deem it
expedient and proper to bestow upon them.' But the history of this period
is not so remote that the remembrance can be lost of the position which
Russia held at the termination of the European crisis which was brought to
an end by the treaty of Vienna, From that time we should not be far from
the truth if we affirmed that the 1st article of the treaty of Vienna was pre-
pared by and directly emanated from his Majesty the Emperor Alexander I.
The conversation with Lord Castlereagh cited by Lord Russell is an additional
evidence of this fact
"After saying this, the Principal Secretary of State of her Britannic
Majesty will dispense us from giving an answer to the proposed arrange-
ment for a suspension of hostilities. It would not resist a serious examina-
tion of the conditions necessary for carrying it into effect. If it were to be
defined between whom it was to be negotiated, of what nature the status quo
was to be which it would guarantee, and who was to watch over its execu-
tion, it would readily be perceived that the provisions of public law could
not be applied to a situation which would be a flagrant violation of such law.
His Majesty the Emperor owes to his faithful army, which struggles for the
maintenance of order, to the peaceable majority of the Poles who suffer from
these deplorable agitations, and to Russia, on whom they impose painful
sacrifices, to take energetic measures to terminate them. Desirable as it
may be speedily to place a term to the effusion of blood, this object can only
be attained by the insurgents throwing down their arms and surrendering
themselves to the clemency of the Emperor. Every other arrangement
would be incompatible with the dignity of our august master, and with the
sentiments of the Russian nation. It would, besides, have a result dia-
APPENDIX. 303
metrically opposed to the one recommended by Lord Eussell. As to the
idea of a conference of the eight powers who signed the treaty of Vienna,
which should discuss the six points adopted as bases, it presents to us serious
inconveniences, without our being able to see in it any advantage. If the
measures in question are sufficient for the pacification of the country, a con-
ference would be without object. If the measures were to be submitted to
ulterior deliberation, there would result a direct interference of foreign
powers in the most intimate details of the administration an interference
that no great power could admit, and which certainly England would not
accept in her own affairs. Such an interference would be neither in the
spirit nor in the letter of the treaties of Vienna, on the base of which we
have invited the powers to a friendly exchange of ideas. It would result in
removing still further the end which they propose to themselves by depriving
the Government of its prestige and its authority, and by further increasing
the pretensions and illusions of the Polish agitators. The course which was
followed in 1815 appears to us to indicate clearly enough the nature of the
deliberations which may take place upon questions bearing, on the one side,
on the general interest, and on the other upon administrative details of the
exclusive dominion of the neighbouring sovereign states. At that epoch a
distinction was practically established between these two classes of interests ;
the first have been the object of separate negotiations on the part of the
courts of Russia, Austria, and Prussia, between which the traditions of his-
tory, a permanent contact, and an immediate neighbourhood created a strict
solidarity. All the arrangements destined to regulate the interior adminis-
tration and the mutual relations of the Polish territories placed, since the
congress of Vienna, under their respective dominions, have been laid down
in treaties concluded directly between these three courts on April 21st
(May 3rd), 1815. They have been successively completed by a series of special
conventions whenever circumstances have required it. The general principles
mentioned in these treaties, and which could interest Europe, have alone
been inserted in the Act of the Congress of Vienna, signed on May 27th
(June 8th), by all the powers invited to concur in it. At present it is not a
question of these general principles, but the administrative details and
ulterior arrangements would furnish useful matter for discussion by the three
courts, in order to place the respective position of their Polish possessions,
to which the stipulations of the treaties of 1815 extend, in harmony with
present necessities and the progress of time. The Imperial Cabinet declares
itself from the present time ready to enter into a similar understanding with
the Cabinets of Vienna and Berlin. In any case the re-establishment of
order is an indispensable condition, which must precede any serious applica-
tion of the measures destined for the pacification of the kingdom. This
condition depends greatly upon the resolution of the great powers not to
lend themselves to calculations which the instigators of the Polish insurrec-
tion found on or expect from an active intervention in aid of their exaggerated
aspirations. Clear and categorical language on the part of those powers
would contribute to dissipate these illusions, and to thwart these calculations
which tend to prolong the disorder and excitement of public opinion. They
would thus bring nearer the moment which we invoke that in which the
tranquillization of passions and the return of material order will permit our
304 THE RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT IN POLAND.
august master to labour for the moral pacification of the country by putting
into execution the measures which his Majesty maintains both in the germs
already laid down, and in the 'development of them which he has allowed
to be foreseen. Your Excellency will have the goodness to read and give a
copy of this despatch to the principal Secretary of State of her Britannic
Majesty. " Receive, &c., " GORTSCHAKOFF."
EARL RUSSELL TO LORD NAPIER.
" Foreign Office, August llth, 1863.
"MY LORD, On the 18th of last month Baron Brunnow communicated to
me a despatch which he had received the evening before from Prince Gort-
schakoff.
" This despatch, of which I enclose a copy, is far from being a satisfactory
answer to the representation which, in concert with France and Austria, her
Majesty's Government addressed to the Cabinet of St. Petersburg.
" The despatch begins, indeed, by stating that ' the Imperial Cabinet ad-
mits the principle that every power signing a treaty has a right to interpret
its sense from its own point of view, provided that the interpretation remains
within the limits of the meaning that it is possible to put upon it according
to the text itself.' Prince Gortschakoff adds, ' In virtue of this principle, the
Imperial Cabinet does not dispute this right on the part of any one of the
eight powers which have concurred in the general act of Vienna of 1815.'
" Prince Gortschakoff, however, departing widely from the question of the
interpretation of the treaty of Vienna, proceeds to ascribe the continuance
of the insurrection in Poland to the moral and material assistance which it
receives from without ; admits vaguely the six points ; rejects the proposed
suspension of hostilities ; refuses to accept a conference of the eight powers
who signed the treaty ; and, finally, declares that the re-establishment of
order must precede the serious application of any measures destined for the
pacification of Poland.
" Her Majesty's Government will now proceed to examine calmly the
principal topics of Prince Gortschakoff's reply to the considerations brought
before him in my despatch.
" 1. Prince Gortschakoff, while he admits that confidence on the part of the
governed, and the ascendancy of law over arbitrary power, must be the foun-
dation of order and stability, adds 'that the indispensable corollary to these
principles is respect for authority. But the Russian Cabinet cannot be igno-
rant that clemency and conciliation are often more effective in establishing
respect for authority than material force. It would be a lamentable error to
seek to restore that respect by force of arms alone, without the addition of
some adequate security for the political and religious rights of the subjects
of the king of Poland. Such security the proposals of the three powers
held out to Russia and to Poland alike.
" It has pleased the Cabinet of St. Petersburg not to avail itself of this
mode of restoring respect for authority.
" 2. Prince Gortschakoff affirms and this view is the theme of the begin-
ning and end of his despatch that the re- establishment of order in Poland
APPENDIX. 305
is dependent upon a condition to which he had called the attention of the
Government of her Britannic Majesty, 'and which is not only unfulfilled,
but is not even alluded to in the despatch of Lord Eussell ; we refer to the
material assistance and moral encouragements obtained from abroad by the
insurgents.'
"Her Majesty's Government would have been glad to have avoided this
topic, and, instead of commenting on the past, to refer only to healing
measures for the future.
" But, thus compelled by Prince GortschakofP s reference to allude to the
subject, her Majesty's Government have no hesitation in declaring their con-
viction that the principal obstacle to the re-establishment of order in Poland
is not the assistance obtained by the insurgents from abroad, but the conduct
of the Russian Government itself.
"The Empress Catherine in 1772 promised to the Poles the maintenance of
their religion. The Emperor Alexander I. in 1815 promised to the Poles
national representation and national administration.
" These promises have not been fulfilled. During many years the religion
of the Poles was attacked, and to the present hour they are not in possession
of the political rights assured to them by the treaty of 1815, and the consti-
tution of the same year.
" The violation of these solemn engagements on the part of the Russian
Government produced disaffection, and the sudden invasion of the homes of
Warsaw, in a night of January last, was the immediate cause of the present
insurrection.
" Unless the general feeling in Poland had been estranged from Russia, the
moral and material assistance afforded from abroad would have availed the
insurgents little. It is true, however, that lively sympathy has been excited
in Europe in favour of the Poles. In every considerable state where there
exists a national representation in England, in France, in Austria, in Prussia,
in Italy, in Spain, in Portugal, in Sweden, in Denmark that sympathy has
been manifested. Wherever there is a national administration, the admini-
stration has shared, though with prudence and reserve in expression, the
feelings of the legislature and the nation.
" Russia ought to take into account these sympathies, and profit by the
lesson which they teach.
" 3. Prince Gortschakoff lays much stress on the fact, which cannot be
denied, that * the insurgents demand neither an amnesty, nor an autonomy,
nor a representation more or less complete.'
" But it would be a mistake to suppose that in cases of this kind there are
only two parties, viz., the Government occupied in suppressing the insurrec-
tion, and the leaders of the insurgents, busy in fomenting and extending it.
Besides these parties there is always in such cases a large floating mass
who would be quite contented to see persons and property secure under a
just and beneficent administration. The confidence of this great mass has
not been obtained, and their continued inaction can hardly be depended
upon.
" Her Majesty's Government must again represent the extreme urgency of
attempting at once the work of conciliation which is so necessary for the
general interest.
x
306 THE RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT IN POLAND.
" In profiting by the loyal and disinterested assistance which is offered
her by Austria, France, and Great Britain, the Court of Russia secures to
herself the most powerful means towards making ideas of moderation prevail
in Poland, and thus laying the foundations of permanent peace.
"4. In referring to the treaty of Vienna, Prince Gortschakoff says that ' we
should not be far from the truth if we affirmed that the first article of the
treaty of Vienna was prepared by and directly emanated from his Majesty
the Emperor Alexander I.'
" Her Majesty's Government readily admit the probability of this suppo-
sition. In 1815, Great Britain, Austria, France, and Prussia would have
preferred to the arrangement finally made a restoration of the ancient king-
dom of Poland as it existed prior to the first partition of 1772, or even the
establishment of a new independent kingdom of Poland, with the same
limits as the present kingdom.
" The great army which the Emperor Alexander then had in Poland, the
important services which Eussia had rendered to the alliance, and, above all,
a fear of the renewal of war in Europe, combined to make Great Britain,
Austria, and Prussia accept the arrangement proposed by the Emperor
Alexander, although it was, in their eyes, of the three arrangements in con-
templation, the one least likely to produce permanent peace and security in
Europe.
" But the more her Majesty's Government see in the decision adopted the
prevailing influence of Russia, the more they are impressed with the convic-
tion that the Emperor of Russia ought to be. of all sovereigns, the most
desirous to observe the conditions of that arrangement.
" It would not be open to Russia to enjoy all the benefits of a large addi-
tion to her dominions, and to repudiate the terms of the instrument upon
which her tenure depends.
" In stating these terms Prince Gortschakoff says that the only stipulation
which can have made it appear doubtful that the Emperor of Russia pos-
sessed the kingdom of Poland by the same title as that by which he holds
his other possessions, the only one which could make his. rights dependent
upon any condition whatever, is contained in two passages which he proceeds
to quote.
" But there is another passage which he does not quote. It is found in the
beginning of the first article, and says :
" * The duchy of Warsaw, with the exception of the provinces and districts
which are otherwise disposed of by the following articles, is united to the
Russian empire, to which it shall be irrevocably attached by its constitution,
and be possessed by his Majesty the Emperor of all the Russias, his heirs
and successors, in perpetuity.'
" Were not a national representation intended by this article, it would
have been sufficient to say, ' to which it shall be irrevocably attached,' with-
out any mention of a constitution.
" It is therefore evident that the constitution is the link by which Poland
was connected with Russia. It is important to know what this constitution
was which united Poland and Russia. It was not prescribed by the treaty ;
it was not promulgated by the European powers ; its construction was left
entirely to the Emperor Alexander ; but nevertheless, when once proinul-
APPENDIX.
307
gated, it must be taken to be the constitution meant by the framers of the
treaty of Vienna.
" It was for this reason that her Majesty's Government proposed as the
second of the six points laid before the Government of Eussia, ' national
representation with powers similar to those which are fixed by the charter of
the 15th (27th) November, 1815.'
" 5. Passing to the specific propositions of her Majesty's Government,
Prince GortschakofF says, in regard to the six points, that the greater part of
the measures which were pointed out by the three powers ' have already been
either decreed or prepared on the initiative of our august master.'
" Towards the end of the despatch an allusion is made to l the measures
which his Majesty adheres to, both in the germs already laid down, and in
the development of them which he has allowed to be foreseen.'
" This passage, though far from being a definite assurance either of a
national representation with efficacious means of control, or of a national
administration, gives some hope that the Emperor Alexander will ultimately
listen to the inspirations of his own benevolent disposition and to the
counsels of Europe.
" The proposal of a suspension of hostilities is rejected, ' in justice to the
Emperor's faithful army, to the peaceable majority of Poles, and to Russia,
on whom these agitations impose painful sacrifices^
" The proposal of a conference of the powers who signed the treaty of Vienna
is rejected, and with it the prospect of an immediate and friendly concert.
" In the place of this fair and equitable proposal, the Russian Cabinet
suggests that the three powers who proposed the separate treaties between
Austria and Russia, and Prussia and Russia, previously to the general treaty
of Vienna, should meet together, and that France and Great Britain should
be afterwards informed of the result of their deliberations.
" There are two reasons, either of which would be sufficient to condemn
this suggestion :
" 1. The treaties in question, taken apart from the provisions inserted in
the general treaty of Vienna, have reference only to material objects the
use of the banks of rivers, the regulations for towing-paths, the free passage
of merchandise from one province to another, and such other matters of
convenience and of commerce. No political developments or details are
contained in them.
" 2. It is obvious that such a conference would place Austria in a false
position, and be inconsistent with her relations to France and Great Britain.
" His Majesty the Emperor of Austria, therefore, with a proper sense of
his own dignity, has at once rejected the Russian proposal.
" In communicating their views to Prince Gortschakoff, it remains to
her Majesty's Government to discharge an imperative duty.
" It is to call his Excellency's most serious attention to the gravity of the
situation, and the responsibility which it imposes upon Russia.
" Great Britain, Austria, and France have pointed out the urgent necessity
of putting an end to a deplorable state of things which is full of danger to
Europe. They have at the same time indicated the means which, in their
opinion, ought to be employed to arrive at this termination, and they have
offered their co-operation in order to attain it with more certainty.
x 2
308 THE RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT IN POLAND.
" If Kussia does not perform all that depends upon her to further the
moderate and conciliatory views of the three powers, if she does not enter
upon the path which is opened to her by friendly counsels, she makes her-
self responsible for the serious consequences which the prolongation of the
troubles of Poland may produce. " I am, &c.,
(Signed) " RUSSELL."
PRINCE GORTSCHAKOFF TO BARON BRUNNOW.
(Translation.)
" Tsarlcoe-Selo, August 2Gth (Sept. 7th}, 1863.
" LORD NAPIER has, by order of his Government, communicated to me a
despatch from Lord Russell, of which your Excellency will find a copy here-
unto annexed.
" It is in answer to my despatch of the 1st (13th) July last, which you
were invited to communicate to the Principal Secretary of State of her
Britannic Majesty.
" The overtures which we had set forth in that document were dictated to
us by the desire to arrive at an understanding.
" In receiving the observations which they have suggested to Lord Russell
with the attention which we always pay to the opinions of her Britannic
Majesty's Government, we cannot but regret that we must come to the con-
clusion that we have not attained the end which we had proposed to ourselves.
" From the moment that this discussion could only end in establishing and
in confirming the divergence of our views, it would be too contrary to our con-
cilatory disposition for us to seek to prolong it ; and we believe that in this
we are not acting at variance with the sentiments of the Principal Secretary
of State of her Britannic Majesty.
" We prefer to fix our attention only upon the essential points of his
despatches, upon which we find ourselves agreed, at least in intention.
" Her Britannic Majesty's Government desire to see promptly re-estab-
lished in the kingdom of Poland a state of things which shall restore
tranquillity to that country, repose to Europe, and security to the relations of
the cabinets.
" We entirely share in this desire, and all that can depend upon us shall
be done to realize it.
" Our august master continues to be animated by the most benevolent
intentions towards Poland, and by the most conciliatory towards all foreign
powers. To provide for the welfare of his subjects of all races and of every
religious conviction is an obligation which his Imperial Majesty has accepted
before God, his conscience, and his people. The Emperor devotes all his
solicitude to the fulfilment of that obligation.
As regards the responsibility which may be assumed by his Majesty in his
international relations, those relations are regulated by public right. The
APPENDIX. 309
violation of those fundamental principles can alone involve responsibility.
Our august master has constantly respected and observed those principles
with regard to other states. His Majesty has the right to expect and to
claim the same respect on the part of the other powers.
" You will be pleased to read and give a copy of this despatch to the
Principal Secretary of State of her Britannic Majesty.
" Keceive, &c.,
" GrORTSCHAKOFF."
Accompanying this despatch, a copy of the following memorandum was
presented to Lord Russell :
MEMORANDUM.
The powers which have expressed to the Cabinet of St. Petersburg their
wishes and opinions relative to the troubles in the kingdom of Poland have
taken for their starting-point the treaty of 1815.
According to all the known rules of international right, and even in virtue
of the more modern principle of non-intervention, their diplomatic proceedings
could have no other basis.
It is, then, only within the limits of this treaty that the discussion should
be confined relative to the questions of right belonging to the kingdom of
Poland.
Treaties should be interpreted in their letter and in their spirit.
The treaty of 1815, notwithstanding the caution observed in its formation,
in order to spare and to conciliate different opinions and interests, is, however,
sufficiently precise in its terms to leave but a very small space for differences
of opinion.
If we desire to deduce the precise meaning of this document from the
spirit by which it was dictated, it must be judged by the ideas and circum-
stances prevailing at the period in which it was concluded, and not by those
to which it is now attempted to give the ascendancy.
Let us see what was the position of the duchy of Warsaw at the time of
the congress ; it was as follows :
In 1812, Russia had conquered and occupied the duchy of Warsaw by its
unassisted power, by the incontestable right of war. She had retaken it
from Saxony, an ally of the power with which she was in declared hostility.
She had the greater right to consider it as a legitimate and irrevocable
conquest, as the duchy of Warsaw had not only been the theatre of war : it
had also taken an active part in the foremost rank of the enemies of Russia ;
it had furnished numerous contingents to the power which had invaded the
territory of the Empire ; it had served as the basis of its operations.
Russia was fully justified in a moral and political, as well as in a legal
point of view, in wishing to rid itself, once for all, of a permanent menace
to its security.
The Emperor Alexander I. had, nevertheless, been restrained by two
considerations :
810 THE RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT IN POLAND.
First, he had seen in the hostility of the Poles a moral evil requiring other
than material remedies for its extirpation.
It is a law of human nature that each generation acts under the dominion
of sentiments and impulses which are often forgotten by the following
generation. Placing itself in antagonism to it, the latter frequently undoes
the work of its predecessors.
The Empress Catherine II., living nearer to the period of the struggles
between Poland and Russia, influenced by their traditions and the duties
they imposed on her, a witness of their calamities, had adopted the policy of
separation as an inexorable necessity. The Emperor Alexander I., beholding
the consequences of this policy, the animosity and the agitation of the Poles,
attributed them exclusively to the fact of the separation, and was led to
think of remedying this state of things. This idea, conceived in his youth,
had grown with him ; towards the end of the year 1812^ he had asked
himself whether the time had not arrived for Russia to extinguish this
hotbed of hatred and disorder in his vicinity, by raising Poland and rendering
it a reconciled and allied nation. But he would not proceed in this until
the great work he had begun was completed. This was the meaning of the
words he addressed to the Poles. " My intentions have not changed," said he,
" but I shall await the conclusion of the struggle." " It is as conqueror that
I will regenerate Poland." This work and this was the second motive
which influenced his resolutions in respect to the duchy of Warsaw this
work was the deliverance of Europe, and the great design of consolidation
which the calamities of twenty-five years' war had implanted in his soul ;
the design whose inspiration gave the energetic impulses of the years 1813,
1814, 1815.
Under this impression, the Emperor Alexander I. desired to set an example
of self-denial and disinterestedness, and to remove every element that might
disturb the union he wished to establish with the great powers.
It had been already arranged at Kalisch, on the 16th (28th j of February,
1813, in the course of the negotiations with the Cabinet of Berlin, "to unite
ancient Prussia to Silesia, by a territory which should answer this end
perfectly in every respect, military as well as geographical."
During the negotiations of Gorlitz with Austria, the 1st (13th) May, 1813,
this power had stipulated for " the annihilation of the duchy of Warsaw."
By the treaty of Toplitz, the 28th of August (9th of September), 1813,
it was agreed "that an amicable arrangement between the three courts
should determine the fate of the duchy of Warsaw."
Finally, in all the treaties subsequently completed and settled by the
alliance, the Emperor Alexander I., generously forgetting that the duchy
of Warsaw had been conquered by the arms of Russia alone, from an enemy
in whose ranks Prussia and Austria then figured, had admitted the principle
that "the fate of conquered territories should be ultimately settled in a
congress which should be assembled at Vienna."
Such was the attitude in which the Emperor Alexander I. presented him-
self to the congress, after the accomplishment of the great work to which
he had devoted himself.
It is incorrect to allege that the Polish question occupied the first place in
memorable deliberations It had a marked place, thanks to the
APPENDIX. 31 1
disinterestedness of the Emperor Alexander I"., but did not hold the only
pla.ce, nor the first. The fate of all Europe, and almost that of the whole
world, was then to be settled. If the chief discussion was on the questions
of Saxony and Poland, it was because Russia and Prussia had neglected to
stipulate for themselves at Paris in 1814, immediately after the victory, and
had neglected their own interests in the general interest : it is also because
they did not think of opposing either the views of England or those of
Austria, while questions which interested them excited ill-feeling.
In the general settlement of affairs, England obtained considerable aggran
disement : Malta, the Cape, the Isle of France, the island of Heligoland
and several important colonies, were adjudged to her. She had also caused
her views and her interests to predominate in Europe, particularly by the
creation of the kingdom of the Netherlands, which included the important
question of Antwerp.
Austria was aggrandised in the Tyrol, in Lombardy, in Venice, in Dalmatia
she ruled Italy. Prussia itself, although not seeking an element for com-
pensation, succeeded in establishing the principle of the restoration of her
possessions of 1805, with a more compact and more homogeneous geographical
configuration.
It would have been strange that at the time when all the .great powers of
Europe obtained such increase of territory, Russia alone Russia which had
been the first to shake the conquering power against which all Europe was
contending Russia, which had given the signal for the struggle for general
independence, which had devoted herself to it at the price of the greatest
sacrifices, and which had been the connecting link between the great Euro-
pean alliance should have been deprived of every species of advantage and
compensation.
She did not even demand aggrandisement ; but the power of carrying out
an intention of pacification and reparation, of closing a long-standing wound
by restoring to reconciled Poland a national existence under the sceptre of
the sovereigns of Russia.
The resistance the Emperor Alexander encountered in this path from
his allies was certainly one of his most painful disappointments. This
resistance was of a very complex nature.
On a careful examination of the documents of the period, there is only one
conclusion to be arrived at ; it is, that the powers who opposed themselves to
the realization of the wishes of the Emperor Alexander I. were in no degree
actuated by solicitude for Poland. She then weighed but little in the
balance of interests, and the clamour that had been made around her was
lost in the momentous crisis that was taking place in Europe.
That which the allies feared was the aggrandisement of the power which
had now revealed itself with so much splendour.
It was feared that the addition of Poland, uniting under the same sceptre
the greater part of the population of the Sclavonian race, would double the
material and moral power of Russia, and carry its advanced posts to the
heart of Germany and of Europe. The event has not justified these
anticipations, but they are evident at every step in the documents of the
epoch.
The powers would then have preferred, in deference to views which were
312 THE RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT IN POLAND.
purely theoretic, the re-establishing a Poland which should have been com-
pletely independent. But thi* independent Poland could only be re-estab-
lished at the expense of the three partitioning powers, and it would have
been inadmissible that, immediately after the glorious struggle to the success
of which Russia had materially contributed with so much energy, while the
other victorious powers derived from it ample advantages, the proposal could
have been seriously made to her that she should subscribe to her own dis-
memberment.
Lord Castlereagh declared " that such a combination would impose sacri-
fices so great that the British Cabinet would never have thought of making
the proposal ; that the only means of avoiding new troubles would be to per-
severe in the system of partition, and that it appeared to him that no power
could desire the maintenance of this system more than Russia."
Prussia and Austria opposed themselves to the re-establishment even of the
name of Poland. Prince Metternich said, in a conference of the 15th (27th)
September, 1814 : " The consequence of a war would unfortunately be still
easier to foresee if, as is supposed, the Emperor Alexander should intend to
lend himself to the accomplishment of the ideas of some Poles, by giving to
these new acquisitions the name of Poland. Under this supposition we must
consider Galicia as lost to us, and this question is therefore more important
than that of territory. It comprehends all the elements of future troubles,
and is entirely contrary to existing treaties, the tripartite powers having
at the time of the partition pledged their word no longer to make use of
that name."
On his side Chancellor Hardenberg, in the same conference, enlarged
especially " on the danger that equally menaced Prussia should the name of
Poland be given to the acquisitions of Russia."
It was only at a later period, when the Emperor Alexander I. had testified
a resolution not to draw back even in case of war, and that to avoid such an
extremity by carrying conciliation to the utmost possible limits, he had
consented to agree on the questions of Posen, Cracow, and the salt-
mines of Wieliczka, as well as on the question of Saxony ; it was not
till then that the powers, unwilling to be behindhand in demonstrations
of sympathy towards Poland, finally agreed to the propositions of the
Emperor, propositions reduced very considerably from those of his original
It would be committing a grave error to allege that those conditions which
governed the arrangements then made were in their liberal character dictated
to Russia at the conclusion of preliminary conferences having a European
character.
First one may repeat that it was not at the time when Russia had
taken so considerable and so decisive a part in the affairs of Europe, and
when all her strength weighed down the balance, that the Emperor Alexander
I., who possessed in the highest degree the conviction of his sovereign
dignity, would have permitted such interference in the internal adminis-
tration of a portion of his dominions.
On the contrary, he peremptorily opposed all discussion on the constitution
he intended giving to the Poles reunited under his sceptre.
But more than this. It may be affirmed that the initiative of liberal
APPENDIX.
intentions emanated from the Emperor Alexander I., and that the resistance
to his intentions proceeded from the other powers.
With the exception of England, which had long lived under a constitutional
government, the generality of the powers were unfavourable to these ideas.
The trials attempted in some of the German states were very incomplete.
Prussia had adjourned all reforms of this kind. As to Austria, no govern-
ment was further removed from constitutional principles.
In this state of things it cannot be supposed that these principles could have
been imposed on, or even recommended to, the Emperor in respect of Poland.
Far from this being the case, the powers were seriously engaged in con-
sidering the bearing of the Emperor's views, and the rebound which might
result from it in their own Polish possessions.
Chancellor Hardenberg said, in a memoir transmitted to Prince Metternich
on 2nd December :
" The affair of Poland is reduced to the widening of the aggressive
boundary and the preventing of the political existence of the new kingdom
from becoming hurtful to the tranquillity of its neighbours and of Europe,
and making it rather turn to their profit. It is necessary then, in the first
place, to demand of the Emperor Alexander of what nature the existence and
the constitution of the new kingdom are to be, what guarantees he will give
to the neighbouring powers, and also what he will require on their part."
Now, the guarantees which the Emperor Alexander first demanded of his
neighbours were to secure to the Poles under their dominion institutions
conformable to the popular wishes.
This demand was formally made by Count Razoumowski, the 10th of
December, in a proposal in which it was said :
" When this deduction is made the rest of the duchy of Warsaw
has devolved to the Russian crown as a united territory to which his Majesty
reserves to himself the right of giving a national constitution, and what
extension of boundaries he may judge fit.
" The Emperor of Russia, desiring to make all the Poles participate in the
benefits of a national administration, intercedes with his allies in favour of
their subjects of this nation, with the design of obtaining for them provincial
institutions which may preserve proper respect for their nationality, and give
them a share in the administration of their country."
The counter-project, presented January 3rd, 1815, by Austria, indicated
the views by which that power was animated. It bore :
" The duchy of Warsaw shall be re-united to the dominions of his Majesty
the Emperor of all the Russias, to be possessed by him in full property and
sovereignty."
Thus this project carefully excluded every allusion to the kingdom of
Poland as a state united to Russia, to a national constitution, and to the
provincial institutions which the Russian scheme proposed to bestow on the
Polish subjects of the three Courts.
These explanations preceded by some days the notes of Lord Castlereagh
and Prince Metternich, from which the inference has been deduced that the
powers represented by these two plenipotentiaries testified their sympathy
with the Poles, and recommended the Emperor of Russia to respect their
nationality. This fact proves that the initiative of sympathy for Poland
O14
THE RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT IN POLAND.
emanated from the Vlcxander I., and that if the other powers
rallied round it, it was because the principles of the policy of the times
cautioned them .1 gainst leaving to Russia the merit of this initiative, and
counselled them to divide it with her, in order to lessen the overwhelming
strength which they feared to see this power acquire, and which they would
otherwise be unable to prevent.
They did not foresee, doubtless, at that time, the embarrassments which
would be occasioned to Kussia by the tendencies the Poles would find in
Europe.
It is argued that it was of little consequence that these engagements should
have emanated from the initiative of the Emperor of Russia, from the moment
they were contracted by him-. On the contrary, these considerations are of
essential consequence, because they mark precisely both the nature of the
engagements taken by the Emperor of Russia and the aim of the rights
which are alleged to flow from the powers of the mind which presided in the
transactions of 1815.
The assertion, amongst others, must fail that the liberal intentions mani-
fested by the Emperor Alexander I. were a motive for adhering to the re-
union of Poland to Russia. It clearly results from what has preceded, that
it is the contrary which is true ; that the Emperor Alexander I. would have
encountered fewer obstacles had he renounced the revival of the Polish name
and the Polish nationality ; and had he confined himself to insisting on the
territorial question, which nominally the court of Vienna put down as a
secondary one, and had he incorporated purely and simply the duchy of
Warsaw with his other dominions.
It is both possible and probable that the fear of rekindling the war had (as
has been affirmed) great effect in this adhesion of the powers.
But this desire of preserving peace was entirely for their own interest.
They were emerging from twenty-five years of war ; they were principally
indebted to Russia for their deliverance ; they knew the enormous power she
had possessed in this war, and the power she might yet throw into the scale,
should the work of pacification to which she had so energetically contributed
be once more shaken.
As to the arguments which are endeavoured to be drawn of the intentions
of the Emperor Alexander I., they do not appear to us to bear profound exami-
nation. These illusions of a generous mind, and the disappointments in
which they resulted, teach a useful lesson, but could constitute no engage-
ment. The Emperor Alexander I. made an attempt at conciliation. He did
not succeed. He stopped before the obstacles revealed to him by experience,
which showed that the institutions with which he had endowed the kingdom
were so many weapons placed in the hands of the Poles, and that they would
use them only to attain the aim of their chimerical aspirations, that is to
say, the reconstitution of a Poland in the most extended sense, independent,
at the price of the dismemberment of three mighty neighbouring powers.
Morally, the promise he had made to the Poles was annulled by the use
they had made of his gifts. Materially, the international engagement he had
contracted was limited by the treaty of 1815. These limits were ascertained
by a stipulation which one passes over willingly in silence : it is that which
reserves to the three Courts the. right of settling the representative and
APPENDIX. Ol5
national institutions of their Polish subjects after the manner they shall
judge it fit and suitable to grant.
Animated as he then was by liberal intentions, which were not bounded by
the frontiers of the kingdom of Poland, the Emperor Alexander I. appears
not to have thought of putting this reservation in form. He was led to do
so by the scruples of the Cabinet of Vienna. The Austrian plenipotentiaries,
on presenting their counter-project in the conference, accompanied it by
verbal observations, which, on the demand of the Emperor, were embodied in
the form of the article, in which it was said that " the Poles are the qualified
subjects of the high contracting powers, and considered as such under their
distinct denominations, and in this quality, and according to the forms of
political existence which each Government shall judge fit to grant them,
they shall obtain the institutions which secure the preservation of their
nationality."
This was the root of the reservation stipulated afterwards in article 1 of
the definitive treaty. The idea which inspired the Emperor Alexander is easily
deduced.
That sovereign never intended to cause revolution, but conservation. He
was convinced that to satisfy the just wishes of the people by an enlightened
and beneficent administration was to disarm the revolution. He wished
authority to be loved, in order that it might be more respected. Every act of
the Emperor Alexander I. bears the impress of this conviction. Even in
1820, when his faith in the realization of this principle began to be shaken,
whilst he concurred energetically in the suppression of the revolutionary
movement of .Naples, he suggested, by his advice to the king of the Two
Sicilies, a wisely liberal constitution, and invited the Italian princes to unite
in adopting analogous principles in the government of their dominions.
With such views it could not enter into the intentions of the Emperor to
weaken in any degree the sovereign authority, either in his own territory or
in that of others, which would have been the case had the powers which
possessed parts of Poland been compelled to govern their Polish subjects
according to the principles they would have judged compatible with the con-
dition of their other possessions. The kingdom of Poland being indissolubly
united to Kussia, as Posen and Galicia are irrevocably attached to Prussia
and Austria, these possessions were subjected to conditions which were
indispensable to the unity of the three powers of which they made part.
Prussia and Austria had exacted these guarantees which the Emperor
Alexander I. could not think of refusing to them. He had then confined
himself to stipulating that the Polish subjects of the three Courts should
have national representation and institutions ; he intended to apply them
himself, and hoped to see them applied by the others in the widest sense ;
but he had expressly reserved to the three Governments the power of regu-
lating them according to that form of existence they should judge it useful
and suitable to grant.
The same considerations apply equally to the internal development which
the Emperor Alexander I. had reserved himself the power to give to the
kingdom of Poland. To infer from this an obligation would be to change
the nature of the character of the stipulations, which, while evincing
generous intentions, attest, on the other hand, to what a great extent the
316 THE RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT IN POLAND.
sentiment of dignity and sovereign independence was carried at this epoch.
Doubtless, the idea of extending the frontiers of the kingdom of Poland had
at one time occupied the mind of the Emperor ; but the realization of it
depended on the manner in which the Poles would justify on their part the
hopes he had founded on this combination, and the Emperor had expressly
reserved to himself the application of it according to what he might judge
useful and suitable. It could not be otherwise. The argument that some
pretend to draw from the denomination Polish subjects, in order to apply
equally to the Polish inhabitants of the Western provinces of Eussia the
clause Art. 1, which stipulates in their favour representative and national
institutions, is inadmissible. In these provinces the Poles hardly form a
seventh part of the population. It is then evident that there the only national
institutions are those of the majority. Besides, article 1 of the treaty
of Vienna has so clearly established that these stipulations apply exclu-
sively to the ancient duchy of Warsaw, with the interior extension which
the Emperor of Russia may judge suitable to give to it, that the Im-
perial Government must peremptorily repel every allusion to provinces
which do not constitute a part of it, and which are consequently shut
out from the international engagements which might spring from the
treaty of Vienna.
From these premises it results, that, whether we inquire into the spirit or
the letter of the treaty of 1815, it is impossible to arrive at any other con-
clusions than the following :
The kingdom of Poland is indissolubly united to Eussia, with any internal
extension that the Emperor of Eussia may think fit to give it.
The Polish subjects of the three Courts are to have national institutions and
representation, according to the species of political existence which each of the
Governments to which they belong may judge useful and convenient to grant
them.
The rights and the duties of all parties engaged in the question are per-
fectly limited by the terms of these stipulations.
The Poles of the Empire should respect the ties which bind them to
Russia.
It is the duty of foreign powers to do nothing to weaken these ties.
The three Courts are under obligation to grant to their Polish subjects
national representation and institutions, administered according to their own
judgment.
This is the position which springs from the treaties of Vienna.
The Emperor Alexander I. saw fit to give to the Polish subjects of his
kingdom the institutions specified by the constitution of 1815. He might
have clothed them in another form, and given them more or less extension,
provided they preserved a, national and representative character. The terms
of this constitution were not, could not be, obligatory.
The Congress of Vienna had wisely recognized this in leaving the insti-
tutions to be granted to the free choice of the sovereigns.
The argument drawn from the fact that, according to the text of the
1st article, the kingdom of Poland is bound to Russia by its constitution, is
not admissible. It is erroneously concluded from this that if the powers
had not had in view a cerlaiu constitution they would have confined them-
APPENDIX. 317
selves to saying that the kingdom of Poland is bound to Russia, without
adding the words by its constitution.
But, besides that the word constitution had not then the meaning now
assigned to it, it would be more exact to conclude that if the powers had in
view a certain constitution, they would have defined it with precision, since
they must have guaranteed it.
The preparatory conferences which were summoned were confined to
general principles they did not, they could not, bear on details of internal
administration, or on any particular form of constitution, necessarily variable
according to time and place : it would have been entirely contrary to the
ideas of the epoch. Neither of the three sovereigns would have admitted it.
No foreign power would have proposed it.
The proof of this is, that the constitution of 1815 was promulgated nearly
six months after the Congress, without having been communicated to either
of the Cabinets ; it may be added that, when it was promulgated, many
considered it too liberal.
There can, then, be no doubt on this question ; and even if there were
any, the authority of Vattel, who decides that in case of doubt the interpre-
tation should be given against him "who dictated the law" could with
difficulty be applied to it.
The Emperor Alexander I. no more intended to dictate the law than he
intended to submit to it. That which occurred during the following years
is sufficiently known. The Poles had not been in any way satisfied by the
constitution accorded them by the Emperor Alexander I. They dreamed of
the reconstitution and the independence of Poland in its ancient limits.
Their Diets presented so factious a character that it was necessary to adjourn
them, and secret societies multiplied. The Government of the Emperor
Alexander I. is reproached with having restricted by decrees the exercise
of the political rights which it had granted to the Poles.
It is certain that the agitations of Europe after the year 1820 had dispelled
the illusions of this sovereign. It is possible that the novelty of constitu-
tional principles and the struggles of the tribune which are the ordinary con-
sequences of them, may have produced a strong impression on his mind,
especially by the contrast they formed with the order subsisting in the rest of
the empire. But while we admit these impressions, which were also produced
in all European states, and everywhere complicated the relations between
the government and the people, it is impossible to deny two facts.
The first is, that, in spite of these internal collisions, the kingdom of
Poland, from 1815 to 1825, enjoyed a tranquillity and a prosperity which it
had never before known.
The second is, that the Poles made a use of the liberties which had been
granted them, showing the same factious spirit which had led to the loss of
their political independence.
The French revolution of 1830 occurred.
The rebound which it had on Poland attests one truth ; namely, that it is
not Poland which troubles the security of Europe, but the situation of
Europe which invariably reacts on the tranquillity of Poland.
When the insurrection broke out in the kingdom, nearly the same facts
were produced which we now witness. The insurgents called to their aid the
318 THE KTJSSIAN GOVERNMENT IN POLAND.
sympathies of liberal Europe. Cabinets offered their diplomatic intervention.
It was rejected. The Emperor Nicholas was firmly resolved to quell the
rebellion. It was repressed. The Western powers protested against this
repression in the name of the treaty of 1815, and insisted that the Polish
constitution should be re-established as an international engagement. This
demand was declined. The Imperial Government affirmed that the re-
bellion of the Poles had destroyed all engagements ; that Kussia,
compelled to have recourse to war, had henceforth all the rights which
conquest confers.
This theory was not agreed to by other cabinets. The Russian Govern-
ment maintained it.
The international discussion had no other result. It would be fruitless
now to recur to these controversies. The question is not how to recriminate
as to the past, but how to resolve the difficulties of the present and to prepare
a better future.
To effect this, it is important to define the present situation.
His Majesty the Emperor Alexander II., from the time of his accession to
the throne, has given undeniable pledges of his liberal and reforming
intentions.
The kingdom of Poland obtained institutions bearing the impress of this
spirit.
Whatever judgment may be formed of these institutions, it must be
acknowledged, first, that they endow the kingdom with an administrative
autonomy, with a national government, and with a representation based on
the principle of election.
The Emperor of Russia made use of his rights in tracing for these inetitu-
tions the limits he judged suitable for the good of a country where it was
desirable to avoid the melancholy experiences of the past, and for that of
the empire, whose development, prepared by the care of the sovereign, was to
be accomplished gradually.
Secondly. That these institutions constituted a marked amelioration for
the present, and opened a path for progress in the future.
Now this was the moment chosen by the Polish agitators to raise the
standard of revolt. This is a sufficient starting-point to enable us to define
clearly the cause and the aim of this insurrection.
However, the three Courts of England, France, and Austria roused them-
selves at the troubles of Poland, in the name of the treaty of Vienna and
the security of Europe. They concerted together to address representations to
the Russian Government, and to express their desire for the prompt and
durable pacification of the country.
The Imperial Cabinet deferred to this desire of an understanding, and
consented to an exchange of amicable ideas on the basis and within the
limits of the treaty of 1815.
The conciliatory overtures which it made in reply to the propositions of
the three Courts met, nevertheless, with objections forwarded in their last
despatches, which suggest the following observations :
Firstly. It has been remarked, that, if respect for authority is the indis-
pensable condition of confidence and legality, it would be an error to believe
that it is possible to restore respect for authority by the force of arms alone,
APPENDIX. 319
without adding to it a corresponding security for the political and religious
rights of the subjects.
The Imperial Cabinet has always shared in these convictions. His Majesty
the Emperor has so little sought in force alone the conditions of respect for
his authority, that he has spontaneously endowed the kingdom of Poland
with institutions granting to it an administrative autonomy based on repre-
sentative and elective principles. His Majesty has loudly proclaimed his
intention of maintaining arid developing them.
But the grant of these institutions was precisely the signal for the insurrec-
tion, which even drew from it the arms for its organization and propagation.
It follows evidently from this that the evil does not reside in the intentions
attributed to the Government of employing force alone, nor in the absence
of legitimate security for the subjects, but in the moral agitation and the
insensate aspirations kept up by the permanent conspiracy abroad. These
motives have prevented the application of the reforms granted by his
Majesty the Emperor.
The Polish rebels, who wish for complete independence and the limits of
1772, are not contented with these institutions, any more than with the six
points indicated by the three Courts. They declare this loudly.
It is then indispensable that before everything else the rebellion shall be
subdued, and respect for authority re-established. There is not a government
in Europe that has proceeded differently ; not one which has admitted the
possibility of concession before armed revolt. The history of all nations
(even of those who now address themselves to Eussia) offers numerous and
recent proofs of this.
Secondly. The assertion of the Russian Government that, the insurrection
of the kingdom of Poland is kept up by material and moral encouragement
from abroad, has been the object of a refutation tending to prove That the
principal obstacle to the re-establishment of order in Poland arises from the
Russian Government not having fulfilled the promises which the Empress
Catherine II. in 1772, and the Emperor A lexander I. in 1815, made to the Poles,
as to the maintenance of their religion and their political rights, national repre-
sentation and administration. We cannot understand on what basis the
assertion rests that during a great number of years the Polish religion was
attacked. There is evidently here an appreciation of facts which is incorrect.
In the kingdom of Poland, the predominant religion, which is Catholicism,
enjoys a liberty to which few states in Europe offer the equivalent. This
liberty is only bounded at the limits where it could degenerate into
propagandism. Beyond this legitimate prohibition, the only restrictions
on the full liberty of exercising the Catholic worship are those usual
in almost every state in Europe, even in those where the Catholic religion is
that of the State. These restrictions, which figure in almost all concordats,
have for their object the limitation of the spiritual jurisdiction and direct
relations of the Church of Rome. They are occasioned by the character of
temporal sovereignty inherent in the papacy, which does not permit any
sovereign to admit that his subjects can be placed under the authority of a
foreign sovereign.
As to political institutions, those which the Emperor Alexander I. had
granted to the kingdom of Poland produced results on which experience has
320 THE RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT IN POLAND.
pronounced. His Majesty Alexander II. granted to his subjects belonging to
the kingdom of Poland representative and national institutions, such as he
has judged useful and suitable, after the experience that had been acquired,
having in view the well-being of the country, the generous principles of his
Government towards the rest of his empire, and within the limits of his
international engagements.
These liberal institutions did not prevent the insurrection : they gave the
signal for it.
The fact of recruiting, which is assigned as the cause of the rising, was
but the consequence of it.
The three powers, who address themselves to the Government, have suffi-
cient means of information to know that the Polish movement had been
fomented for a considerable period by the emigration ; that it only awaited
a favourable occasion, and especially that, two years before the measure of the
recruitment, all was preparing for the outbreak. The recruitment, which
was not a violation of the law, but the application of the ancient custom
which the new law had not yet definitively replaced, aimed only at baffling
and defeating these machinations. It may have served as the pretext for the
insurrection, but it would be incorrect to assert that it was the cause of it.
Thirdly. The cause is deeper and more inveterate it partly resides in
the " sympathy which in England, in France, in Prussia, in Italy, in Spain, in
Portugal, in Sweden, in Denmark, wherever a national administration exists,
is pointed out as having been manifested towards the Poles, although with
prudence and reserve"
Without denying that these evidences have been the result of very pressing
diplomatic action, and that the prudence and reserve which characterize them
have been carried by several Governments to the point of not transgressing
the limits of a humane wish, accompanied by assurances of confidence in his
Majesty the Emperor, yet it cannot be contested that they have exercised an
influence on Poland, which is much to be regretted.
Fourthly. It has been attempted to explain this by different motives. It
has been endeavoured to establish a difference between the efforts of a people
defending its nationality, making an appeal to all that is most lofty in the heart
of man, to ideas of justice, of country, and of religion, and the disordered
aspirations of unhealthy minds attacking the very basis of social order. It
has been observed on another side, " that in cases of this kind there are not
two parties only, viz., the Government occupied in suppressing the insurrection,
and the leaders of the insurgents engaged in fomenting and extending it. But
that, besides these parties, there is always in such cases a large floating mass who
would be quite contented to see persons and property secured under a just and
beneficent administration"
From the moment when the insurgent Poles, who pillage, hang, assassinate,
torture, ravage, and terrorize their country, shall be considered as defending all
that is most sacred in the heart of man the ideas of country, nationality,
and religion, it would be perfectly useless to discuss the question of rights
founded on treaties. It would remain only a question of strength between
Governments possessing subjects of different races and different religion, and
people aspiring to free themselves from all the ties created by history and by
treaties. The map of the world must be re-drawn on principles entirely new,
APPENDIX. 321
and escaping all criticism, because they have not undergone the trial of
experience.
The distinction attempted to be established between the disturbers of
public repose and the masses who live by repose and by work, and are essen-
tially conservative, is perfectly just.
The Russian Government has relied on, and still continues to rely on, that
great floating mass to bring back the kingdom of Poland to the condition of
order and tranquillity indispensable to its prosperity and to the application of
useful reforms. But it is precisely there also that its efforts have been para-
lyzed by external influences.
It is impossible not to be amazed by seeing that Governments, which could
not be suspected of favouring revolution, could be brought to support the
same cause as its most accredited organs and its most ardent leaders ; that
Governments attached to the maintenance of the European equilibrium
founded on the treaties of 1815, and who took the text of these treaties for the
starting-point of their diplomatic intervention, should have been brought to
defend the same cause as the Polish insurgents, and the party of the cosmo-
politan revolution, who dream aloud of the re-establishment of Polish inde-
pendence with the boundaries of 1772, and a general derangement of Europe,
that is to say, the negation and the destruction of the state of things founded
on treaties.
These anomalies must necessarily have unsettled minds already over-excited
by the appeal to traditions of national independence, always so easy to be
aroused. They contributed to confirm the illusions of a crusade composed of
almost all the powers of Europe to attain an aim diametrically opposed to
the interests and to the views of the majority of these very powers.
This illusion has precisely acted on this great floating mass which is every-
where hostile to disorder, and which is the healthy and solid medium on
which a just and enlightened government may place the prosperity of a
country by the application of measures destined to guarantee the security of
persons and property.
This mass is not ignorant of the fact that it can only expect these guaran-
tees from the authority of Government, and not from the powers of an anarchy
contending for the right to pillage and oppress the country. With very few
exceptions, it has never favoured disorder, unless when constrained to do so
by violence, executions, and terror. It has remained, and will remain, the
firm stay of the Russian Government, despite the weight of revolutionary
pressure.
But in this mass there are credulous and timid minds easily led astray, and
on whom the excitements from without, the goading of the press, and above
all, the comments circulated on the subject of the diplomatic action and
the intentions of foreign powers, must necessarily exercise influence. The
agitators of the kingdom of Poland have been careful not to neglect this
means of drawing away the weak and the undecided, by making them antici-
pate as immediate the active intervention of foreign powers in favour of their
most extreme aspirations. These seductions on the one side, and on the other
the terrorism of a secret committee, shrinking from no crime, have contri-
buted to swell the ranks of insurrection, and to multiply the number of
victims.
Y
322 THE RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT IN POLAND.
The Powers were thus unintentionally induced to work directly against the
aim they had in view. Whilst they demanded of the Russian Government
the speedy pacification of the kingdom of Poland, their diplomatic action,
designed (exploitee) and perverted by the chiefs of the rebellion, became the
principal obstacle to the restoration of tranquillity, by favouring the attempts
made to deprive the Russian Government of the concurrence of the masses.
Consequently, instead of affirming that the moral and material assistance
from abroad would have influenced the insurrection but little if the general
feeling had not been alienated from Russia, it would be more correct to acknow-
ledge that public feeling would not have been led to err without the moral
support which the insurgents derived from the attitude and the diplomatic
intervention of foreign powers.
This influence is incontestable ; it is clearly revealed by the fluctuations
manifested in the disposition of the minds of the kingdom, according to the
manner in which fureign diplomacy appeared to favour or to discourage the
hopes of the revolution. It manifests itself now still more clearly, when the
masses, disabused, wearied with the disorders, the crimes, and the terrorism
of the Central Committee, manifest more and more their aversion to these
enemies of public repose.
It cannot, then, be doubted that the problem which agitates the kingdom
of Poland, preoccupies Russia, and interests Europe, will be near its solu-
tion when the attitude and the language of those powers who desire only the
good of the country, the peace and security of Europe, shall be calculated to
prove in the eyes of the Poles that they do not intend to favour the dream of
the reconstruction of one great and independent Poland, the realization of
which could. &fy be accomplished by the dismemberment of three mighty
powers and a general conflagration ; that they intend to maintain the
order of things founded on treaties ; and that the Poles must expect national
prosperity alone from an .indissoluble union with Russia under a just and
beneficent monarch, from the application and the regular working of the
institutions which have been granted to them, from the progressive develop-
ment which the sovereign has given them reason to foresee, and for which
every act of his reign, and the actual tendencies of his government, offer a
secure pledge.
5thly. It is useless to return to the amnesty and suspension of hostilities
proposed by the three powers. It is affirmed that the suspension of hostilities
was not impracticable ; that a great country cannot derive dignity from pro-
longing unequal strife ; that the most bitter enemies of Russia would not have
dared to violate the armistice ; that the trial deserved to have been made, and
would have honoured those who had attempted it ; in short, that an amnesty
subordinate to the political usages of the Russian Government, could not
influence the disposition of the Poles, as is attested by the trifling effect of the
It is sufficient to state that there may be different opinions on questions of
dignity, but that each government must be the sole judge of its own. Even
had the insurgent Poles not violated the armistice, they would certainly have
profited by it to complete their armament and their organization. A govern-
ment has too much responsibility to stake its honour on experiments which
could end only in prolonging deplorable struggles in which blood too precious
APPENDIX. 323
to be lavished must flow. As to an amnesty, if that spontaneously granted
by the Emperor has not influenced the dispositions of the Poles, why should
the proposed amnesty have produced more effect ? If, on account of being
offered and guaranteed by foreign powers, it must be acknowledged that the
Russian Government was right in preferring making it subordinate to its
own political convenience rather than to that of foreigners.
6thly. As to the conference, it is affirmed that/rom the moment when the
Russian Government admits the right of interpretation by the powers who
sign a treaty, it 'must admit that these powers have the right to unite together
to exercise it. All that can be granted to it in such matters is the material fact
that its Refusal to take part in such reunion would render it impossible.
Had it been a question of modifying the fundamental principles of the
treaty of Vienna, there is no doubt that the Congress ought to have seized it.
But it was a question only of the application of these principles, and it is
impossible to deny that any discussion relating to this would have touched
upon the most intimate details of the administration. It would have been
necessary to state precisely the character which constitutes national institu-
tions, the mode and degree of representation, the competency of representative
assemblies, the electoral census, &e. Questions more delicate or interference
more direct cannot be imagined. A government which could have accepted
it would have virtually given up its authority into the hands of the
conference.
The proposition substituted by the Russian Government, that of an agree-
ment of the three neighbouring powers, the result of which should be made
known to those who signed the treaty of 1815, does not appear to have
been well understood. It was alleged that it departed from the precedents of
1815, that the powers were then without the basis of the treaties which are now
the starting-point of their diplomatic action. It was remembered lhat the
particular treaties concluded at this epoch between the three Courts, had been
confined to questions of details of commerce, of navigation, towing-paths, &c.
&c. ; that besides the stipulations of these separate treaties had been finally com-
prised in the general act as constituting a part of it and having the same force
and same value. It was observed also that the Court of Vienna had always
repulsed every preliminary understanding on subjects of this sort, as contrary
to its dignity.
The despatch of the Austrian minister for foreign affairs containing no
allusion to this last point, it is useless to raise it. It belongs to him only to
appreciate that which may affect the dignity of his country. It is certain
that the Imperial Cabinet in proposing an agreement between the three
neighbouring Courts, according to historical precedent, cannot be suspected
of wishing to lessen the dignity of any one. It suffices, besides, that the
Austrian Government should have found such an agreement incompatible
with the new ties it has contracted.
As to the foundation of the question, the Russian Government has had no
other aim than that of calling attention to the important distinction established
by the precedents of the Congress of Vienna, between the general principles
in which att Europe was interested, and the internal question exclusively
appertaining feo the adjoining powers. These countries, possessing each parts
of ancient Poland, may have derogated from their own rights of sovereignty
Y 2
324 THE RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT IN POLAND.
by concerting together in order to establish a certain harmony in their Polish
possessions, according to the general principles laid down by the Congress ;
they could never have consented to alienate these rights, and place them in
the hands of all Europe.
This distinction springs clearly from the stipulations of 1815. If, at that
epoch, the separate treaties concluded between the three Courts touched only on
questions of commerce, of navigation, of tonnage, &c. &c., it is because these
questions alone were discussed. Nevertheless, it must be allowed that these
questions of detail were not without importance. The questions of frontier,
for example, were of very grave import. The treaties concluded between the
three Courts in 1818 and 1825, as to custom-houses, extradition of deserters,
&c. &c., had a certain political value. Lastly, the treaties concluded between
them in 1833, and still later in 1846, on the subject of the free state of
Cracow, were yet more serious. And yet all these treaties were concluded
without the participation of those who signed the general act of Vienna.
This fundamental distinction applies itself perfectly to the present
situation.
The principles laid down by the general treaties (acte) of Vienna are not
now in question, since, on one side, the three powers which have made repre-
sentations on the subject of Poland have taken as their basis the stipulations
of 1815, and on the other side the Kussian Cabinet has declared its willingness
to respect these stipulations.
It is then only necessary to apply them ; but in doing so, internal ques-
tions are touched upon which have been always considered by the three
powers as belonging to their sovereign dominion, and to which they are
exclusively competent.
To sum up all, if from the region of dissertation one passes to the field of
practice, the only place where so grave a problem can be resolved, the result
is that the three Courts desire the return of the kingdom of Poland to the
conditions of a durable peaec. This is also the most constant and the dearest
wish of the Emperor of Eussia.
The three Courts have declared their wish to seek the means for this
within the limits of the engagements of 1815 ; the Kussian Emperor declares
his determination to maintain these engagements in their full extent.
To satisfy this, his Majesty has granted to Poland institutions formed on
the principle of an administrative autonomy and elective representation.
He maintains these institutions, reserving to himself the right of developing
them.
The three Courts have on their side recommended six points, as likely to
contribute to the pacification of the kingdom of Poland : the greater part of
these are already in existence ; some are in the course of preparation, or lie
in the same direction as the views of the Emperor of Kussia, and the deve-
lopments which his Majesty has given cause to expect. But at the same
time, the three Courts think that the application of these measures should
be immediate, and would secure the re-establishment of order and tranquillity
in the kingdom.
The Russian Government, on the contrary, is of opinion that, after the
experience it has acquired, these measures cannot be adopted in face of
armed insurrection ; that they should be preceded by the re-establishment
APPENDIX. 325
of order ; and that to be efficacious they must emanate directly from the
sovereign power, in the plenitude of its strength and liberty, without any
foreign diplomatic pressure. These are the shades which separate opinions.
But these shades do not appear of a nature to occasion serious discussion
between the Cabinets, still less to trouble the peace of Europe.
It could not take this character if the evident plans of the agents in the
Polish revolution were allowed to develop themselves ; these agents on one
side weigh on the public opinion of Europe, by the spectacle of a struggle of
which they endeavour to multiply and to aggravate the calamities, whilst,
on the other hand, by prolonging and propagating disorder, they deprive the
Russian Government of the possibility of adopting and applying the measures
of moral pacification which would correspond with its own intentions not less
than with the desires of the Cabinets and the sentiments of public opinion.
There would be no reason to fear such a toleration on the part of those
powers, unless they were determined to pursue, under the appearance of
diplomatic action, within the limits of international engagements, the
realization of the most extreme desires of the Polish revolution, leading to
the overthrow of treaties, and of the equilibrium of Europe.
One cannot evidently expect this from those Cabinets which are interested
in the maintenance of this equilibrium, and who have taken as the basis of
their intervention the scrupulous execution of the treaties of 1815.
TsarsUe Selo, 26th August, 1863.
EARL RUSSELL TO LORD NAPIER.
Foreign Office, Oct. 20th, 1863.
MY LORD, Baron Brunnow has communicated to me a despatch from
Prince Gortschakoff, dated August 26th (September 7th), in reply to my
despatch to your ExceUency, No. 178, of the llth ultimo, of which you were
instructed to give a copy to his Excellency.
Her Majesty's Government have no wish to prolong the correspondence on
the subject of Poland for the mere purpose of controversy.
Her Majesty's Government receive with satisfaction the assurance that
the Emperor of Russia continues to be animated with intentions of bene-
volence towards Poland, and of conciliation in respect of all foreign powers.
Her Majesty's Government acknowledge that the relations of Russia
towards European powers are regulated by public law ; but the Emperor
of Russia has special obligations in regard to Poland.
Her Majesty's Government have, in the despatch of the llth of August
and preceding despatches, shown that, in regard to this particular question,
the rights of Poland are contained in the same instrument which constitutes
the Emperor of Russia King of Poland.
I am, &c.,
(Signed) RUSSELL.
p.& Your ExceUency is instructed to give a copy of this despatch to
Prince Gortschakoff.
INDEX.
ABICHT, Assassination of Page 113
Administration, Laxity of in Western provinces . . . .107
Agitation, unarmed 50, 57, 67
Secret progress of . . . . . . . 64, 78
Agricultural Society .56
Intended uses . . 65
Political purposes . . . . . 65, 66
Dissolution of ....... 68
resented by demonstration 72
Various narratives of demonstration . . 73, 74, 75
at Kieff, dissolved 106
Alecot, People of, assist those of Kovno in procession .... 101
Alexander the Emperor, his views .16
Visit to Warsaw 19
Address to the nobles 20
Eeforms introduced by . . . . .21
Oukase of 68
Polish view of his reforms . . . . 104
Amnesty, Proclamation of 185
Arrest of students 98
Assassination attempted, of Count Luders 85
Grand Duke Constantino .... 87
Wielopolski 88
Count Berg . . . . . . .267
Assembly of Nobles, Address from St. Petersburg . . . .184
Austria, Policy of 140
BANDS, Composition of insurgent 129
Berg, Count, appointed Viceroy of Poland 253
his character and antecedents 253
his vigorous policy 254
Search of convents 255
Attempt to assassinate 257
Measures for suppression of revolt . . . . /. . 258
imposes property tax on proprietors in Warsaw . . 259
' prohibits mourning ....... 260
Bismarck, Herr von, Explanation of convention to Prussian chambers . 137
Explanation to Sir A. Buchanan . . . .140
328
THE RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT IN POLAND.
Buchanan, Sir A. Statement of convention between Kussia and
Prussia . . . . . . . Page 136
Explanation of 138
CATECHISM, Polish 9
Central Committee defy Government to effect conscription . . .113
Proclamation of, after conscription . . . .119
authorize the murder of Wielopolski . . .125
their letter to General Langiewicz . . . .158
resume power on the defeat of Langiewicz . . 167
Church, Koman Catholic, Influence of 28-31
how exercised towards Kussia ... 30
towards Austria ... 30
Churches, Warsaw, blockaded 81
Clanricarde, Lord, his speech in the House of Lords .... 201
Clergy, Eoman Catholic, favour the revolt 130
Committee, Polish, in Paris, Address of . . . . j .215
Comparative position of peasantry ....... 24
Congress kingdom, Condition of peasants 16-26
Population analyzed and classified . . 23-26
historically defined 89,90
Advantanges of Poles in 124
Conscription, effected 113
Evil consequences of 115
Exaggerations respecting . . . . . .116
Conscripts, Number of . . . . . . . . .113
Constantine, Grand Duke, appointed Viceroy of Poland . . .85
Character 69-85
Resignation of 247
Convents, search of 255
Council of State, Withdrawal of Polish nobles from . . . .180
DEMOCRATIC Prejudices, how exhibited
Demonstrations, Political, prohibited
.......
Domeiko, M., Attempt to assassinate . . . .
EDUCATIONAL Projects
Education of Poles after suppression of their universities
Ellenborough, Lord Observations in the House of Lords
his speech in the House of Lords
Engineer absconds with railway engine
England Feeling in favour of insurrection
Executions by General Mouravieff ....
51
79
98
214
70
4
149
201
118
149
205
GENDARMES hanging, Murders committed by
German Press, feeling of ...
247
141
INDEX. 329
Gortschakoff (General) Policy as lieutenant . . . Page 57-72
Death of 76
Retrospect of policy . . . . .76
Gortschakoff (Vice-Chancellor) Statements in reply to Lord Russell's
despatch . 151
Effect of his despatches . . .154
Government, National. See National Government.
Grockovo, Commemoration of battle of 52
HISTORY, Study of Polish, forbidden 7
Horodicki, Defeat of 225
Hostile Demonstrations . . . . . . . < .98
INSURGENTS, Excesses of " 126
Exaggerated statements of 142
Insurgent, Composition of bands 129
Insurrection, Outbreak of . . . .-..-. -, V .114
Collapse of . . . . . . . . 261
JAROSZTNSKI, Louis, attempted assassination of Grand Duke Con-
stantine by .87
Jews and Poles, mutual feelings of . . . . . .63
Jitomir, Demonstration in 106
KIEFF, Rising in 221
Kovno, Demonstration at 100
LAMBERT, Count, appointed Viceroy 78
Langievicz, commands the insurgents in Radom, establishes provisional
government'there . . . . . . .131
Defeat of, at Winchock 133
his partisan system of warfare . . . . . .155
his^assumption of dictatorship 157
Letter received by him from the Central Committee . .158
surrounded by Russians; . . . . . . . . 161
his last skirmishes . . . . . . . .162
resolves to resort to guerilla war 164
Consternation and flight of his army 164
his capture by the Austrians . . . . . .165
denounced by his enemies ... . 166
Lelewel, Death of 249
Lepel, Scene of patriotic demonstration 102
Liberal party in Russia ; their views of the policy of Emperor Nicholas 14
Lithuania, Commemoration of union with Poland .... 90
Losses of the Russians in engagements with insurgents . . -.129
MASSACRE of Russian soldiers H?
Mieroslawski . 28-53
Miracles alleged on behalf of Poland 216
330 THE RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT IN POLAND.
Monti force, mistaken theory regarding ..... Page 190
Mouravieflf, General, appointed Governor of North-western provinces . 194
Character of 194
Proclamations against wearing mourning , . 197
Success of proclamation 200
imposes property tax on landlords " . . 202
Sequestrations of property by . . . 202
Executions by order of ..... 205
Mourning adopted by Poles ........ 84
Proclamations against, by General Mouravieff . . .197
misrepresented in England 200
Statements in House of Lords concerning . . . 201
NAPIER, Lord Explanation of convention between Russia and Prussia 139
On patriotic agitation in Russia . . . . .183
Napoleon Policy of Emperor . . . . . . . .144
his designs on Prussia . . . . . . .145
Character of 146
Difficulties of his position 147
Close of his diplomatic correspondence . . . .239
National Government, Popular impressions regarding . . .168
Explanations of its apparent power . . .169
Proceedings of ,171
its secret police 171
Murders committed at the instance of . .173
its diplomatic circular 173
its interference in land question . . .175
denounces the amnesty . . . . .185
denounces the constitution of 1815 . . 194
Terrorism exercised by 248
desires employees of official journal to abandon
their employment 259
prohibits payment of property-tax . . . 260
prohibits mourning 260
Nazimoff, Governor-General of Wilna 90
his wavering policy . . . ' . . . . . 105
re placed by General Mouravieff ...... 194
Nicholas the Emperor, Policy of, after revolt of 1830 . . . . 3
Suppression of Polish universities 4
Results upon education of Poles ... 5
his death and its effects 14
his advice to Emperor Alexander . . . . .15
his restraints relaxed consequences . . . . .104
Nullo, death of Francisco . . . . . . . . .217
OPINION (public) in Russia ......... 246
Order of the day of the revolutionary chief of Warsaw . . .125
Marquis of, President of Delegation . . . . .61
INDEX. 331
Paskievitch, Viceroy of Poland Pa^e 19
Peasants Guard, formation of 178
Conduct of 181
Disposition of, in the South-western provinces . . .218
Arrest fugitive insurgents . . . . . . .220
Petersburg (Saint) assembly of nobles address .... 184
Peto, Sir Morton his contract declared void by National Government 177
Podolia, address of nobles of ........ 108
Points, the six motive of Western Powers in proposing . . . 229
Indignation of Russians at six ....... 232
Poland, State of during the Crimean war ...... 18
Division of into military districts . . . . . .128
Pole, Letter of a patriot 226
Poles, Education of subsequent to 1830 . . . . . 4
Hostility of to Russia 5
' holding office conduct of .7
Polish literature restricted . . 7
nobility , 23
proletarians . . . . . . . . .25
peasantry . .' 24
soldiers, conduct of in Crimean war ...... 19
exiles, effect of their return ....... 23
aristocrats. .......... 27
women, patriotism of . . . . . . . .31
Position of peasantry, reviewed ..... 33-49
compared with that of Austria and Prussia 46
delegation, influence of ........ 59
National Hymn ......... 29
mayors' duties and responsibilities, and how fulfilled . . . 40
,, insurrectionary leaders ........ 58
policy of 95
Council of State 68
,. commissioners of public instruction and public works . . 69
costumes 75
address to the Grand Duke Constantine 90
nobles, dissatisfaction of 179
withdrawal of from State Council 180
Character of some of the leaders 252
Posen, Policy of Prussia in 134
Proclamation of Governor of 137
Powers, Western, effect of interference of 193
Property-tax imposed by General Mouravieff 202
Proprietors, Hostility to Government .... 9
Commercial activity of 22
Position of in the Western Provinces .... 26
Prejudices of 6 ?
Resentment of on behalf of Agricultural Society . ; 72
Embarrassed position of 1 2()
., Views of patriotic party amongst . . . ... 122
332 THE KUSSIAN GOVEENMENT IN POLAND.
Provinces, Western, effect of reforms of Emperor on . . . Page 124
Prussia, her policy in Posen 134
her alarm at the Polish insurrection . . . . .135
her convention with Russia as to refugees . . . .136
Report of Sir A. Buchanan upon . . . . . 136
RACES, Analysis of ... 25
Radziwilow, Attack upon ......... 224
Railway, Destruction of 118
Red and White parties, Disputes between 241
party, Views of . 242
Religion, Influence of . 29-63
Religious veneration of Russians 83
Revolt, Plan of 95
Polish, of 1830 3
Revolutionary hymns prohibited 79
press, suggestions and instigations of . . .94
education and preparations 108
Roman Catholic clergy, influence in Kovno 100
Rossiny, Demonstration at . . 100
Russell, Lord Despatch to Sir A. Buchanan 138
Further Despatch to Sir A. Buchanan . . .139
withdraws his demands < 140
Speech in the House of Lords 149
Despatch of to Lord Napier . . . . 150
Apparent ignorance of Polish question . . .153
Incompetency to cope with Prince Gortschakoff . 153
View of Amnesty 187
proposes the six points ...... 229
his ignorance of the Treaty of Vienna . . . 234
he closes diplomatic correspondence . . . 238
Russia her convention with Poland as to refugees . . . .136
Report of Sir A. Buchanan upon . . . . .136
Anxiety of people of ....... 183
Public opinion of ........ 246
Russian tombs violated .... . . . .51
SEQUESTRATIONS by General Mouravieff . . . . . . 202
Seriakoffski appointed commander of insurgents in Lithuania . . 207
Defeat of 208
Capture of 209
Execution of 213
Six points, Objections to . . . . . . . .235
Skarga, Opinion of on the state of the peasantry .... 35
South-western provinces disarmed 106
Stanton, Colonel, Despatch of, announcing conscription and revolutionary
outbreak 114
Synkiewicz, Major, Escape of ........ 225
TREASURY, Robbery of in Warsaw 248
INDEX. 333
VOLHYNIA, Invasion of .... ^ ... Page 221
WALDECK, Herr Von, speech of in Prussian chambers . . .137
Warsaw, Suppression of University of 4
Massacres of February 27th, 1860 . . . .54
Public funeral of killed in 60
Re-establishment of university 70
Disturbance in ......... 74
Proclamation of state of siege ...... 79
Resignation of municipal council . . . . .182
Treasury, robbery of . . . . . . . 248
Wengrow, Capture of by Russians 132
Western provinces, Revolutionary sympathies of . . . . .95
White and Red parties, Disputes between ...... 241
Wielopolski, Marquis of, insists on conscription . . . . .113
appointed Chief Minister ...... 85
Character and state craft 86-92
sentenced to death by National Committee . . .125
Change in policy of 127
suspected both by Russians and Poles . . . .182
Resignation of . 247
Wilna, Suppression of university of 4
Demonstration in ........ 98
Arrest of students at 99
Martyrs of, funeral services for 103
Proprietors, Roman Catholic, taxed 106
Wysocki, General, appointed to command in Volhynia . . .221
Description of his army 222
Defeat of 225
ZAMOYSKI, Count Andrew .... 23,54,56,59,61,90
Exile of 92
Popularity of 97
Palace, confiscation of 258
355
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