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HISTORY OF POLAND,
FROM ITS

FOUNDAT]ON] AS A STATE

THE PRESENT TIME;

INCLUDING A

jfull 3rtount of the retent patriotic struggle

To

RE-ESTABLISH ITS INDEPENDENCE.

To which is PREfixed, -

A DESCRIPTIVE VIEW
OF THE

COUNTRY, ITS NATURAL HISTORY, CITIES AND TOWNS,

AND THE

MIAIN INTERS AN ID C U S TO TWIS

OF

ITS INHABITANTS.

BY M. Ross,
EDITOR OF THE HISTORY OF THE COUNTY PALATINE

OF DURHAM.

Meluratle upon (Ipme:

PRINTED AND PUBLISHED BY PATTISON AND ROSS,
48, PILGRIM-STREET.

1835.
--------|-==== -
 PR E FA C E.

Polan D what intense, varied, and conflicting

feelings are awakened by the name! In that
word are conveyed images of the mysterious
reverence due to antiquity, the grandeur and ro
mance of chivalry, the pomp of warlike glory, and
the halo of political freedom, contrasted by the op
posite ideas of civil discord, subjugation, oppression,
defeat, carnage, and expatriation. When we reflect
that little more than a century has elapsed since
Poland was one of the most extensive and power
ful kingdoms of Europe, and that it is now almost
erased from the map, the conviction of the insta
bility of human prosperity and grandeur, is im
pressed upon the mind with a fearful intensity and
reality. By the progressive events that have ter
minated in the apparent destruction of this once
z mighty state, it has exhibited an almost uninter
& /
. . . . . . * * **
iv. PREFACE.

rupted scene of disorder and calamity. Sometimes

overrun and pillaged by foreign enemies, and
generally distracted by internal dissensions, peace
and security and settled government were, in conse
quence of a series of disastrous occurrences, almost
unknown. Kings were raised to the throne, and
precipitated from it. Constitutions were esta
blished, altered, overthrown, and removed. Its
finest provinces were dismembered, and foreign
armies established on its soil, either to perpetuate
its miseries, or to complete its subjugation. Poland,
that Niobe of nations, may almost be said to have
Left a name, at which the world grew pale,
To point a moral or adorn a tale.

It has been observed by some that the nature of

the Polish government has been the chief source
from which the miseries of the country have taken
their rise; and that the weakness of the state kept
pace with what the Poles called the freedom of their
constitution. Others have attributed their over
throw to the jealousy excited by that freedom
amongst the surrounding and less liberal govern
ments. However this may be, it appears probable
that the people of Poland, had their domestic dis
sensions during the last century not been fomented
by neighbouring states, would long ere this have
disenthralled themselves and their country from
 PREFACE. V

such faults as unhappily disfigured their consti

tution. They would have been induced, by that
national feeling which they have so repeatedly
and so strikingly evinced, to compromise all party
disputes for the sake of a grand political renova
tion, which might have given to their king such
prerogatives as were not inconsistent with civil li
berty, whileitraised their peasantry to their just rank
in society. The union of all classes upon recent
occasions,for the purpose of delivering their country
from foreign dominationwhen the lofty noble
girded on his sword, and the peasant armed him
self with his ploughshare, making one common
cause in defence of their native independencehas
evinced a glowing courage and energetic patriotism,
which render the above conclusion highly probable.
This courage and patriotism have risen above diffi
culties and dangers; they have sanctified reverses
and defeats; and they appear to be indestructible,
except by the annihilation of those in whose
breasts they are cherished. The importance of
events is enhanced by the superior character of
those to whom they occur; and it is an addition
to the interest excited by the history of Poland,
that the glories, the successes, the misfortunes,
and the ruin therein recorded, have been expe

"enced by such a people;a people who have been

vi PREFACE.

emphatically styled the most unconquerable of

all the nations whose love of liberty has ever glo
rified our species.
To display in a popular manner these interest
ing circumstances, is the design of the present
work. An excitement has prevailed in this country
with regard to Poland during the last half century,
which recent events have fanned up into a flame
of no ordinary fervour. It has been the study of
the author to omit or disguise no fact, which could
in any degree tend to elucidate the subject; and
also to avoid any bias excited by partiality or pre
judice. The actors in the scene will be pourtrayed
with an earnest desire of doing justice to each ; and
nothing to extenuate or set down aught in malice.
The truth shall be fearlessly asserted, so far as facts
are concerned; though political speculations will
be seldom introduced, and always with caution and
moderation. Indeed, some of the wrongs of Poland
have been so great and glaring, that their mere
statement alone is necessary to excite and interest
the feelings of our nature.
 A

DESCRIPTIVE VIEW

or "

, POLAND.

siTUATION, BounDARIES, ExTENT, Divisions, PopULATION,

&c.

Poland, or Polska, as it is called by the natives, derives its

name from the Sclavonic word Pole, or Polo, which signifies a
country adapted to hunting, because the whole of it was formerly
covered with vast forests. The extent and boundaries of this coun
try, which formed part of the ancient Sarmatia, have varied consi
derably at different periods of its history. After the annexation of
the duchy of Lithuania, near the close of the 14th century, the
entire dominion of Poland extended from about 16 to 34 deg. east
long, and from 48 to 56 deg. north lat. It was bounded on
the north by Livonia and some other Russian provinces; on the
east by Russia and Lesser Tartary; on the south by Hungary,
Wallachia, and Moldavia; and on the west by Prussia and other
German states. Its form was nearly that of an oblong square, being
about 700 miles in length from east to west, by 600 in breadth
from north to south, and including an area of 284,000 square miles,
being about one-third larger than France. This great tract was
divided into the following provinces, viz.: Great and Little Poland
to the west; Masovia and Podlachia in the centre; with Volhynia,
Podolia, and the Ukraine to the east. The great duchy of Lithu
ania, much larger than any of these provinces, extended to the
north-east. The palatinates were at this time thirty-one in num
ber.
8 DESCRIPTIVE VIEW

The partition of Poland between Russia, Austria, and Prussia,

took place at three distinct epochs, 1772, 1793, and 1795; and the
result of the whole, in the last of these years, was nearly as
follows:

Square miles. Population.

To Russia, . ... 168,000 - 6,700,000
To Austria, - 64,000 - 4,800,000
To Prussia, - 52,000 - 3,500,000

284,000 15,000,000

But these divisions were subsequently changed by the cessions

of Prussia in 1807, and of Austria in 1809. The distribution of
Poland, as settled by the congress of Vienna, in 1815, was as
follows:

Square miles. Population.

Russia, - - - 178,000 - 6,900,000
Kingdom of Poland, go
verned by the Czar, 47,000 - 2,800,000
Austria, - - - 30,000 - 3,500,000
Prussia, - - - 29,000 - 1,800,000

284,000 15,000,000

Of these territories, the Prussian part is in the north-west, the

Austrian in the south, the new kingdom of Poland in the middle,
while the Russian acquisitions, larger than all the rest collectively,
occupy all the country to the east, extending in a vast oblong,
from Lithuania in the north to the Ukraine in the south.

The Kingdom of Poland, the only portion of the country that

still officially retains its ancient name, comprises the principal part
of that which, from 1807 to 1813, formed the grand duchy of
Warsaw. Its form approaches a square of 200 miles; and it is
divided into eight palatinates, viz.: Masovia, Cracow, Sandomir,
Kalisz, Lublin, Plotsk, Podlachia, and Augustowa. The popula
tion has been increasing, since 1815, at the rate of nearly 100,000
individuals every year; for, according to the last census in 1829,
there were (exclusive of the army) 4,088,290 inhabitants, who, by
a statistical view quoted by Dunham, were thus classed:
 OF POI, AND. 9

By their several races.

The real Poles - - - - 3,000,000
Rusini, or Rusniacks, from the eastern
parts of ancient Poland - - 100,000
Lithuanians . - - - - 200,000
Germans - - - - - 300,000
Jews - - - - - 400,000

4,000,000

By their religion.
Roman (Jatholics - - - 3,400,000
Greek church - - - - 100,000
Lutherans - - - - 150,000
Calvinists - - - - 5,000
Jews - - - - 400,000
Other sects - - - - 5,000

4,060,000

The population of the towns is to that of the country as one to

five. The proportion between the nobles and the plebeians is as
one to thirteen. According to a verification made by the senate in
1824, there were in the kingdom, 12 princes, 74 counts, and 20
barons, besides the inferior or untitled nobility.

Employed in agriculture there are householders 1,871,259

Their families and servants - - e . 2,221,188
Manufactures - - - - - . 140,377
Their families - - - - - . 358,035
Tradesmen - - - - - - - 29,888
Their families - - - - - . 131,331
Landed proprietors . - - - - - 4,205
Copyholders - - - - - - - 1,886
Freeholders in towns - - - - - 41,654
Persons employed under government - - 8,414
Patients in the 592 public hospitals - - 5,376
Prisoners in the 76 prisons - - - 7,926
I0 DESCRIPTIVE VIEW

The population of Austrian and Prussian Poland, and of Cracow,

was estimated in 1823 as follows:
Army. Pupils.
Austrian Poland and Galicia 4,226,569 58,760 51,010
Prussian Poland - 2,584,124 51,546 49,878
Cracow - - - - 107,934 320 4,872

NATURAL HISTORY.

Climate.The state of cultivation, the woods, morasses, and

other local causes, create a considerable degree of diversity in the
climate of Poland. In all parts it is similar to that of Russia under
the same parallel; and, though it was long branded as generally
unhealthy, in modern Poland the air in many places is dry and
pure; and instances of longevity are numerous. During three or
four months in the middle of winter, the temperature generally
varies from 8 to 20 of Fahrenheit's scale; and for nearly an equal
period in summer, it ranges from 65 to 75. The winter usually
commences about the end of October, or the begining of November,
and lasts five or six months, during the greatest part of which the
whole face of the country is robed in a mantle of the purest white,
and Nature presents a universal blank. The air of this season is,
however, very serene ; but when the wind blows from the north or
north-east, it is extremely keen and piercing. The seasons return
with regularity. Spring is, as in most countries, the most agreeable;
and it derives additional charms from its immediate contrast with
the stern aspect of winter. The air gradually loses its severity, the
temperature of the atmosphere becomes mild and genial, and no
sooner is the bosom of the earth disrobed of its wintry vesture, than
vegetation proceeds with great rapidity. The most pleasant and
fertile part, perhaps, is the Ukraine.
Face of the Country.The face of the country is, for the most
part, champaign and open ; but, towards the borders of Hungary,
it is full of woods, forests, lakes, marshes, and rivers, and conse
quently less fertile. In traversing this region, the traveller scarcely
meets with any thing to cheer his way. Nothing is heard but the
cracking of the driver's whip, re-echoed from the lonely depth of the
forest ; and no trace of human being presents itself except in the
mark of some former traveller's fire. The forests are most abun
dant in the interior and eastern parts of ancient Poland. The dis
tricts of the new kingdom present many vast plains waving with
 OF POLAND. II

grain, or pastured by droves and herds. It is not easy to traverse

the vast wildernesses of Poland, says a modern writer, without
being filled with a sentiment of awful admiration. Their frequent
and deep shade conspires with their never-ending extent to suggest
an idea of infinity which approaches the sublime; and sublime
indeed would be the prospect, if only a solitary mount peered above
the tops of the trees, that the eye might be permitted to rove un
impeded over a hemisphere of green and delightful foliage. During
the summer heat, the forests afford a very grateful shelter to the
traveller. In winter, the scene is totally changed. Every bough
and branch is heavily laden with congealed snow, and the evergreens
are completely hid beneath this white and universal covering. The
pines lift their lofty heads in the cold, clear air, huge and still as
giants enchanted into pillars of salt.
Rivers and Lakes.There are several lakes in Greater Poland,
Cujavia, and the territory of Lublin. The rivers which flow into the
Baltic are the following:The Weisel or Vistula, which rises in
the Carpathian mountains, and entering the kingdom of Poland
from the south-east, flows through the central parts. In its pro
gress it receives the Bug and several other tributary streams, and
is connected with the Dneiper by the canal which joins it to the
Prepiz, which flows into that river. By this means, the Vistula
affords an inland navigation of great utility in conveying the agri
cultural produce of Poland to Dantzic and other ports of the Baltic.
It waters in its course the cities of Cracow, Lublin, Warsaw, Thorn,
and Marienburgh. The Niemen, Niemer, or Russ, rises in the
palatinate of Novogrodeck, and taking its course to the north-west,
passes by Grodno towards the Baltic. The Dnina divides Livonia
from Courland, and falls into the Baltic near Riga; which sea also
receives the Pregel. The following rivers flow into the Euxine
Sea:-The Dnieper, or Boristhenes, formerly in many places the
boundary between Poland and Russia, and which terminates its
course at Oczakow. The Dniester, or Tyra, rises in Red Russia,
and, running to the south-east through Podolia, passes on to Bender
in Turkey, and falls into the Black Sea about 60 miles to the north
of the mouth of the Danube. The Przypiec also terminates in that
sea. With the exception of the Niemen, the rivers of Poland, from
the level nature of the country, are shallow, and often overflow
their banks. The inattention of the Poles to the natural advantages
of their country, has been exemplified in the following instance, as
well as many others. By means of the Notez, a river of Great
B 2
12. DESCRIPTIVE VIEW

Poland, which falls into the Oder, the Poles might have conveyed
grain into Silesia, and down the Oder into other parts of Germany;
but they never attemped the navigation, from an ill-founded notion
of its impracticability. But the king of Prussia had no sooner
acquired possession of the country watered by the Notez, than it
was instantly covered with vessels.
Mountains.The Carpathian mountains, that grand and exten
sive chain which separate Poland from Hungary, have been cele
brated from all antiquity. By the Germans they are styled the
mountains of Krapak, probably the original name, which was
softened by the Roman enunciation: the Hungarians, a modern
people, call them Tatra. This enormous ridge extends in a semi
circular form from the mountain of Jovornik south of Silesia towards
the north-west. But at the mountain of Trojaska, the most north
ern summit, it bends to the south-east to the confines of the Buck
ovina, where it sends forth two branches, one to the east, another
to the west of Transylvania; which is also divided from Walachia
by a branch running south-west and north-east. The whole circuit
may be about 500 miles. Dr. Townson visited these Hungarian
Alps from the vicinity of Kesmark, first proceeding to the Green
See, a lake amidst the mountains, passing through forests of firs,
which were succeeded by rocks of limestone and granite. The
Krumholz, a kind of tree resembling the pine, but feathered with
thick branches to the very ground, somewhat impeded the progress.
He computes that the Kesmark peak, which towards Hungary is a
perpendicular rock, may be about 8508 feet above the level of the
sea. He afterwards proceeded to the Lomnitz peak, which he says
is the highest of the whole Carpathian chain, and placed towards
the centre: yet he afterwards expresses some doubt whether it be
not rivalled, if not exceeded, by the Krivan, situated more towards
the west, 20 45' of east longitude from London. The summit of
Lomnitz he attained with some difficulty, and computed it to be
8640 feet above the level of the sea, not much above half the height
of Mount Blanc or Mount Rosa. He found it composed of grey
granite like the rocks at the bottom; but with a small mixture of a
greenish black earthy substance; yet the vegetation consisted of
little except a few lichens. These peaks are seldom visited except
by the hunters of the chamois, and some idle adventurers, who
search for gold and precious stones. The marmot also appeared ;
but our intelligent author denies that the ibex, or rock goat of the
Swiss Alps, is found in the Carpathian heights. The Krivan he
 OF POLAND. 13

afterwards ascended with more ease, but found it inferior in height

to the Lomnitz, being 8343 feet above the sea. It is probable that
summits of greater elevation arise in the eastern part of the chain;
but there are no glaciers nor other tokens of the eternal winter of
great altitudes. The Carpathian ridge occasionally branches towards
the north and south ; in the former direction the most remarkable
are the hills on the west of Silesia, those which adjoin to the salt
mines of Wieliczka, and those which extend through part of the
Buckovina. Towards the south, a branch stretches from the centre
of the chain towards Tokay; and there are other branches not ac
curately defined, which descend in the same direction from the
eastern circuit.

Amongst the detatched eminences in Poland, the only one worthy

the name of a mountain is in the centre of Lesser Poland, and is
called Mons Calvus, having a monastry at the top, once famous for
possessing the real cross of Christ!
Soil and Agriculture.That the soil of Poland is naturally fertile
may be inferred from the great export of corn which annually takes
place, and which has been taken at 4,000,000 English quarters,
notwithstanding the rude manner in which agriculture has been
practised for ages. The use of manure is said to have been, at
no distant period, almost unknown; the practice being to sow the
ground with successive crops of corn till it was exhausted, and then
to abandon it. Poland was formerly called the granary of the
north ; but through neglect of cultivation, it lost this character;
the exportation of corn not corresponding to the nature of the soil,
or the extent of its provinces, which, properly improved, would
have been capable of supplying half Europe with grain. Flax and
hemp are grown abundantly; and vines grow in the Ukraine and
other southern parts, the grapes of which are grateful to the taste,
especially if the summer and harvest be favourable; but the wine
is generally very sharp when drawn off.

Mr. Jacob, in his intelligent Report to government on the Trade

in foreign Corn, and on the Agriculture of the north of Europe, has
the following important observations respecting this country:-
The far greater part of that division of ancient Poland which
is now comprehended in the vice-regal kingdom of that name, is a
level country, with scarcely an ascent or descent, except where the
courses of the rivers have formed channels below the general level
of the country. As these rivers, though in summer they appear
small streams, are swollen by the rains of autumn, and the melting
14 DESCRIPTIVE VIEW

of the snow on the Carpathian mountains in the spring, they form

large channels,extending on both sides to a great distance; and their
deposit, in many parts, enrich the land, and it presents, in the
summer, the aspect of verdant and luxuriant meadows. In other
parts the periodical swellings of the streams have formed morasses,
which in their present state are not applicable to any agricultural
purposes. The plains, which extend from the borders of one river
to another, are open fields, with scarcely any preceptible division
of the land, and showing scarcely any trees even around the villages.
The portion of woodland on these plains is very extensive; but
they are in large masses, with great intervals of arable land between
them. The soil is mostly sandy, with occasional mixture of a
sandy loam ; it is very thin, resting chiefly on a bed of granite,
through which the heavy rains gradually percolate. Such a soil is
easily ploughed: sometimes two horses or two oxen, and not un
frequently two cows, perform this and other operations of husbandry.
This representation of the kingdom of Poland is strictly applicable
to six of the eight waiwoodships or provinces into which it is now
divided.
To the south of the river Pilica, which comprehends the two
provinces of Sandomir and Cracow, the appearance of the land, and
the face of the country, improve ; and, in proceeding south to the
banks of the Vistula, there is to be seen a more undulating district
and a more tenacious and fruitful soil. Much of the land is a
clayey loam, requiring three or four horses to plough it, yielding,
when tolerably managed, crops of excellent wheat and oats; and,
where the husbandry is so good as to have adopted the practice of
sowing clover between the two corn crops, the produce is very
abundant. The southern point of this district, forming now an
independent republic, called, from the name of its capital, Cracow,
is very fertile. - *
Some of the estates in Poland, belonging to the nobility of the
highest rank, are of enormous extent ; but owing to the system of
dividing the land among all the children, unless a special entail se
cures a majorat to the eldest son, which is in some few instances
the case, much of it is possessed in allotments, which we should
deem large ; but which, on account of this low value, and when
compared with others, are not so. Of these secondary classes of
estates, 5000 or 6000 acres would be deemed small, and 30,000 or
40,000 acres large. There are, besides these, numerous small
properties, some of a few acres, which, by frequent subdivision,
 OF POLAND. 15

have descended to younger branches of noble families. The pre

sent owners are commonly poor, but too proud to follow any pro
fession but that of a soldier, and prefer to labour in the fields with
their own hands rather than to engage in trade of any kind. As
titles descended to every son, and are continued through all the
successors, the nobility have naturally become very numerous; but,
since the emperor of Russia has gained the dominion over Poland,
the use of titles has been restricted. No one can assume that of
baron, unless his clear income from his estates exceed 1000 gulden,
or 25; none that of count, whose rents are less than 3000 gulden,
or 75; and none that of prince, who has less than 5000 gulden,
or 125. -

The whole of the lands are made alienable, and may now be pur
chased by persons of any rank, and are actually held by some who are
burghers or peasants; the Jews alone are prohibited from becoming
proprietors of the soil, though they have very numerous mortgages
upon it. When they foreclose, the land must consequently be
sold; and as these Jews, the monied capitalists, cannot become
purchasers, the prices they yield are very trifling.
The most numerous class of cultivators are peasants; they have
a limited property in the land they occupy, and the cottages in which
they live, under the condition of working a stipulated number of
days in each week on their lord's demesne, and paying specified
quantities of produce, such as poultry, eggs, yarn, and other things,
in conformity with ancient usages. The extent of these holdings
varies according to the quality of the land, and the quantity of
duty work, or of payments in kind which have been fulfilled.
On a large property which I examined, the peasants had about
forty-eight acres of land each, for which they were bound to work
for two days in every week with two oxen. If their labour was
farther required, they were paid threepence per day for two other
days, and if beyond that number sixpence per day. On another
property I found the peasants had about thirty-six acres, for which
they worked two days in each week with two oxen; when called
upon for extra labour, they are paid sixpence a day for themselves
and oxen for the next two days, or, if they work without their oxen,
threepence. If their labour is demanded the remaining two days
of the week, the sum to be paid is made the subject of a special
agreement. On one estate the peasants had but twenty-four acres,
and did one day's work themselves, with one horse; the rest of
their labour was paid for in money, by agreement made at the
I6 DESCRIPTIVE VIEW

time it was required. Another proprietor, on land somewhat ex

hausted, granted to each of his peasants more than fifty acres of
land, for which they worked with two horses three days in a week.
It would be easy to give instances of more various rates of duty
work, and of the quantity of land which is appropriated for its per
formance. Some are of a luxurious and of a ludicrous kind. I was
told that the inhabitants of two whole villages, near a princely
domain, hold their lands on condition of employing a certain number
of days in each week in cleaning the walks, and keeping in good
order the pleasure-grounds, which surround the vast castle of their
benevolent and hospitable lord.
Mr. Jacob adds, As may be naturally inferred, from the system
under which labour is applied to the land, that labour is performed
in the most negligent and slovenly manner possible. No manager
of a large estate can have his eye constantly on every workman;
and, when no advantage is gained by care in the work, it will na
turally be very imperfectly executed. All the operations of hus
bandry struck me to be very ill performed: the ploughing is very
shallow and irregular; the harrows with wooden tines do not pene
trate sufficient to pull up weeds in fallowing; the roller is almost
unknown; and thus the land is filled with weeds of all descriptions.
I observed the same want of attention in threshing; and it appeared
to me that a much greater proportion of the grain was left among
the straw, than in that which had passed under an English flail.
In short, the natural effects of the system of duty work was visible
in the whole of the administration of the large estates where it is
followed, with the exception of those few proprietors who have in
telligent and active managers, and are free from pecuniary embar
rassments. The common course of cropping is, the old system of a
whole year's fallow, followed by winter corn, and that by summer
corn; and then a fallow again. Thus one-third of the land bears
nothing. The winter crop in the northern part of Poland consists
of wheat and rye; the proportion of the latter to the former is
nearly as nine to one, and the wheat enjoys the benefit of what
little manure is preserved. Thus the wheat actually cultivated does
not occupy more than one-thirtieth part of the arable land. In the
southern part of the kingdom the wheat bears a larger proportion to
the rye, amounting on some more tenacious soils to a fifth, and even
in some cases to a fourth part of the rye.
In the modern kingdom of Poland, according to a document al
ready quoted, Agriculture, which is still the principal occupation
 OF POLAN ID. 17

of the population, suffers under a depression of prices. In 1827,

they reaped 4,439,399 korzecs of rye, 3,183,023 of oats, 1,506,062
of barley, and 751,076 of wheat, besides 4,288,185 korzecs of pota
toes, and hay, flax, hemp, and honey. The cattle are improving
both in quantity and quality. In 1827, there were in the kingdom
694,728 cows, 475,946 oxen, 259,990 calves, 703,207 pigs, about
2,500,000 sheep, 192,841 horses, 8771 stallions, 167,901 mares.
About one half of the extent of the territory of the kingdom may
be reckoned to be cultivated, one-fourth of the remainder is oc
cupied by forests, and the rest by marshes and uncultivated
lands. *

Zoology.The Poles have a good breed of horses, so that their

cavalry has always been numerous and well mounted. In the ex
cellent pastures with which the country abounds, a great many
cattle are fed for exportation. The woods are well stored with hares,
rabbits, squirrels, deer, foxes, bears, wolves, and boars. The Ma
sovian forests abound with the elk (called by the Poles loss), the
wild ass, the buffalo, and the bison or urus, here called thur. The
latter animal is hunted by the Polish nobility in the following
manner:The urus is surrounded by a great number of horsemen,
each of whom rides up and darts an arrow at the animal, who
pursues his assailants by turns, until, attacked on all sides, he falls
-down exhausted, and is easily dispatched. Another method is to
cause the boors to fell a great number of trees; and each hunter
secures the post assigned him, when they commence throwing
darts; and while the bull runs towards any of his enemies, the
hunters from behind give him his death wound. If, however, he
should break through the inclosure, the next hunter holds forth a
piece of red cloth, against which the fury of the animal is diverted,
and he is commonly killed.
In the deserts near the Dneiper there is a sort of wild sheep,
called solhack, and wild horses, called dzikiekonil, are said to be
found in the Ukraine, the flesh of which was formerly esteemed a
great rarity by the Polish gentry. In Lithuania and Muscovy,
says an old writer, there is a voracious unserviceable beast not
found elsewhere, called rossomoko, with the body and tail of a wolf,
and the face of a cat; it feeds on dead carcases, and eats till its
belly is swelled to the utmost stretch, then it squeezes itself be

* A korzec is nearly two hundredweight. It is divided into 32 garniecs, of

four kwartz each.
C
I8 DESCRIPTIVE VIEW

twixt two trees, forces the load from its stomach, and returns to its
prey, devouring and disgorging successively till all is consumed !
The rivers and lakes of Poland abound with fish. The bees in
the forests afford vast quantities of honey and wax. In Lithuania
the eagle and vulture are very common. The remix, or little spe
cies of titmouse called parus pendulinus, is not unfrequently found
in these parts. The wondrous structure of its pendent nest, which
is in the shape of a long purse, has excited much attention. It is
formed with amazing art, by interweaving down, gossamer, and
minute fibres, in a close and compact manner; and the inside is
lined with down alone, so as to make a snug and warm lodge for
the young brood. The entrance is at the side, small and round,
with its edge more strongly marked than the rest of this curious
fabric. The bird, attentive to the preservation of its eggs and
nestlings from noxious animals, suspends it at the lesser end to the
extremity of the slender twigs of a willow, or some other tree, over
a river.
Mineralogy.In the more mountainous parts of Poland are mines
of iron, lead, and eopper. Gold and silver, in insignificant quanti
ties, are likewise found; also marble, rock crystal, alum, saltpetre,
coal, and potter's clay. But the most considerable mines, and indeed
the most celebrated of the kind in Europe, are those of salt at
Bochnia and Velisca, or Wielitska. The latter is situated eight
miles south of Cracow, being excavated at the northern extremity
of a branch of the Carpathian mountains. The salt is of the same
identic kind with that found in Marmarus, on the other side of the
Carpathian chain, or indeed throughout Transylvania. It is of an
iron grey colour, sometimes intermingled with white cubes; and
sometimes large blocks of salt appear imbedded in marl. That
prepared for traffic at Wielitska is cut into large cubical blocks,
and conveyed to the places of its consumption, in distant parts of
the country, without any package. It is so pure that it only re
quires pounding to be fit for use. The annual revenue from these
mines, previous to the first partition of Poland, in 1772, was
estimated at three millions and a half of Polish florins, or nearly
98,000. The emperor of Austria, however, on gaining possession
of this source of wealth, imprudently enhanced the price of salt,
under the erroneous idea that the inhabitants of Poland would use
no other than that of their native mines. The king of Prussia
immediately saw and profited by this error: he caused several ships
to be freighted with salt to Dantzic and other neighbouring ports;
 OF POLAND. 19

this was purchased, and the demand for that of these mines was
consequently considerably lessened.
There are three entrances to the mine at Wielitska, at two of
which persons are lowered by a kind of hammock, and the other is
by a winding staircase. Dr. Neale visited this mine a few years
since, and says, When all the party had descended, torches were
lighted, and we found ourselves at the entrance of a chapel, hollowed
out of the salt-rock, containing altars, columns, and statues. Thence
we descended, by spacious galleries and winding passages from one
chamber to another, to the depth of 900 feet, where we found our
progress terminated by a large lake, formed by the accumulated
waters of the springs issuing from the sides of the mine: these
springs dissolve large quantities of salt in their passage, and, when
at rest, deposit it in beautiful cubical crystallizations at the bottom
of the lake, from which they are raked up by means of instruments
with long iron prongs. The extent of these excavations is 6000
feet in their longest diameter, which is from north to south, and
about 2000 from east to west. The greatest depth to which they
have gone is 900 feet; but even below that level they have ascer
tained the existence of immense strata of salt, extending from east
to west to an unknown distance. The chambers, scooped out in
various directions, resemble the aisles of a cathedral. We entered
one that contained a large table ; at which, on solemn occasions,
such as the visits of the members of the imperial family, 300 per
sons have been accommodated. The workmen employed generally
amount to about 450; and in one of the mines there is a stable for
fifty horses. No women are ever permitted to enter them. The
galleries and shafts are perfectly dry, and even dusty; for the salt,
imbibing all moisture, like a sponge, robs even the human body in
its passage, and makes the mouth and throat feel hot and dry. The
intricacy of the numerous passages is such, that they sometimes
mislead even the best accustomed to them. The mines of Bochnia
employ 250 workmen; their extent from north to south is only 750
feet, and from east to west 10,000 feet. The richness of these
mines is such, that it has been calculated that their contents might
suffice for the whole population of Europe. Every year there are
dug up 600,000 quintals; and, although they have now been con
stantly worked since the year 1261, there is no appearance of their
contents being exhausted.
20 IDESCRIPTIVE VIEW

CITIES AND TOWNS, ROADS, ETC.

Of the 451 towns in the kingdom of Poland, 353 consist of more

than half of wooden houses; 83 are entirely of wood; 6 have half
their houses made of brick; and 9 consist of more brick than wooden
houses. Besides the towns, of which 214 are national property,
and 237 belong to private families, there are in the kingdom 22,365
villages, 5373 of which are national, and 16,992 private property.
Mr. Coxe descants on the badness of the road between Cracow and
Warsaw (which might fairly be taken as a criterion for the state of
others in the country) at the time he passed it. He says, It
was best where it was sandy; in other parts it was scarcely passable,
and, in marshy grounds, was raised with sticks and boughs of
trees thrown promiscuously upon the surface, or formed by trunks
of trees laid crossways. After a tedious journey, we at length
approached Warsaw; but the roads being neither more passable, nor
the country better cultivated, and the suburbs chiefly consisting of
the same wooden hovels which compose the villages, we had Ilo
suspicion of being near the capital of Poland, until we arrived at
the gates. The communications in the kingdom of Poland, how
ever, have been extensively improved since 1815. Two fine sub
stantial roads cross the whole kingdom ; one from Kalisz to Brzesk
Litewski, and another from Cracow to the Niemen, both passing
through Warsaw. Diligences have been established; inns and
post-houses erected; and 523 bridges have been constructed or re
paired. The Vistula and other rivers have been cleansed, and a
canal has been cut to join the Narew and the Niemen.
Warsan.This city, 320 miles east of Berlin, and 240 south
south-east of Dantzic, is the capital of Poland. It is situated part
ly in a plain, and partly upon a gentle ascent rising from the left
bank of the Vistula, the course of which river at this place is from
south to north : its depth here is less than that of the Thames at
London, but its width somewhat greater. Two pontoon bridges
cross the Vistula near Warsaw, which are removed on the approach
of the frost. Warsaw covers a great extent of ground; its length,
with the suburbs, being between three and four miles, and its
breadth between two and three, including large spaces occupied by
gardens. Its population, before it lost its character of capital of
Poland in 1795, is said to have exceeded 90,000. In the subse
quent years of trouble, the number decreased to 70,000 or 80,000;
 OF POLAND. 21

but since 1815, when Warsaw was again rendered the resort of a
legislative body, the population has continued to increase, and it
now amounts to 140,000 souls, besides the garrison. The city con
tains 1540 brick, and 1421 wooden houses.
This city, originally little better than an accumulation of cottages,
received considerable improvements from its Saxon sovereigns. Still
it continued an irregular place; and Mr. Coxe describes it as hav
ing a melancholy appearance, exhibiting that strong contrast of
wealth and poverty, luxury and distress, which pervades every part
of this unhappy country. The streets are spacious, but ill paved;
the churches and public buildings are large and magnificent; the
palaces of the nobility are numerous and splendid ; but the great
est part of the houses, particularly in the suburbs, are mean and
ill-constructed wooden hovels. Warsaw has, however, wonderfully
improved since 1815. New streets, squares, palaces, gardens, pri
vate and public buildings, have been constructed, either by govern
ment, or by individuals, assisted, in many instances, by the public
treasury. During the vice-royalty of the Grand-Duke Constan
tine, much was certainly done in the way of ornamenting and
beautifying the city; though these improvements are characterized
by military uniformity. The streets are well lighted: several of
them have been Macadamized. The management of prisons has
been ameliorated; the convicts are employed in the public works;
and mendicity has been suppressed. A new exchange, a new
theatre, the new church of St. Alexander, new barracks, and a mo
nument to Copernicus by Thorwaldsen, have been raised.
The author of Poland under the Dominion of Russia gives the
following account of this statue:-" A venerable Polish prelate, the
Abbe Staszie, who bequeathed his property for the improvement of
Warsaw, erected, during his life, a building as an Academy of Art,
which, through the neglect of the architect, was not convertible into
a barrack. From a fund established by this gentleman, Thorwald
sen was paid for the model of the statue of Copernicus, from which
a bronze cast was executed in Warsaw, and erected in front of the
Academy of Art in 1830. This statue was to be uncovered on the
day appointed for the interment of the Abbe Staszie. The Grand
Duke gave order for a review on that day, in order to prevent the
patriotic portion of the military from attending the funeral cere
mony in the Bilani convent; for the erection of a statue in honour
of a Polish star-gazer was a crime in the eyes of his Imperial
Highness. On learning that the poet Niemcewicz intended to de
22 DESCRIPTIVE VIEW

liver an address on the uncovering of the statue, he summoned him

to his presence. The venerable bard was angrily asked what he
intended to say on the occasion. There was no alternative but to
pay some compliment to the government; and Niemcewicz replied
that he would avail himself of that opportunity to extol publicly
the paternal government of the Emperor and King, and in particu
lar the graciousness of His Imperial Highness, who permitted the
Poles to raise a monument of their national honour. To this no
objection could be made; and Niemcewicz was enjoined to make
no other allusion to Poland or the Poles, under pain of incurring
the Grand-Duke's displeasure. The address, which had been pre
viously prepared, was therefore abandoned; and an eulogium on
the Russian government was pronounced at the ceremony of unco
vering the statue of Copernicus.
Warsaw is surrounded by mean mud walls, which, owing to
their great extent, cannot answer the purpose of fortification. These
walls encompass corn-fields, gardens, pasture-grounds, and prome
nades, besides the busy city of Warsaw. The principal streets are
the Honey Street (Miodovo Ulica), the Long Street (Dluga Ulica),
the New World (Nova Sviat), and what is styled the Cracow
'suburb. This last, however, instead of being a suburb, is in fact
the central point of the business and bustle of Warsaw, for the city
has been extended three or four versts beyond the Cracow suburb,
and the part thus added is called the New World. The town is
divided into the Old and New, exclusive of four suburbs, of which
one, Praga, lies on the right bank of the Vistula. The Old Town
consists of one main street, with some smaller streets joining it on
either side. It contains a fine market-place. In the Palace Square
stands a marble column, with the statue of King Sigismund. With
the exception of some public edifices, however, the Old Town still
retains much of its original poverty of appearance. The New Town
is better built, and extends along the banks of the Vistula, in a
winding form, to the extent of nearly three miles, including a num
ber of gardens. It contains several churches, public buildings, and
barracks. The latter, however, are gradually disappearing, and
neat private houses, and in some places palaces, are rising on their
sites. The largest edifice is the palace of the viceroy. The castle
of Warsaw is a large quadrangle, with halls where the two houses
of parliament (the diet and senate) hold their sittings.
The Belvedere Palace, says the author above quoted, is a
modest looking country house, situated within the southern barrier
 E
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 OF POLAND. 23

of Warsaw, not far from the Mokatoweka Rogatka. It is a plain

edifice, built in the modern style, with side wings, and fronted by
a high semicircular iron railing. The exterior is covered with a
kind of pale red plaister, and the interior resembles the dwelling
of a private man rather than the dwelling of a prince. The upper
apartments command a tolerably extensive prospect over the ad
joining park (which is laid out in the English style), the botanical
gardens, Lazinka, the horse-guard barracks, and a part of the town.
The iron gate is guarded by invalids; and no civilian, without a
military passport, is permitted to pass it. From the house, various
paths diverge, some leading to the city, and others to different places
in the neighbourhood. Around the Belvedere unbroken stillness
prevails. No pedestrian ventures to approach it; even carriages
avoid the principal paths, or turn back when they arrive within
some distance of the house. In the park the nightingale seems to
sing softly and fearfully, and the frogs croak as it were by stealth,
forthe Grand-Duke Constantine dwells in the Belvedere.
I speak of things as they were. The first accounts of the insurrec
tion informed us that all was changed at the Belvedere.
The military character of every thing in Warsaw under the sway
of the Grand-Duke Constantine is thus described by this lively
Writer :

Warsaw and Rome are similar as to extent; and both cities are
surrounded by walls. The one contains the Apollo Belvedere, and
the other the Belvedere monkey. Rome and the Pope are two
inseparable ideas; so are Warsaw and the Grand-Duke Constan
"The following anecdote, by the same author, will explain this allusion:
The monkey was the favourite of the Grand-Duke and the companion of his
idle hours. He was an accomplished virtuoso in the art of grimace, and his
society was indispensable to his master. Yet a monkey may be dangerous;
and an event took place at the Belvedere which proved that the most petted
favourite is not to be trusted. One day Constantine was busy writing in his
own apartment, while his favourite monkey was as usual capering about, play
ing all sorts of tricks, and meddling with every thing. At length he fixed his
eye on a loaded gun, and, snatching it up unperceived, he deliberately took aim
at his master, and was on the point of pulling the trigger. At this moment
the Grand-Duke happened to raise his eyes from the desk, and, though almost
Petrified with alarm, uttered a loud cry, upon which the monkey averted the
Weapon, and discharged its contents in another direction. The report caused
*dreadful consternation in the palace. The individuals in attendance hurried
"the apartment of His Highness, and found him, though still agitated by the
effects of the fright, caressing the monkey, who had thrown the musket on the
*ound, and was apologizing for his misdemeanour by his very best grimaces.
24 DESCRIPTIVE VIEW

tine. The infallibility of the one corresponds with the unlimited

despotism of the other. The clergy form the highest and most
powerful rank in Rome; so do the military at Warsaw. What the
convents are in Rome, the barracks are in the Polish capital. The
general of the Jesuits in Rome, who deals in places and absolution,
is precisely like the generals of corps and divisions in Warsaw.
* * * Another point of resemblance between the military in
Warsaw and the clergy in Rome is, that an officer may know
nothing of military duty, and a priest there nothing of spiritual
duty. As the Pope requires only church worship, so Constantine
requires only camp worship. A general once ventured to solicit the
pardon of a brave officer' who had been guilty of some offence
against regulation. What!' exclaimed the Grand-Duke on the
public parade, he is a brave man, say you ? I want no bravery.
All I want is obedience, and I order you under arrest.
Rome swarms with priests, and Warsaw with officers. In War
saw, the military are regarded with all the fear and awe which are
inspired by the monks of Rome. In the latter city, the rank and
dignity of each individual ecclesiastic, from the cardinal to the lay
brother, is known to every body; in like manner, the inhabitants
of Warsaw know every man in the army, from the general in chief
down to the recruit, and to what regiment each belongs. In Rome,
the ringing of bells is the summons to worship ; in Warsaw it is the
flourishing of drums and trumpets. The clergy in Rome move
within the boundaries of form, without any exercise of mind; so do
the military in Warsaw. The priest feels himself free by absolu
tion; and the officer feels himself restrained by absolutism. In
Rome, a priest crosses himself whenever he passes a church; and
in Warsaw, an officer crosses himself mentally when he passes a
guard-house. The priest goes to church to attend service; the
officer goes from service to the guard-house. The criminal who
flies to the church cannot be arrested; and the officer is not arrested
after he enters the guard-house. Men suspected of political offences
are in Rome, as in Warsaw, incarcerated in convents. The Grand
Duke, like the Pope, grants absolution. The Pope blessesthe
Grand-Duke curses. This parallel might be continued to infinite
length. zy

The following interesting narrative may suffice as a specimen of

the treatment of the people of Warsaw at the period just described:
Some years ago, a soldier deserted from the garrison at War
saw. In such cases, adjutants or commanders of regiments, who
 OF POLAND. 25

are humanely disposed, delay as long as possible mentioning the

affair to the Grand-Duke, with the view of mitigating the punish
ment of the offender, should they succeed in discovering him; but
they dare not postpone their report beyond five days, and at the
expiration of this time the affair must be communicated to His
Highness; and thus it happened in the case of this deserter. The
second week after he had deserted, the man was discovered working
as a labourer in a brewery belonging to a wealthy citizen of Warsaw,
named Zavaczki, who was also a considerable landed proprietor.
On being informed where the deserter had been found, the
Grand-Duke flew into a violent paroxysm of rage, and declared
that Zavaczki had been guilty of harbouring and concealing a de
serter. It would have been vain for any adjutant or general to
have represented that the rich brewer employed perhaps a hundred
men daily, with whose names he was unacquainted, as it was the bu
siness of his clerks to pay them their wages; besides, the fear of the
guard-house was sufficient to deter any one from making such a
representation. The gentleman was immediately ordered under
arrest, and was conducted in chains to the presence of the Grand
Duke, who assailed him, in his usual way, with imprecations and
opprobrious names. Any defence of the innocent man was out of
the question. A single syllable uttered in his behalf would have
been punished as rebellion.
At the parade hour the prisoner was conducted to the Saxon
Square, which was always filled with a crowd of spectators who as
sembled to see the troops perform their exercise. He was condemn
ed to be put in chains, and to hurl a wheelbarrow round the square
formed by the regiments assembled for the parade. Horror-struck
at hearing himself condemned without trial, Zavaczki offered to pay
a fine of two thousand ducats rather than undergo this public and
degrading punishment. But the offer was made in vain In his
despair, the unfortunate man turned to the officer who was to su
perintend the execution of the sentence, and entreated him to con
sider that his son had worn epaulets and orders, and perished in the
field of honour. But this appeal was unavailing. The sentence
was rigidly enforced, and the trembling old man, loaded with chains,
was obliged to hurl the wheelbarrow for the space of one hour
round the square.
Subsequently to this affair, five other persons were sentenced to
a similar punishment. I cannot now call to mind the particulars of
all these cases; but I know that they were carefully remembered
2 D
 26 DESCRIPTIVE VIEW

in Warsaw. After his punishment, Zavaczki was seized with a

dangerous illness; and when he recovered, he disposed of all the
property he posessed in Poland, and left Warsaw. I never ascer
tained where he went.
The suburb called Praga is memorable for the assaults made on
it, in the autumn of 1794, by the Russian army under Suwarrow;
assaults too nearly resembling those on Ismail. Praga was on that
occasion almost totally destroyed, and was long ere it rose from its
ruins. Now, however, it is rebuilding on a neat and even elegant
plan. Of the castles or mansions in the vicinity of Warsaw, one
of the most remarkable is that which was once the residence of
Sobieski, and which is still admired for its beautiful gardens. Two
miles to the west of the town are the village and field of Wola, the
, scene, in former ages, of the assemblage of the national diet.
Of the public establishments of Warsaw, the principal are the
offices of government, which, after 1815, re-assumed a vice-regal
form. The university of Warsaw was founded in 1816, in lieu of
that of Cracow; and it consists of five faculties, having 48 profes
sors, and about 750 students. There are, besides, in this city, four
lyceums; also schools for surgery and drawing, a high school, a
college for the sons of the Catholic nobility, a military academy,
Sunday schools for mechanics, and a girls' school. To these are to
be added, a society of the friends of science generally, and another
for natural history and agriculture; also a public library, a collec
tion of coins and medals, and a society of beneficence. Warsaw has
lost, in the wars of the last and present century, several of its orna
ments; in particular, the public library belonging to the state, and
which was greatly injured in its conveyance, in 1795, to St. Peters
burgh. A collection of paintings, formed by King Stanislaus, was
also removed. -

The Vistula, here near the middle of its course, is navigable to a

great extent upwards as well as downwards. At some seasons,
however, great inconvenience has been experienced from the extent
of its inundations, and the shifting of sand-banks; and embankments,
principally of stone, have been since 1815 raised to restrain its wa
ters. The middle of summer is the most favourable season; and,
during the interval that the channel is full, without overflow, it is
computed that nearly 100 boats or barges, laden with the produce
of the country, namely, corn, spirits, and wine, are daily sent
down its stream. It abounds in fish. Woollen stuffs, soap, to
bacco, and gold and silver wire, are made here; also carriages, har- .
 OF POLAND. 27

ness, and, to a small extent, carpeting. Here are likewise several

wholesale mercantile houses, whose business is the import of arti
cles for the supply of the interior, and the export of Polish produce.
Since 1817, two great annual fairs have been established here, on
the plan of those of Frankfort and Leipzic. They are held in May
and November, each during three weeks. . Warsaw is said to con
tain only six booksellers.
It was in 1566 that the diet was tranferred hither from (Xracow.
In the war with the Swedes, in the middle of the 17th century,
Warsaw was occupied by the invaders, who made it (in 1655) the
depot of the spoils collected in their progress through the country.
When Charles XII. advanced to Warsaw in 1703, it surren
dered without opposition. The chief part of the last century
passed without alarm ; but, in 1793, the Russian garrison that
occupied it were expelled by the Poles, on receiving intelligence
of the success of Koskiusko near Cracow. That leader, when
obliged next year to change the scene of contest, retreated on
Warsaw, and defended it with success against the Prussians during
the summer of 1794, obliging them eventually to raise the siege.
A different fate awaited it on the arrival of Suwarrow. Praga
being taken by assault, and delivered to pillage, the capital sub
mitted without opposition. On the final partition of Poland in
1795, this part of the country fell to the share of Prussia; and
Warsaw had no other rank than that of capital of a province until
the end of 1806, when the overthrow of the power of Prussia led
to the formation, by Buonaparte, of the duchy of Warsaw. Of this
state it continued the capital until the evacuation of Poland by the
French, in January, 1813. Upon the formation of the new king
dom of Poland in 1815, it was constituted its capital, and made
the residence of a viceroy of the Emperor of Russia, and the place
of meeting of the Polish parliament. The other towns of Masovia
are, Matchevis, Cherz, Novigorod, Ostron, Goura, Pullousk, So
chackzon, Warka, &c.
Cracon.This city, now the capital of a republic of the same
name, and anciently of the whole kingdom of Poland, is situated at
the confluence of the Vistula and Rudowa, 128 miles south-south
west of Warsaw, and 264 south of Koningsberg. It is said to have
been founded by Duke Cracus, about the year 700, and is the see
of a bishop, who formerly bore the title of Duke of Sivaria. The
castle, and the wide space covered by the buildings of Cracow, con
vey to a stranger the impression of an extensive city; but the place
D 2
28 DESCRIPTIVE VIEW

is thinly inhabited, the streets crooked, and the pavements wretch

ed. In former times, the population is said to have amounted to
70,000; but, in 1810, it had decreased to 25,736. The richer
classes are principally German Jews. The great square in the
middle of the town is very spacious, and has several well-built
houses, once richly furnished and well inhabited; but most of them
now either untenanted, or in a state of melancholy decay. Many
of the streets are broad and handsome; but almost every building
bears the most striking marks of ruined grandeur. The churches
alone seem to have preserved their original splendour. The devas
tation of this unfortunate town was begun by the Swedes at the
commencement of the last century, when it was besieged and taken
by Charles XII. ; but the mischiefs it suffered from that ravager of
the north were far less destructive than those it experienced during
the dreadful commotions excited by the partition of Poland, when
it underwent repeated sieges, and was alternately in possession of
the Russians and Confederates. The town is surrounded with high
walls of brick, strengthened and surrounded by round and square
towers of whimsical shapes, in the ancient style of fortification.
These walls were built by Venceslaus, king of Bohemia, during the
short period in which he reigned over Poland. Cracow is well
situated for trade, the principal objects of which at this time are,
wood, fish, Hungarian wine, honey, wax, and linen cloth. There
are three suburbs, one of which lies on the opposite bank of the
Vistula. -

The university was founded and endowed by Casimir the Great,

and improved and completed by Ladislaus Jaghellon. It was for
merly, and not unjustly, styled the mother of Polish literature, as
it principally supplied the other seminaries with professors and men
of learning; but it declined after the removal of the seat of go
vernment to Warsaw.

* Here was educated that celebrated philosopher and astronomer, Nicolas

Copernicus, or Zepernick, famous as the restorer of the true system of the world.
He was born on February 19, 1473, near the old gate of Thorn, where his fa
ther was a surgeon. His mother's brother, Lucas Walzelrodt, or Waisselrodt,
to whom he owed all his promotion, was bishop of Ermeland. At Cracow
Copernicus received the academical degree of Doctor of Medicine. During the
prosecution of his medical studies, his mind was constantly directed to mathe
matical subjects; and he went to Italy to receive lessons in astronomy from
Dominic Maria of Ferrara, who speedily discovered his great talents. He soon,
from being the pupil, became the friend and coadjutor of Maria, from some of
whose observations on the variability of the axis of the globe, he is supposed to
 OF POLAND. 29

Towards the southern part of Cracow, near the Vistula, rises a

small eminence or rock, upon the top of which is built the palace,
surrounded with brick walls and old towers, which form a kind of
citadel to the town. It was originally built by Ladislaus Jaghellon,
but has undergone so many dilapidations, repairs, and additions, at
various times, that little of the ancient structure remains. In the
garden is a barrow called the tomb of Esther, the fair Jewess, and

have derived the idea of explaining the celestial phenomena by the motion of
the earth. From Bologna he went to Rome, where he commenced teaching the
mathematics; and such was his reputation, that in 1516, after his return to his
own country, he was consulted by the clergy of Rome, respecting the proposed
reformation of the calendar. His uncle now appointed him to a canonry in
the chapter of Frauenberg, and the inhabitants of his native town nominated
him archdeacon of the church of St. John. He prosecuted his studies princi
pally, however, at the former place, where his residence, on the brow of a hill,
was well adapted for astronomical observations. Here he completed that beau
tiful system of astronomy which bears his name, and which exploded the long
cherished error that the earth was the centre of motion to the sun and the other
planets. Not daring at once to shock the received opinions of the ageopinions
founded on the supposed meaning of the language of scripturethirteen years
elapsed before he ventured openly to publish his system; though, during that
time, he cautiously caused his opinions to be hinted at in various publications.
His book, explanatory of his doctrine, was at last printed in Noremberg in
1543; but this admirable work its author did not live to read. He received a
copy of it, which he saw and touched only a few hours before his death, which
happened at Frauenberg, in consequence of the rupture of a blood-vessel, and
a palsy in his right side, on May 22, 1543, three months and three days after he
had entered the 70th year of his age. His mind had been occasionally directed
to other subjects, besides his favourite one. He was appointed administrator
of the chapter in the bailliage of Allenstein; he took an active part in endea
vouring to procure an uniformity of money in the different provinces of Prussia;
when the bishop happened to be absent, he was entrusted with the charge of his
diocese; and he appears likewise to have employed himself as a civil engi
neer, having constructed a machine for raising water to the hill of Frauenberg.
He continued firmly attached to the church of Rome, in opposition to the doc
trines of the Reformation, then actively promulgated; and, in conjunction with
his brother canons, he signed an edict, the first article of which was directed
against the exertions of Luther. It has excited some surprise, in modern times,
that the church of Rome should view with indifference the philosophical system
of Copernicus; and that, a century afterwards, Galileo should have been per
secuted for holding similar opinions. The most probable solution of the diffi
culty is, that it was the personal imprudence of the latter astronomer which
called down upon him the thunders of the church. Had Galileo been canon of
Ermeland, and Copernicus professor of mathematics at Pisa, religion, it has
been observed, would never have been degraded by the persecution of the philo
sopher, nor science afflicted at the ignominious compromise by which it was
averted,
30 DESCRIPTIVE VIEW

favourite mistress of Casimir. To her influence the Jews are sup

posed to owe their numerous privileges in Poland; but it is more
probable, from the character of that monarch, that the favours grant
ed to them were rather for the purpose of introducing trade and
wealth into his dominions, than to his affection for his mistress.
This palace was the residence of the kings of Poland, who, from the
time of Ladislaus Loketec, were, by express law, all crowned at
Cracow, except the last monarch. Upon that occasion, it was de
cided, that the departure from ancient custom should not be con
sidered as a precedent, but that all future kings of Poland should
continue to solemnize their coronation at this city. How far shall
we look into futurity for the fulfilment of this decision 1
The cathedral stands within the walls of the citadel. It once
contained the crown and regalia of Poland; and in it nearly all the
Polish kings are buried. This, like their coronation, was also pro
vided for by law; and even since the removal of the seat of govern
ment to Warsaw, and when the funeral service was performed at the
latter place, the bodies of the deceased monarchs were removed with
great pomp to this city; the future king being compelled to attend
the funeral of his predecessor, before he could be invested with the
insignia of royalty. Their sepulchres are not distinguished by any
peculiar magnificence: their figures are carved in marble of no ex
traordinary workmanship, and some are without inscription.
In the vicinity of Cracow two large barrows or tumuli are shewn
as the burial-places of Cracus duke of Poland and his daughter
Venda or Wenda, who is said to have drowned herself in the Vis
tula on the death of her lover, with whom she was at war. At
some distance from Cracow, says Mr. Coxe, we noticed the for
tress of Landskron, situated upon a rock, which the Confederates
possessed during the late troubles (1772), and from whence they
made excursions against the Russian and Polish troops in the ser
vice of the king. By a detachment of troops from this fortress, the
citadel of Cracow was taken by surprise; a gallant exploit, which
merits particular notice. The person who shewed us the palace was
himself present, when the Polish troops issued from a subterraneous
passage, and surprised the Russian garrison, consisting of 87 men.
At four in the morning, a party of 76 Confederates, led by Lieute
nant Bytranowski, entered the palace through a common sewer,
without being discovered, surprised the Russians, took them pri
soners almost without resistance, and made themselves masters of
the citadel. One soldier, having escaped by climbing the wall of
 OF POI.A.N.D. 31
the citadel, alarmed the Russians in the town, who, without delay,
attacked the castle, but were repulsed. This event happened on
the 2d of February, 1772. The same evening, De Choisy, in the
service of the Confederates of Landskron, acquainted with the suc
cess of the enterprise, advanced towards Cracow at the head of 800
Confederates (amongst whom were several French officers), and,
after defeating a corps of Russians, entered the citadel. But the
Russian garrison in the town, which before consisted of only 400
men, being reinforced, the Confederates in the citadel sustained a
regular siege: they defended themselves three months with un
daunted spirit, and capitulated upon honourable terms. The sub
terraneous passage through which the 76 Confederates introduced
themselves into the palace, is a drain two feet in height and one in
breadth, opening without the walls, near the Vistula. They en
tered this drain, and crawled upon their hands and knees a consi
derable way, one behind another, until they emerged through a hole
in the walls of the palace.
The republic of Cracow was established by the congress of Vienna
in 1815, its extent being stated at 194 geographical miles, inhabited
at that time by a population of 61,000 souls. This number has
since considerably increased; and Mr. Jacob, who visited this place
in 1825, estimated the territory at 500 English square miles, or
320,000 acres, containing about 100,000 inhabitants. The principal
towns, besides the capital, and Sandomir, noticed hereafter, are,
Lipourec, Ilkuch, Notra, Lublyo, Osmeiczen, Sandeez, Zator,
Bieez, Bochnia, and Wielitska. From 1795 to 1809, it had be
longed to Austria; but, by the peace of Schoenbrunn, it was
united with the grand duehy of Warsaw. A charter of 22 articles
was guaranteed in 1815 by the three powers most interested. The
government of the republic is vested in a senate of twelve, and a
president: nine (including the president) are elected by the depu
ties, the remaining four by the episcopal chapter and the academy.
Persons of landed property paying a contribution of 50 Polish flo
rins, priests, members of the academy, distinguished artists, and
merchants, may elect, or in certain cases become, senators. The
deputies are chiefly elected by the citizens: three prelates and six
magistrates sit there in virtue of their office; three doctors in the
faculties of law, medicine, and divinity, and three senators, are de
puted by their respective bodies. The law declares all citizens to
be equal, and confers on the deputies the power of controlling the
finances and of inspecting public functionaries. All proceedings in
32 DESCRIPTIVE VIEW

the courts are public; the judges are elected partly by the people,
and partly by the senate and representatives; all are independent,
because immoveable.

Sandomir.This town, the capital of the palatinate or province

of the same name, is situated on the Vistula, opposite to the influx
of the San, 75 miles east-by-north of Cracow, and 112 south-by
east of Warsaw. In a remote age it was the residence of the court;
but at present it is a poor place, the houses being built of wood.
The province of Sandomir is bounded on one part by the Vistula,
on another by the Pilica, and the rest of the boundary is formed
by the palatinate of Cracow. Its area is about 4700 square miles,
with 448,000 inhabitants. It abounds in wood, and has several
sandy tracts and marshes, but in general is of great fertility, and
wants only a skilful and efficient cultivation to render it flourishing.
This palatinate has a greater variety of minerals than is common in
Poland. Sandomir was also the name of a palatinate in the old
kingdom of Poland. It was of considerable extent; but, in 1772,
the part to the right of the Vistula was ceded to Austria. It con
tains the towns of Rzemin, Chenzini, and Zarnan.
Lublin.This is a considerable town, seated on the Bystrzna,
95 miles south-east of Warsaw, and capital of the palatinate of the
same name. It contains a citadel, a bishop's see, an university, a
Jewish synagogue, and judicial courts; and has three fairs, fre
quented by merchants from all nations. The population, which has
long been increasing, in 1829 amounted to 13,400. The palatinate
of Lublin contains the towns of Kazimiers, Clotniza, Lysobyki, &c.
With the inhabitants of Lublin, during the 16th century, origi
nated a satirical society, which was ludicrously called The
Commonwealth of Babina. It had its rise, like most other socie
ties, in trivial and accidental circumstances. A set of gentlemen
had agreed to meet at stated periods at Babina, merely for the
purposes of mirth and jollity. In time their numbers increased,
and they formed themselves into a regular government, under the
presidency of a king, senate, and chief magistrates. This was truly
the Court of Comus, where nothing but wit, pleasantry, and good
humour reigned. Magistrates were elected from something which
appeared ridiculous in the character or conduct of any of the mem
bers. For instance, when any of the society proved meddling and
officious, he was immediately created an archbishop ; intimating
possibly, that the clergy chose to make themselves busy in matters.
which did not concern their function. A blundering, or disputa
 OF POLAND. - 33

tious member, was promoted to the speaker's chair; a boaster of his

own courage, and vain-glorious Thraso was honoured with the com
mission of generalissimo, which was presented to him with great
solemnity by the subordinate bravoes. Those who declined the
office for which they were declared qualified, were persecuted with
hissings, and abandoned by the society. Thus every vice, and
every foible, was attacked with ridicule; and Babina became in a
short time the terror, the admiration, and the reformer of the Polish
nation. Genius flourished under the protection of the society; wit
was cultivated, even in this northern clime; and the abuses which
had crept into government and society, were corrected by the judi
cious application of good-humoured satire. Never did any institu
tion of this nature become so general, or so useful; but it at length
degenerated into a set of buffoons, and banterers of every thing
sacred and profane. For several years it was patronized by the
kings of Poland; and Sigismund became a member, the starosta of
Babina telling him, with a sarcastic air, that his majesty had cer
tain qualities which entitled him to the first dignity in the common
wealth. At present not the least vestige of the society remains,
though it was honoured with extraordinary privileges by kings and
emperors. -

Plotsk.Plotsk, Plock, or Plocksko, is situated on the Vistula,

in the midst of orchards, 55 miles west-north-west of Warsaw. It
is a bishop's see, and has also a college of Piarists. The population
is 9200. The palatinate of Plotsk comprises the north and north
west of the kingdom of Poland, and lies entirely to the right of the
Vistula and the Bug, extending from the Russian frontier to the
vicinity of Thorn. Its area is flat, but fertile, and calculated at
about 7400 square miles. It includes the ancient palatinate of this
name, with considerable additional territory; and its entire popu
lation has been estimated at 320,000. It includes the towns of
Lipno, Wisehgrod, &c.
Kaliszk.Kaliszk, Kalisch, or Kalitz, is situated on the Prosna,
57 miles north-east of Breslau. It is surrounded with walls, towers,
and morasses, and contains 12,100 inhabitants. The province of
Kaliszk was also called the palatinate of Gnesen, from the city
of that name.
Gnesen.Gnesen, or Gnesna, is situated 100 miles north-east of
Breslau, and 130 west of Warsaw. It is said to have been built by
Lech I., founder of the monarchy, and called Gnesna from an eagle's
nest found there, denominated in the Slavonic language gniazda.
E.
 34 T) ESCRIPTIVE VIEW

The kings of Poland were crowned in this city, and the regalia
were kept here, till, in the year 1320, they were removed to Cra
cow. During the independent existence of Poland, this city was
famous as the see of an archbishop, who was primate of Poland,
and who acted as interrex or regent upon the king's demise.
Tykocyn.The following description of this place, by a traveller
who visited it in February, 1813, may convey an idea of the ge
neral characteristics of a Polish frontier town. It is situated on the
Narew, which here separates the modern kingdom from Russian Po
land. The country for several miles round is marshy, interrupted
occasionally by sandy hills, sometimes cultivated, but more gene
rally covered with fir and birch trees. Near the town, of course,
there are some spots of cultivation, in the nature and after the
manner of common fields in England. The town consists of one
street and two squares; about 320 wooden huts with chimneys,
and divided generally into two apartments on the ground floor; 30
of one apartment without any chimney; 6 brick houses of one story
and of three or four apartments, occupied by the military com
mandant of the place, the office of the sub-prefect, and one or two
! noble families. There is a large magnificently furnished Catholic
church; an extensive monastery, containing about twenty Domini
can friars, and another building of the same description uninhabited
and partly in ruins; a large synagogue, a small Lutheran chapel,
parish school, vapour bath, Jewish bath, &c., &c. The regular
population consists of about 2300 Jews, 106 Christian laity and
chiefly Germans, and 30 clergy chiefly Poles. Of extraordinary
population there were about 1000 sick of all nations, but chiefly
Russians, in houses or barns set apart as hospitals. In addition to
these, when any Russian troops passed through the town, the
officers were quartered in the houses; but the men and subalterns
lay in the streets or fields.
Posen.Posen, or Posna, the capital of Prussian Poland, and a
bishop's see, stands at the confluence of the Proszna and Wartha,
166 miles west of Warsaw, and 144 east of Berlin. It is a place
of considerable antiquity, having once been the capital of Poland.
The bishopric, the earliest in Poland, was founded in the 10th cen
tury; and, when the Hanseatic confederacy was formed, Posen
became one of its members. It appears that several families from
England and Scotland settled here at a remote date, and part of the
inhabitants still claim their descent from them. Posen is surrounded
with a mound and ditch, and built with regularity. Its public edi
 OF POLAND. 35

fices are, an old cathedral, and council-house, guard-house, and the

building that was the Jesuits college. Here also is a theatre, a
theological seminary, gymnasium, and a school for midwifery. The
manufactures, which are on a small scale, are of linen, leather, and
watches; also fire-arms. The sale and purchase of goods is chiefly
managed by Jews. The principal articles of export are corn, wool, and
timber; the last being sent by water as far as Stettin. At mid
summer, the great fair of Posen is attended by the landholders of
all the adjacent country. As to religion, the majority are Catholics;
but the Protestants and Jews are in considerable numbers, and the
latter occupy a particular quarter of the town, although the inha
bitants do not exceed 20,000. The situation of Posen exposes it to
inundations; and its two suburbs are situated amongst marshes.
The town suffered in the war between Sweden and Poland, between
the years 1708 and 1711, both from fire and pestilence. It fell
under Prussia in 1772. In 1803, the whole of the Jews' quarter
was burned down. In 1806, after the battle of Jena, it was entered
by the French, and afterwards added by Buonaparte to the duchy
of Warsaw; but, in 1815, it was restored to Prussia.
The grand duchy of Posen comprises that part of Poland which
was restored to Prussia by the treaty of Vienna. It is bounded on
the east by the new kingdom of Poland, and on the south and west
by Silesia and Brandenburgh, and is of an oblong form, with a long
projection to the south-east. It is included in the same military
division as Silesia, and is divided into the governments of Posen
and Bromberg. The first of these comprehends the south and
south-west parts of the province, with an area of 6900 square miles
and 545,000 inhabitants, and is divided into the following circles:
Posen, Obernik, Meseritz, Bomst, Fraustadt, Koster, Kraben,
Szrem, Szroda, Krotoszn, Peisern, Adelnau, and Schildberg. The
government of Bromberg contains about 4450 square miles, and
222,000 inhabitants, consisting of Poles, different Christian Ger
mans, and a few Jews. The soil of Posen, like that of Poland
generally, is light; in some places there are tracts of heath, in
others marshes; but very few parts are incapable of cultivation, or
even of yielding a considerable return. The soil of Bromberg is
but indifferent. The duchy is watered by the Netz, the Wartha,
the Obra, the Brahe, and the canal of Bromberg, which is a work
of great importance to this part of the country, being about 28 miles
long, and causes the influence of the vicinity of Germany to be here
considerably felt. Indeed, the duchy of Posen is much less back
E 2
36 DESCRIPTIVE VIEW

ward than the country to the east. In the towns, the number of
Germans is considerable; and various foreign colonists have settled
here at different times. When the intolerance of the Austrian
government compelled a great number to emigrate from Silesia,
this country, from its vicinity, afforded the manufacturers a retreat,
and they introduced here their capital and industry. Ever since
1792 the Prussian government has made efforts to attract foreigners
here, granting them several substantial immunities; and the manu
factures of woollen, linen, leather, and other articles, continue to be
well kept up. The exports consist of these, corn, cattle, tallow,
hides, wool, and the smaller articles of wax, honey, hogs' bristles,
feathers, &c. -

Bromberg.This town stands on the river Brahe, 30 miles

north-west of Thorn, and contains 5000 inhabitants. By means of
the canal above named, it enjoys a small trade. A treaty of peace
was concluded here, in 1657, between the king of Poland and the
elector of Brandenburgh. The other chief towns in the duchy of
Posen are Fraustadt, Lissa, and Ravitz.
Thorn.Thorn is a considerable city of West Prussia, in the
government of Marienwerder, 113 miles west-north-west of War
saw. It is seated on the Vistula, about 90 miles from the mouth
of the river, over which it has a long wooden bridge. It consists
of the Old and New Towns, separated from each other by a wall and
ditch; but as both are surrounded by a mound and moat, Thorn
was formerly considered a place of strength. The population has
been stated at 8000; and the manufactures are woollens, linen,
hats, leather, gloves, starch, and the chief exports corn and wood.
Its best edifices are of old date. The town was begun under the
Teutonic knights in 1231; and, when the government of these
knights became oppressive, Thorn set the first example of throwing
off the yoke, and putting herself as a free town under the protec
tion of Poland. It enjoyed a considerable share of prosperity until
the 18th century; but in 1708 and 1710 it was ravaged by the
plague, and in 1724 occurred a violent dispute between the Catholic
and Protestant inhabitants. In 1793 it was taken possession of by
a Russian garrison. In 1806 it suffered from the invasion of the
French, and remained in their hands until the disastrous retreat
from Moscow.
Dantzic.This city, now the capital of West Prussia, is seated
on a branch of the Vistula, about 5 miles from its mouth, 68 west
south-west of Koningsberg, 30 south-east of Marienburgh, and 235
 OF POLAND. . 37

north-east of Berlin. It is large, beautiful, populous, and rich; its

houses being generally five stories high, and many of its streets
planted with trees. It is traversed by two branches of the Vistula,
and consists properly of three towns, with suburbs called Old and
New Scotland. The latter are well built; and the Scotch have
great privileges here, in consequence, as they affirm, of their gallant
defence of the town, under one of the family of Douglas, when it
was besieged by the Poles. The city is surrounded with ramparts;
but its chief defence consists in the facility of laying the adjacent
country under water. The principal public buildings are the ca
thedral, the church of St. Catherine, the Jesuits college, the town
house, the arsenal, and the court of the nobles. The inhabitants
were once computed to amount to 200,000; but later computations,
and its memorable connexion with the late continental wars have
reduced them to little above 40,000 or 45,000. The prevailing re
ligion is Lutheran. Dantzic has a noble harbour, and is still an
eminent commercial city. Its shipping is numerous; but the num
ber of foreign ships resorting to it is more so. The English, especi
ally when their corn trade is open, send more vessels hither than
any other nation. The value of the exports of Dantzic is, of course,
fluctuating; but 1,500,000 sterling is considered a fair average.
The imports are also extensive.
Dantzic was anciently a republic, claiming a small adjacent ter
ritory, about 40 miles round, under the protection of the king and
republic of Poland. It is principally famous in history as having
been formerly at the head of the Hanse towns. The inhabitants
have often changed masters, and, in 1734, discovered a remarkable
attachment and fidelity to Stanislaus, king of Poland, not only when
his enemies the Russians were at their gates, but even in possession
of the city. After repeated attempts, it was seized by the king of
Prussia in 1793. In 1807, the French entered it after a long siege,
and held it till 1814, when General Rapp, after a protracted blockade,
surrendered it once more to Prussia.
Lemberg.Lemberg, or Leopold, a city of Austrian Poland, once
the capital of Red Russia, and now of Galicia and Lodemeria, stands
on the Pelten, a branch of the Dneister, 156 miles east of Cracow.
It contains, with the suburbs, 29,000 Christian and 15,000 Jewish
inhabitants. Its former ramparts are now converted into streets
and public walks; but it has still two castles. The towers and
cupolas of the cathedral and churches, and the height of the houses,
which are generally of stone, give the town from a distance an air
38 DESCRIPTIVE VIEW

of grandeur. Several of the streets are wide, and the squares spa
cious. The environs contain numerous villas. Here is a high
school, two Jewish schools, and an university, which was removed
from Cracow. Next to Brody, Lemberg is the greatest trading town
of Galicia. Its namkeen and cotton manufactures are also consider
able. The circle has an area of 720 square miles, and a population
of 130,000 souls. It includes the towns of Lesk, Dombronyaz, Che
brechin, Halitz, Premislany, Sniatin, Zboron, and Jaroslany. The
latter place, 55 miles west-north-west of Lemberg, was taken by the
Swedes, after a severe battle, in 1656. In Red Russia are also
included the towns and circles of Chelm and Beltz.
KiofKiev, Kiow, or Kiow, the capital of a province in the
Ukraine, stands on an acclivity on the right bank of the Dneiper,
87 miles east of Zytomiers and 270 north-by-west of Cherson. It
consists properly of three towns, viz. the Old Town, Podol or the
Lower Town, and the fortress of Petscherski. The three parts are
connected by entrenchments; but the last alone is regularly de
fended. There are barracks, magazines, officers' houses, several
churches, and a government house, with public gardens. Below
the monastery, founded in the 11th century, are a number of sub
terraneous vaults, divided into apartments and chapels, in which are
kept a number of corpses in an undecayed state, the relics of saints
and martyrs. In the old town is the residence of a Greek arch
bishop, and a cathedral. Agriculture, and the distilleries of Kiof,
are the chief employments of the town and neighbourhood. Here
is also a gymnasium, and an old-established high-school, which
formerly bore the name of an academy. It was erected into an
university in 1803. This dull town was founded, it is said, in 430,
and was long the capital of the kingdom of Russia. It fell, in
1240, into the hands of the Tartars, and afterwards into those of
the Lithuanians and Poles; but was restored to Russia in the latter
part of the 17th century. The church of St. Sophia, the earliest
Christian church in Russia, has always been an object of great in
terest.

The government of Kiof comprises a part of the Ukraine, and is

bounded by the provinces of Podolia, Volhynia, Minsk, Tschernigov,
and Poltova, from which last it is separated by the Dneiper. As
constituted by the Emperor Paul in 1797, it consisted of a territory
lying on both sides of the Dneiper; but a subsequent arrangement
by the Emperor Alexander has given all the part on the east side
of that river to the government of Tschernigov and Poltova; while
 OF POI, AND. 39

that of Kiof received a large addition out of Poland on the west.

It lies between 28 40' and 33 25' of east long, and 48 30' and
51 50' of north lat., and has a territorial extent of 21,000 square
miles. It is divided into twelve circles, and contains seventy-seven
great and small towns; the principal of which are Kanion, Arool,
Krylon, Achyr, and Pultona. The latter place is celebrated for a
battle between Charles XII. of Sweden and Peter the Great, in
which the former was totally defeated. The surface of this province
is level, and the soil produces abundance of corn for exportation,
and hemp, flax, fruit, and vegetables. It abounds also in pasturage,
and exports a number of cattle and horses, honey, and Polish cochi
neal. The population is scattered, estimated at about 1,000,000;
and the manufactures are few and small. The commerce of the
country is chiefly in the hands of the Jews.
Kaminieck-This city, the capital of Podolia, is situated 85
miles west of Braclaw, and 100 south-east of Lemberg. It con
tains a bishop's see; and its castle, standing on a craggy rock, made
a long resistance in 1793, when the Russians seized this part of
Poland. The province of Podolia, is divided into Upper and Lower,
or Podolia and Braclaw. It is separated from Moldavia on the south
west by the Dneister; and the Bug crosses it from the north in a
south-east direction. The principal towns are Braclan, Bar, Win
nicza, Zbaras, Brailon, Bontory, Chmielnik, and Krasnipol.
Lucko.Lucko, or Loutzk, is a considerable town, the capital of
Volhynia, and a bishop's see, situated on the Ster, 75 miles north
east of Lemberg, and 175 east of Warsaw. It was nearly destroyed
by fire in 1752. The palatinate of Volhynia is about 220 miles in
length by 130 in breadth, and is bounded on the east by Kiof, on the
south by Podolia, on the west by Austrian Poland, and on the north
by Polesia. Its fertile plains are watered by a great number of
rivers. Its principal towns are Olika, Medziboz, Ostrog, Zaslan,
Horszczyk, Bulsk, Wolkomysk, and Wlodzimibrz.
Minsk-This city, the capital of a palatinate of the same name,
is situated 65 miles north-east of Stuez, 80 east-north-east of No
vogrodek, and 100 south-east of Wilna. It has two citadels.
Part of the riches of this province consists of the honey produced
by the bees with which its forests abound. The most remarkable
towns in this district, are Rzeczica, Mozir, and Zembin or Zobin.
At the latter place, on November 28, 1812, the remnant of Buona
parte's army that had crossed the Beresina from Vaselevo, was
attacked by the Russians, from Borisow, and pursued nearly to
Molodegno.
40 DESCRIPTIVE VIEW

The palatinate of Polesia, or Brzeck, contains a city of the latter

name; besides the towns of Kobin, Krusznica, Sniadin, Sporom, and
Pinsk, or Pinsko. The latter place is situated on a river of the same
name, and surrounded with morasses. The Greeks have a bishop,
and there are many Jews among the inhabitants. Its principal
manufacture is dressing of Russian leather.
Mohilev.This city, the capital of a Russian government, is si
tuated on the right bank of the Dneiper, 340 miles east-north-east of
Warsaw, and 364 south of Petersburgh. It is divided into four
quarters, of which the castle, surrounded by an earthen mound, is
the most conspicuous, standing on a rising ground. In the centre
of the town is an octagonal area, surrounded with meat stone build
ings. The government offices and archbishop's palace are also neat
edifices. Here are a Greek and a Latin archbishop; the latter being
the superior of all the Catholics in Russia and Poland. The Je
suits, on the suppression of their order, found an asylum here, and
still retain their college. The population is about 12,500, part of
whom manufacture leather, while others trade with Riga, Memel,
and Dantzic, to which they export the country produce, and receive
in return foreign goods, particularly thrown silk. The number of
Jews is nearly 2000. -

The government of Mohilev is situated to the east of that of

Minsk, lying between 28 50' and 32 40' of east long, and 53 5'
and 55 10' of north lat. Its area is 18,500 square miles, and its
population about 800,000, of whom the majority are Poles. Here
are likewise great numbers of Jews. It has an immense extent of
forests, and marshes, which, however, contain iron ore that might
be turned to good account. The soil is also in general fertile, and
produces rye, barley, oats, maize, hemp, and flax, in abundance.
The principal rivers are the Dneiper, the Druz, and the Sosha; the
largest lake the Sennoje. Timber is conveyed to Riga and the
ports of the Black Sea: the other exports are corn, cattle, leather,
glass, and paper. The manufactures are confined to a few tanneries,
paper-mills, and glass and iron works. The government is divided
into twelve circles, and contains the fortified towns of Orsha and
Kopis.
Wilna.This was formerly the capital of a Lithuanian palatinate,
but now of a Russian province or government. It is situated in a
hilly country, and occupies several eminences near the river Vilna
or Vilia, 400 miles south-south-west of Petersburgh, and 195 east
of Koningsberg. Its circuit is nearly four miles; its population,
 OF POLAND. - 41

amounting in 1788 to 21,000, is now nearly 30,000. Like other

towns in Poland and Russia, it is built chiefly of wood, very defici
ent in cleanliness, and exhibits a'striking contrast of wretchedness
and tawdry magnificence. Wilna is the seat of a Greek metropoli
tan and a Catholic bishop. Its university, established 1570, was
new modelled by the Russian government in 1803. Connected
with the establishment is an observatory and several libraries.
There are in Wilna also a gymnasium or classical school, a seminary
for the education of the Catholic clergy, another for those of the
Greek church, and an institution for youths of good family.
The province of Wilna contains the north part of Lithuania. It
extends from 53 40' to 56 15' of north lat. ; has an area of 2300
square miles, and a population of 1,000,000. The trade, such as it
is, is carried on by the Jews. The principal rivers are the Niemen,
the Vilia, the Pripez, and the Narew ; and the chief towns are
Lida, Breslan, Smorgone, Dory, Oszmiana or Oshmiana, and Molo
degno. At the latter place, on November 29, 1812, the Emperor
Napoleon, surrounded by an escort of officers, left the miserable re
mains of his army, on their retreat from Moscow.
Grodno.This town is the capital of a province and government
on the right bank of the Niemen. It stands partly on a hill, sur
rounded by eminences, 125 miles north-east of Warsaw, and 140
south-east of Koningsberg. It consists of a mixture of wooden huts,
and of houses once the residence of noblemen, but now in ruins.
The population is about 5000, of whom the Jews form about 1500.
In 1673, the Polish diet resolved that a third part of its meetings
should be held at Grodno; but this rule was never strictly observed.
It was the retreat of King Stanislaus during the troubles of 1795,
and the place where he made a final abdication of his crown. Grod
no has an academy, and in the neighbourhood are manufactures of
silk, linen, and fire-arms, established in 1776. The province of
Grodno is fully 11,000 square miles in extent; population about
620,000.
Polotsk.-This city is the capital of a government of the same name,
and is seated on the Dwina, at the junction of the Polota, 126 miles
north-north-west of Mohilef, and 144 east-north-east of Wilna.
In 1812, it was entered by the French; but, on the 17th of August,
they were attacked in the neighbourhood and driven into the town
by the Russians, who retook the place by storm on the 20th of Oc
tober. This government formed part of Lithuania. Its products,
&c., resemble those of Mohilef.
F
42 DESCRIPTIVE VIEW

Witepsk-Vitepsk, or Witepski, stands on the Dwina, at the in

flux of the Viteba, which divides it into two parts. It is 322 miles
south of Petersburgh, and 297 west of Moscow. The population is
stated at 13,000. The town is surrounded by a wall, but made no
regular defence in the campaign of 1812, having been alternately
occupied by the French and Russians. The government of Vitepsk
lies to the east of Courland, and south of Siberia, between long. 26
30 and 31 50' east, and lat. 55 3' and 75 north. Its territorial
extent is about 20,000 square miles, and its population nearly
750,000, partly Poles, Lithuanians, and Lettonians; partly also
Russians, Germans, and Jews. The surface is generally flat.
Hemp and flax are raised; and the pasture being generally good, cat
tle are reared and exported. There is also some traffic in the article
of honey and bees' wax. This province contains several lakes. Its
chief rivers are the Dwina, the Ula, and the Viteba. At Ortza is
a castle situated at the confluence of the Oresa and the Dneiper, 50
miles west of Smolensko.
Charkov.Charkov, or Charkof, is a town and government,
standing on the rivers Charke and Lapan, which divide it into three
parts, 350 miles south-west of Moscow, and 640 south-south-east of
Petersburgh. Here has long been a considerable monastic college,
which, in 1803, was erected into an university; and the town con
tains two churches, two convents, and 11,000 inhabitants. The
houses are mostly of wood, and the place is very ill paved. Four
great yearly fairs are held a Charkov.
Besides the cities and towns above noticed, the following are also
situated in Lithuania;-Novogrodek, Krutzon, Bialmsy, Brodziac,
Bychon, Gieranny, Troki, &c.

CHARACTER, MANNERS, AND CUSTOMS OF THE POLES.

The Poles, being unquestionably descended from Oriental ances

tors, still bear some resemblance to Asiatics, rather than Europeans,
in their features, aspect, customs, dress, and general appearance.
Mascow, a German historian, well versed in the antiquity of nations,
observes, that the manner in which the Poles wear their hair is a
striking token of their origin. As early as the fifth century, some
nations comprehended under the name of Scythians, had the same
customs. Much of the national character of the Poles, however,
has been effaced by their intercourse with the people of other coun
 OF POLAND. 43

tries, and the fashions of their court, which were occasionally Ger
man or French, according as foreign kings, or still more as foreign
queens, presided over its festivities. The manners of the former
country, indeed, were never highly esteemed; but the latter have
always been warmly admired and imitated; and Dr. Granville, in
remarking on the difference between the Russian and Polish cha
racter, says, The Poles are uniformly more merry; they are loud
chatterers, fond of amusement, and as partial to living in the open
air, doing nothing, as the Parisian fainants and the habitus of the
Palais Royal, the Tuilleries, the Boulevards, or the Luxembourg
are; to which class of people I should be temped to compare them,
in many other respects. They also do business differently (from
the Russians); their shops and public places of amusement are
more like those of any other European city further south; and their
mnage, if I am to judge from that of two or three good families,
by whom we were kindly received during our stay, is much nearer
to that of the French than of the Russians. In the boundless
plains and everlasting forests of the country only are the national
peculiarities still retained; though, even in these districts, overrun
or occupied as they have repeatedly been by Russian or French
troops, the intercourse of these foreigners has greatly weakened
the hold of native customs. The partition of the nation has done
more towards this than all other causes combined. The people
of Posen are gradually assimilating with their Prussian fellow
subjects, as are those of Galicia with the Austrians.
Mr. Coxe describes the Poles as a lively people, using much ac
tion in their conversation. In salutation, says he, they com
monly incline the head, and strike the breast with one hand, while
they stretch the other towards the ground; but when a common
person meets a superior, he bows his head almost to the earth, at
the same time waving his hand, with which he touches the leg, near
the heel, of the person to whom he pays his obeisance. The men
of all ranks generally wear whiskers, and shave their heads, leaving
only a circle of hair upon the crown. The summer dress of the
peasants consists of a shirt and drawers of coarse linen, without
shoes or stockings, and round caps or hats. The women of the
lower class wear upon their heads a wrapper of white linen, under
which their hair is braided, and hangs down to the middle. The
dress of the higher orders, both of men and women, is extremely
elegant; that of the gentlemen being a waistcoat without sleeves,
with an upper robe of a different colour, which reaches below the
F 2
44 DESCRIPTIVE VIEW

knee, and is fastened round the waist with a sash or girdle: the
sleeves are in warm weather tied behind the shoulders: in summer
the robe is of silk ; in winter, of cloth, velvet, or stuff: a sabre is
a necessary appendage of the dress as a mark of nobility. They
wear fur caps or bonnets, and buskins of yellow leather, the heel of
which are plated with iron or steel. The dress of the ladies is a
simple polonaise, or long robe, edged with fur. The full military
costume of the nobility is uncommonly splendid.
The origin of the custom of shaving the head, observes Mr.
Dunham, might be connected with religion, but convenience per
petuated it. Long hair, which could be seized by the hands of an
enemy in the heat of battle, often occasioned the destruction of the
wearer. It is more probable that the custom, which has existed
from remote antiquity, has reference to a disease called Plica Po
lonica, and which is considered peculiar to the Poles; though it is
not unfrequent in Hungary, Tartary, and several adjacent nations,
and instances of it are occasionally found in other countries. Mr.
Coxe refers to a treatise on this subject by Dr. Vicat, an ingeni
ous Swiss physician, who says that the Plica proceeds from an
acrid viscous humour, penetrating into the hair; it then exudes
from its sides or extremities, and clots the whole together, either in
separate folds, or in one undistinguished mass. The dilatation of
the hair is sometimes so considerable as to contain globules of blood!
This circumstance, which, however, very rarely happens, has pro
bably given rise to the notion that by cutting off the hair the patient
bleeds to death. The symptoms, more or less violent, according to
the constitution of the patient, or malignity of the disease, are itch
ings, swellings, eruptions, ulcers, intermitting fevers, pains in the
head, langour, lowness of spirits, rheumatism, gout ; sometimes
convulsions, palsy, and madness. These symptoms gradually de
crease as the hair becomes affected. If the head of the patient be
shaved, he relapses into all the dreadful complaints which preceded
the eruption of the Plica, and continues to labour under them until
a fresh growth of hair absorbs the acrid humour. Dr. Connor, an
old traveller, was informed by the bishop of Posen that he was af
flicted with this distemper in his youth ; and that cutting off his
hair, unknown to his friends, he felt a thousand racking pains,
which left him as his hair grew again ; but then the distemper re
turned. He observed also, that on cutting off his hair, he could sen
sibly perceive a volatile matter pass in great abundance through its
tubes, which twisted and contracted the locks; and that when he put
 OF POLAND. 45

a cap on his head, it occasioned an intolerable pain and heat, which

he supposed proceeded from the pressure, forcing back the humours
upon the head. This disorder is thought hereditary, and is proved
to be contagious when in a virulent state.
Many physical causes, says Mr. Coxe, are supposed to con
cur in rendering the Plica more frequent in these regions than in
other parts; but it would be endless to enumerate the various con
jectures with which each person has supported his favourite hypo
thesis: the most probable are those assigned by Dr. Vicat. The
first cause is the nature of the Polish air, which is rendered insa
lubrious by numerous woods and morasses, and occasionally derives
an uncommon keenness, even in the midst of summer, from the
position of the Carpathian mountains; for the southern and south
easterly winds, which usually convey warmth in other regions, are
here chilled in their passage over their snowy summits. The second is
unwholesome water: for although Poland is not deficient in good
springs, yet the common people usually drink that which is taken
indiscriminately from rivers, lakes, and even stagnant pools. The
third cause is the gross inattention of the nation to cleanliness; for
experience shews, that those who are not negligent in their persons
and habitations, are less liable to be afflicted with the Plica. Thus,
persons of higher rank are less subject to this disorder than those of
inferior stations; the inhabitants of large towns than those of small
villages; the free peasants than those in an absolute state of vas
salage; the natives of Poland Proper than those of Lithuania. In
a word, the Plica Polonica appears to be a contagious distemper,
which, like the leprosy, still prevails among a people ignorant in
medicine, and inattentive to check its progress; but it is rarely
known in those countries where due precautions are taken to pre
vent its propagation. Its contagion is probably prevented from
spreading among the Russians by the use of the vapour bath.
The Poles are usually represented as free and open; as prefer
ring to be the dupes of deception rather than deceivers; as directed
by mildness and magnanimity ; as hospitable and warm-hearted;
as strongly inclined to imitate the modes of other people; as fond
of literature, but averse to the mechanical arts; and as still more
fond of pomp. Frederick the Great speaks of the Poles as follows:
Poland is a curious countryfree, with an enslaved population;
a republic, headed by a king; a vast state, almost without inhabi
tants; passionately devoted to war, and carrying it on for centuries
without a regular army; without fortified towns; with no other
46 DESCRIPTIVE VIEW

force than an ardent but undisciplined assembly of nobles; for ever

divided into factions and confederacies, and so enthusiastically at
tached to a liberty without control, that the veto of a single Pole
is deemed sufficient to paralyse the national will. They are brave;
their temper is chivalrous; but they are fickle and inconstant; the
women in that country alone display an astonishing firmness of cha
racter; they have more than masculine resolution. The charge of
fickleness and inconstancy has often been repeated; but it is proba
ble that the evidences of these qualities are but the results of the
enthusiasm and strong feeling which have ever influenced the con
duct of this extraordinary people. The Polish nation remained
attached to the family of Piast from the year 842 to the year 1386,
when they transferred their allegiance, with the female descendant
of that house, to the family of Jagello; and the princes of the latter
dynasty continued to rule over Poland till the extinction of the
male line in Sigismund Augustus in 1572. It was chiefly in after
times, when the crown of Poland became an object of competition
to foreign rulers, that the people, tempted by the offers of rival
candidates, evinced the changeableness so much complained of.
In illustration of the light-heartedness of the Polish character,
tending to make them forget their misfortunes and disasters, and
immediately set about repairing them, a late writer quotes a con
versation, preserved by Minucci, in an account of the journey he un
dertook, in 1659, to negotiate for his master, the Duke of Tuscany,
the succession to the Polish crown. What think you of the coun
try P" enquired the Polish queen of the envoy.What surprises
me most, madam, was the reply, is to see that, notwithstanding
the war which has brought such desolation on the country, I find
fertility on every side: every where do I see the peasants employed
in repairing them.Know, said the queen, that these are
people who complain of the present without remembering the past,
or caring for the future. Whenever the enemy sacks a town and
departs, the inhabitants of that town return the following day to
rebuild it. This you have seen in the case of Wratislaw, which
has been rebuilt in so short a time, and within sight too of the ene
my stationed on the opposite side of the Vistula.
An English traveller, who was, by the stoppage of his passport,
detained nearly four months in Tykocyn during the year 1813,
though deprived of what an Englishman would call every real com
fort, owns himself amply gratified with the unbounded hospitality
and kindest wishes and attentions of the Polish nobility of the neigh
 OF POI.A.N.D. 47

bourhood, and of every class of the inhabitants. He says, I took

up my abode at a Jewish inn, consisting of two apartments, with a
small cellar and a large barn or shed; which last, as is usual in
Poland and Russia, serves as a lodging-house for every description
of domestic animals, as a coach-house, a cart-shed, and on the floor
of which, in any clean corner he may be fortunate enough to pick
up, the traveller generally spreads his bed. The first night I slept
in this barn, as I had done in all the route from Warsaw; but this
being a more frequented inn than any I had met with, I was too
much annoyed with insects of every description and noisome smells
to try it a second time. I then got my bed spread in the corner of
the house, but found this little better: I next tried the cellar, in
which I continued about a fortnight, till I changed my lodgings to
the house of a gardener's widow, a free woman, a sort of noble, in
the outskirts of the town. My Jewish host had a good deal of cus
tom whilst I remained with him, from a desire to converse and
traffic with me; and, before I left the town, he had dignified his
kaback, or public-house, with the title of Pratschdom Angielski, or
Hotel d'Angleterre.
This gentleman, having been introduced to Baron Dombrowski,
sub-prefect of the place, that officer gave a sort of rout in honour of
the stranger. The baron, being a bachelor, lodged in the mansion
of the Countess of Tworkoska, and the rout was given in her house.
This was of brick, and contained two large apartments and a kit
chen en suite. The outer or principal apartment was about 20 by
30 feet, plaistered but nor coloured. The furniture consisted of
three rough red-painted canvas-bottomed fir sofas, used as beds;
two red-painted fir tables, a bureau of stained birch, some fir rush
bottomed chairs, a glass, a print of Bonaparte, some bad prints of ,
saints, and views of St. Paul's, London, and St. Peter's, Rome. The
deal floor was strewed with the leaves of the acorus calamus, or
scented flag, which, when trod on, diffuses an agreeable odour. The
second room was furnished with two inferior bed sofas, a table,
some chairs, and a writing-desk, with trunks and boxes. The
kitchen had a fire-place exactly like our smithies, and was furnish
ed with a number of earthen jars with which they cook. In the
chimney hung ham and dried mushrooms.
About four o'clock, Baron Dombrowski and the Count Zerembi,
an accomplished gentleman, who had travelled the greater part of
Europe with the late King Stanislaus, called on me, and conducted
me to the countess, whom I found sitting in the outer room, to

48 DESCRIPTIVE VIEW

gether with about twelve ladies. I found the countess about

35, rather elegantly formed, but much marked with the small-pox,
fair, indifferently dressed in a coarse Saxon cotton print, six or eight
rings on her fingers, glass imitation pearl beads round her neck, and
her hair hanging loose and uncurled. The other ladies were dressed
in the same general style (except one in silks), but with caps and
straw bonnets of an old French pattern. Three of them were el
derly, the others between 18 and 30. They talked a great deal of
the inconvenience of having one's passport taking away, the Jews,
Jewish coachmen, and England, where they understood the ladies
to be strictly guarded by their husbands. Madam Von Pretorius,
the lady of the postmaster, said her husband had not known an Eng
lishman in Tykocyn during the period of his official services, a space
of about ten years.
Country squires and their ladies now began to arrive, chiefly in
cars and creels, and small one-horse carts of wickerwork ; though
some of the higher classes rode on horseback. Every one saluted
the baron twice, once on each cheek; relations only saluted the
countess at entering, but all the company saluted her at leaving.
Ischey, or Prussian tea, a punch made of tea, rye or oat whiskey, and
sugar, was produced, and drunk at first in cups and saucers, but as
the company became more numerous, in tumblers, or whatever could
be come at. In a short time the large room was crowded, and
tte-a-ttes were held in the back-room, kitchen, and back-yard,
most of the gentlemen standing or walking, but part of the ladies
sitting, numbers in the court or open yard. About seven o'clock,
cold meat, fowls, rye bread, and salted cucumbers, were brought in
and put on a side table; they were carved and eaten without plates,
and with little assistance from knives and forks; every one cut off
a piece and took it between his fingers and thumb, and devoured it
walking; the bones of course were thrown on the floor. A good deal
of laughing, drinking, complimenting, and embracing, took place
in the Polish language and manner; but as all were anxious to
speak to me, when I was addressed, it was in French or German.
I was, according to custom, embraced by the men both at their
entering and leaving, which I found sufficiently disgusting, as did
some French and Italian officers (convalescent prisoners), who seem
ed highly to enjoy the scene. Great attention was paid to them by
the ladies, and even by the men, who at that time were all French
in their hearts.
 OF POLAND. 49

About eight o'clock the company began to break up, full of

good nature, and eager to shew their gratitude to the hospitable
countess; and she now received a profusion of embraces, I may say
on every part of her body. There were two or three embracing her
head and neck, and others embracing her back, sides, shoulders,
and legs, all at the same time. They embraced me only on the
cheeks, which, from the effects of their beards and whiskers, were
sore for some days afterwards. At ten I observed three of the
ladies and most of the remaining gentlemen (about six or eight) in
toxicated. I left them with Baron D. not in a much better state.
We called at his favourite Jewess's, and drank some bad wine; and
I left him there at eleven o'clock, and went to my cellar.
The Polish language is derived from the old Sclavonic ; but it
differs very much from all the other languages having the same
source. In so extensive a tract of country, it may naturally be
supposed there are many different dialects; they all agree, how
ever, says a quaint writer, in multiplying consonants; and if
they did not sound more vowels when they speak than are contain
ed in the words when they write, it would be impossible to utter
them. The Latin is much used in Poland; and the terms of art
are chiefly German. The Austrian and other languages are spoken
on the frontiers; and the Jews have introduced the Hebrew in some
places. The spirit of the Polish national poetry is in unison with
their inextinguishable love of freedom. The Poles have several
celebrated poets, among whom Niemciewitz and Miezkiewitz are
the most distinguished. With regard to the liberty of the press,
it is unnecessary to observe that no such thing exists in Poland,
though guaranteed by the constitution ; and foreign journals are as
strictly prohibited in Poland as in Russia.
The universities are noticed in the preceding account of cities and
towns. In the provinces of the kingdom of Poland there are 11
palatine schools and 14 district ones. In all the kingdom there are
1756 professors or teachers, nearly 30,000 students, and 11,000
female pupils. The students in the universities of Warsaw are
dressed in uniform, and are kept under the most rigid restraint, or,
properly speaking, barrack discipline, the least violation of which is
punished by confinement in the black hole; and their apartments
are even visited, lest they should read forbidden works, old or new.
In the year 1825, one half of the university of Wilna, besides nu
merous youths and young men from distant governments of the
empire, were condemned, some to be sent to Siberia, some to serve
3 G
50 DESCRIPTIVE VIEW

as common soldiers, some to suffer the punishment of the knout, and

some to imprisonment; and all this because a boy chalked on a wall
the words Live the constitution of 1791, thus affording evidence
of an existing conspiracy This overwhelming sentence carried
misery into many of the most distinguished families in the land.
In the system of education adopted in Poland, says Dr. Gran
ville, there is much that is commendable, and some part that is
inexplicable. For the instruction of the upper classes, every thing
has been done that the present state of science and literature in
that country would admit. Even for the numerous children of ar
tisans, Sunday schools have been opened in various parts of the
kingdom ; but with respect to the multitude, provisions, not only
inefficient, but avowedly limited, have alone been made hitherto.
* * * * For the inhabitants of the country, even the
primary schools, as they are called, have been allowed to remain
inactive, by reason of the extreme poverty in which the agricultu
rists are at this moment plunged, and which totally disables them
from contributing to the maintenance of those inferior schools.
In music the Poles have a national melody peculiar to their own
country. What is called a Polonese, or Polacca, in the rest of
Europe, is always in triple time, and resembles our hornpipe in that
measure, except that the close is made on the second note of the
bar instead of the first. The greater part, if not all of the na
tional music of Poland is in this measure, but played faster for
dancing than singing. The national dance of the Poles is called
Mazurka, from Masovia, of which province it was the war dance.
The Poles have been invariably divided into four classes, viz.,
the nobles, the clergy, the burghers or citizens, and the peasants.
The Jews, also, from their numbers and important avocations, merit
a peculiar notice in treating on the state of society in this country.
The nobility of Poland have some characteristics which distin
guish them from those of any other part of Europe. In the early
stages of the republic, there were but two great distinctive classes,
the nobles and the serfs. The former were composed of those
whose rank was lost in the obscurity of ages, and of others who had
progressively acquired similar privileges. Every man who distin
guished himself in the service of his country, all the clergy, all
public functionaries and their families, obtained, at first by usage,
and latterly by law, the privileges of nobility and grants of land;
and the extent of the grant did not affect the extent of privilege;
for, according to a Polish stanza
 of Pol.A.N.D. 51
-

Salachiec na zagrodzic
Rowny woyewodzic.

Or, in English, A gentleman with an acre is equal to a palatine.'

Once admitted within the pale of nobility, every honour of the state,
and even the kingly office, was open, there being a perfect equality
of civil rights. By the laws of Poland, a noble is a person who
possesses a freehold estate, or who can prove his descent from an
cestors formerly possessing a freehold, following no trade or com
merce, and at liberty to choose the place of his habitation; so that
this description includes all persons above burghers and peasants.
Among the feudal duties that devolved upon them, the most con
spicuous was the defence of the country; and they formed the na
tional cavalry (Kawalerya Naradowa), consisting of several adult
males from each family. They carry the idea of their chivalric
dignity to a high pitch, and pride themselves that the best pledge
in the world is the word of a noble. By the former laws of the
country, no noble, however poor, could, without degradation, re
sort to trade, though they often served their richer neighbours in
menial capacities. The ladies of rank have formerly, as well as on
recent occasions, evinced the most romantic enthusiasm in the cause
of their national independence. At least 60,000 families belong to
this class, of which, however, only about 100 are wealthy ; all the
rest are poor.
The Polish nobility have long cultivated a high taste for litera
ture. After their primitive barbarism had become ameliorated by
the refinements introduced by commerce, instruction flourished in
an unprecedented manner. As early as the time of Sigismund I.,
few gentlemen were to be found who were not conversant with three
or four languages; and Latin was universally spoken, being as much
the language of the court and of diplomacy as French is at the pre
sent day. When the Polish deputation arrived at Paris, in 1573,
to offer the crown to Henry de Valois, duke of Anjou, what most
astonished the French, says De Thou, was the facility with which
they expressed themselves in Latin, French, German, and Italian.
These four languages were as familiar to them as their native
tongue. To conceal the ignorance and uphold the honour of the
French nobility, the only two of them who understood Latin were
brought from their estates in the country to converse with the
strangers. De Thou continues, They (the Poles) spoke our lan
guage with so much purity, that they might have been taken for
G 2
52 DESCRIPTIVE VIEW

men educated on the banks of the Seine or the Loire, rather than in
countries watered by the Vistula and the Dneiper. Our courtiers,
who know nothing, and who are declared enemies of every thing
called learning, were sadly humbled; when spoken to, they could
only blush, or answer by signs.
It is difficult to decide whether the policy of the Russian govern
ment towards this class is characterized most by tyranny or impru
dence. They were called upon, a few years ago, throughout the
incorporated provinces, to verify their titles, or, in other words, to
produce their patents. It is possible that this was done to humble
a proud and unbending nobility; but, if such were the object, it was
abortive. To comply with such a requisition was obviously imprac
ticable, as many of the documents were lost in the obscurity of time;
and the only titles that could be presented were those of uninter
rupted possession for centuries. All, however, who could not fur
nish the required testimonials, had their names inscribed in the book
of the peasantry; that is, to be more precise, they were declared to
be peasants, which, in the Russian provinces, was equivalent to
being slaves; and a slave in Russia is the most abject of created
beings, liable to be sold, to blows, and to every violence that caprice,
unrestrained by law, can inflict. Thousands of families in these
provinces were thus reduced to slavery. Such a proceeding not
merely roused the indignation of the actual sufferers, but was re
garded as a direct insult to every nobleman in the country.
The clergy of Poland, under Micislaus I., who embraced Chris
tianity in 965, obtained several immunities and estates. The arch
bishop of Gnesna was primate, the first senator in rank, and viceroy
during an interregnum. The ecclesiastics were all freemen, and in
some instances had their courts of justice, in which the canon law
was administered. In most civil offices the clergy were amenable
to the ordinary courts. By the marriage of Hedwig (the grand
daughter of Casimir the Great, the last of the much-honoured race
of Piast) with Jagello, Grand-Duke of Lithuania, in 1386, the con
version of his country from Pagan superstition was effected. Po
land, therefore, boasts of being the cradle of true religion, and of
consequent civilization in the north. At an early period of the
Reformation, Protestantism had become very popular; but the con
troversies into which it had plunged the principal people rendered it
distasteful; and, as it also was naturally associated with the preten
sions of Prussia, the majority of the large body professing the re
formed religion gradually reverted to the faith which was deemed
 OF POLAND. 53

more strictly national. While this revolution was silently operating,

the pretensions of Russia became associated with the Greek ritual;
and, imperceptibly, the patriotism of the Pole identified itself with
his creed. These prepossessions have been naturally enough con
firmed by all the acts of aggression on the part of Prussia and
Russia, terminating in the infamous partitions of 1772 and 1793.
It is a subject of peculiar exultation among this enthusiastic
people, says a late writer, that their clergy have generally been
learned and enlightened; never persecuting, but uniformly tolerant;
and that at a time when science was every where enveloped in the
mists of prejudice and ignorance, their cloisters contained a virtu
ous and daring observer of nature, whose genius, superior to the
trammels of the age, developed the true system of the world, which
was afterwards established upon sure grounds by the immortal
Newton. Poland, with justice, boasts of her Copernicus, as well
as the tolerant spirit of her church, which fostered so daring a
mind.

These circumstances have very naturally endeared Catholicism

to this chivalrous and enthusiastic people; it is regarded, with filial
piety, as the living spring of grace and good will upon earth, and
of happiness hereafter. We should imagine that ordinary reflection
would have induced even the most rash of those who had acquired
possession of Poland by means that cannot be vindicated, to have
propitiated so influential a body as the priesthood: such, however,
was not the course pursued by the Russian government, which acted
as if moral influences were as nought in opposition to the knout.
In pursuance of this extraordinary errorof this unpardonable ig
norance of the springs of human actionthe Catholic religion was
only permitted to the nobility in the incorporated provinces; the
peasantry were called upon, on peril of personal chastisement, to
conform to the Greek ritual. These, naturally devout and especially
attached to their spiritual pastors, deprived of the means of perform
ing their own religious rites, did not conform with those that their
conquerors vainly attempted to impose upon them, and were thus
left without religion. Every act of the authorities relative to reli
gion also pressed sorely on the wounded priesthood, increased their
alienation, and, as a necessary consequence, wherever their influence
reached, it was directly opposed to Russian power.
Among other proceedings of the authorities, one is recorded
which is strongly characteristic of the short-sighted policy by which
the imperial councils were directed. It is well known to every
54 DESCRIPTIVE VIEW

person at all acquainted with the dogmas of the Catholic church,

that, at certain periods, jubilees are declared by the Pope, and, du
ring these jubilees, the performance of certain duties imposed by
the clergy is fondly imagined to atone for certain sins, which are
thereby expiated. It is not our business, in this place, to discuss
the accuracy or inaccuracy of this doctrine; but, such as it is, it
obtains credit in Poland; and it is further believed, that certain
spiritual penalties are attached to the non-observance of the rules
of the church. One of these jubilees occurred during one of the
persecutions to which we have formerly alluded; some individuals
were desirous of receiving the consolations of religion from their
clergy. This was refused even to priests; and, as the refusal was
supposed to arise from the desire of insuring the eternal damnation
of men already weighed down by earthly sufferings, a deeper feel
ing of detestation was roused, even than that which had formerly
existed; and the very means used by the oppressor to rivet their
chains, were most powerful in breaking them. At the period of
the revolution, the clergy were to a man opposed to Russian domi
nation, and have since employed their prodigious influence in pro
moting its subversion.
In the modern kingdom of Poland, the Catholic religion was os
tensibly said to be taken into the special protection of the govern
ment, without infringing, however, on the public freedom of other
forms of worship, and on the equality of individuals of every com
munion in the enjoyment of civil rights. The Catholic hierarchy
consists of the archbishop of Warsaw, primate of the kingdom, and
eight bishops, one for each palatinate. In 1830, there were 1638
parish churches, 117 auxiliary ones, 6 colleges, 11 seminaries, 151
male convents, and 29 female. In 1819, Pope Pius VII. sup
pressed by a bull 31 male convents and 13 female. The number of
the clergy of the Latin Catholic church is 2740. The Greek Ca
tholics have a bishop at Chelm, 287 parish churches, one seminary,
and five male convents. Their priests amount to 354. There are,
besides, six churches of the Russo-Greek communion under the
jurisdiction of the bishop of Minsk, 29 Lutheran and 9 Calvinist
churches, having their respective consistories, 2 of the sect of Phi
Jippines, 274 synagogues, and 2 Mahometan mosques with their
imams |

The burghers, or merchants, manufacturers, shop-keepers, and

other inhabitants of towns, do not form so distinct a class from the
nobility as in other feudal countries. The facility of being raised
 OF POIANI). 55

from this class to rank amongst the higher, has tended to this effect;
and the idea of degradation from the honourable exertion of industry
is wearing away amongst the nobility. If there be any marked line
of distinction between the commercial classes, it only exists be
tween natives and foreigners; the latter, being less known, do not
hold the same rank in public estimation as their native rivals.
Hence, though intermarriages among the nobility and the opulent
commercial families are common, they rarely take place between
foreign traders and females of rank. The same keen sense of op
pression that prevails amongst the highest classes of the Poles, is
paramount among their commercial countrymen, and displays itself
in the most active exertions. The students, who so especially dis
tinguished themselves in the late revolution, principally belong to this
class, and their patriotic enthusiasm may be considered a fair spe
cimen of the prevalent feeling. Connected with this subject, it is a
curious fact that, from abhorrence of the Russians, the whole of the
manufactures of Poland are to the south of the Vistula. It may be
here stated, with regard to the students, that their moderation, even
during the first burst of the insurrection, is highly praiseworthy.
They protected such of their misguided countrymen as had fought
against liberty; they suppressed clubs, to prevent the imputation
of any imitation of Jacobin France; and one of their number having
published a very exaggerated appeal to the passions of the people,
his name was erased from the list of their body, and it was announced
in an order of the day. So admirable, indeed, was the conduct of
these youths, that, during this most eventful period, they were en
trusted with the police duty of maintaining order.
The peasants of Poland, as in all feudal countries, were serfs, or
slaves; and the value of an estate was not estimated from its extent,
but from the number of the peasants, who were transferred, like
cattle, from one master to another. Progressive ameliorations,
however, took place during the time of national existence. The
first noble who granted freedom to his peasants was Zamoiski, for
merly grand chancellor, who in 1760 enfranchised six villages in the
palatinate of Masovia, and who found the benefit of this measure in
the increase of their population and revenues. His example was
afterwards followed by others with similar success; and the plan of
giving liberty to the peasants was warmly patronized by Prince
Stanislaus, the king's nephew. At length, by a proclamation of the
3d of May, 1792, they were declared to be free. This, during the
existence of the grand duchy of Warsaw, and the more recent king
56 DESCRIPTIVE VIEW

dom of Poland, has been fully acted upon; the peasantry living on
the estates of the great landlords, each family having a cottage and
a limited extent of land, on condition of performing certain labour
(see page 15). They may remove themselves by giving up their
tenements. Several proprietors have adopted the system of free
labour and wages. With the exception of the incorporated provinces,
the condition of the peasantry, and their general character, may be
considered to be identical throughout the whole of the ancient do
minions of Poland, whether belonging to Russia, Austria, or Prus
sia. They are fine, well-built men, bearing in their exterior strong
marks of an independence of character beyond their condition ;
industrious, attached to their native places and to their lords with
all the ardour that formerly characterized our Highlanders; hardy
and dexterous in the use of the hatchet and scythe, they readily
became formidable soldiers. Mr. Jacob and other writers, however,
assert that they are addicted to drunkenness. The women are
handsome, religious, and scrupulously virtuous. The personal honesty
of both sexes is very remarkableso much so that robbery is unheard
of. Even when, during the recent struggles, the military chest
of the Russian army was captured by them, they immediately gave
it up, on being told it was public property. The patriotism of these
untaught men is perhaps unrivalled in the history of the world:
they actually offered to pay their taxes generally throughout the
kingdom in advance, that the public service might be unimpeded.
Their splendid valour is beyond all praise, and is immortalised in
characters of blood in the names of Praga, Zamosc, and Ostrolenka.
Even at Cracow, where the oppression of a Russian garrison was
unknown, the peasantry volunteered to join the insurrectionary
forces, and were restrained with the utmost difficulty by the pru
dential councils of the Dictator Chlopicki.
The Jen's, according to their own traditions, have been settled in
Poland from a remote period. The first historic account of them is
during the 10th century, when considerable numbers removed into
this country from various parts of Germany and Bohemia. Bolis
laus II. granted them a charter in 1264, which was renewed and
amplified by Casimir the Great, through the influence, as has been
asserted, of his Jewish mistress Esther. Nearly all the trade of
the nation was very soon in their hands, and Poland acquired the
title of The Paradise of the Jews. Though suffering occasional
persecution, their wealth, (towards the acquisition of which all their
exertions have here, as in other countries, been directed) caused
 OF POLAND. 57

them to be tolerated as necessary evils. Sober, economical, and in

dustrious, they would have possessed all the qualities essential in a
mercantile country, had their character been free from the tarnish
of craftiness, a want of good faith, and the trickery employed in
their transactions. They are said to contrive always to fail when
their children are full grown, and previously to consign their pro
perty to them, to the prejudice of their creditors. Nothing can
more fully illustrate their exceptionable mode of dealing, than the
fact, that by the Polish laws they have at all times been forbidden
to keep wine shops, to sell brandy, or to traffic with the peasantry,
lest they should not only impoverish, but corrupt that thoughtless
class. Subsequently, they were prohibited from dealing in horses.
Still, by dealing in contraband articles, and by lending money to
the improvident nobility on usurious interest, they contrived to
amass immense riches; and in 1540 they boasted that, while the
Christians could number only 600 dealers, they had 3200; and that
they gave employment to near 10,000 mechanics, artisans, and
manufacturers.

The numerical increase of the Jews has always surprised and

alarmed the Poles. In the time of Sigismund Augustus, they were
supposed to amount to 200,000; and he subjected them to a capita
tion tax of a florin per head. His surprise, and that of his court,
says Mr. Dunham, were extreme, on finding that the roll did not
contain 17,000 names, though both sexes, old and young, were in
cluded. Of course, not one-tenth of their actual number had been
given in by the Israelites, who have always entertained a particular
aversion to such a census. Sigismund complained of this to his in
timate friend, the bishop of Cracow, a prelate famous for a tolerant
spirit, andin that age a more remarkable proof of understanding
for an utter disbelief in magic. Bishop,' said the king, you who
do not believe that the devil has anything to do with human affairs,
and who have no faith in witchcraft, tell me, I beseech you, how
the Jews, who yesterday were 200,000, have been able to conceal
themselves under ground, so as to reckon scarcely 17,000 to-day,
when the capitation tax is wanted.Your majesty must be aware,
replied the prelate, that the Jews do not want the devil's help to
become wizards.

Of the Jewish females, Harro, after paying a just tribute to the

charms of the Polish ladies, says, But the beauty of the Jewesses
is of a more exalted character. The events of thousands of years
seem to be recorded in their soul-beaming countenances, where a
H
58 T)FSCRIPTIVE VIEW

spirit testifies more for the divinity than do Moses and the pro
phets. It is worth all the misery of a journey to Poland to behold
such faces; they deserve to be stored in the memory as a portion of
the pure, beautiful, and sublime of this world.......Dignity, feeling,
tender melancholy, and not unfrequently deep-seated sorrow is ex
pressed in the features of the fair daughters of Israel. This writer
adds that their faithful adherence to their national costume serves
to heighten their natural attractions. The pearl bands, worn as
head ornaments by the Polish Jewesses, are so peculiar that it is
almost impossible to convey a correct idea of them by mere descrip
tion. These bands are seen only in Poland, and their form ob
viously denotes their ancient and oriental origin. They consist of
strings of pearls intermingled with gold, forming altogether an ela
borate piece of architecture, whose construction it is not easy to
describe without the aid of a plan or a sketch. A Jewess of the
higher class, adorned with her pearl hair band and gold neck chain
(from which is frequently suspended an ancient gold coin), is an
object of no common interest.
From Dr. Rodecki's statistical tables, published at Warsaw in
1830, it appears that there are Jews in almost every town of the
kingdom of Poland; that in 14 of these, their number is equal to
that of the Christians, while in 114 it is greater: in three, the in
habitants are either all Jews, or almost entirely so. In Warsaw
alone they muster 30,000. Their number is fast increasing. They
monopolize almost all trade, to the exclusion of the Christian popu
lation. The government has endeavoured to check this evil, but
with little success; and with this view Professor Chiarini has been
employed in translating the Thalmud, and in laying down a plan of
reform for that singular people.
Among such a race, devoted patriotism can scarcely be expected.
At various periods of Polish history, their riches alone have saved
them from the punishment due to their treachery. Those who were
employed as spies by the French and Polish armies in 1806 and
1812, are charged, probably with justice, with having served the
Russians more effectually; and some disasters in the last fearful
contest are laid to the same account. Still, even amongst the Jews,
Russian oppression has created, if not a real patriotism, at least a
counterfeit, admirably concurring in the common object. By an
ukase, published by the Emperor Nicholas, Jewish male children
above ten years of age are obliged to be entered as sailors; and in
stances of individual oppression might be multiplied almost to infi
 OF POLAND. 59

nity. Ridiculous casuistry was often used to justify the grossest

acts of injustice. Thus, near Hrobieszow, a Jew met a Cossack in
the forest; the latter robbed him of his horse. On returning to
the town, he lodged a complaint with the major in command, who
was (with what truth we shall see) reputed to be a most rigorous
disciplinarian. The Cossacks were paraded, the robber was pointed
out, when with the utmost effrontery he declared that he had found
the horse. How ! replied the Jew, I was on his back."
Yes, retorted the Cossack, I found you too; but having no use
for a Jew, I did not keep you. The excuse was deemed sufficient,
and the Jew lost his steed.
To punish a Jew with five blows of a stick, is considered by fa
natics a memorial of the five wounds which our Saviour received
from the Jews of old. Amongst other instances of cruelty, the
following account of a Polish florin's worth of Russian beating
is given by Harring Harro:A Jew pedlar had contrived to be
smuggled into an apartment in the Lazaretto of Uyazdov, occupied
by seven Russian officers. I asked the price of a pair of scissors,
and Baron R asked the price of a comb. The Jew, according
to custom, demanded twice their value. Dog! villain! exclaimed
the baron, do you think we are fools? I will make you remember
this. Alexiyeff! here is a florin for you. Give this fellow a thrash
ing, and drive him down stairs' Alexiyeff, a robust looking inva
lid, who was in attendance on the officers, on receiving this com
mand, replied, Slushey Hospodin Karnet!' (I obey, my lord) and
pulled the Jew out at the door.
After the lapse of a quarter of an hour, I took leave of my
friends, and was returning to my own apartment, when to my sur
prize I saw the Jew lying on the stairs with a broken head, and
bathed in blood. The boards were soaked with Eau de Cologne
and Oil of Roses, and all his wares lay scattered beside him. It
was really a melancholy sight. I hastened back to the baron who
had ordered this act of cruelty, and brought him to witness the
scene. He beheld it with deep regret: for he was at bottom a good
hearted young man. He had not expected that his commands would
be so literally obeyed, and he reprimanded Alexiyeff, whilst I en
deavoured to collect the remnants of the poor Jew's scattered stock.
Alexiyeff declared that as he had been desired to beat the Jew for
a Polish florin, he had punctually and conscientiously executed the
command, except that from a feeling of compassion he had kicked
him only half-way down the stairs. He added that if the baron
H 2
60 DEscRIPTIVE v1Ew

had given him only ten Polish groats, he should have dealt out
his blows more moderately. But, said he, after all, what does
it signify P. He is only a Jew. The poor Israelite, who was a
meagre old man, understood but little of this Russian explanation :
and, without even begging for a trifle by way of compensation for his
loss, he crept silently away. Whether my friend the baron subse
quently sent him a few roubles, I know not; but I hope he did.
It is but justice to the seed of Abraham to observe, that, in 1794,
they raised and supported a regiment of their own nation in defence
of Polish independence; and that, during the last conflict, two re
giments of Jews swelled the armies of the republic. The Polish
Jews acknowledge one universal head, whom they call the Prince
of Bondage, and who constantly leads a wandering life in western
Asia. He is evidently waiting the redemption of his people.

TRADE, MANUFACTURES, REVENUE, ARMY, ETC.

The navigable rivers of Poland present considerable facilities for

commerce; but many causes have tended to suppress its spirit.
The pride of the nobility, the poverty of the burghers, and the de
graded state of the peasantry, all combined to throw the trade of
the nation czclusively into the hands of the Jews. The chief ex
ports are all species of grain, hemp, flax, cattle, masts, planks, tim
ber for ship-building, pitch and tar, honey, wax, tallow, potash,
and leather: the imports are foreign wines, cloths, stuffs, manufac
tured silks and cotton, fine linen, hardware, tin, copper, silver and
gold, glass ware, and furs.
The trade in corn has for some years laboured under considerable
difficulties. Much of the grain raised in the republic of Cracow
and in Sandomir is conveyed into Prussia; while, on the other
hand, great exertions have been made by Russia, by means of ca
mals, &c., to divert the shipment of corn from the eastern districts
towards the port of Riga. The main export, however, still conti
nues to be down the Vistula, which, intersecting the kingdom of
Poland, presents the most favourable means for that purpose. Long
barges are employed for conveying the corn down the river, on the
banks of which are situated granaries for its reception. The fol
lowing official tables shew the number of quarters of grain shipped
down the Vistula, through the city of Thorn, from the Russian,
Austrian, and Polish dominions, to Dantzick and Elbing, from the
year 1816 to 1825:
 OF POLAND. 61

RUSSIA,

Wheat. Rye. Barley. Peas. Oats.

1816 62,221 115 252 ---

1817 81,733 51,267 1,535 -- 535

1818 100,750 22,281 1,744 4 271
1819 139,325 51,566 1,306 378 17,656
1820 122,860 37,611 717 599 3,819
1821 31,277 15,541 850 291 2,027
1822 14,013 --- --- 8
1823 20,684 5 --- --- 17
1824 25,137 1,367 62 --- 25
1825 13,352 1,471 309 137

611,352 181,224 6,775 1,409 24,358

AUSTRIA.

Wheat. Rye. Barley. Peas. Oats.

1816 2,048 - - - 12 - - -

1817 2,108 3,526 1,143 186

1818 3,895 51 51 - - - 23
1819 1,841 1,695 101 107 669
l820 3,305 804 58 188 104
1821 1,057 305 70 48 88
1822 646 - - - --- - - -

1823 1,976 - - - 67 581

1824 8,278 8 - - - - - - 17
1825 240 l

25,394 6,389 1,502 344 1,668

POLAND.

Wheat. Rye. Barley. Peas. Oats.

1816 60,173 3,856 264 4 58
1817 111,542 66,418 2,687 I3 721
1818 143,395 44,663 3,590 I2 5,472
1819 141,166 53,261 1,734 482 18,326
1820 126,164 38,415 775 932 3,922
1821 32,335 15,846 920 339 2,115
1822 16,328 5,185 64 12 1,267
1823 34,934 5,108 7 4 384
1824 93,968 4,009 65 - - - 17
1825 176,215 7,528 487 496 27

936,220 244,289 10,593 2,294 32,309

62 DESCRIPTIVE VIEW

In the kingdom of Poland, the manufactures of woollen cloth,

linen, carpets, and leather, have thriven since the peace of 1815.
At that period there were hardly 100 looms for coarse woollen
cloths, whereas there are now above 6000, which supply the whole
kingdom, including the army. More than 10,000 families of foreign
workmen, chiefly Germans and Swiss, have expatriated to Poland,
where they have built new towns, and peopled districts formerly
deserted. There are numerous distilleries of spirits, and the brew
ing trade is also very extensive: they brew porter and ale equal to
those of England. The monopoly of the latter article, however,
with that of vodki or brandy, is purchased of the government for
four millions; and for every head of cattle which comes to the
slaughter-house, a tax of 24 Polish florins is paid. Salt is also a
government article; and the tobacco monopoly is purchased for some
millions.
As the Poles formerly drew from foreign countries the greater
part of the manufactured goods necessary for home consumption,
the specie exported exceeded the imported more than 20,000,000
Polish florins. The balance of trade between the kingdom of Po
land and the neighbouring states in 1827 stood as follows:

Florins.
Imports from Russia, - - 11,079,683
Exports to ditto, - - - 14,548,522

Imports from Prussia, - - 20,318,433

Exports to ditto, - - - 15,544,730

Imports from Austria, - - 8,527,480

Exports to ditto, - - - 91,967

Imports from the republic of Cracow, - 748,857

Exports to ditto, - - - 2,880,265

In 1768, the annual revenue of Poland amounted to 10,748,245

florins, whilst its expenses were 17,050,000. The revenues of
Lithuania produced 3,646,628, and its expenses amounted to
6,478,142. In order to supply these deficiencies, it became neces

* The Polish florin is about sixpence sterling. It is divided into thirty

groschet.
 OF POLAND. 63

sary to new-model and increase the taxes, the principal of which

were a poll-tax of 4 florins on each Jew, male and female, infants
and adults; a fourth of the starosties, or fiefs of the crown; the ex
cise of beer, mead, and spirituous liquors, distilled from corn; the
monopoly of tobacco; and the tax upon chimneys. The amount of
these several imposts, according to Mr. Coxe, was 11,628,461
florins. The Warsaw budget of 1827 consisted as follows:
Receipts.
Florins.

Direct taxes, - - - 17,646,652

Indirect ditto, - - - 40,685,630
Income of national lands and forests, - 7,048,265
Income from tolls and rates on bridges, roads, &c., 3,769,955
Receipt from mines, mint, prisoners' labour, &c., 2,837,600

71,988,102
Eapenses.
Civil list, reduced, in 1822, from 2,324,705 to 1,508,150
Viceroy, senate, council of state, 924,609
- -

Ministry of public instruction and religious worship, 3,831,821

Ditto of justice, - - 2,528,301 -

Ditto of interior or home department, 3,178,909 -

Ditto of war, - - - - 30,927,795

Ditto of finances, - - - - 5,155,936
Secretaryship of state, a- - - 223,000
Superior central authorities, 944,965
- -

Commissions of administration in the palatinates, 3,666,526

Pensions, repairs of roads, public buildings, 11,422,007
Extraordinaries, - - - - 1,866,410
Charges on separate administrations, - 2,837,600

69,016,030

The mode of punishment for atrocious crimes in Poland was

beheading or hanging; lesser delinquencies were punished by whip
ping, hard labour, and imprisonment. The nobles never suffered
any corporal punishment, but were liable only to imprisonment and
death. Torture was abolished in 1776, by an edict of the diet, in
troduced by the influence of the king; a regulation which evinces
his judgment no less than his benevolence. In all the chief towns
 64 DESCRIPTIVE VIEW

of the kingdom of Poland there are civil and criminal courts, be

sides commissions of peace in every district. The two courts of
appeal and the supreme court assemble at Warsaw. The senate
takes cognizance of offences against the state; there are also a court
of commerce and a territorial court.
At the post-office, all the clerks of which wear the Russian uni
form, no letter is permitted to be delivered or forwarded to its ad
dress, until it has been opened and read. To secure the full and
complete execution of this order, there is attached to each post-office
a number of readers, conformable to the extent of the correspond
ence of which it usually is the medium. If the dexterity of the
seal-breaker should fail to perform the operation neatly, or if a cover
should be torn in opening it, the whole letter is then thrown aside.
As a part of the same system, it is stated that there were in War
saw, previous to the late contest, several hundreds of Russian spies,
and throughout the whole of Poland some thousands were main
tained. They were of all descriptions, from the apparent gentleman
down to the lowest ruffian; and in every company one at least was
fastened like a poisonous excrescence. Thus, in no social circle, in
no family party, could it be certain that some betrayer had not in
sinuated himself under the mask of friendship.
The last king of Poland had a corps of near 1000 troops in his
own pay, consisting chiefly of Ulans, or light horse, who furnished
the royal escort. These Ulans were mostly Tartars, many of them
Mahometans, and distinguished for their fidelity. The corps was
composed of gentlemen and vassals, who all formed in squadron
together, but were differently armed: they indiscriminately carried
both sabres and pistols, but the gentlemen only bore lances of about
ten feet long, to the ends of which were fastened long swallow-tailed
flags of black and red cloth, instead of which the others were armed
with carbines. Their dress was a high fur cap, a green and red
jacket, pantaloons of the same colour, which covered the boot as low
as the ancle, and a petticoat of white cloth descending to the knee.
Their heads were all shaved after the Polish manner. The armies
of Poland and Lithuania were independent of each other, and sepa
rately commanded by the respective great generals. In 1778, that
of Poland consisted of about 11,438 effective men, and that of Li
thuania of 6987; making a total of 18,425. In 1790, when the
Poles were preparing to establish a new constitution, and to render
themselves independent of foreign powers, their army is stated by
Count Mosynski to have consisted of 65,074 men. -
 OF POLAND. 65

The army of the kingdom of Poland consisted, in 1830, of eight

regiments of infantry of the line, besides the guards, four regiments
of light infantry, eight regiments of cavalry, besides the yagers of
the guard, two brigades of foot artillery, and two of horse, a corps
of engineers, &c., in all 36,000 men. The arsenal and foundery
are at Warsaw. There are two fortresses in the kingdom, Zamosc
and Modlin. Every individual, from 20 to 30 years of age, is sub
ject to military service, except in cases of exemption provided by
the law. -

The author of Poland under the Dominion of Russia, relates

numerous instances of rigorous discipline, in trivial matters, towards
the troops under the command of the Grand-Duke Constantine.
I recollect, says he, some orderlies of the lancers, in whom the
penetrating eye of the Grand-Duke could discern no fault, and his
Highness uttered in a tone of satisfaction the words Charoscho
prekrasznie (good); but unluckily casting a glance at the gloves of
the men, he perceived that the seams of the fingers were sewed
inside instead of outside. On making this discovery, he thundered
out, Contrary to regulation." The general and the commissariat
officers were angrily summoned; and after the Grand-Duke had
vented his rage, the general of the regiment, the colonel of the
squadron, and the quarter-master, were placed under arrest, and
the privates were sentenced to receive 500 lashes each.Not
conformable to regulation, adds this writer, are awful words,
when uttered by the Imperial lips, and he to whom they refer may
look to Heaven for consolation.
The officers of both cavalry and infantry were subjected to the
most vexatious regulations as to their dress and duty. That the
privates were kept under more rigid restrictions may readily be
conceived: they were not suffered to go to any place of public en
tertainment, to amuse themselves with a dance, or even to enjoy
the luxury of a glass of beer. One day, says our author, two
citizens were amusing themselves by playing at skittles in the gar
den of an inn: a soldier, who had been sent from the camp by his
officer to get his dinner, stopped a short time to look at the game.
Presently the thundering roll of the Grand-Duke's carriage was
heard. The poor man was panic-struck; and after pausing for a
moment to consider what he should do, he leaped over the garden
hedge, and ran off in the direction of the camp. But it was too
late! he had been perceived; the carriage stopped at the inn-door,
and the Grand-Duke alighted. He angrily asked the two citizens
I
66 DESCRIPTIVE VIEW, &c.
where the soldier had gone? to what regiment he belonged? what
he had been doing, &c.; but the men declared that they knew no
thing of the soldier, except that he had stood for a few minutes
looking at their game. The landlord of the inn was next asked
how he had dared to violate the law by allowing a soldier to enter
his house: but he denied having known any thing of the matter.
The Grand-Duke's anger now rose to a furious pitch. He declared
the landlord's licence forfeited, and ordered his coachman to enter
the house and bring out all the bottles and glasses he could find.
With the assistance of General Kuruta the order was speedily
obeyed. Not only bottles and glasses, but plates and dishes were
piled up before the inn-door; and the Grand-Duke, drawing his
sword, smashed them without mercy, until, being fairly tired, he
ordered his coachman to drive on, intending that the carriage wheels
should complete the work of destruction. The horses, frightened
at the broken glass, reared and plunged, and could not be prevailed
on to advance. However, the Grand-Duke, who was resolved that
not a bottle of hock or champagne should escape his vengeance,
again had recourse to his sword. Kuruta lent a helping hand, and
not a bottle, glass, or plate, was left unbroken. The inn-keeper
and his guests were immediately put under arrest, and marched off
to the guard-house. Active measures were taken for the discovery
of the soldier, who, had he been found, would at least have been
sent to Zamocz, and kept in chains for life.
The two new military schools, formed in 1825 near Warsaw, are
said to have educated, between that year and 1830, about 7000
pupils. According to Harro's account, the only lessons taught here
were balancing, or standing on one leg with the other projected for
ward, while the point of the toe formed a horizontal line with the
shinand presenting ; both essential to the proper performance of
duty on parade. No plan could be better calculated to obtain the
object for which it was designed, than that of imprisoning the flower
of a whole nation's nobility in barracks, where the victims of tyranny,
debarred from all mental occupation, and oppressed by weariness and
lassitude, fly for mere excitement to the lap of vice. Such a system
is a true hot-bed of moral corruption. If, however, it was really
the design of the Russian government to debase the minds and cramp
the energies of the youths in these schools, the events of November,
1830, prove that design to have been completely frustrated.
 HISTORY OF POLAND.

PART I.

From the Commencement of Polish History to the Erlinction of the

House of Lesko.

IT has been usual to arrange the history of Poland in four periods,

or under four classes of sovereigns, viz. the houses of Lesko, of
Piast, of Jagello, and of different families. To these a fifth period
may now be properly added, comprising the events which have oc
curred since the partition of the country by its unprincipled neigh
bours.
The first of the above periods is considered as fabulous; and
most of the modern Polish historians commence their narratives at
the second era: and the early part even of this, which is dated
A. D. 842, has much the air of romance. But as it is unquestion
able that many of the rulers and others mentioned as belonging to
the first dynasty did actually exist, however the actions and events
that are recorded of them may have been distorted or amplified by
traditionary history, and as even the fables in which they figure
present some faint glimmerings of national manners and peculiari
ties, it may not be amiss to lay before the reader a concise account
of this era, as it has been represented by ancient historians, toge
ther with a description of the original inhabitants of the country.
Nations, as well as individuals, are solicitous to appropriate to
themselves the supposed respectability of antiquity and the pride
I 2
*
68 HISTORY OF POLAND.

of ancestry. In accordance with this general feeling, Kadlubek

and other early Polish historians, gravely assert that one of the im
mediate decendants of Noah travelled into and peopled that part of
ancient Sarmatia now called Poland. However gratifying this
statement may have once been to the national vanity, the better
sense of recent writers has introduced a more rational, if not a
more conclusive hypothesis. The great Sclavonic family, which were
unquestionably descended from one common source, and of Asiatic
origin, extended their domains from the Adriatic to the Baltic, and
from the Elbe to the mouth of the Boristhenes; and the general
term slave, signifying glorious, evinces their attachment to arms.
The nations inhabiting this immense tract were blended by the
Romans under the common name of Sarmatae, by the Greeks under
that of Sauromatae, and sometimes by both under the denominations
of Scythae or Scythians, and Getae. The following different people
are worthy of notice:
The AEstii, AEstiai, Hesti, or Ostiones. They were divided
into the Scirri, who inhabited the modern Prussia, and the Hirri,
who dwelt in Livonia and Samogitia; to which may be added
Osericta, or Latris Insula, the Isle of OEsel.
The Venedi, or Winidae, in Lithuania, whose ancient name seems
still to be preserved in that of the town of Wenden. They were

* The historians of other nations have not scrupled to carry their accounts
as far back as the Poles have done. Thus, Petreius, Lyschander, and other
Danish authors, lead us step by step through an uninterrupted succession of
kings and judges, up to the first ages of the world, or at least to the deluge;
and there receiving the descendants of Noah, as soon as they set foot out of the
ark, conduct them across the vast extent of deserts into Scandinavia, in order
to found those states and kingdoms which subsist at present. The celebrated
Rudbeck, a learned Swede, zealous for the glory of his countrymen, has endea
voured no less to procure THEM the honour of a very remote original. Accord
ing to him, Sweden is the Atlantis of which Plato speaks, and for this reason
he assumed that word for the title of his book. He makes no doubt that Japhet
himself came hither with his family; and he undertakes to prove the antiquity
of the Scandinavians by the expeditions which, according to him, they have
undertaken in the remotest ages. The first of these he places in the time of
Serug, in the year of the world 1900; the second under the direction of Her
cules in the interval between the years 2200 and 2500. It is evident, however,
that Rudbeck and his followers have falsely attributed to the Goths of Scandi
navia, whatever the Greek or Latin historians have said of the Getae, or Goths,
who dwelt near the Euxine Sea, and were doubtless the ancestors of those who
afterwards founded colonies in the north.- Mallet's North. Antiq. vol. i. p. 36
et seq. -
 HISTORY OF POLAND. 69

subdivided into the Troglodytae, in the northern part of Lithuania;

the Geloni, in part of Masovia, Polachia, and Lithuania; and the
Neuri, in the eastern part of Lithuania and the duchy of Smolensk.
The Basternae, Bustarnae, Butarnae, or Peucini, comprehended
six people, viz., 1. Sidones, in the northern part of Black Russia,
and Little Poland, along the Vistula. 2. Atmones, in Upper Vol
hynia. 3. Borani, whose situation is unknown. 4. Peucini, in
Podolia and Bessarabia. 5. Carpiani, or Carpi, in the southern
part of Little Poland and Black Russia. 6. Getarum Solitudo, the
territory of Oczakow, on the near side of the Dneiper. Their
principal towns were Carrodunem, Lemberg, or (perhaps) Cracow;
Clepidava, Kaminieck; and Vibantivarium or Vibantinarium, Bar.
The Tyragetae, Tyrigitae, or Tyritae, in Lower Volhynia, com
prehended another people, called Ariacae, who dwelt about Deesau,
towards the mouth of the Dneiper. Their chief towns were, Tyras,
or Ophiusa, on the Dneiper, now demolished; Niconia, or Niconium,
opposite to Tyras, supposed to be Nomanoster; Hermonactis, or
Hermonacta, thought to be Moncastro, towards the mouth of the
Danube; and Neoptolemi Turris, now destroyed.
The Rozalani, comprehending the Hamarobii and Georgi, and
inhabiting part of Muscovy and Little Tartary.
The Riphaces, or Raphaei, in the northern part of Muscovy.
Other nations, as the Huns and Avars, continued to pour in
during the slow decline of the Roman empire; and locating them
selves in various parts, as suited their views or convenience, gradu
ally amalgamated with what may be styled the aboriginal inhabi
tants, either by conforming to their language and manners, or
by introducing their own. Each of these tribes had its own
king. It is foreign to the present purpose to trace the successive
conquests, revolutions, and changes, which in the course of cen
turies occurred amongst the Sclavonic tribes, who first began to
threaten the Roman empire in the reign of Nero, about A. D. 63,
and whose wars with subsequent emperors occupy a considerable
portion of Roman history.
The received opinion is, that the Poles of the present day derive
their origin from the Sarmatians who inhabited the country bound
ed by the Carpathian mountains, by the Bug, by the Oder, and by
Prussia. Busching, however, gives a different account. Sarmatia,
he observes, was an extensive country, inhabited by a variety of
nations of different names. He supposes the Poles to be the de
scendants of the ancient Lazi, a people who lived in Colchis, near
70 HISTORY OF POLAND.

the Pontus Euxinus, whence the Poles are sometimes called Po

lazi. Crossing several rivers, they entered Posnania, and settled
on the borders of the Warta, while their neighbours, the Zechi,
settled on the Elbe, in the 550th year of Christ.
The language of the Lithuanians evinces that they are not origi
nally Sclavonic; and they have been supposed by some to be of
Gothic, and by others of Alanic descent. Mr. Dunham conjectures
that the Lithuanian tongue may resemble the Finnish.
Ammianus Marcellinus says, of the Sarmatians in general, that
they were a savage people, and infamous for their lewdness. One
tribe, the Melanchlaenae, are said, both by that writer and Hero
dotus, to have fed on human flesh, and are thence called by them,
as well as by Mela and Pliny, Anthropophagi and Androphagi.
This would appear, however, to be an exaggeration, if not a mis
statement. Procopius says, They all speak the same barbarous
language (peculiar to themselves and totally different from that of
the rest of Europe), and resemble each other in conformation of
body; all are tall and strong; their complexion is brown, their hair
light; their character is not nicked or perfidious ; in many respects
they remind us of the simple manners of the Huns. Living ori
ginally almost in the primitive state of nature, they possessed their
territory in common; and Tacitus intimates their wandering life
when he says that they lived in waggons and dwelt on horseback.
Like the aboriginal inhabitants of America, they consisted of nu
merous little nations, without agriculture, or arts; having nothing
to subsist on but a few herds, wild fruits, and pillage. They do
not, says Procopius, obey one master; they live in democracy;
they continue isolated, and lead a nomadic life. Their only wea
pons were a lance and a shield. Their dresses, like those of all
eastern people, were wide, long, and flowing; whereas those of their
Gothic or German neighbours were short and fitted to the shape.
The Polish historian Dlugoss gives the following imaginary de
scription of the primitive simplicity and happiness of his ancestors:
Anciently the Poles had no intercourse with other nations either
by land or sea. Their clothing was rude, and fabricated by their
own hands. Their food was flesh, fish, and milk: they had no
riches, and were not therefore envied by their neighbours. After
their incorporation into a people, the contributions they paid to their
rulers were the skins of such animals as they found in their forests:
sometimes fish, cattle, and corn were added. The orders of the
chief had all the force of law. Their huts were thatched with straw.
 HISTORY OF POLAND. 71

Free and tranquil, they lived at peace both with their neighbours
and with one another. This was the golden agethe age of sim
plicity and happinessto our fathers. Human nature, however,
as well as the pages of general history, do not warrant the idea
that the golden age (if any such ever existed) of any people should
be confounded with the era of its poverty and ignorance.
With regard to religion, the Sarmatians, in all probability, origi
nally entertained the same ideas as their German neighbours, who,
according to Tacitus, believed in the existence of a Supreme God,
master of the universe, to whom all things were submissive and
obedient. This belief forbade them to represent the divinity under
any corporeal form. They were not even to think of confining him
within the inclosure of walls, but were taught that it was only
within woods and consecrated forests that they could serve him
properly. There he seemed to reign in silence, and to make him
self felt by the respect which he inspired. . It was an injurious ex
travagance to attribute to this deity a human figure, to erect statues
to him, to suppose him of any sex, or to represent him by images.
From this supreme god were sprung (as it were emanations of his
divinity) an infinite number of subaltern deities and genii, of which
every part of the visible world was the seat and temple. These
intelligences did not barely reside in each part of nature: they
directed its operations; it was the organ or instrument of their love
or liberality to mankind. Each element was under the guidance
of some being peculiar to it. The earth, the water, the fire, the
air, the sun, moon, and stars, had each their respective divinity.
The trees, forests, rivers, mountains, rocks, winds, thunder, and
tempests, had the same, and merited on that score a religious
worship, which, at first, could not be directed to the visible object,
but to the intelligence with which it was animated. The motive
of this worship was the fear of a deity irritated by the sins of men,
but who, at the same time, was merciful, and capable of being ap
peased by prayer and repentance. They looked up to him as the
active principle, which, by uniting with the earth or passive prin
ciple, had produced men, animals, plants, and all visible beings:
they even believed that he was the only agent in nature who pre
serves the several beings, and disposes of all events. To serve this
divinity with sacrifices and prayers, to do no wrong to others, and
to be brave and intrepid themselves, were all the moral consequences
they drew from these doctrines. Lastly, the belief of a future state
cemented and completed the whole building. Cruel tortures were
72 HISTORY OF POLAND.

there reserved for such as despised these three fundamental princi

ples of morality; and joys without number awaited every religious,
just, and valiant man.* *
These are the principal heads of that ancient religion which pro
bably prevailed for many ages through the greatest part of the north
of Europe, and doubtless among several nations of Asia. The prin
ciples which presided over the various parts of nature, however,
gradually became considered as independent deities, and in their
worship the devotion paid to the supreme power was at length for
gotten or neglected. Hence, in each country, complicated mytho
logies of imaginary gods and goddesses were invented, or the prayers
of the people were offered to those natural objects themselves which
before were supposed under the care of certain emanations from the
divinity. Thus, in Poland the chief god was Jesso, or Jupiter, the
god of thunder. In imitation of the Romans, they had their Liada,
or Mars; Dzezlia, or Venus; Nia, or Pluto, who had a temple at
Gnesna; Dzievanna, or Diana; Zyvia Margana, or Ceres; Lelum
Polelum, or Castor and Pollux; with many others. They also ho
noured the rivers and nymphs. To most or all of these deities
temples and altars were erected. In the earliest ages, the offerings
were simple, and such as shepherds and rustics could present: they
loaded the altars of the gods with the first fruits of their crops, and
the choicest products of the earth. Afterwards they sacrificed ani
mals, as oxen and other beasts. Omens and other superstitious ob
servances also prevailed; and it was to the discovery of a bird's
nest that the first city of Poland owed its origin.
Olaus Magnus, on the authority of Albertus Crantzius and Me
chavita, says that the Pagan Lithuanians adored three gods espe
cially; namely, the fire, woods, and serpents: fire, because it is
better than all sacrifice; either seduced by the custome of the Per
sians, who thought the fire to be a god; as Herodotus saith, or led
by the opinion of the Egyptians, who were perswaded, that the fire
was a living wild-beast, and devoured all things that were made,
and so soon as it was full with devouring, it died with that it had
devoured. They held the woods to be sacred; and after the man
ner of the Egyptians, they thought that all the beasts in them were
gods, as the poet saith, The gods also dwelt within the woods.
And many nations, also led by this confidence, burnt their kings
and princes when they were dead, that they might be made gods,

* Mallet's North. Antiq., vol. 1, p. 67.

 HISTORY OF POLAND. 73

or go to the gods; or else they hanged them up solemnly ingroves and

woods by a chain of gold, as if by such sacrifices they should deserve
praises for their wickednesse, and by counterfeiting a false god.
Moreover, they adored serpents as sacred, whilst they seemed to
hurt no man, holding them to be the keepers of their houses, and
household gods. * * * Besides, the aforesaid historian men
tions that there is a statue placed on the highway, on the confines
of Lituania and Muscovia, that in their language is called Zlataboba,
that is the golden old wife, which all passengers pacifie with some
guift, though not worth a straw, or else their journey will not pros
r.*

The Sclavi began to live in society as early as the 6th century.

As has been observed, they were split into many independent tribes,
each of which, in time of peace, was governed by a judge called
kniaz, who was raised to that dignity in consequence of his age or
superior wisdom. In time of war, a voivode or general was elected
to command the troops, and whose office terminated on the cessation
of hostilities. To perpetuate the memory of their rulers and other
great men, they, as well as the northern nations generally, employed
various means suitable to the grossness and rudeness of the times,
the most common of which was burying their heroes under little
hills which they raised in the middle of some plain, and in giving
to these hillocks, and sometimes to the plains themselves, the name
of the person who was there interred. This rude monument kept
up at the same time the memory of the hero, and the emulation of
the neighbouring inhabitants.

LECH I.

The first person to whom the title of duke has been given was
Lech, or Lechus, who flourished about the middle of the 6th century.
The choice of his place of residence is said to have been directed by
his finding an eagle's nest, which was considered so fortunate an omen,
that he conferred the name on the place (see Gnesna, page 33),
and from this circumstance is derived the white eagle still borne on
the colours of the nation. Attracted by his virtues or his power,
considerable numbers of people flocked towards the station which
he had planted, erected their huts around his dwelling, and acknow
ledged him as their ruler or lawgiver. From him the country de
* Translation of 1658.
4 K
74 HISTORY OF POI, AND.

rived the name of Lechia, which appellation it retained till the 10th
century, and by which Poland is still known to the Tartars. The
people were called Polechia, or the children of Lech. Little more
is recorded of this prince than that, besides Gnesna, he founded
Posna, the capital of Posnania. The manner of his death, and the
name of his successor, are disputed. One historian relates that a
son of his own name succeeded to his dominions; another that, like
Alexander the Great, he left his authority to the most deserving;
and a third that his nephew, named Viscimir, was the next duke.

Visc1MIR.

Much that is recorded of this prince, if any such ever existed, is

evidently apocryphal. It is related that he pushed his conquests into
the very heart of Denmark, many of the provinces of which he sub
dued; and that he built the city of Wismar, which he called after
his own name. The Danish monarch opposed his progress; but
after a bloody battle, he was taken prisoner, and carried in triumph
to Poland. Viscimir subsequently gave him his liberty; but, stung
by resentment at his former defeat, he joined the Swedes and Hol
steiners, who invaded Poland. They were, however, again defeated
by Viscimir, who a second time overrun Denmark, carrying deso
lation wherever he appeared. He is said to have maintained a
powerful fleet, and in particular one ship of such immense size as
to prove the terror and destruction of all his enemies. After a long
and glorious reign, Viscimir expired. It is worthy of remark, how
ever, that the Danish historians do not mention these wars, nor give
any account of a Polish prince named Viscimir.
Violent disputes arose, after the death of this warrior, as to the
choice of a successor, and considerable distress and confusion pre
vailed. The people, who had been harassed by continual wars, and,
as is frequently the case, almost ruined even by their conquests,
demanded a different form of government, under which they might
enjoy a greater share of tranquillity. The nobility doubtless favoured
a desire so flattering to their own power, though they pretended
to consent reluctantly to the wishes of the people, and had even
proceeded nearly to the election of a sovereign. At length it was
determined to elect twelve voivodes, and to divide Poland into as
many provinces. Each of these rulers assumed a despotic authority
in his own province ; and, instead of preserving peace, they aggra
wated the misery of the people by perpetual quarrels and wars
 HISTORY OF POLAND. 75

amongst themselves; whilst the country was invaded by neighbour

ing nations, who wrested part of its territory from the republic.
Disappointed of the liberty they had hoped for under these voivodes,
and convinced that twelve petty tyrants were worse than one great
one, the people soon became eager to return to their original form
of government, and held a meeting for that purpose. The palatines
naturally endeavoured to perpetuate their own power, and violently
opposed the restoration of the ducal government. The difficulty
was also great of finding a man capable of undertaking the conduct
of the national affairs at such a crisis, whose talents both in the
field and the cabinet should be of no ordinary character, and who
should be competent to restore domestic order, to repel invasion, and
to reconquer the lost territories. The people, however, were deter
mined in their resolves, and at length cast their eyes upon Cracus,
or Gracus, whose wealth, popularity, and ability, had raised him
to a high pre-eminence amongst his countrymen.

CRAcus I.

Polish historians allege that Cracus was a native of their own

country, and had been one of the twelve voivodes; while the Bo
hemians claim him as theirs. They both concur in deducing his
origin from the Roman Gracchi, who, according to them, were
banished into this country during the monarchical state of the city.
His talents were soon called into action by an invasion of Pannonia
by the Franks, who threatened the destruction of all the northern
nations. Cracus assembled an army of his subjects, marched against
the invaders, and, after a conflict of extraordinary obstinacy and
bloodshed, obtained a complete victory, and drove the enemy out of
the province. With the spoils which he had acquired in this expe
dition, he founded the city of Cracow, where he fixed his own resi
dence, and established it the capital of his dominions. A vein of
romance pervades the whole of the history of this period ; and
Guagnini relates that a terrible dragon infested the neighbourhood
of Cracow, and with his poisonous breath killed thousands of the
inhabitants. A stratagem was contrived by Cracus to rid Poland
of this monster. He ordered the hide of an ox to be filled with
combustibles, upon which the dragon seized as a prey, and, devouring
it greedily, was consumed by the fire kindled in his bowels Ac
cording to all the early writers, however, Cracus anticipated every
wish of his happy subjects; he was always victorious in war, and
K 2
76 HISTORY OF POLAND.

consummately prudent in peace; he framed many admirable laws,

was the darling of his people, and the terror of his enemies. With
out extending his frontier, he rendered his dominions powerful,
merely by introducing good order, harmony, and unanimity into all
the different departments of government. At last, oppressed with
years, and covered with glory, he expired, or, as some writers allege,
was assassinated by a nobleman who aspired to the sovereignty.
Previous to his death, he requested that his remains might be in
terred on the summit of a high hill, within sight of his city of
Cracow. (See Cracon, page 30.)

CRAcus II.

The eldest son of Cracus, of the same name, was elected to the
sovereign power on the death of his father. His reign, however,
was short. He was murdered by his brother, whom the ambition
of enjoying the ducal dignity had prompted to the unnatural deed.
LECH II.

The people, ignorant of the crime which had been perpetrated,

unanimously elected Lech, or Lechus, afterwards surnamed the
Fratricide, to the supreme dignity. But the conscience of the
murderer betrayed him; and, on the nature of his brother's death
becoming public, Lech was deposed with every mark of ignominy.
Being deserted by society, and even by his firmest friends, he pe
rished in obscurity, amidst the combined horrors of remorse, grief,
and want.

WENDA.

Upon the deposition of Lech, the Poles, still attached to the

memory of Cracus, conferred the sovereignty upon his only remain
ing child, a daughter, named Wenda, Venda, or Vanda. This
princess is represented as meriting the extraordinary honour thus
conferred upon her; as she not only possessed, in an uncommon
degree, the beauty and amiable qualities of her sex, but also a manly
sense, masculine courage, prudence, justice, temperance, eloquence,
and affability, that secured the hearts which her charms had gained.
Her people enjoyed the blessings of tranquillity under her wise ad
ministration; and the only annoyance she experienced arose from
 HISTORY OF POLAND. 77

the offers of marriage tendered by the neighbouring princes. Wenda,

however, was too prudent or too ambitious to think of sharing the
honours of her throne with a husband; and she even took a vow of
perpetual virginity. At length, Rudiger, or Rithogar, a Teutonic
prince, sent ambassadors to demand her in marriage, who, on her
refusal, delivered a declaration of war against Poland. Rudiger
himself speedily invaded the country, in the hope that the terror of
his arms would effect what the powers of persuasion had failed in.
Perhaps this proceeding still further offended the pride of Wenda,
who prepared for war, raised an army, animated her troops, and in
person led them against the enemy. At the head of her soldiers,
she received a deputation from the army of Rudiger, whom she ha
rangued with such irresistible eloquence, that the officers, enchanted
by the beauty of her person and the force of her persuasions, refused
to lift their hands against so amiable a princess. It was in vain
that Rudiger expostulated with his army: even the private soldiers
were softened into complacency, quitted their ranks, and threw down
their arms before Wenda, whom they worshipped as a divinity.
Their chief, finding his cause hopeless,and his passion still unrequited,
yielded to the violence of his feelings, and plunged his sword into
his own bosom. Wenda, having pardoned the hostile army and
dismissed her late enemies, returned in triumph to Cracow, to reap
with her subjects the fruits of that tranquillity which her wit and
beauty had acquired for them. But the excitement of the expe
dition was evaporated: and the tragical death of Rudiger left an
impression of gloom upon her mind, which continued to gain ground
whilst she reflected upon the graces of his person, which it is said
she had seen at the very moment he struck the fatal blow. Over
come by her sensations, she attended at a sacrifice to the gods, and
immediately flung herself from the bridge into the Vistula, where
she was drowned. Such are the circumstances recorded by histori
ans. According to Michovia, the surrounding country took the
name of Vandalia from this princess. It was, however, known by
that appellation before the year 750, the period generally assigned to
the above transactions.

After the death of Wenda, the last of the family of Cracus, the
Poles, though they had already experienced the evil consequences
of divided power, and theaccumulated miseries of multiplied tyranny,
again determined upon an aristocrical form of government; they
once more divided their country into twelve voivodes or palatinates,
to each of which a ruler was assigned. They fondly imagined that
78 HISTORY OF POLAND.

their former miseries were caused rather by the misconduct of the

individuals intrusted with power, than by the system of government
adopted; to which persuasion the machinations of the ambitious
nobility had no doubt added strength. Soon, however, they had
reason to repent the instability of their conduct. The palatines
again abused the power confided to them; the country became a
scene of the most grievous oppression, and the theatre of bloody
domestic wars. Equally exposed to external enemies and internal
factions, destitute of leaders, of troops, and of conduct, Poland pre
sented a ready prey to the Hungarians and Moravians, who invaded
the country with a numerous army, to which the Poles could only
oppose a handful of men, ready to surrender at discretion.

LEsko I.

It was reserved for Premislaus, a private soldier, to deliver his

country from the misfortunes which at this crisis threatened it.
This hero, who was a goldsmith by trade, possessed a natural intre
pidity of mind and fertility of genius, which had been much improved
by a long course of experience; and he resolved to supply the want
of numbers by address and stratagem. The Hungarians meanwhile,
wrapped in security, and confident of an easy victory, preserved no
discipline, but lived carelessly, as if they had nothing to fear.
Premislaus therefore assembled his friends, represented the calami
ties of their country, the necessity of some extraordinary exertion
of valour, and the certainty of obtaining a complete victory if they
would but take the courage to attack the enemy whilst they were
unprepared for resistance. It is related that on this occasion he
employed a stratagem to which there are few parallels in history,
but which might probably be suggested by the knowledge acquired
in his previous occupation. According to the general account, he
contrived helmets and breast-plates of the bark of trees, which he
covered with some glittering paint or enamel, and fixed upon poles
in such a manner that the eastern sun should reflect upon them.
Others affirm that he disposed the branches and trees themselves in
such a manner that, by some optical illusion, they appeared to be
bodies of armed men. The Hungarians, supposing these to be their
enemies, advanced to drive them from their position, but found
nothing but a forest on the spot they supposed occupied by troops;
while, at a distance, on another hill, a similar array seemed drawn
up against them. In the mean time, Premislaus, dividing his band,
 HISTORY OF POLAND. 79

attacked them in several quarters with the utmost impetuosity; and

the Hungarians, unable to distinguish between their real and ima
ginary enemies, and terrified with the alarm that a numerous army
was advancing, fled in confusion. A prodigious slaughter ensued
amongst the fugitives; and victory and the sovereignty of Poland
were the rewards conferred on the courage, conduct, and pariotism
of Premislaus, who assumed the name of Lesko I. After his ele
vation to the supreme authority, he studiously cultivated the arts
of peace, and the means of rendering his people happy; while the
reputation of his warlike genius preserved them unmolested by
foreign enemies. History, which is silent as to the duration of his
government and the manner of his death, has only recorded that he
died deeply regretted, and without issue, leaving Poland once more
a scene of confusion.

LEsko II.

The ducal crown was now aspired to by several of the nobility,

whose merit, influence, and power, were so nearly balanced, that
the factions and contentions excited on the occasion were on the
point of exciting a civil war. To avert this calamity, an assembly
was convened, at which it was determined, as the most effectual
method of eradicating personal jealousy, and preventing fraud, that
the contested dignity should be bestowed on him whose horse should
prove the fleetest in the course. A stone pillar was erected in the
neighbourhood of the capital, upon which all the badges of the du
cal authority were laid; and at the same time a herald declared that
he should be sovereign who first reached the goal from the river
Pruderic, whence the competitors were to start. The day appointed
for the trial arrived; the rival nobles assembled; they started for
ward on their steeds; and all was breathless expectation of the
event. Suddenly, some were arrested in their course, as if by the
hand of fate; others were dismounted; the horses of others fell and
rolled over their riders; whilst many were severely bruised and
wounded in the confusion. One nobleman alone, named Leszec,
spurred on his horse like lightning to the destined goal, where he
was received amidst the acclamations of the people, who were on the
point of rewarding him with the ducal crown. At this moment, a
young peasant, who had followed closely in the track of Leszec,
arrived, and denounced the whole as a stratagem to ensure the de
feat of the other candidates. In proof of this, he asserted that he
80 HISTORY OF POIAND.

had discovered the course to be strewed with iron spikes or nails,

with only a clear passage left for the horse of Leszec. This, upon
examination, was found to be the fact; and the people, infuriated
at the deception which Leszec had attempted, rose upon him, tore
him to pieces, and proclaimed the young man duke who had so es
sentially contributed to expose the fraud.
The new sovereign, out of respect to the memory of his prede
cessor, assumed the name of Lesko II. In order to secure himself
from the seducing attacks of pride, and to perpetuate the remem
brance of his origin, he caused the humble habit he wore, before
the Poles vested him with the ducal dignity, to be constantly car
ried before him on all public ceremonies. This humility had a fa
vourable effect; and the people soon forgot, in the happiness they
experienced under his government, the meanness of his birth.
He was, in fact, more esteemed than if he had derived his ele
vated station from the nobility of his descent. The circumstances
of the country soon gave him an opportunity also of displaying
his talents as a warrior. The Bohemians and Moravians were
driven before him; and, instead of being invaders, they had the
mortification of seeing the victorious Lesko in the heart of their
country, after defeating them in several battles. He thus extend
ed his dominions, and became the terror and admiration of all the
neighbouring powers. His character has been summed up as pru
dent, moderate, brave, liberal, the patron of merit, and the pro
tector of the injured. In the decline of life he was forced into a
war, for the defence of his dominions, against the encroachments of
the enterprising emperor Charlemagne; and some authors relate
that he fell in a battle fought with this powerful monarch. Others,
however, are of opinion that he died a natural death, when he was
so advanced in years that the springs of life were entirely decayed.

Lesko III.

Historians have all concurred that Lesko II. left a son and suc
cessor of the same name, and who was not less the inheritor of his
father's talents and virtues. An insurrection occurred during his
reign in some of the provinces, which he suppressed with much
wisdom and decision; and the Greek and Italian legions having
overrun Pannonia, he led his army against the invaders, whom he
reduced to great extremities. Having, by his talents for general
ship, gained the advantage of situation, he forced the enemy to a
 History of POLAND. 81

battle upon unequal terms, in consequence of which they were to

tally defeated. Nor was his clemency less glorious than his valour.
With a magnanimity uncommon in that barbarous age, he dismissed
all his prisoners without ransom; demanding no other condition
than their promise never again to disturb the peace of his people,
or molest the allies of Poland. The only fault with which he
has been charged by historians, and which perhaps may meet with
considerable extenuation in the manners of the times, is inconti
nence. He had but one legitimate child, who inherited his do
minions; but he left about twenty natural sons, whom he invested
with the sovereignty of divers provinces, upon the sole condition
of paying homage to their brother. This impolitic bequest can only
be excused by paternal affection.

PoPIEL I.

Popiel, Pompilius, or Osserich, by all which names he is men

tioned by historians, was the only legitimate son and successor of
Lesko III. He was a moderate, wise, and pacific prince, and never
had recourse to arms but from necessity, either to support the ho
nour of the nation, or to defend his frontiers against the attacks of
ambitious neighbours. He transferred the seat of government from
Cracow to Gnesna, and from thence to Cruswitz, a city which he
had newly founded, confining himself entirely to the interior ad
ministration of the kingdom, preserving order, distributing justice,
promoting industry, rewarding merit, and securing that repose to
which he was naturally inclined.

Popi EL II.

After the death of Popiel I., his son, of the same name, then in
his minority, was appointed his successor, and placed under the
guardianship of his uncles, who closely pursued the maxims and
conduct of the deceased monarch. This season of happiness to Po
land, however, was terminated on the young Popiel coming of age.
He removed his uncles from the government, treated them with
the utmost contempt, and banished them from the court. He also
married a woman whose ambition and vicious disposition impelled
him to further enormities, and inflamed his naturally evil propen
sities. This designing female, not satisfied with the removal and
disgrace inflicted upon the uncles of her husband, represented to
L
82 HISTORY OF POLAND.

the credulous tyrant that they had formed a design upon his life,
and projected the means of getting the reins of government into
their own hands. The weak and voluptuous monarch was easily
seduced to believe these insinuations, assisted as they were by all
the blandishments of feigned love and artful beauty, and confirmed
by the remonstrances which his uncles still had the courage to
make with regard to his mistaken measures and unmanly conduct.
Determined on vengeance, he assumed the hypocrite, pretended
indisposition, kept his bed, and assembled his uncles, under the pre
text of wanting their advice in this critical conjuncture. Should
it please the gods, he said, to cut him off in the bloom of years,
his people would be left without a head, and oppressed with all the
miseries consequent on a long minority. They had already exhibit
ed proofs of their wisdom and integrity; they stood high in the
opinion of the people; and he should esteem himself happy if they
would take charge of his infant son, and govern the nation with the
same masterly conduct they had shewn during his own minority.
The unsuspecting victims, deceived by this address, and entertain
ing no suspicion of his design, promised all he required. At part
ing, a cup was handed for each to drink, in which a poison had been
infused; and they shortly after died in the most excruciating tor
ments. Popiel, unsatiated by their death, caused their bodies to
be thrown out and exposed to the open air without burial, under
the pretence that he had only anticipated the designs of his uncles,
extinguished a conspiracy, and caught them in their own snares.
The vengeance of heaven, according to the early Polish histo
rians, at length overtook the murderer, and that in a manner the
most signal and appropriate. From the putrid carcases of his vic
tims issued an immense swarm of large rats, which beset and soon
effected an entrance into the palace. They pursued Popiel, his
wife, and children, without intermission. A barrier of fire was
constructed around the tyrant and his family; but the rats, with
preternatural avidity, leapt over it. The devoted wretches fled to
a boat, in which they embarked on a neighbouring lake; but this
new element afforded no protection from their persecutors, which
gnawed the bottom of the boat, and ascended its sides. Terrified
and horror-struck, the fugitives landed on a small island, and took
refuge in the highest part of a tower, the entrance to which was
barricaded. Here, though deserted by their attendants, they hoped
to find a respite; but their implacable enemies scaled the walls of
this last refuge, and devoured first the children before the eyes of
 HISTORY OF POLAND. 83

their parents, afterwards the mother in the sight of her husband, and
lastly the miserable tyrant himself, leaving no traces of the last
of the house of Lesko but the infamy attached to his character.
If the guilty Popiel and his family really perished through the
interposition of the gods, it would seem that the vengeance of those
deities could not be appeased without inflicting protracted miseries
also on his innocent people. As had ever been the case when the
ducal throne was vacant, contending interests again distracted the
nation. A civil war ensued, in which rapine, murder, devastation,
and every other act of the most cruel oppression, were committed
with impunity. All the nobility strove for superiority, different
factions reared their heads; and the foreign enemies of Poland for
mented these dissensions, and converted them to their own ad
vantage. Under the pretext of assisting the weaker party, they
protracted the contest till all were nearly exhausted; when they
appeared in the field, and openly avowed their intentions of con
quering the country. This proceeding, however, which they hoped
would have given the final blow to the existence of the nation, pro
duced an opposite effect. The rival nobility of Poland, perceiving
the danger in which they had involved their country and them
selves, and the probability of their becoming the slaves of a foreign
conqueror, suddenly desisted from their private warfares, and
agreed to unite in the election of some one to the supreme power,
whose courage, prudence, and popularity should be able to stem the
torrent of misfortune, and elicit the support of all parties in the
Common cause.
84 HISTORY OF POLAND.

PART II.

From the Accession of Piast to the End of his Dynasty in the Per
sons of Casimir III., and Louis, King of Hungary,
elected King of Poland.

As has already been observed, the early part of the second period
of Polish history is almost equally enveloped in fable with the first.
Nor indeed can any faithful account be expected of a people wholly
without letters, and immersed in barbarism and Pagan superstition.
With regard to the mode of succession, some writers have observed,
that during the whole of the second period the monarchy was always
elective, and the sovereign limited in his power; others, on the
contrary, have affirmed that the crown was hereditary, and its au
thority absolute. But this controversy may be easily reconciled:
the crown seemed hereditary from its continuance in the same
family, and had at the same time an elective appearance, because,
upon the death of a king, his successor was formally nominated and
recognized in an assembly of the nobility and clergy of the realm. .
With respect to the extent of the king's authority, his power, as in
the generality of feudal governments, when exercised by an able
and enterprising prince, triumphed over all controul; but, in the
hands of an incapable sovereign, was easily depressed by the pri
vileges of a licentious and warlike nobility.

PIAST.842-860.

To avert the dangers with which Poland was threatened, a ge

neral assembly of the nation was held at Cruswitz for the election of
a sovereign. Owing to the disputes which arose, the deliberations
were protracted to an uncommon length; and, as a great concourse
of people were naturally assembled on so important an occasion, a
scarcity of provisions began to be felt, which gradually increased till
even the most wealthy nobility were unable to purchase supplies.
In this emergency, according to Dlugoss and others, two strangers
arrived in Cruswitz, and applied for charity at the door of the elec
tion-hall, but were rudely repulsed. They then proceeded, appa
 HISTORY OF POLAND. 85

rently by chance, to the house of one Piast, the son of Cossisco, said
by some to have been a wheelwright, by others a common peasant,
and by all celebrated for his piety and charity. They found pre
parations making for the ceremony of naming the infant son of
Piast, and were hospitably invited to partake of the scanty stock of
food and drink which had been preserved for the occasion. The
strangers, to reward the kindness of their host, promised him the
sovereignty of Poland; assisted in the ceremony of cutting off the
hair of his son, after the manner of the country; and named the
infant Ziemowit. They then ordered Piast, whose faith was equal
to his charity, to distribute his little store of provisions amongst the
starving multitude. He did so, and found that it was inexhaustible.
The people flocked around him in astonishment, exclaiming, A
miracle ! a miracle ! and the electors, awed by so visible a mani
festation of the favour of heaven, determined on chusing Piast for
their sovereign. The strangers, of course, were considered as gods
by the Pagans of the age; but Christian writers, in after-times, de
scribed them as angels. Some, however, say they were pilgrims,
named Paul and John, who were afterwards murdered at Rome.
All, however, agree as to the miraculous manner in which Piast was
raised to the throne.
Piast, disgusted with the crimes and shocked at the fate of Po
piel, removed the court from Cruswitz, and fixed his residence at
Gnesna. The calmness and equanimity of his nature were undis
turbed by his sudden elevation; his natural charity, benevolence,
and mildness remained; and nothing was altered but his power of
doing good. This he exerted to the utmost, and was truly desig
nated the father of his people. The widow, the orphan, and the
poor in general, found in him a ready friend and patron; and his
justice was so exemplary, that the injured never returned from him
unredressed, nor merit unrewarded. The natural warlike propen
sities of the Poles were allayed by the mildness of their ruler; and
even the factious nobility were ashamed of rebelling against a so
vereign who devoted his whole life to render his people happy.
Some intestine commotions did indeed occur, but they were quickly
suppressed by the calmness and clemency of Piast. He died, be
loved, esteemed, and even adored by his subjects. In memory of
this excellent prince, all the natives of Poland who have been since
promoted to the ducal or regal dignity were called Piastes, in con
tradistinction to the foreigners.
86 HISTORY OF POLAND.

ZIEMowrT.860-892.

Some years previous to the death of Piast, he had, on account of

his own age and infirmities, associated his son, Ziemowit, with him
in the government. In this situation, the young prince was care
fully initiated in the routine of government; his understanding and
habits of industry were formed by attention to business; and his
heart and disposition were improved by the example of his father.
On his accession to the supreme power, he added to the prudence
and benevolence of his predecessor, a degree of spirit and resolution
which soon rendered his country formidable abroad as well as happy
at home. He maintained a respectable army, and endeavoured to
acquire a perfect knowledge of the art of war, so essential to the
security of his dominions. He was the first who introduced any
kind of discipline amongst the Polish troops, by dividing them into
distinct regiments and companies, and establishing degrees of sub
ordination among the officers. It was not long before he had an
opportunity of indulging his martial spirit, in a war with the
Hungarians, Moravians, and other German nations. In all his bat
tles he was victorious; and he not only regained those territories
which had been lost during the civil wars subsequent to the death
of Popiel, but considerably extended his dominions. Magnanimous,
warlike, wise, and just, he is represented as the greatest prince who
had ever filled the ducal throne, the darling of his subjects, the terror
of his enemies, and the admiration of mankind.

LEsko IV.-892921.

On the death of Ziemowit, the people assembled at Cracow to

appoint a successor, and unanimously elected Lesko, the son of their
late prince. During his minority, a regency was appointed. His
character, on coming of age, is represented as similar to that of his
grandfather Piast; just, pacific, and pious. No incident is record
ed during his reign, which lasted twenty-one years, when he ex
pired, regretted by his subjects.

ZIENOMISLAUS.921-962.

The Poles, though exercising their right of election, still pre

served their allegiance to the family of Piast, and elected Zienomis
 HISTORY OF POLAND. 87

laus, son of the late monarch, to the ducal dignity. His reign was
equally peaceful with the last; though a certain dignity in his
manner, a firmness of mind, and boldness of expression, on trying
occasions, convinced those around him that his love of peace pro
ceeded rather from an attention to the welfare of his subjects, than
from any deficiency in natural courage. He died in the year 962,
and was buried at Gnesna.

MICISLAUS I.-962999.

Zienomislaus was succeeded without opposition by his son, Mi

cislaus I., afterwards surnamed the Eye of Christianity. This
prince had been born blind, but acquired his sight at the age of
seven years. Such a circumstance, however natural it might be,
could not fail, in that age of superstition, to be construed into a
miracle; and accordingly the magi and sages of Poland predicted
that some extraordinary events would occur in his reign. It is re
lated that Micislaus had seven wives; but, being without children,
he was informed, by some wandering sages, that he should never
be blessed with issue until he had divorced all his Pagan wives,
and married a Christian princess. This determined him on an
alliance with the princess Dombrowka, daughter of the duke of
Bohemia; and he accordingly sent ambassadors to demand her in
marriage. The lady, however, refused to listen to his proposals,
unless he consented to abjure Paganism, embrace Christianity, and
receive the sacrament of baptism. The passion of Micislaus for
Dombrowka proved stronger than his attachment to his gods; and
he determined, at all events, to obtain the princess. He according
ly caused himself to be instructed in the principles of the Christian
religion, which faith he embraced; and the princess having con
sented to be his wife, their nuptials were celebrated in the year 965.
Micislaus, who is represented, previous to his conversion, as vo
luptuous and indolent, devoting his whole time to women, and
paying little regard to the affairs of government, now began, like
all proselytes, to shew his zeal for his new faith. With his own
hands he broke down the idols of superstition; contributed to the
propagation of the Gospel amongst his subjects by preaching him
self; and assisted the missionaries sent by the Pope for that pur
pose, by acting as interpreter between them and the people. He
founded the archbishoprics of Gnesna and Cracow; and appointed
St. Adelbert, who had been delegated by Pope John XIII, to con
88 HISTORY OF POLAND.

vert the Poles, primate of the whole republic. Not content with
setting an example of continence and conjugal fidelity to his nobles,
Micislaus caused those to be severely punished who lived in a state
of adultery, as well as such persons as infringed the rules of the
church. In illustration, it may be stated that those who were
guilty of eating flesh in Lent were condemned to have their teeth
drawn. The birth of a son who was named Boleslaus, contributed
in no ordinary degree to confirm the faith and inflame the zeal of
Micislaus, who, upon this event, founded new bishoprics and en
dowed monasteries in many places. A custom was now commenced
which continued through several centuries: at the Gloria tibi, Do
mine, previous to the reading of the Gospel appointed for the day,
during the performance of divine service, all the nobility present rose
up, and half unsheathed their swords, in testimony of their zeal to de
fend the truths of Christianity. In 980, the duke issued an edict
that every Pole who had not undergone the ceremony should be
baptized; and such had been the success of his exertions, that
though it was but fourteen years after the introduction of the new
faith, the order was universally obeyed. - -

Micislaus earnestly solicited from Pope Benedict VII, the title

of king; and if zeal for religion and attention to the interests of
the clergy could have giving him a claim to that honour, he cer
tainly deserved it. The pontiff, however, declined, on the ground
that the Poles were unworthy of having a king. In 968, Micislaus
had been victorious over the Saxons, but desisted from his conquest
at the command of the emperor Otho I., whose feudatory he ac
knowledged himself. He afterwards, however, joined the league
against Otho II. Uladimir the Great, duke of Russia, invaded
Poland in 968; and it was with difficulty his progress was arrested
by Micislaus. In 988, the king declared war against Bolislaus
duke of Bohemia, and compelled him to sue for peace. Protestant
writers have endeavoured to invalidate the favourable character re
corded of Micislaus I. by attributing it to his extraordinary liberality
to a set of men who measured the piety of princes by their dona
tions to the church, and it has been added, that he was too super
stitious a Christian to execute all the duties of a sovereign. The
liberty of the Poles is also said to have suffered by the introduction
of Christianity, which, by tending to strengthen the power of the
aristocracy, concurred to produce the changes which afterwards took
place in the government. It might, however, be a subject of curi
ous enquiry, whether the Pagan priesthood were less aristocratical
 HISTORY OF POLAND. 89

than their Catholic successors? and whether the Poles would have
been more free or more happy had they remained in idolatry to the
present day ? See the reign of Casimir II. for a practical refutation
of the above opinions respecting the clergy.
Micislaus died in 999. From his reign Poland began to be
connected with the literature of Germany; the historians of which

country, as well as those of Sweden and Denmark, throw a consi

derable light upon Polish affairs prior to the existence of native
historians.

Bol, Esla Us I.999-1025.

The son and successor of Micislaus, who was surnamed Chrobry,

or the Lion-hearted, commenced his reign with a transaction in con
formity to the piety of the age in which he lived. He purchased at
a considerable price the remains of St. Adelbert, which had been
deposited in Prussia, and had the precious relics conveyed to Gnesna.
The emperor Otho III. made a pilgrimage to the shrine of this saint,
and was received with every mark of respect and hospitality by
Boleslaus, upon whom, in return, he conferred the badges of royalty;
an act that was subsequently confirmed by the pope. Otho received
an arm of the saint, which he carried to his own country as a preci
ous relic; and, shortly after, Boleslaus was further honoured by the
marriage of his son with Rixa, niece to the emperor. Being thus
constituted the first king of Poland, Boleslaus began to display
signs of that lofty martial spirit for which he was afterwards so
celebrated. Though devoted to the Christian faith, he did not, like
his father, commence apostle and preacher. His new title added
nothing to his power; but, in the eyes of his subjects, it considerably
enhanced his consequence. He was too sagacious not to have fore
seen this, and too much of a politician not to turn it to the best
account. He affected more shew and splendour than had been as
sumed by his predecessors, was constantly attended on his excursions
from the palace by a numerous and splendid retinue, and augmented
and supported a strong body-guard. He endeavoured by these
proceedings to inspire the Poles with an exalted idea of their national
importance and dignity, and thereby to weaken the dread which
was entertained of the barbarous but vast dukedom of Russia. It
is true that the Poles had been frequently victorious in their contests
with that power; but they had never ventured on a war with it
except in self-defence. Having excited the pride and flattered the
- M
90 HISTORY OF POIAND.

martial spirit of his subjects, Boleslaus now levied an army, and

meditated an attack on Muscovy.
The duke of Bohemia, in the meantime, had observed with indig
nation and jealousy the elevation of Boleslaus to the regal dignity,
and his alliance with the emperor; distinctions which he considered
as affronts to himself, as he had before fruitlessly solicited the title
of king. Without giving any reason for the aggression, he suddenly
burst into Poland at the head of a numerous army, and marked his
course with blood and desolation. With the army which had been
raised for the invasion of Russia, Boleslaus marched rapidly against
the Bohemians, who, on his approach, retreated into their own coun
try, whither he was only prevented from following them by a want
of provision and the inclemency of the season. He was soon able,
however, to march into Bohemia at the head of a well-appointed
army, and endeavoured to draw the duke into a battle, by destroying
the cities which fell before him, and by ravaging the country. Find
ing that the Bohemians could not be induced to risk an engagement,
he laid siege to Prague, which was defended against him for two
years with exemplary courage and obstinacy; but the garrison was
at length compelled to surrender, and the city was delivered up to
pillage. The other cities of Bohemia now submitted to the victo
rious arms of the king; and nothing remained to complete the con
quest of the country but the capture of the duke himself, who, with
his son Jaremir and a numerous garrison, had thrown himself into
his only remaining fortress of Wissogrod. But even this last re
source proved ineffectual against the good fortune and ability of the
conqueror, who invested the place, and proceeded in the siege with
such rapidity, that all the promises, prayers, and arguments of the
duke could not induce the garrison to attempt a resistance. Terri
fied at the fame of Boleslaus, they capitulated, and the duke and
his son became prisoners. On this occasion, the victor stained the
glory which he had acquired in the expedition by ordering the eyes
of the old duke to be put out, and condemning his son to perpetual
imprisonment. Ulric, a younger son, was taken home and educated
by Boleslaus, into whose favour he so ingratiated himself, that he
sent him back to his own country with great pomp, and placed him
on the throne. He was afterwards deposed by the enemies of Boles
laus, but subsequently reinstated.
After completing the conquest of Bohemia, the Polish monarch
invaded Moravia, which immediately submitted to his arms, and
was treated with clemency and humanity. These successes inflamed
 HISTORY OF POLAND. 91

the martial ardour of Boleslaus, and he already in imagination saw

Poland raised above all the nations of the north. He resumed his
designs against Russia, for which a favourable opportunity appeared
at this time to present itself. Duke Uladimir had been induced to
divide his dominions equally between his sons. Enraged at what he
conceived an injury done to his birthright, Yaroslaf, the elder, took
up arms against his father, on which the aged duke died broken
hearted. A civil war between the brothers ensued, in which Swia
topelk, the younger, was at first victorious; but Yaroslaf, having
recruited his army, by stratagem defeated his brother, and compelled
him to take refuge in Poland. At such a crisis the address and
eloquence of Swiatopelk were scarcely necessary to excite Boleslaus
to undertake an expedition on which he had before secretly resolved.
It supplied him, however, with a plausible pretext; and he now
announced the seemingly magnanimous intention of reinstating in
his dominions a prince who had claimed his protection.
On marching into Russia at the head of a numerous army, Boles
laus met with no opposition until he arrived in the centre of that,
vast country. Yaroslafat length took up a position with an immense
force, having the river Bog in his front. On arriving at the oppo
site bank, the Polish monarch attempted in vain to force a passage;
the rapidity of the stream and the activity of Yaroslaf presenting
obstructions apparently insuperable. Growing impatient at this
delay, Boleslaus, rather than suffer a check in the midst of conquest,
resolved to hazard his glory and life itself in one desperate effort.
He formed his cavalry in such a manner as he conceived best adapted
for breaking the force of the river; and, placing himself at their
head, exposed his own person to the utmost violence of the torrent.
The Poles, animated by the example of their king, advanced through
the stream with firmness and courage; and, though breast-high in
the water, and annoyed by the enemy on the opposite bank, they
succeeded in gaining the shore. A decisive victory was the result;
and Yaroslaf was compelled to retire to Kiow, which city was im
mediately invested by the Poles. The Russian prince again re
treated further into the country to recruit his army, while Boleslaus
prosecuted the siege, The garrison, worn out at length by hunger,
surrendered at discretion; and the immense treasures which had for
many ages been collecting by the dukes of Russia were seized by the
king, and the greater part distributed amongst his troops. Still he
was not unconscious of the difficulty of retaining possession of such
an extensive country as he had conquered; and he was consequently
M 2
92 HISTORY OF POLAND.

induced to confer the government on Swiatopelk, who, being a native

prince, might possess greater authority over the inhabitants. The
elder prince had in the interim formed a kind of flying camp; and
it was only by the vigilance of Boleslaus that he was prevented from
surprising and carrying off his rival brother. Failing in this design,
he retired to Novogorod, where he was again attacked and defeated
by the Poles.
The jealousy and ingratitude of Swiatopelk now prompted him to
get rid of an ally by whom he had been so effectually served, but
whose successes appeared to eclipse his own grandeur; and a con
spiracy was set on foot for massacring Boleslaus and his whole army.
Provoked at this perfidy, the Polish monarch drove the prince before
him, retook Kiow, and delivered it to pillage. In returning to his
own country, he was attacked, on the banks of the Boristhenes, by
the indefatigable Yaroslaf, who had again assembled a large army.
Part of the Poles had already passed the river; and it required all
the courage and skill of the king to keep up the spirit of the remain
der. Placing himself at the head of a chosen battalion, he performed
prodigies of valour; whilst, on the other hand, the progress of Ya
roslaf was marked by carnage. At length a reinforcement of the
Poles recrossed the river, and, attacking the Russians in flank,
pushed on to the centre, and decided the fortune of the day, not
withstanding the great disproportion of numbers. A dreadful rout
ensued amongst the Russians, and incredible numbers are said to
have been slain in the pursuit. Boleslaus, however, perceived the
uncertain tenure of his late conquests, and returned into his own
country, leaving the rival brothers to exhaust their strength and
ruin their dominions in civil wars.
To acquire fresh glory, and to keep up the martial spirit of the
nation, the king now invaded Saxony, the people of which, after
several unfortunate battles and skirmishes, took refuge in an impe
netrablewood, where they defended themselves against all the attacks
of Boleslaus, until compelled to surrender by famine. The king,
however, contented himself with a rich booty, withdrew his army,
and fixed the boundaries of his dominions on the banks of the Elbe,
where he erected two iron columns, which likewise answered the
purpose of transmitting the memory of his conquests to posterity.
His next expedition was into Pomerania and Prussia. The former
province had been given by Lesko III. to his natural sons as a fief
of the ducal crown of Poland; but, during the disorders which fol
lowed the death of Popiel II, these petty princes threw off their
 HISTORY OF POLAND. 93

allegiance, and asserted the independence of their dominions. With

out hazarding a contest, they now acknowledged the sovereignty of
Boleslaus; and the Prussians willingly received as their ruler a king
whose reputation was of itself a sufficient protection against their
enemies.
Boleslaus, sated at length with victories, turned his attention to
the interior government of his kingdom. Desirous that his people
might enjoy with advantage the fruits of so many successes, he be
stowed his utmost attention on the administration of domestic affairs,
framed a code of laws, and caused them to be rigidly executed. He
was disturbed, however, in these pacific labours by the approach of
Yaroslaf, at the head of the most numerous army that had ever been
assembled by Russia, and who was anxious to avenge the defeats he
had suffered, and to wipe off the disgrace they had occasioned him.
The courage and ardour of his youth, though tempered by experience,
were still retained by Boleslaus, who once more placed the helmet
on his now hoary head, collected his army with firmness and com
posure, and marched against an enemy of thrice its number. The
hostile forces came in sight of each other on the opposite banks of
the Boristhenes; a river rendered famous by the former victory of
Boleslaus. In addressing his troops, he reminded them of this cir
cumstance, and exhorted them neither to fear nor to despise their
enemies. For a time the two armies lay in sight of each other; but
an accident anticipated the designs of the leaders, and brought on a
battle. The Poles crossed the river by swimming, and attacked the
Russians, before they were drawn out in order of battle, with such
impetuosity as to occasion a panic which all the efforts of Yaroslaf
could not allay. He was hurried away amidst the tumult of his
flying army. and nearly trampled to death by the fugitives. Boles
laus, perceiving the victory secure, put a stop to the carnage; but
several thousand prisoners were taken. He moderately contented
himself with a small tribute from Yaroslaf, and dismissed his nu
merous captives without ransom, who departed deeply impressed
with the magnanimity of their conqueror, and voluntarily acknow
ledged him as their sovereign.
After a glorious reign of twenty-five years, Boleslaus expired in
peace. To recount his victories is but to mention a small share of
his glory; as it is a greater merit that he never made the least en
croachment upon the liberty of his subjects. It was his boast, that
he remained the sovereign of a free people.
94 HISTORY OF POLAND.

MICISLAUs II.-1025-1034.

Immediately after the death of Boleslaus, the assembly of the na

tion met at Posnania, and, to evince their respect to their late sove
reign, unanimously elected his son Micislaus, then 35 years of age,
as his successor. They hoped also that this prince might have
profited by the example of so great a master in the art of reigning;
and it was not long before an occasion occurred which required all
the talents of the sovereign, and all the courage and patriotism of
his subjects. No longer awed by the name of Boleslaus, Russia,
Bohemia, Moravia, Prussia, and Saxony, revolted from the sway of
Poland, refused to pay their tribute, and declared their independence.
The dukes of Russia first took the field, with a great force, pene
trated into Poland, laid all waste with fire and sword, reduced and
pillaged Czerwiensko, and carried thousands of the people into
slavery, whilst the whole kingdom was thrown into the utmost con
sternation. Micislaus, however, at the head of the Polish army,
drove back the enemy, passed the Russian frontier, and seized several
of the nobility, whom he retained as pledges of the fidelity of all
their dependents; thus smothering, if he did not extinguish, the
rebellion of the dukes.
The spirit which Micislaus displayed on this occasion was not,
however, supported through his subsequent career. Indolence, pro
fusion, and debauchery, were his ruling propensities. Ulric duke
of Bohemia, who had during the life of his benefactor Boleslaus
maintained a seeming allegiance, on the accession of Micislaus
threw off the mask, and caused the Polish garrisons in his country
to be barbarously massacred while they supposed themselves in secu
rity. The success of this measure inspired the Moravians, Prussians,
and Saxons with confidence; and the Polish garrisons were put to
death or carried into slavery in several places; whilst the governors
of the revolted provinces, aided by the German states, assumed the
supreme power. For a considerable time, Micislaus remained in
different to these disasters, as well as to the murmurs of his subjects,
and appeared entirely absorbed in voluptuousness and indolence.
The fear of a rebellion at home at length aroused him from his plea
sures; and he unwillingly put himself at the head of the Polish
army, amongst whom the courage excited by Boleslaus was not yet
extinguished. Accompanied by three Hungarian princes, he entered
Pomerania, which province was quickly compelled to acknowledge .
 HISTORY OF POLAND. 95

his sovereignty. He rewarded Bela, one of the Hungarians, who

had overcome the barbarian general in single combat, with the hand
of his daughter and the government of Pomerania. But, satisfied
with this success, Micislaus the Idle abandoned the prosecution of
the war against the other provinces, and again shut himself up in
his palace. Here he indulged without intermission in the excesses
so congenial to his disposition, until he was seized with a frenzy
which terminated with his death. It is recorded, however, to the
credit of this monarch, that he divided the country into palatinates
for the more speedy administration of justice, and founded a bishopric.

INTERREGNUM.1034-1041.

On the meeting of the states to elect a successor to Micislaus,

Casimir his son was proposed; but the odium which the late mo
narch had acquired was transferred to his innocent son, notwith
standing the progress which the latter had made in learning and
science. Without proceeding so far as to deny him the crown, they
suspended his election, and caused his mother Rixa to be declared
regent of the kingdom. This woman soon evinced a most tyrannical
disposition, and levied very oppressive taxes on the people; whilst
all places of trust and profit were given to Germans, some of whom
retired out of the kingdom with considerable riches after even a
single year's enjoyment of their offices. Remonstrances were treated
with contempt; and the Poles, incensed beyond measure, flew to
arms, and banished Rixa from the kingdom. She had, however,
previously conveyed away the treasures amassed by the victories of
Boleslaus, and by means of which she claimed the emperor's protec
tion. Casimir her son, though he had not participated in her con
duct, was also driven out of the kingdom.
A season of the most dreadful confusion and anarchy now ensued.
Many aspired to the crown, and no means were thought too base or
too cruel to gain that object. All law and subordination were dis
regarded; the nobility oppressed the peasants, who retaliated by
murdering their masters ; robberies and murders were openly com
mitted; the roads were impassable; the chastity of the convent was
forcibly violated; and even the ministers of religion were slain at
the altar, while the churches were desecrated and plundered. Ma
sos, cup-bearer to the late king, seized on the country between the
Vistula, the Narew, and the Bug, which he governed despotically,
and which from him acquired and still retains the name of Masovia.
96 HISTORY OF POLAND.

Bratislaus, the young duke of Bohemia, also invaded Poland, laid

the cities of Wratislaw and Posna in ashes, devastated the country,
and massacred or enslaved the inhabitants. Gnesna shortly after
shared the same fate, being sacked and plundered with the utmost
ferocity; and sacrilege, rape, and murder prevailed throughout this
devoted city. At the same time, Yaroslaf, at the head of a numerous
army of Russians, entered Poland on the other side, and committed,
if possible, still greater atrocities. Whole provinces were reduced
to ashes, and men, women, and children indiscriminately destroyed
with their dwellings and fields.
In this deplorable crisis, the Poles deliberated on the propriety of
recalling Casimir, imagining their present calamities to be a judg
ment for their injurious conduct towards him. A previous step,
however, was to apply for redress to the pontifical throne, then in
the zenith of its temporal power. Their petition was too flattering
to that power, and afforded too advantageous an opportunity for its
exercise, to be disregarded. The duke of Bohemia and the bishop
of Prague were accordingly summoned to Rome, and threatened with
the then dreadful punishment of excommunication for the invasion
of Poland. To avert this awful threat, protestations of penitence
and promises of restitution were made. The effect of gold was in
the mean time secretly tried; and the confusion which ensued rela
tive to the succession to the papal chair increased the difficulty ex
perienced by the Poles in gaining justice. Disappointed and
harassed, they again turned their attention to the election of Casimir ;
but five years had elapsed since his departure, and the place of his
retreat was unknown to them. On applying to his mother Rixa, it
was discovered that he had retired to the university of Paris, and
afterwards to Italy, where he had taken the monastic habit. Re
turning to France, he entered the abbey of Clugni, whither an em
bassy was immediately sent to him. We come unto thee, dearest
prince, said the messengers, in the name of all the bishops, barons,
and nobles of the Polish kingdom, since thou alone canst restore our
country, and thy rightful heritage. As the sacred function of Ca
simir prevented him from assuming the regal dignity, a dispensation
from his vows was obtained from the pope, upon condition that the
Poles should contribute to the tax called Peter-pence, and conform
to the tonsure and dress of the Catholic clergy in other countries.
A magnificent reception was prepared for the prince, who was re
ceived on the frontier by all the bishops, nobility, and forces of the
nation. -
 HISTORY OF POLAND. 97

CASIMIR I.-1041-1058.

Casimir, surnamed the Restorer, was solemnly crowned at Gnesna,

and immediately applied himself to the restoration of order and
tranquillity, by attacking and dispersing the numerous banditti who
infested the country. He satisfied himself, however, by a few ex
amples of severity, and effected much by his clemency. Masos,
ruler of Masovia, still threatened a formidable resistance; and it is
hinted by the native historians that Casimir had even begun to think
of once more retiring to a convent, but was encouraged by a vision
to persevere. He marched against Masos; and his army, as it is said,
being encouraged by a celestial warrior on a white horse, gained a
complete victory over the rebellious forces. Casimir, fighting like
the meanest soldier, was severely wounded, and only saved from de
struction by the devotion of a follower. People of all ranks now
resumed their various avocations, the cities were repeopled, the laws
established, and science cultivated in an unprecedented manner. To
secure peace with Russia, Casimir married the sister of Yaroslaf,
whose name of Maria, which had been bestowed on her by the Greek
church, was now changed, on her re-baptism in the Catholic faith,
to Dobrogneva. Religion and morality also occupied the attention
of Casimir. He founded two monasteries for twelve monks whom
he had brought from Clugni to assist in educating the Poles. After
a happy reign, spent in promoting the welfare of his subjects, he
died honoured, beloved, and regretted.

BoI.ESLAUS II.-10581081.

Boleslaus II., surnamed the Bold, was the eldest of the three sons
of Casimir. Though some of the nobility attempted to postpone his
coronation, the love which the people bore to the memory of his
father frustrated that design. His court soon became a refuge for
exiled princes. Jaromir, son of Briteslaus duke of Bohemia, Bela,
brother to the king of Hungary, and Isislaf duke of Kiow, eldest
son of Yaroslaf duke of Russia, and cousin to the king of Poland,
had all fled, either from the defection of their subjects, or the designs
of their more powerful neighbours. The duke of Bohemia, brother
of Jaromir, anticipated the designs of Boleslaus by marching an
army through the Hyrcanian forest, desolating Silesia, and penetrat
ing to the frontiers of Poland. No declaration of war had been
5 N
98 HISTORY OF POLAND.

made ; and, to punish these ravages, Boleslaus, at the head of a

small army, advanced to meet him. By superior generalship, he
compelled the duke to take refuge in a wood, and refused to listen
to his proposals for an accommodation. The duke, being reduced
to great extremity, had recourse to the stratagem of lighting the fires
in his camp, and marching off under cover of the night. Boleslaus,
enraged at his escape, invaded Bohemia; but the duke's concessions
appeased his resentment, a peace was concluded, and the alliance
was cemented by the marriage of the duke with the king's sister.
A war was next commenced with Andrew, king of Hungary, on
behalf of the fugitive Bela; and though Andrew was assisted with
troops from Germany, and even from Bohemia, a decisive victory
was gained by Boleslaus, principally through the defection of the
Hungarians. Andrew was treated with such indignity by his
subjects, that he died of chagrin a few days after the battle, or, accord
ing to some, was slain in a wood by his own domestics; and Bela,
after some struggles with the people, ascended the vacant throne:
Boleslaus now turned his attention towards Russia, and married
a princess of that country. He still, however, meditated the design
of an invasion, probably in the hope that his claim to the ducal
throne would now be strengthened both by the relationship of his
mother Maria and of his wife. The pretext, indeed, was to obtain
justice for Isislaf duke of Kiow; and, at the head of his victorious and
well-disciplined army, he marched against Ucheslaf, brother of that
prince. The duke, intimidated at his approach, privately withdrew
from his troops, who consequently dispersed themselves, leaving a clear
passage to the city of Kiow. Here Boleslaus found the two younger
brothers of Isislaf in possession of the supreme authority; but they
procured pardon for their rebellion, opened the gates, and received
their natural prince and the king of Poland. Other cities followed
the same example. Premislaw alone, the strongest city in the north,
and the depot of the wealth of Ucheslaf, held out against the con
queror. An overflow of the river Sona had inundated the surrounding
country, and rendered all approaches almost impracticable; yet Bo
leslaus invested the city, and, in spite of the furious sallies of the
besieged, proceeded to make preparations for storming the place in
three different quarters. A flag of truce was now displayed by the
garrison, who obtained liberal terms of capitulation in consequence
of the valour they had displayed.
A revolt in Hungary, on the death of Bela, now demanded the
presence of Boleslaus; and, after restoring tranquillity in that coun
 HISTORY OF Poland. 99

try, he returned to Russia. Isislaf had been again driven from

Kiow by his brothers, and the task of Boleslaus was to begin afresh.
He ravaged the country, reduced the city of Wolyn after a six
months siege, and gained the advantage in a pitched battle of un
common obstinacy. After recruiting his army, he advanced in the
following spring towards Kiow, which was vigorously defended
against him. He was preparing to storm the city, when the infor
mation that famine had appeared amongst the besieged induced him
to alter his resolution, and convert the siege into a blockade. Both
rich and poor were perishing for want in the place; and it was at
length surrendered to the king, who, instead of punishing its defend
ers, applauded their courage, restrained his troops from pillage, and
distributed corn and provisions with the utmost liberality He was,
in consequence, received rather as a deliverer than a conqueror, and
his clemency achieved more than his arms.
Hitherto the Kiovians had preserved a considerable share of the
rough martial spirit by which they had been distinguished; but the
rejoicings which followed the entrance of Boleslaus induced them to
give way to every species of luxury and effeminacy. The conqueror
himself, like another Hannibal, was subdued by the prevailing vo
luptuousness; and his soldiers became enervated by their intercourse
with the dissolute Kiovians. Isislaf also endeavoured to render the
residence of his benefactor as agreeable as he could. On one occasion,
when desirous of a visit from Boleslaus, he offered to the king as
many marks of gold as the royal horse should take steps from the
palace of the king to that of the duke; a distance, it is said, enough
to enrich the monarch. During seven years, Boleslaus made but a
short visit of three months to his own dominions. A revolution of
an unparalleled description now occurred in Poland. The wives of
the nobility, provoked at the long absence of their husbands, and the
accounts they received of the profligacy which prevailed at Kiow,
resolved on signal revenge, and raised their slaves to the beds of
their masters. One honourable exception alone is recorded in the
name of Margaret, wife of Count Nicholas of Zemboisin, who re
tained her fidelity and shut herself up in a tower to preserve herself
from violence. On the news of these singular events arriving at
Kiow, the whole army was in commotion, and threw the blame of
their own vices upon the king, who was in a short time deserted by
the greatest part of his troops. Marching into Poland, they found
the women and their gallants prepared to give them a hostile recep
tion, being in possession of all the strong fortresses. - Sanguinary
N 2
I00 HISTORY OF POLAND.

conflicts ensued, in which the women fought by the side of their

paramours, or formed themselves into battalions, seeking out their
husbands, and attacking them hand to hand with rage and despera
tion. In the midst of this confusion, Boleslaus arrived with the
remainder of his army and a large body of Russians, and commenced
inflicting punishment both on the women, the slaves, and the troops
who had deserted him. His cruelty united these contending parties
against him; and it was not till after several bloody battles that the
rebels were subdued. The offending slaves were put to death, but
a singular punishment, according to Dlugoss, awaited the women.
The children which had been born to their own slaves by those
women whom their husbands spared being thrown away, he (Boles
laus) ordered whelps to be put to their breasts, as a punishment for
their incontinence; judging them unworthy to suckle the human
species, and only to be fit nurses for dogs, who, desregarding the
dignity of human nature, had violated their marriage bed, and joined
themselves with slaves, whilst their husbands were abroad at the
wars l

Boleslaus, who had formerly been a model for sovereigns, now be

came not only the most dissolute prince, but the bloodiest tyrant of
the age. It is certain that he embroiled himself in disputes with
the clergy, whose possessions he coveted, and whose schisms were
distracting the country. Stanislaus bishop of Cracow boldly remon
strated with the king; and, finding that threats had no effect, pro
ceeded to excommunicate him. Boleslaus was proof even against
this bolt; and the prelate, as a last resource, placed an interdict on
all the churches of Cracow. The tragedy that ensued is related in
the following manner by historians. The bishop having gone to
celebrate mass in a chapel on a hill beyond the Vistula, the king
followed with a small party of soldiers. Fearing, however, to in
terrupt the sacred rite by violence, he waited its conclusion, and
then ordered his attendants to enter and attack the bishop. Thrice,
it is said, they attempted, but were as often compelled to fall back
by some unseen power; until Boleslaus himself furiously rushed
upon the prelate, and dashed out his brains with his heavy sword.
Stanislaus was canonized after his death; and Pope Gregory VII.
issued the most dreadful anathemas of the church against the king,
released his subjects from their allegiance, deprived him of his titles
of sovereignty, and charged the whole kingdom with the interdict,
which the archbishop of Gnesna saw punctually enforced. It was
in vain that Boleslaus endeavoured to revive the spirit which had
 HISTORY OF POLAND. 101

rendered him terrible to his enemies. His subjects looked upon

him with hatred, which the clergy sedulously laboured to enhance.
Abandoned by his friends and flatterers, and exposed to conspiracies,
he was compelled with his son Micislaus to fly into Hungary; and
the generality of historians concur in adding that he terminated his
life in the obscure situation of cook in a monastery in Carinthia.

ULADISLAU's I.-1082-1102.

As an expiation of the murder of St. Stanislaus, Poland was sub

jected by the pope to many oppressive impositions; and the son of
Boleslaus was excluded from the succession. At length, the pontiff
consented that Uladislaus, or Ladislaus, brother to the last monarch,
and afterwards surnamed the Careless, should be raised to the supreme
dignity, on condition, however, that he should be satisfied with the
title of duke. Uladislaus was all obedience, and commenced his
administration by petitioning the pope for the removal of the inter
dict, which was granted; but the title of king, having been bestowed
upon the duke of Bohemia, was still refused to Uladislaus. He
married Judith, daughter of Andrew, king of Hungary; but as this
princess exhibited no signs of pregnancy, recourse was had to pray
ers, alms, and pilgrimages, to induce heaven to reverse the supposed
curse of barrenness. The bishop of Cracow at length advised the
duchess to implore the intercession of St. Giles; and pilgrims with
rich presents were accordingly sent to a monastery in Lower Lan
guedoc which had been the residence of that saint. To the great joy
of the pious queen, her clergy, and subjects, she soon after brought
forth a son, an event considered as no less than miraculous; and the
young prince was christened Boleslaus.
Micislaus, son of Boleslaus II., had become very popular in Hun
gary; and his uncle Uladislaus, either from policy or magnanimity,
now recalled him into Poland, and procured his marriage with
Eudoxia, a Russian princess. The sudden death of this prince
shortly after was attributed to violence; and Uladislaus was sus
pected, though on no very conclusive grounds, of being the murderer.
Meanwhile Russia threw off the yoke of Poland; and Prussia, Po
merania, and other provinces followed the example. Uladislaus
reluctantly marched against them, and the efforts of his troops were
crowned with success; but, on his retiring home, the natives again
rose and massacred the garrisons which had been left. The war
was of course renewed, and a victory was gained by the Poles on the
102 HISTORY OF POLAND.

banks of the Notez. On investing the strong fort of Nackel, how

ever, they were seized with an unaccountable dread, and during the
night imagined every bush, tree, and height occupied by their ene
mies, who at length in reality set fire to their tents, and compelled
them to retreat. In accordance with the idea that the pagans were
assisted by the powers of darkness, the Poles excused their cow
ardice on this occasion by asserting that armies of spectres had
arisen to oppose them. In the following year, Uladislaus procured
some temporary advantages; and the duke of Bohemia having, with
the assistance of the Pomeranians, invaded Silesia, the latter were
defeated by the young prince Boleslaus, then only in his tenth year.
The troubles in Poland now demanded the attention of Uladislaus.
These were excited by Sbigniew, a natural son of the duke, and
who had been destined for the church; but, being supported by the
palatine of Cracow and some of the nobility, he asserted his claim to
the succession, in opposition to Boleslaus, the duke's legitimate son.
At the head of an army, he took Wratislaw ; and at length, on
receiving assistance from the Prussians and Pomeranians, gave bat
tle to his father. Being defeated with great slaughter, he took
refuge in Cruszwiczia, where he stood a siege, but was taken prisoner.
He was, however, pardoned, on condition of assisting to punish the
palatine of Cracow; but that nobleman soon contrived to ingratiate
himself into the good graces of the duke himself, who endeavoured
to protect him against the vengeance of his sons, and even sustained
a siege with his obnoxious favourite. It was only through the me
diation of the archbishop of Gnesna that a reconciliation was effected
between the father and his children, on which the palatine was
banished to Russia. Boleslaus afterwards chastised the Prussians
and Pomeranians, and returned laden with spoils and glory. Ula
dislaus died in the fifty-ninth year of his age, with the character of
a pious, mild, and virtuous prince, but wholly under the influence
of parasites and favourites.

BolesLAUS III.-1102-1139.

With the consent of the states, the bequest of Uladislaus was put
in execution, which directed that his dominions should be equally
divided between his sons. The ambition of both was perhaps equal;
but the imprudence of Sbigniew induced him to demand the whole
of the ducal treasure, because it had been deposited in the city of
Plotsk, which had fallen to his share. The primate again inter
 HISTORY OF POLAND. I03

posed, and prevented a rupture between the brothers, by enforcing

an equal division. Sbigniew, however, on learning that his brother
was about to marry a Russian princess, continued to traduce and
form cabals against him, and to instigate the neighbouring states to
hostilities. With such secresy were his machinations carried on,
that Boleslaus was astonished on learning that the troops of Bohemia,
Saxony, and Moravia, were ready to overwhelm his frontiers. In
this emergency he engaged the assistance of the Russians and Hun
garians, and speedily broke up the league which had been formed
against him. He next determined on punishing the Pomeranians,
who had likewise assisted his rebellious brother; and, after various
successes and reverses, he laid siege to Belgard. This place was
defended with great obstinacy; even women and children appearing
on the walls to roll stones or boiling pitch on the heads of the Poles.
With a battle-axe in one hand, and a buckler in the other, the duke
undauntedly hastened to one of the gates, passed over the ditch by
means of long planks, and assailed the massy barrier with desperate
fury. Boiling water, pitch, stones, and other missiles, fell on him
in vain. By repeated blows of his ponderous weapon, he forced the
gate, admitted his soldiers, and with them made a terrible slaughter
of the people, sparing neither age nor sex, and desisting only from
the carnage when their hands were tired with the murderous work.
The fall of this town was followed by the submission of the whole
country. The Polish historians relate several anecdotes of the per
sonal bravery, or rather temerity, of Boleslaus, during this expedition.
Being on a visit to a nobleman in the country, he set out early one
morning with 80 followers to enjoy the pleasures of the chase, but
suddenly found himself surrounded by a body of 3000 Pomeranians.
Coolly drawing his sword, he cut his way, at the head of his little
band, through the host of his foes; and then, disdaining to fly, he
wheeled round, and again dashed through them. Though his fol
lowers were now reduced to five, he a third time attempted this
desperate exploit; but, on this occasion, his horse was killed under
him, and, after fighting some time on foot, he was nearly overpowered,
when a party of 30 of his men arrived, and extricated him from his
perilous situation.
Boleslaus soon after fell upon Sbigniew by surprise, and totally
defeated his forces; but he generously laid aside his indignation,
and, in the hope that he was deprived of the power of further mis
chief, left him in possession of the duchy of Masovia. Furious at
the success and the magnanimity of his brother, Sbigniew continued
I04 History of Poi.AND.

to form conspiracies, and was banished as a traitor. He returned

with an army of Pomeranians, was again defeated, and again had
the sentence of death commuted to banishment by his brother. The
latter, moved to pity at seeing him wander as a vagrant from pro
vince to province, once more recalled him to Poland, and allowed
him a handsome maintenance; but the plots of the unnatural Sbig
niew could only be terminated by his death. Some affirm that he
was slain in a tumult of the people, others that he was put to death
by order of the nobility, and a third party assert that he was con
demned to lose his eyes and to perpetual imprisonment, in which
he died of grief and vexation.
Boleslaus had scarcely ended these wars, when he was called upon
to succour his ally, the king of Hungary, at that time attacked by
the emperor Henry IV. Boleslaus made a powerful diversion in
Bohemia; and the emperor, in revenge, invaded Silesia and Poland,
laying all waste before him. The superior skill of the Polish mo
narch, however, compelled him to retire, harassed by fatigue and
famine. The emperor, in order to bring Boleslaus to a regular
engagement, now laid siege to Glogaw, but was resisted with spirit
and courage; even the women and children joining in defence of the
city. At length the garrison agreed to surrender if succour should
not arrive in the space of six days; while Boleslaus advanced by
forced marches to their relief, with all the strength he could raise.
He would still have been too late, had he not prevailed on the be
sieged to break the capitulation, and to recommence hostilities.
Accordingly, when the emperor advanced on the appointed day to
take possession of the city, he was received by a furious discharge of
arrows and javelins; and, on attempting to storm the place, it was
discovered that not only the breaches in the walls had been repaired,
but a new wall and ditch constructed behind the old ones. On this
occasion, the emperor placed the hostages he held in the front of his
troops; but the people, unmoved even by the sentiments of nature,
continued to pour out their missiles, destroying indiscriminately
their children and their enemies. Boleslaus arrived next day, and
hemmed in the besiegers with his army; but, not being able to
bring them to a regular engagement, he treacherously procured the
assassination of the Bohemian chief in whose cause Henry had armed,
and that in the very tent of the emperor. The Bohemians, as he had
foreseen, now insisted on returning to their homes; and the emperor
slowly retreated, while Boleslaus pursued the invaders to the fron
tiers of the empire, where he engaged and gained a complete victory
 HISTORY OF POLAND. 105

over them. A peace ensued, in which Boleslaus dictated his own

terms, and crowned his glory by receiving in marriage the emperor's
Sister.

After various wars with the Bohemians and Pomeranians, Boles

laus undertook the conversion of the latter from paganism; and
partly by the preaching of his clergy, partly by the influence of gold,
several towns were induced to embrace the new religion, and to de
stroy their idols. Still further to appease the reproaches of his
conscience, Boleslaus undertook pilgrimages to the shrines of St.
Adalbert, St. Stephen of Hungary, and St. Giles of Languedoc. To
the last of these saints his mother had been considered under parti
cular obligations: the royal pilgrim therefore practised the most
rigorous austerities on his journey, and lay prostrate fifteen succes
sive days before the tomb of the saint.
Boleslaus had been induced to confer the government of Wislica,
a strong town on the Nida, on a Hungarian stranger who had im
posed upon his credulity. This man betrayed the place to the
Russians, by whom it was pillaged and burnt, and the inhabitants
carried into slavery. The duke immediately commenced a war
against the Russians, who, aware of his prowess, had recourse to
stratagem. A deputation was sent to him from the people of Halitz,
imploring his assistance for a young prince who had been banished
into Poland. Boleslaus advanced to the place with a chosen body
of troops; but, on preparing to enter, was unexpectedly attacked by
the whole Russian army, which poured out like a torrent, and over
whelmed the Poles by their numbers. After a desperate conflict, in
which the misconduct of the palatine of Cracow contributed to hasten
a defeat, the duke was compelled to seek safety in flight. As a
bitter reproof, he sent to the palatine a hare-skin and a distaff; an
insult so intolerable that the recreant nobleman hanged himself.
Such a reverse, after forty-seven victories, filled the Polish monarch
with grief, and hastened his death. Boleslaus III., surnamed Cri
venstus, or Wrymouth, was brave, open, liberal, and sincere; but his
credulity sometimes led him into errors.

ULADISLAUs II.-1140-1146.

Boleslaus followed the imprudent example of his father, in divid

ing his dominions amongst his sons. To Uladislaus, the eldest, were
given the provinces of Cracow, Siradia, Lencziez, Silesia, and Pome
rania. Boleslaus, the second son, had for his share the palatinates
- O
106 HISTORY OF POLANIJ,

of Dobrzyn, Culm, and Cujavia, with the duchy of Masovia. The

palatinates of Gnesna, Kalisch, and Posnania, fell to Micislaus, the
third son; and to Henry, the fourth son, those of Lublin and San
domir. No provision was made for the youngest, Casimir, then an
infant. The states ratified this arrangement, but conferred the
supremacy upon Uladislaus, who was constituted duke of all Poland,
with power to declare war and conclude peace, to levy troops, and
to superintend the education of the young prince Casimir. The
ambition of Christina, the consort of Uladislaus, and daughter and
sister of two emperors, soon disturbed the harmony of the princes.
Having an entire influence over her husband, she easily brought him
into her schemes; and a diet being assembled, she addressed the
nobles on the impolicy and danger of the recent partition, and urged
them to confer the whole power upon Uladislaus. The assembly,
however, adhered to their former decision, and entered into private
engagements with the Russians, whom they invited into Poland;
but the duke succeeded at length in gaining a party to his cause.
Count Peter, a noble Dane, who possessed great property in Poland,
venturing to oppose the plans of Uladislaus, was seized by order of
Christina whilst he was celebrating his daughter's nuptials, deprived
of his sight, and thrown into a loathsome prison, after having been
mangled in a shocking manner.t Boleslaus and Henry were next
attacked in succession, driven from their principalities, and compelled
to take refuge with Micislaus in Posen, where they sustained a siege.
Uladislaus having repelled all attempts at a reconciliation, the three
brothers sallied out, attacked his camp, and obtained a complete
victory. The duke fled to Cracow; but that place being invested
by his injured brothers, he retired into Germany, in the hope of
* When Boleslaus was asked the reason why this best beloved of his children
was thus neglected, he is said to have replied by a homely proverb: The four
wheeled chariot must have a driver. The opening talents of the young Casimir
had already afforded grounds for this prophetic reply.
# The fate of this nobleman is otherwise related. He is said to have been
the duke's prime favourite; and being one winter day with him on a hunting
party, Uladislaus said jocosely, whilst they rested on the hard, cold ground,
Peter, I believe your wife lies more at ease with the fat abbot Skrezepiski
than we do. To which the Dane replied, sharply, And it may be Christina
does the same with Dobiesz; a handsome young nobleman, who was supposed
to partake of the favours of that lewd ambitious woman. Uladislaus was so af
fected with the answer, and instigated to revenge by his wife, that, forgetting he
had given the provocation, he had the count's tongue and eyes plucked out in
the most barbarous manner.Flor. Polon. lib. ii. cap, vii. p. 73.
 HISTORY OF POLANI). 107

procuring auxiliaries from his wife's friends. His imprudence and

misfortunes, however, caused him to be coolly received; and Cracow
having been surrendered to his brothers in the mean time, the rest
of Poland followed the example, Uladislaus was formally deposed by
the diet, and his brother Boleslaus, surnamed Crispus, raised to the
ducal dignity. Christina, who had been taken prisoner at Cracow,
and whose former haughtiness was now changed to the most abject
submission, was conducted over the frontiers of the duchy, and told
to rejoin her kindred.

Boles LAUs IV.-1146-1173.

This prince commenced his reign by generously assigning Silesia

to his banished brother Uladislaus; but the latter still continuing
to solicit the emperor's assistance in reinstating him on the ducal
throne of Poland, an embassy was sent from the imperial court to
negotiate for that purpose. This measure having failed, the emperor
Conrade marched into Poland at the head of an army; but he was
so harassed by Boleslaus with perpetual marches, skirmishes, strata
gems, and ambuscades, that, on an interview taking place, he was
easily prevailed upon to relinquish his project of restoring Uladis
laus. During the long period of peace that followed, Boleslaus lived
in harmony with his brothers, and paid much attention to the edu
cation of Casimir, the youngest. Henry seized the opportunity to
distinguish his valour against the enemies of Christianity in Pales
tine, where, at the head of an army of Polish volunteers, he signalized
himself in several battles. After having lost the greater part of his
troops in this fruitless contest, and making great donations to the
knights of St. John of Jerusalem, he returned to Poland.
Soon after this event, the emperor Frederic Barbarossa, at the
solicitation of Uladislaus and Christina, invaded Poland. In conse
quence of the great strength of the imperial army, Boleslaus and his
brothers determined not to hazard a regular battle, but to annoy the
emperor by dividing their forces, desolating the country around him,
and burning the most defenceless towns and cities. By this means
Barbarossa was soon reduced to extremities for want of provisions,
and famine was followed by an epidemical distemper amongst his
troops. Finding his army rapidly decreasing, the emperor consented
to a conference with the brothers, who went to the imperial camp
with a slight guard; an instance of confidence highly pleasing to
Barbarossa. Boleslaus, with great policy, proposed very moderate
o 2
I08 HISTORY OF POLAND.

terms of accommodation; and a treaty was concluded, whereby the

Poles agreed to send 300 lancers to assist the emperor in Italy, and
he promised his niece Adelaide in marriage to Micislaus duke of
Posnania. The death of the unfortunate and imprudent Uladislaus
occurred about this time. -

Boleslaus, accompanied by his brother Micislaus, now invaded

Prussia, the inhabitants of which had revolted and returned to their
ancient faith after the death of Boleslaus III. At first the Polish
arms were successful; but, in a second expedition, some of the na
tives who had joined their camp betrayed Boleslaus and his army
into defiles, where they were attacked, defeated, and dispersed by
the Prussians; duke Henry being slain in the field, and Boleslaus
and Micislaus escaping with difficulty. The children of Uladislaus
soon after excited the Poles against the duke, by claiming restitution
of their father's dominions, which had been assigned to the young
prince Casimir. An army of German auxiliaries appeared to sup
port their claim; but Boleslaus, finding himself reduced to the
necessity of negotiating, assembled a diet, which voted almost una
nimously against the claims of his enemies. To preserve peace,
however, a fresh investiture was made of Silesia, which province was
divided among the nephews of Boleslaus. His reverses, and the
little respect paid him by his subjects, are supposed to have hastened
his death.

Mrcisi,AUs III.1174-1177.

The friends of the infant Lesko, son of Boleslaus, now endeavoured

to procure his election; and prince Casimir and the sons of Uladislaus
also respectively strove to attain the vacant throne. The states,
however, preferred Micislaus, brother of the late monarch, and sur
named the Old, on account of the wisdom he had displayed in his
youth; and the duchies of Masovia and Cujavia were assigned to
Lesko. But Micislaus became a tyrant the moment he ceased to be
a subject. His prodigality rendered him avaricious, and the wealth
of his subjects was drained by oppression for the purpose of gratify
ing his rapacity. The murmurs of discontent were unheeded amidst
the adulation of favourites. Cruelty completed the list of his vices;
animals were tortured when human beings could not be had; and a
taste for hunting was cherished for the sake of gratifying this pro
pensity. Gideon, bishop of Cracow, an old friend of the sovereign,
raised his warning voice against these enormities, but was threatened
 HISTORY OF POLAND. 109

with banishment for his presnmption; and consfication of property

was held out as the punishment of those who should presume to
censure the government. Private cabals were now formed against
the tyrant; and the palatine of Cracow proposed his deposition, and
the election of prince Casimir in his stead. The moderation of the
latter, however, prevented him for some time from accepting the
proffered dignity; but, conquered at last by the arguments and
prayers of the nobility, clergy, and people, he consented, solemnly
protesting that the good of his country, and not the gratification of
his ambition, was the sole object he had in view. Accordingly,
Micislaus, who was absent at the time, was formally deposed, and
Casimir, surnamed the Just, elected in his stead.

CASIMIR II.11781194.

Micislaus not being able to raise an army, and his hitherto faithful
provinces of Lower Poland and Pomerania being subdued by Casimir,
the latter had leisure to commence those reforms which justified the
high opinion previously entertained of his virtue. He redressed
grievances, adjusted property, corrected abuses, and suppressed ex
orbitant imposts. Anxious to ameliorate the condition of the pea
sants, he summoned a diet to deliberate on the subject; and most
of the nobility, overcome by the laudable example of their ruler,
were easily prevailed upon to forego many of their most oppressive
privileges, the principal of which was their right to food, lodging,
and other necessaries for themselves and their horses, whenever they
journeyed through the country. All his requests were granted; and,
to secure this declaration in favour of the peasants, the bishop of
Gnesna threatened the spiritual vengeance of the church on those
who should endeavour to recover the unjust privileges they had now
renounced, or infringe the property of the church. These acts were
afterwards confirmed by the pope.
The supplications of the deposed Micislaus, now reduced to ex
treme indigence, wrought so powerfully on the amiable nature of
Casimir, that he assembled a diet, in which, with unaccountable
generosity, he proposed to restore the crown to his brother, for whose
future conduct he offered to be security; but the states perempto
rily insisted that he should never more mention the subject, lest they
should be compelled to depose him, and thus secure the exclusion of
Micislaus, who they were determined should never again wear the
Polish diadem. Casimir, however, was so deeply affected with the
110 HISTORY OF POLAND.

misfortunes of his brother, that he even connived at the reduction of

Gnesna and Lower Poland by that prince, who might have continued
there in splendour and peace, had not his ambition and ingratitude
tempted him to wrest the crown of Poland from the too generous
Casimir. Having prevailed on Lesko, the son of Boleslaus, to desert
the service of the duke, he seized upon his territories of Masovia
and Cujavia for himself, and thereby opened the eyes of the young
man, who escaped to Casimir, and was received with as much kind
ness as if he had never erred. Affected by this magnanimity and
his own imprudence, Lesko shortly after died of grief, leaving his
dominions to Casimir, who, compelled by self-preservation as well as
policy, despatched an army against Micislaus, and thereby recovered
the provinces in dispute, though he still suffered the latter to retain
some places in Lower Poland.
Uladimir, duke of Russia, having been dispossessed of his domi
nions by the Hungarians, Casimir was induced to engage in a war
for his restoration. The Hungarians, however, had a strong party
amongst the Polish nobility, who endeavoured to frustrate his de
signs by exciting a civil war and attempting the restoration of Mi
cislaus. A report was artfully propagated, that Casimir was prisoner
in Russia, and this considerably strengthened the faction. Cracow
was surprised, but the citadel refused to surrender. The unexpected
return of Casimir at length crushed the hopes of Micislaus and the
rest of the conspirators; when the duke again evinced his clemency
by releasing the prisoners, furnishing them with the means of re
turning home, and condescending, though victorious, to ask peace of
his vanquished brother. The conquest of Russia was now completed,
rather by his reputation and generosity than by force of arms; the
people of that country submitting voluntarily to a prince so famed
for his virtues. He died of apoplexy shortly after his return to
Cracow, admired and lamented for his many amiable qualities; and
it was observed that his very failings, resulting as they did from his
goodness of heart, were such as contributed to endear him to his
subjects.

* The following anecdote has been preserved as a striking illustration of his

character. While Casimir was prince of Sandomir, he won at play all the money
of one of his nobility, who, incensed at his ill fortune, struck the prince a blow
on the ear, in the heat of passion. He fled immediately from justice; but being
pursued and overtaken, he was condemned to lose his head. The generous Ca
simir, however, determined otherwise. I am not surprised, said he, at the
gentleman's conduct; for not having it in his power to revenge himself on for
 HISTORY OF POIAND. 111

LEsko V.l 194.

Though Lesko, surnamed the White, son of Casimir was a boy at

the period of his father's death, and Micislaus and the son of Ula
dislaus II., now duke of Oppelen in Silesia, had each a powerful
party in Poland, yet, such was the respect in which the memory of
Casimir was held, that the bishop and the palatine of Cracow found
little difficulty in procuring the election of Lesko to the vacant
throne; while Casimir, a younger son of the late sovereign, was
declared duke of Masovia and Cujavia. Micislaus the Old, with
the dukes of Oppelen, Pomerania, and Breslaw, marched at the
head of an army towards Cracow; and a bloody battle between them
and the troops of the young duke was fought on the banks of the
river Mozgarva, in which both parties were so disabled as to be
compelled to leave the field. Micislaus, after recruiting his forces,
invaded the duchy of Cujavia without opposition; but an attempt
to corrupt the bishop and the palatine of Cracow, guardians of Lesko,
proved abortive. Micislaus then turned his attention to the duchess
dowager, mother of the prince. He described the miseries likely to
accrue from her rejection of his overtures, engaged to adopt Lesko
and Conrade her sons, to give them the province of Cujavia for their
present support, and to declare them his heirs. The principal no
bility opposed this accommodation; but it was accepted by the in
fatuated duchess, who caused Micislaus to be put in possession of the
capital.

MICISLAUs III. RESTORED. \,

After what has been related of the character and conduct of Mi

cislaus, it can afford no matter of surprise that he should break the
oaths he had made to a credulous woman. The duchess, perceiving
that he had assumed a despotic authority, and that she had suffered
herself to be duped, now endeavoured to retrieve her mistake by
forming a party in favour of her children. The rebellion soon be
came general, and Micislaus was driven out of Cracow. He found
means, however, to set the palatine of the province and the duchess
tune, no wonder he should attack her favourite. He revoked the sentence,
returned the nobleman his money, and declared that he alone was faulty, as he
encouraged by his example a pernicious practice that might terminate in the
ruin of his people.Flor. Polon, lib. ii. cap. r.
II 2 HISTORY OF POLAND.

at variance, and by this artifice obliged that powerful nobleman to

espouse his party. Thus strengthened, he regained possession of
Cracow; but he did not long enjoy the fruits of his prosperity, as
he shortly after fell a victim to intemperance.
ULADISLAUs III.-1202-1205.

Through the influence of the palatine of Cracow, Uladislaus, son

of Micislaus, was raised to the ducal throne. Historians differ ma
terially in relating the events which followed. It is, however, ge
nerally believed that he held the ducal dignity three years, and then,
reflecting on his usurpation of another's right, voluntarily resigned
the crown to Lesko.

LEsko V. RESTORED.1206-1227.

The amiable disposition of Lesko was ill adapted for the turbulent
times in which he lived. The Russians on one hand conquered part
of the Polish territory; and the provinces of Masovia and Cujavia,
which had been confided to Conrade, the duke's brother, were ravaged
by the Prussians, who burned two hundred churches and oratories,
and penetrated to Plotsk. Swantopelk, governor of eastern Pome
rania, also refused to pay the customary tribute; and, on account of
his power, recourse was had to stratagem for his destruction. He was
invited to attend a diet, at which Lesko himself was present; but,
aware of the snare, he came provided with a strong body of armed
men, whom he concealed in a wood till their services should be re
quired. On learning one day that the duke was in the bath, Swan
topelk with his followers furiously assaulted the place. Lesko hastily
left the bath, and fled on horseback; but he was soon overtaken,
and, after a gallant defence, assassinated by the traitorous Swanto
pelk. The picture drawn of the state of morals during this reign is
deplorable. Both the nobility and clergy were addicted to licen
tiousness and luxury. Many of the latter had wives and concubines;
and it required the strongest exertions of the pope's legate, Cardinal
Peter, as well as the most terrible punishments, to reduce them to
order and obedience to the canonical law,

Boles LAUs W.-1228-1279.

Boleslaus, son of Lesko the White, was only seven years old on
the murder of his father. His uncle Conrade, and his cousin Henry
 HISTORY OF POLAND. I 13

duke of Breslaw, contended for the guardianship of his person; and

it was only by a bloody battle that the dispute was decided in favour
of Conrade. An irruption of the Prussians, characterised by all their
usual ferocity, followed; and Conrade was induced to call in the
assistance of the knights of the Teutonic order, in the hope of sub
duing his invaders. Seven knights proceeded to Poland, and were
put in possession of the fortress and territory of Dobrzyn in perpe
tuity; while the territory of Culm, and all the country between the
Vistula, the Mokra, and the Druentsa, were ceded to them till the
termination of the war, when the Poles were to receive half of such
conquests as the order might gain from the pagans. For some time
their efforts were prosperous; but foreign invaders were not the
only foes to the peace of Poland. Conrade the regent, aiming at
the supreme authority, imprisoned his ward. The latter contrived
at length to escape, and claimed the aid of Henry of Breslaw, who
* Mr. Dunham gives the early history of this order, originally distinguished
for humility, in the following words:In the siege of Acre eight Germans,
seeing the number of wounded Christians who daily perished for lack of assist
ance, formed themselves into a voluntary association for the purpose of mitigat
ing, by their personal attendance, the agonies of which they were the spectators.
For the victims left to expire under a burning sun, or amidst the deadly dews of
night, they constructed tents made of the sails of ships: their next acts of mercy
were to wash the wounds and to relieve the wants of the sufferers. Their zeal,
so honourable to humanity, and their valour, which it exalted, drew on them the
admiration of their generals. On the reduction of Acre, an hospital and a
church were built for them in that town, and subsequently at Jerusalem. Their
numbers were soon increased; their time was divided between the field and the
bed of sickness; and their services were of such acknowledged utility, that the
king of Jerusalem formed them into an order, to be called Knights of our Lady
of Mount Sion. It was approved in 1191, by the emperor Henry VI., and pope
Celestine III. By the statutes the knights were to be of noble descent, bound
by their vows to celibacy, to the defence of the Christian church and the Holy
Land, and to the exercise of hospitality towards pilgrims of their own nation;
their habit was a black cross on a white mantle; their rule that of Saint Au
gustine. Their original number, besides their first grand master Henry of
Waelfort, was twenty-four laymen and seven priests: the latter had permission
to celebrate mass clothed in complete armour, with swords at their sides. They
were soon raised to forty, exclusive of numerous attendants. For some time
their discipline was sufficiently rigorous; among other things, they suffered
their beards to grow, and slept on the ground. Under their fourth grand master,
Herman of Salsa, when their revenues had prodigiously increased, they relaxed
from their austerities. On their expulsion from the Holy Land, Herman, with
his knights, retired to Venice, ignorant in what country they might obtain a set
tlement, but resolved to oppose the enemies of the cross-and northern Europe
had yet many, wherever their services might be required.
P
114 HISTORY OF POLAND.

entered Poland with an army, and seized on the regency. On his

death, Boleslaus endeavoured to strengthen his power by a marriage
with Cunegund, daughter of Bela king of Hungary. But a new
scourge appeared in the Tartars, whose exploits at this time spread
terror and confusion through all the northern nations. These bar
barians burst like a torrent into Poland, and ravaged it with the
utmost cruelty. The resistance offered by some of the chivalric
nobility was quickly overwhelmed by myriads of invaders. The
palatine of Cracow attacked them, and might have been successful
but for the cupidity of his followers, who fell upon the baggage,
when the Tartars rallied and obtained a victory. Cracow was plun
dered and burnt; and Boleslaus fled for refuge first to Hungary,
and afterwards to Moravia. On the retirement of the Tartar hordes,
the palatine of Cracow attacked their rear, but was defeated.
The usurper Conrade, taking advantage of the duke's absence,
again assumed the sovereign authority; but his pride and avarice
induced the people to invite the return of Boleslaus, whose weakness,
though sufficiently irksome to a warlike people, was less odious than
the oppressive sway of Conrade. The latter, however, was powerful
and active; and, after two indecisive battles, Boleslaus only regained
his dominions on the death of his opponent. A destructive war was
also carried on between Swantopelk, the assassin of Lesko V., and
the Teutonic knights, aided by Premislaus duke of Great Poland.
A second time the Tartars appeared in Poland; whole provinces
were burnt to the ground, and neither age nor sex spared in the
general massacre. Boleslaus again fled into Hungary, where he re
mained till his formidable enemies had departed. Four years after
wards he subdued the Jadvingi; a barbarous and warlike nation who
inhabited Podlasia, and who had often harassed the eastern provinces
of Poland. His latter years were spent in peace and devotion. He
was liberal to the church, and founded many monasteries. It is
reported that he made a vow of perpetual continence, and im
posed the same oath on his wife, whence he acquired the epithet
of the Chaste. Previous to his death, he adopted Lesko the Black,
duke of Cujavia, and procured a confirmation of his choice by the
free election of the people.
* The choice of Lesko has been supposed by some to arise from a kindred
feeling. Dlugoss says that though the duchess Griphina, daughter of Roscislaus
duke of Russia, consort of Lesko the Black, lived nearly six years with him, she
remained a virgin. Having preferred a charge of impotency against him, she
- called an assembly of chiefs, soldiery, and matrons; when the silence of the
 HISTORY OF POLAND. 115

Lesko VI-1279-1289.

Lesko the Black was attacked, soon after his accession, by the
Silesians and Lithuanians, both of whom he defeated. Those powers
had been incited to the contest by the bishop of Cracow, a bitter
enemy of the duke, and a disgrace to the church. He kept nume
rous parties of banditti in pay, and did not even scruple to seize
nuns in their cloisters, to convey them to his tower, and keep them
openly as mistresses. He was at length imprisoned, but contrived
to escape, and excited a powerful insurrection. Cracow was be
sieged by the rebels; but, after a gallant defence, that city was
relieved by Lesko, who soon after gained a victory over the Russians,
advancing in support of the malcontents. The Tartar hordes, how
ever, again entered the country; and Lesko, like his predecessor,
fled into Hungary, where he remained till their retirement into
Russia. Harassed by the machinations of the duke of Masovia,
and despised for his late flight by his subjects, Lesko is said to have
died of a broken heart.
As the duke left no children, his brother Uladislaus Loketec, or
the Short, Boleslaus duke of Plotsko, and brother to Conrade duke
of Masovia, and Henry duke of Breslaw, a prince lineally descended
from the family of Piast, all claimed the vacant throne. Boleslaus
was at first successful, and afterwards Henry; but the latter was
subsequently expelled by Uladislaus. Henry regained possession of
the reins of government; but, on his death, a new claimant appeared
in Winceslaus king of Bohemia, who produced a supposed will of
Lesko VI. in his favour, said by the Polish historians to have been
forged by his aunt, the duchess Griphina, widow of Lesko. He was
opposed by Uladislaus, and an era of confusion and bloodshed ensued,
which were augmented by a fourth irruption of the Tartars. The
nobles now felt the necessity of union, and at length agreed on elect
ing to the ducal throne Premislaus duke of Great Poland and of
Pomerania, and heir of Cracow and Sandomir.

duke, who was present, was considered as an acknowledgment of the truth of

her allegations. Having thus obtained a divorce from her husband, the duchess
retired to a convent.
P 2
II 6 HISTORY OF POLAND.

PREMISLAUs.-1295-1300.

On the election of Premislaus, all the other candidates ceased from

their pretensions; Uladislaus himself declaring that a better choice
could not have been made. The republic of Poland, once so flou
rishing and powerful, had at this time lost all its splendour. Du
ring the two centuries in which it had been divested of the title of
kingdom by the court of Rome, Prussia, Silesia, Pomerania, Saxony,
and Russia, which were the conquests of the first monarchs of Po
land, had shaken off the yoke, and secured their independence by
long possession. The body itself of this ancient kingdom was reduced
to a melancholy situation, and supported itself with difficulty; for,
as it was divided into several principalities, whose dukes had differ
ent interests to pursue, it was exhausted of its force, and always a
prey either to a domestic or a foreign foe. Premislaus therefore
endeavoured, by assuming the title of king, to impart stability and
unity to the nation. The coronation was celebrated at Gnesna with
great pomp; and this new dignity, together with the firm but mild
conduct of Premislaus, seemed to be the foundation of a new era of
prosperity. A great part of Pomerania acknowledged his authority,
and Dantzick was fortified. In commemoration of these events, he
caused a seal to be engraved, on one side of which was inscribed,
Sigillum Premislai Polonorum Regis et Ducis Pomerania: ; and
on the other, Reddidit ipse suis victricia signa Polonis. He did
not live long, however, to witness the success of his labours. His
elevation and success awakened the fears and jealousies of his neigh
bours. Having repaired to Rogozno, to celebrate with feasting and
tournaments one of the high festivals of the church, his cousin, the
margrave of Anhalt, entered his chamber with a few ruffians during
the night, while his attendants were wrapped in sleep after their
festivities. The king defended himself with courage, but was at
length overpowered and slain by his numerous adversaries. Again
the nation was plunged into confusion by conflicting claims for the
sovereignty; and Uladislaus Loketec was chosen to the vacant throne.
For a time he was successful over the Bohemians, Silesians, and
Brandenburghers; but his tyrannies soon rendered him odious to his
subjects: he was excommunicated by the church, and deposed by an
For the honour of retributive justice, the Polish historians relate, that the
house of Anhalt, which then consisted of twelve nobles, in twenty years ceased
to exist.
 HISTORY OF POLAND. I17

assembly of the nation at Posen, who elected Winceslaus king of

Bohemia in his stead.

WINCEslaus.1300-1304.

The will of Lesko VI., even had it been genuine, could not have
conferred on Winceslaus a legal right to the crown; and he there
fore married Rixa, daughter of Premislaus, after which he was
crowned at Gnesna. The Poles, however, could not forget that his
ancestors had been the foes of their country; and as he soon began
to bestow the offices of state on Bohemians, and to garrison the for
tresses with the soldiers of that nation, the smothered discontent
only required an opportunity to burst forth with fury. In the mean
time, the Lithuanions on one side, and the dukes of Rugen and Eusi
on the other, ravaged the country; and a destructive plague added
to the horrors of war. To escape these evils, Winceslaus retired
with the queen to Prague, leaving the government of Poland in the
hands of Bohemians. They gained a victory over the Russians,
Tartars, and Lithuanians, near Lublin; but the Poles still felt the
irksomeness of submission to foreigners. During these events, and
while Winceslaus was occupied with the troubles in his own domi
nions, Uladislaus Loketec repaired to Rome, and conciliated the
pope. The duke of Transylvania also furnished him with a body of
troops, with which he twice entered Poland. On the second of these
inroads, great numbers flocked to his standard, and success attended
his arms. The death of Winceslaus about this time (attributed by
some to poison administered by order of the emperor Albert), and the
subsequent assassination of his son, put a stop to the opposition which
had been offered to Uladislaus by the Bohemian governors; and he
was elected king, though the recollection of his former tyranny by
his subjects, and his own superstitious deference to the see of Rome,
prevented him during fourteen years from solemnizing his corona
tion. The elder Winceslaus was canonized in Bohemia.

ULADISLAUs IV.-1306-1333.

Lesko the Black had settled the Teutonic knights in Culm, and
they had extended their dominions over Prussia and Pomerania.
In 1310, under pretence of rescuing Dantzick from the marquis of
Brandenburgh, who then besieged it, they took possession of the
place themselves. The cold-blooded massacre of a number of Pome
118 HISTORY OF POLAND.
ranian gentlemen in this place terrified the other towns of the pro
vince into submission. As a pretext for their aggression, the knights
purchased a pretended right to the place from the marquis of Bran
denburgh. Uladislaus, after divers negotiations, had recourse for
redress first to the see of Rome, and afterwards to arms. By the
pope the knights were excommunicated; when Uladislaus marched
with his army into the marquis of Brandenburgh's dominions, and
afterwards into Culm, both of which territories he wasted with fire
and sword. He subsequently gained a complete victory over the
knights, the marquis, and the duke of Masovia, the latter of whom
had always been opposed to his accession. With numerous rein
forcements, he again ravaged their domains: but soothed by their
supplications, he consented to a treaty under the medium of the
kings of Hungary and Bohemia. As the knights refused to deliver
up Pomerania according to agreement, Uladislaus again took the
field, and gained so complete a victory that 4000 knights and 30,000
auxiliaries were either killed or taken prisoners. This success was
chiefly owing to Samatulski, a Polish nobleman, who had joined the
knights, but on this occasion suddenly turned upon them during the
battle. The conduct and valour of Uladislaus were not followed up
by clemency and moderation. No quarter was given. Florianus
Szari, however, one of the knights, with his belly ripped open, and
his bowels hanging down, accosted the king after the engagement
with these words: See the situation of the poor man who is hedged
round with bad neighbours. The conqueror immediately answered
that his valour deserved a better neighbourhood, sent surgeons to
attend him, and on his cure assigned him an estate. The knights
now applied for assistance to John king of Bohemia; and, by induc
ing that monarch to advance and lay siege to Posen, they obtained
a respite from the attacks of Uladislaus. Though the arms of the
latter were generally successful," Pomerania, Cujavia, and other
possessions, remained in the hands of the knights, and Silesia, which
had continued under the government of the heirs of Boleslaus Wry
mouth, was attached to the crown of Bohemia.

* The cruelty and excesses practised by his troops during his expeditions cast
a stain upon the lustre of his exploits. In one of his irruptions into Prussia the
nuns were not spared. Dlugoss relates the following anecdote of one of those
unfortunate women:-She told a soldier that if he would spare her, she would
communicate to him an important secret which would render him invulnerable;
and, to convince him of its efficacy, she bade him strike her with his sword. He
believed her; and, by cutting off her head, preserved her chastity.
 HISTORY OF POLAND. 119
The conduct of Uladislaus in former times had excited the sus
picions of his people, who refused their assent to his coronation.
Now, however, he had reigned fifteen years with prudence and suc
cess; and he claimed the performance of the ceremony from the
gratitude of his subjects. This was unanimously acceded to ; and,
the consent of the pope being obtained, Uladislaus was crowned with
great splendour at Cracow by the archbishop of Gnesna. He pro
cured the marriage of his son Casimir with the daughter of Gedymin
duke of Lithuania; and by that means not only laid a foundation
for a future union with that nation, but also obtained the release of
24,000 captives, who had long groaned in the most rigorous bondage.
He was soon after seized with a chronic disorder, which terminated
with his life. Perceiving his end approaching, he sent for the prin
cipal nobility into his apartment, and recommended his son Casimir
as his successor. He then addressed the young prince, pointing out
the errors of his own conduct, advising him to endeavour to gain the
affections of his subjects, and never to place confidence in the treache
rous Teutonic knights. Rather bury yourself under the ruins of your
throne, said he, than suffer them to possess the territories they
have invaded. Punish the traitors: drive them out of the kingdom .
if you can " Thus died Uladislaus Loketec, a prince who had
acquired prudence from experience and wisdom from adversity.
During his reign the sects called Dulceans and Fratricellit ap
* So called from Dulcinus, their leader, who was a disciple of the infamous
Segarel, the restorer of the sect called Apostolics. The latter apostle to imi
tate, as he pretended, our Saviour Jesus Christ, caused himself to be swathed,
rocked in a cradle, and suckled at the breast ! He was attended by troops of
idle vagabonds, who had all things, even to their wives, in common.Bell's Wan
derings of the Human Intellect, pp. 123, 205.
f The Fratricelli, or Frerots, fell into the most horrid disorders; renewed the
infamies of the Gnostics and the Adamites; pretended that neither Christ him
self nor his apostles had observed continence; and that they had allwives of
their own, or, what is still more blasphemous, those of other people. Some of
these fanatics were not ashamed to maintain that incest and adultery were no
crimes when perpetrated by their fellow sectaries. The greater part, extremely
ignorant, imagined the whole perfection of a Christian to consist in a state of
absolute poverty and mendicity, the profession of which was the distinctive
character of the sect. Their original authors were certain refractory Francis
cans, who, with the plea of practising more perfectly the religious institutes of
St. Francis, separated from their brethren, and lived an idle vagabond life.
Pope John XXII. reprobated their pretensions, and fulminated a sentence of
excommunication against themselves and their abettors. In revenge, they
spurned the papal authority, and leagued themselves with those princes who
happened to be at variance with the pope.-Ibid. p. 216.
I 20 HISTORY OF POIAND.

peared in Poland, where their monstrous doctrines caused the esta

blishment of the inquisition, which continued in force till the time
of Sigismund I.

CASIMIR III.-13331370.

Casimir III., to whom the appellation of Great has been applied

with singular propriety, was born in 1310. The national historians
dwell with complacency upon his reign, as the most glorious and
happy period of their history, and record with peculiar pleasure the
public virtues and abilities of this great and amiable monarch. Nor
are their praises the echoes of flattery, for they were mostly written
subsequent to his death, when another family was seated upon the
throne. In perusing the reign of Casimir, says a late author, we
can hardly believe that we are reading the history of the sovereign of
a barbarous people in the beginning of the fourteenth century: it
seems as if, by the ascendancy of his superior genius, he had antici
pated the knowledge and improvements of the succeeding and more
enlightened periods. ."

The conduct of the Teutonic knights soon justified the advice

which Casimir had received from his dying father. Not daring to
engage in an open rupture with the Polish monarch, they artfully
submitted their differences to the kings of Hungary and Bohemia,
who adjudged Pomerania to the knights, provided they would restore
Culm. To have disputed this decision would have induced a war,
not only with the knights, but also with the sovereigns above men
tioned; and Casimir proposed to the diet the ratification of a treaty
founded on their terms. The assembly, however, denied its assent,
and demanded that the see of Rome should be applied to on the
occasion. Casimir, rejoiced at the courage of his people, procured
the attendance of a legate from the pope, who examined the points
in dispute, condemned the knights to make immediate restitution,
and threatened the severest penalties of the church in case of their dis
obedience. Unenforced by secular power, threats of excommunica
tion had little effect upon those military monks; and Casimir,
though strongly inclined to attempt a war, prudently resolved to wait
a more seasonable opportunity, and be satisfied with the restitution of
Cujavia and Dobrzyn, while Culm, Michalow, and Pomerania were
renounced. He was further induced to adopt this course by the
prospect of a more easy triumph in the conquest of Red Russia, in
which country religious dissensions were then running very high.
 HISTORY OF POLAND. I21

With a flying camp, he entered the province, and laid siege to Lem
berg, which city, being unprepared for defence, speedily capitulated,
on Casimir's promise of allowing entire liberty of conscience. He
next entered Volhynia, and, in the following campaign, subdued the
whole province. His conquests were concluded by the reduction of
Masovia, which was annexed as a province to his crown. By these
acquisitions he not only extended the frontiers of his empire, but
rendered his dominions less liable to sudden invasions.
These great successes did not excite in the breast of Casimir the
fatal spirit of military enterprize. He always considered war as a
matter of necessity, not of choice, and as the means of safety rather
than of glory. Having further secured his frontiers by treaties with
the neighbouring powers, he turned his whole attention to the inte
rior administration of his kingdom. He built several towns, and
enlarged and beautified others; so that Dlugoss says of him, Po
land is indebted to Casimir for the greatest part of her churches,
palaces, fortresses, and towns; adding, in allusion to a similar
character given of Augustus Caesar, that he found Poland of wood,
and left her of marble. He raised Lemberg to the dignity of an
archbishopric, patronized letters, founded the academy of Cracow,
promoted industry, and encouraged trade. Elegant in his manners,
and magnificent in his court, he was economical without meanness,
and liberal without prodigality.
Hitherto the Poles were entirely ignorant of written laws: all
causes were decided by custom, tradition, and the pleasure of the
judge. The usual regulation observed in determining private differ
ences was exceedingly ridiculous. An oath was written down upon
paper, and delivered to one of the parties, who was desired to pro
nounce it. If, in the course of reading, he hesitated or blundered,
he was immediately condemned as guilty, merely perhaps because he
happened not to be a scholar; though his adversary had indeed but
little cause to triumph, as both parties were obliged to pay large fines
to the judges. The palatines, starostas, and nobility sat as judges,
and took this mode of enriching themselves under pretence of pre
venting litigation. Casimir now reviewed all the usages and customs,
and digested them, with some additions, into a regular code, which
he presented to a general diet. Having been examined, approved,
and enlarged, it was ordered by Casimir to be published; and the
people soon reaped the fruits of their sovereign's wisdom and care
for their welfare. The courts of justice were improved and simpli
fied, the fees were regulated, and the whole costs were made to fall
6 Q
192 HISTORY OF POLAND.

upon him whose obstinacy, injustice, or desire of tyrannizing over

his fellow-subjects, had given occasion for the law-suit. The laws
secured to the peasant, no less than to the noble, the possession and
the rights of property; and subjected both, in an equal manner, to
the same penalties and tribunals. Still, however, if a peasant sued
another person at law, and sentence was pronounced in his favour, his
lord shared the compensation awarded ; a regulation justified by the
circumstance that any injury done to the peasant was felt by the
lord, who profited by his labour. The peasants born in a state of
bondage were empowered, with the fruits of their industry or fru
gality, to purchase their freedom. The graduation of the orders of
society was marked as follows: the murder of a free peasant was
redeemed by ten marks ; of a peasant recently ennobled, fifteen
marks; of a common noble, thirty marks; of a baron or count, sixty
marks. A tribunal of the Teutonic law, introduced for the use of
the burghers, was established in Cracow, consisting of a judge and
seven respectable householders; and subordinate tribunals were in
stituted in other towns. From these an appeal lay to a court extra
ordinary of twelve counsellors, nominated by the king, and whose
sentence was irrevocable.
Casimir himself was one of the most rigid observers of the laws
he had framed, an impartial judge, and easy of access to the meanest
as well as the highest of his subjects. Aware that no other expedi
ent could introduce order into his kingdom, he retrenched, limited,
and defined the hitherto vast authority and influence of the turbulent
and oppressive nobility. Indeed, it has been observed, that, had he
been succeeded by a line of hereditary monarchs, the barons proba
bly would never have recovered their former ascendancy, and the
feudal system would have been gradually annihilated in Poland, as
in other parts of Europe. So solicitous was this great monarch to
relieve the peasants from the oppressions under which they laboured,
such the tenderness he shewed them, and so many the privileges
which he conferred upon them, that the nobles used to call him out
of derision 1er IRusticorum, the king of the peasants; perhaps the
most noble appellation that was ever bestowed upon a sovereign.
Casimir's public character was unsullied; but his private life was
stained by incontinence. Voluptuous and sensual, he pushed the
pleasures of the table to intemperance; and his inordinate passion
for women led him into some actions inconsistent with the general
tenor of honour and integrity by which he was distinguished. Be
fore he ascended the throne, he was compelled to fly from the ven
 HISTORY OF POLAND. iQ3

geance of a Hungarian nobleman, whose daughter he had dishonoured.

After the death of his first wife, Anne, daughter of the duke of
Lithuania, he married Adelaide, a German princess, whose jealousy
provoked him to confine her in a fortress. By a sham marriage
(during the life of Adelaide) he obtained possession of a Bohemian
lady, who was soon discarded to make way for Esther the Jewess,
to whose influence historians have attributed the privileges acquired
by the Jews in Poland, He at length established a regular seraglio.
The murmurs of the pope and the national bishops were disregarded;
and a priest, who had ventured to reprove him, was found drowned
in the Vistula. It was not till after a third marriage, and when
age had crept upon him, that his irregularities subsided. Still,
even the clergy considered that these private failings were redeemed
by the public virtues of Casimir, who had also been a liberal bene
factor to their order; and it is allowed by all, that no sovereign
more consulted the happiness of his subjects, or was more beloved at
home and respected abroad. After a long reign of forty years, he
was thrown from his horse as he was hunting, and died after a short
illness in the sixtieth year of his age, carrying with him to the grave
the regret of his subjects, and a claim to the veneration of posterity.
He is described as tall in his person, and inclined to corpulency,
with a majestic aspect, thick and curling hair, long beard, and a
strong voice somewhat lisping.
In 1349, on occasion of the black pestilence, which desolated
Europe, the Flagellants entered Poland from Hungary, and made
many proselytes in that, as well as in other countries. -

* This numerous sect of enthusiasts derived their name from their doctrine
that self-discipline or flagellation remitted sin equally with baptism. They ori
ginated in 1260, from one Reinerius at Perusia; and, on the occasion noticed in
the text, introduced themselves into Germany, France, Italy, and England.
They entered every town two by two: they had crosses in their hands and a
cowl upon their heads, and went naked to the waist. But their most distinguish
ing practice was lashing themselves publicly twice a day, and once in the night,
with knotted cords stuck with the points of pins, and then falling prostrate on
the ground, imploring aloud the Divine mercy. One of their lay preachers would
then proceed from one to another, saying, God forgives thee thy sins. They
affirmed that their blood, thus shed, united with that of Christin such a manner
as to have the same efficacy; that after thirty days whipping, they were acquitted
from the guilt and punishment of sin, and needed not the sacraments; that the
gospel had ceased, and other similar fancies. This frenzy continued a consider
able time, notwithstanding the censures of the church, and the edicts of Ino
narchs for its suppression. Men and women roamed together from kingdom to
Q 2
124 HISTORY OF POI, AN1).

LEwis.13701382.

To preserve the throne to the family of Piast, Lewis king of

Hungary, son of Elizabeth, Casimir's sister, was elected sovereign
of Poland without obstruction, and crowned November 17th. Being
considered a foreigner, he had, to insure the possession of the throne,
been obliged, even during the life of the late monarch, to subscribe
certain conditions, which infringed the power of the sovereign, and
gave fresh vigour to that of the barons and inferior nobles. The
principal concessions made by Lewis were, not to impose any addi
tional taxes by his mere regal authority without the consent of the
nation; and that in case of his demise without male heirs, the privi
lege of appointing a sovereign should revert to the nobles at large.
In consequence, perhaps, of the jealousy excited by these concessions,
and his not understanding the Polish language, he soon retired into
Hungary, taking with him the regalia of Poland, to prevent the
election of another prince in his absence. Elizabeth, his mother, was
appointed regent; but her influence was insufficient to repress the
numerous banditti who now plundered both the country and towns;
and 160 Hungarians were massacred in an insurrection of the popu
lace. The Lithuanians also made an irruption into Poland, reduced
and sacked the city of Wlodomir, and penetrated into the palatine
of Sandomir; and the province of Red Russia revolted at the same
time. Meanwhile the garrisons of the kingdom were in the hands of
Hungarians; and the indignant Poles sent the king word that they
thought he was sufficiently honoured in being himself elected to the
regal dignity, without suffering the kingdom to be governed by a
woman and his Hungarian subjects. Aroused by this bold message,
Lewis marched into Poland, defeated the Russians, and drove the
Lithuanians out of the kingdom. Instead of conciliating the Poles,
however, he increased the foreign troops, and raised Hungarians to
all the chief dignities; but, having no sons of his own, he, with a
view of insuring the succession to his son-in-law, the emperor Si
gismund, married to his eldest daughter Maria, promised, in addition
to all the former grants, to diminish the taxes, to repair the fortresses
at his own expense, and to confer no dignities or offices upon foreign

kingdom ; and while thus publicly enduring so severe a discipline, made ample
amends for it in secret: they lived in the worst species of fornication.Dunham's
Hist. of Poland, p. 98. Bell's JVanderings of the Human Intellect, p. 216.
 HISTORY OF POI, AND. 125

ers. At a diet held at Zwolen in Hungary, the Polish nobility were

induced by bribes and threats to agree to this arrangement. Lewis's
first wife was Margaret, daughter of the emperor Charles IV. ; and
his second was Elizabeth, daughter of Stephen, governor of Bosinia.
He died in 1382, aged 56. It is reported of this monarch, that
notwithstanding his administration relative to Poland was impolitic,
he was neither destitute of understanding nor of valuable qualities.
He always expressed an extreme anxiety to know what opinion his
subjects entertained of his government; for which purpose he used
to disguise himself, and enquire of the peasants how they liked their
king, carefully redressing all the grievances of which they complained.

IIEDwig.1382-1386.

The Poles now determined on setting aside the election of Sigis

mund as illegal; though their true motive, in all probability, was
the fear of his being formidable to their newly-acquired immunities.
Ziemowit duke of Masovia was also refused the crown, though he
was a Piast. After several bloody contests in some of the provinces,
the nobles offered the crown to Hedwig, second daughter of the last
monarch, then in her fourteenth year, upon condition that she should
only marry with their approbation, and that her husband should
reside constantly in Poland. The proposal was seemingly accepted
by her mother Elizabeth; but that princess, who still hoped to
procure the election of Sigismund, despatched him to act as regent.
To this arrangement the Poles would not agree: they refused to
admit him into the country, demanded the immediate presence of
their queen, and threatened, in case of refusal, to proceed to the
election of some other person. Elizabeth was now compelled to
acquiesce; Hedwig was received amidst the acclamations of her
new subjects, and crowned with great pomp at Cracow. Soon after
this event, the duke of Masovia made proposals of marriage, but
was rejected. William duke of Austria also came to the court of
Poland to pay his addresses to her; and his handsome person and
agreeable manners made a powerful impression upon the mind of the
young queen. The diet, however, jealous of their national indepen
dence, which might have been compromised by the ascendancy of
Austria, refused their consent. At length Jagellon, grand-duke of
Lithuania, demanded the queen in marriage, by a magnificent em
bassy. He promised to embrace Christianity, and to oblige his
subjects to do the same ; to unite Lithuania and Poland inseparably
 *

196 HISTORY OF POLAND.

under one government, and to reconquer Pomerania and the other

provinces usurped by the Teutonic knights. These terms were so
advantageous, that Jagellon's interest in the diet triumphed ; and
even the queen, prejudiced as she was in favour of the Austrian
prince, could not refuse to her subjects the benefits of such an alliance.
When the treaty of marriage was nearly concluded, however, the
feelings of her heart prevailed over what she had considered her duty.
She shrunk from making herself a sacrifice to a barbarian and an
infidel from mere motives of policy; and a private correspondence
was opened with William, with whom she had an interview. This
was discovered by the nobility, who surrounded the palace in arms,
compelled William to retire, and kept their sovereign a prisoner un
til the arrival of Jagellon, who, with his two brothers, advanced at
the head of a numerous army. In a paroxysm of rage and grief, she
one day seized a hatchet, with which she threatened to break open
her iron gates to admit duke William ; and she was with difficulty
restrained from her purpose. For some time she refused to see Ja
gellon; but at length, the entreaties of the nobility prevailed, he was
admitted to her presence, and, by his attractive exterior, vivacity, and
youth, considerably weakened, if he did not efface, her partiality for
William. Her consent was given; and, upon Jagellon being baptized
by the name of Uladislaus, the nuptials and coronation were cele
brated with the utmost magnificence. Thus was the duchy of
Lithuania annexed to the crown of Poland; and the provinces of
Samogitia and Red Russia, at that time paying homage to the dukes
of Lithuania, were once more united to the kingdom. The duke of
Austria, who, depending on the faithfulness of his mistress, had
concealed himself in Cracow, now indignantly departed, leaving his
treasures, which had doubtless lost their value in his eyes, behind
him.
 t

HISTORY OF POI, A N D. 19 7

PART III.

From the Accession of the House of Jagellon to its Erlinction in the

Person of Sigismund II.

ULADISLAUs V.1386-1434. -

The knights of the Teutonic order, aware that Uladislaus was

bound by treaty to avenge the wrongs they had inflicted upon Poland,
endeavoured to anticipate his design by carrying fire and sword into
Lithuania, and exciting a revolution in favour of his brother Andrew.
Several of the nobility of that country were jealous of the newly
acquired ascendancy of Poland; and the knights, with a singular
disregard of their vows and the primary object of their institution,
endeavoured to instigate the infidel inhabitants to resist the intro
duction of Christianity proposed by the king. Two of their armies
invaded the duchy, and wasted the country; but being attacked
with impetuosity by Skirgello, brother of the king, they were com
pelled to evacuate their conquests. Uladislaus himself at the same
time marched into Upper Poland, where.the palatine of Posnan and
other petty tyrants oppressed and rent the country with their divi
sions. Having defeated and punished the rebels, he visited his
native country.
Though Uladislaus had at first adopted the doctrines of Christian
ity from interested views, he soon became a sincere convert, and
endeavoured to propagate the new faith in Lithuania according to
his promise. He put a stop to human sacrifices, ordered the hallowed
groves to be cut down, the oracular shrine at Wilna to be destroyed,
the sacred fire to be extinguished, and the serpents worshipped as
gods by his superstitious subjects to be slain. A belief universally
prevailed among the people, that whoever profanely attempted to
* Some writers, in their enumerations of Polish sovereigns, have styled this
monarch Uladislaus II., because, previous to Uladislaus Loketec, the three who
bore that name were only styled dukes, and not kings. As they were all, how
ever, the chief rulers of the nation, it has been thought expedient here to enu
merate them as such, without regard to titles, the difference of which was only
nominal. *
128 HISTORY OF POLAND.

destroy these objects of their worship, would be struck with instan

taneous death; when the falsity of this tradition was proved by the
impunity of those concerned in the supposed sacrilege, the Lithuani
ans flocked in such crowds to be converted, that the priests could
only bestow separate baptism on persons of distinction; but they
distributed the multitude in ranks, and, sprinkling them with water,
gave one Christian name to each rank, without distinction of sex.
With great prudence the minds of the new disciples were not over
burthened with more than the leading truths of the faith which they
had embraced. Wilna was erected into an archbishopric, and a great
number of the clergy introduced into Lithuania.
On returning to Poland, Uladislaus constituted his brother Skir
gello viceroy of the duchy, with whom was associated Vitoldus, ano
ther brother; but the tyranny, cruelty, and debauchery of Skirgello
afforded a favourable pretext for Vitoldus, who took refuge with the
Teutonic knights. In the hope of expelling his brother, he invaded
Lithuania at the head of an army, and burnt Wilna to the ground.
It is said that 14,000 persons of both sexes perished in the flames,
besides great numbers who were massacredin endeavouring to escape.
The upper town, however, was defended with such vigour and con
stancy by a garrison of Poles, that Skirgello had time to assemble an
army, with which he so harassed the besiegers, that they were com
pelled to retire, after laying waste the adjacent country. In the
following year, Witoldus again laid siege to upper Wilna; and though
compelled to abandon that part of his enterprize, he still hoped,
through the discontent which Skirgello's cruelty had excited, to be
able to acquire the sovereignty of Lithuania to himself. At length,
however, in 1392, by a compromise with the king, Vitoldus was
appointed grand-duke of that province, and Uladislaus contented
himself with a nominal sovereignty. Skirgello took up arms, but
was pacified by the concessions of the king. For some time, the new
grand-duke applied himself principally to the restoration of happiness
and prosperity amongst his people, though he engaged occasionally in
slight wars with the neighbouring Tartars. His impetuous courage
at length stimulated him, against the advice of Uladislaus, to engage
in a war with a lieutenant of the great Tamerlane. A tremendous
battle, which continued during a whole day, was fought between the
Tartars, who are said to have exceeded 400,000 men, and Vitoldus,
with 40,000 Poles, Lithuanians, and Prussians. He at last came off
without an entire defeat, after having killed a number of the enemy
equal to that of his whole army. On his return, he attacked and
 HISTORY OF POLAND. 129
defeated the knights, who had again, during his absence, made an
irruption into Lithuania.
The knights had now, by war, treaty, and intrigue, acquired the
provinces of Samogitia, Masovia, Culm, Silesia, and Pomerania; and
as Vitoldus attacked the Livonians, to revenge the assistance they
had given to the late invaders of Lithuania, a series of wars between
Poland and Prussia ensued, in which Uladislaus found it necessary
to take the field in person. With an army composed of Poles, Lithu
anians, Prussians, Moravians, and Bohemians, he entered Prussia,
took several towns, and was advancing towards Marienburgh, when
he was opposed by the army of the knights. The king was at mass
when advice was brought that the enemy were in sight; but he
neither quitted his devotions, nor seemed at all agitated. It was
some time before he gave orders for the disposition of his troops;
and this delay was construed into fear by the grand-master of the
Teutonic order, who, by way of challenge, sent two drawn swords
into the Polish camp. As soon as prayers were over, Uladislaus
drew out his troops, and began the attack with the right wing, on
which stood the Lithuanians, who, in spite of all the endeavours of
their leader Vitoldus, made but feeble efforts, and at last had recourse
to an ignominious flight. Their misconduct proved contagious; the
Moravians and Bohemians on the left wing followed their example,
and retreated, without striking a blow, into a neighbouring forest,
leaving the Poles to sustain alone the whole weight of the Teutonic
army. It was in the centre, where the king commanded in person,
that the battle raged with the greatest fury; the most desperate
attempts were made to seize upon the great standard of Poland; it
was once hurled to the ground, and recovered by the king; who
immediately planted it in that part of the field where his enemies
were thickest. He now made a prodigious slaughter: but his cou
rage carried him too far, and he found himself almost alone, in the
midst of a German squadron, where he stood exposed to a thousand
dangers. Still the little band of followers near him presented an
impenetrable front to the attacks of their enemies; but his strength
began at length to fail him, and the Germans pressed him closer.
At this moment Dippold of Kikerzicz, a man of extraordinary
strength, made a furious assault with a pole-axe on Uladislaus. His
arm was already raised, and the king was on the point of falling,
when Sbigna of Oleschnicza intercepted the fatal blow. This person
was private secretary to the king, and had followed him into the
midst of so many perils out of pure zeal and affection for his person;
R
I 30 HISTORY OF POI, ANI).

but as he was little acquainted with the profession of arms, he had

not even provided himself with proper weapons, and now carried
nothing but a broken lance, which he had accidentally picked up on
the field of battle. The danger in which he beheld his master in
spired him with a strength and intrepidity that were unusual to
him ; by a desperate effort, he sprung between Uladislaus and his
adversary, and overthrew the latter with a blow of his lance. Some
Polish squadrons at length forced a passage to the king's assistance,
and victory immediately declared in his favour. The knights' stand
ard of St. George was struck down and taken ; the Prussians began
to lose their courage; the Bohemian and Lithuanian troops returned
to the charge; and the efforts of the Poles carried all before them.
The Polish historians relate, though with evident exaggeration, that
50,000 Prussians lay dead on the field, with their grand-master, and
that 40,000 were made prisoners. -

Uladislaus neglected to follow up this victory, the greatest that

had ever been achieved by the Polish arms, and which placed the
knights at his mercy. On the other hand, when they sued for peace,
he refused to listen to them. Having thrown themselves into Ma
rienburgh, they now determined to bury themselves in the ruins of
that city, rather than submit to their obstinate opponent. Plawen,
who had been elected grand-master, sustained a protracted siege
with great vigour, harassing the Polish army by continual sallies,
while the ravages of the sword were aggravated by disease in their
camp. The Lithuanians and the duke of Masovia at length refused
to support so disastrous an enterprize; and an irruption of Hunga
rians into Poland, instigated by Plawen, induced the king himself
to abandon the siege. The Hungarians were defeated; but Plawen
found means, by promising Vitoldus his assistance in erecting Lithu
ania and Samogitia into an independent monarchy, to draw him off
from the duty he owed his sovereign. Weakened by this desertion,
the king consented to a peace, as the price of which he received
Dobrzyn, with 200,000 florins, but agreed to restore Samogitia on
the death of Vitoldus. Another war soon ensued, and Uladislaus
again was successful, when a second defection of Vitoldus once more
paralysed his efforts. Recourse was now had to the council of Con
stance, then sitting to deliberate on the doctrines of Huss; but the
hostile influence of the emperor Sigismund prevented any decision
in favour of Poland. Uladislaus might have retaliated upon the
emperor, by accepting the crowns of Hungary and Bohemia, which
the people of those countries offered him ; but he was too sincere a
 HISTORY OF POLAND. I31

Catholic to desire any connexion with the Hussites, whose opinions

were prevalent in Bohemia, and he still considered Sigismund as
their lawful ruler. It may be here added, that, at the instance of
the emperor and the council of Constance, Uladislaus employed his
interest with the Ottoman Porte, whose troops had penetrated into
Hungary as far as the county of Cilli; and for his success in this
negotiation, he received the thanks of all the powers of Christendom.
Notwithstanding these obligations, however, the emperor never
ceased to injure the Polish king, by every means in his power.
The ambition of Vitoldus was long directed to the attainment of
the Polish crown; and to disconcert his designs, Uladislaus endea
voured still further to cement the union between his kingdom and
the grand-duchy of Lithuania. In 1401, the nobles of the latter
country assembled at Wilna, and entered into an offensive and de
fensive alliance with the king and republic of Poland. In 1413, it
was stipulated, in a diet of Poles and Lithuanians held in the town
of Hrodlo, that, upon the demise of Vitoldus, the Lithuanians should
acknowledge no other grand-duke but the person who should be ap
pointed by the king, and with the agreement of the two nations;
that, in case Uladislaus died without issue, the Poles should elect
no king without the consent of Vitoldus and the Lithuanians; and
that a diet, composed of representatives from both nations, should
meet whenever it was thought necessary, at Lublin, Parzow, or
any other commodious town. Still Vitoldus, instigated by the em
peror and the Teutonic knights, endeavoured to establish in Lithu
ania an independent regal dignity; and Uladislaus, to avert the
separation of the two nations, offered even to resign the Polish crown
to his brother. The senate, however, would not agree to this
arrangement; and the ambassadors from the emperor to Vitoldus
being intercepted,the lattershortly after died of chagrin. Uladislaus,
accompanied by a small retinue, attended his funeral, and appointed
Swidrigal, another brother, to the vacant dukedom; but he, with
singular ingratitude, caused the king to be arrested and imprisoned
in Lithuania. The Polish nobility, aided by the pope, at length
procured the liberation of their sovereign ; after which, Swidrigal,
to obtain possession of Podolia and Volhynia, commenced a destruc
tive war with Poland, which was only terminated by his own subjects
expelling him from the duchy. His nephew and successor, Staro
dubski, promised to hold Lithuania as a fief reversible to the crown
on his decease, and never to make war or peace without the sanction
of the ruling Polish king.
R 2
132 HISTORY OF POLAN ID.

By the renunciation of Lewis, the kings of Poland had been di

vested of the right to impose taxes without the consent of the nation.
Uladislaus therefore assembled the nobles in their respective pro
vinces whenever he wished to obtain an additional tribute. These
provincial assemblies gave birth to the dietines, which, however, did
not retain the power of raising money in their several districts, but
only elected the nuntios or representatives for the general diet.
The amiable Hedwig, whom Dlugoss calls the Star of Poland,
did not enjoy the happiness with Uladislaus which her magnanimity
deserved. His natural jealousy was inflamed by a courtier named
Gnievos, who insinuated that a criminal intercourse subsisted be
tween the beautiful queen and her former lover, the duke of Austria.
She indignantly demanded an investigation of her conduct, and was
triumphantly absolved; while her accuser was compelled, agreeably
to a custom which subsisted in Poland even to the last century, to
lie prostrate under a table, to declare that he had lied like a dog,
and to bark three times in imitation of that animal. She died in
1399, beloved and regretted by the whole nation. An affecting ob
servation which she made, on the restoration by Uladislaus of some
cattle which had been unjustly seized under his authority, has been
preserved: Though the cattle is restored, who will restore the
tears P Uladislaus afterwards married Anne, daughter of William
count of Cilli, and grand-daughter of Casimir the Great. His third
wife was Elizabeth Granowska; and his fourth a Lithuanian prin
cess, named Sophia, whose life was also embittered by his jealousy,
and from which she justified herself, according to the usage of the
times, by her own oath and that of seven matrons of high rank and
unblemished virtue. Uladislaus expired at Grodetz, on May 31,
1434, aged nearly 80. His remains were deposited with great so
lemnity in the cathedral at Cracow, amidst the groans and tears of
his subjects.

ULADISLAUs VI.-1434-1444.

The nomination of the son of Uladislaus Jagellon was purchased,

during that monarch's life, by a confirmation of all the privileges
granted to the nobles by preceding sovereigns, an exemption from
every species of contribution, the promise of an allowance of five
marks for every horseman employed in war beyond the frontiers, and
an agreement that no office in the state or army should be held by
any member of the royal family, or any other person than a native


HISTORY OF POLAND. 133

nobleman. A powerful cabal, however, was formed against the ac

cession of the young prince, then only in his eleventh year; and it
was only by the address and management of Olesnicki, bishop of
Cracow, that they were shamed out of their design. Even after his
election, warm disputes arose respecting the manner in which he
should take the oath at his coronation; but this difficulty was at
length surmounted by his mother and several of the nobility and
clergy becoming his sponsors that he would accept the oath as soon
as he should attain the age of maturity.
Swidrigal, the deposed duke of Lithuania, had gained the assist
ance of the Russians and Teutonic knights, who were now ravaging
that country under the plea of restoring him to his sovereignty. At
length Starodubski, who had succeeded him; prevailed over these
enemies; but his success only served to open out a wider field for
his ambition, and he aspired to nothing less than an independent
crown. A ferocious irruption of the Tartars, in the early part of
this reign, was opposed by the palatine Buccarius, who ventured to
give them battle with greatly inferior force, but was defeated; and
the Tartars were suffered to retire, loaded with plunder, to their
own country. The attention of the regency of Poland was also oc
cupied by the affairs of Bohemia, where the Taborites, a sect of the
disciples of Huss, had elected Casimir, brother of Uladislaus, to be

* In the year 1392, Mulhaymia, or the Temple of Bethlehem, was founded by

a citizen of Prague, who intended it for a chapel dedicated to the academy. On
the death of the first preacher, Stephen of Cologne, in 1400, John Huss, pro
fessor in the academy, was appointed his successor. He commenced by de
nouncing the luxury, drunkenness, pride, and covetousness of the nobility, who
complained to king Winceslaus on the subject; but Huss was now protected by
the archbishop and clergy, and by that means escaped without punishment. In
the following year, however, he attacked with increased severity the vices of the
clergy themseles; and the archbishop, in his turn, applied to the king for redress.
Winceslaus replied by repeating the excuse which the present accusers of Huss
had urged upon the former occasion, namely, that he was obliged by oath to
speak the truth, without respect of persons. About this time, Jerome of Prague
returned from England with the writings of Wickliffe, which were warmly ad
mired by Huss, though condemned by the academicians from Germany. He
now taught that the church consisted exclusively of the just and predestinate;
reprobates and sinners making no part of this society. Hence he concluded
that a bad pope, for instance, was no longer the vicar of Jesus Christ; and that
bishops and priests, living in a state of sin, forfeited, of course, all claim to ju
risdiction and ministerial power. This doctrine he extended even to the persons
of civil magistrates and princes; those who are vicious and govern ill being
ipso facto stripped of all authority. Like the Protestants of subsequent times,
134 HISTORY OF POLAND.

king of that country. An army was despatched to support his claims

against those of the Catholic and legitimate sovereign, Albert, for
merly Sigismund; but the latter ultimately triumphed, and Casimir

he held that the rule of faith is scripture alone. After numerous disputes, the
German academicians left Prague; when Huss was appointed rector of the
university. In 1410, Slico, archbishop of Hasenburg, hordered the writings of
Huss to be burnt; on which occasion, according to Eneas Sylvius, above 200
volumes were destroyed. In 1411, indulgences were granted by the pope to
those who took up arms against the king of Naples: and three of the inhabitants
of Prague were beheaded for riotously opposing the pope's messenger in the
church. These martyrs, as they were considered, were buried in the church of
Bethlehem; and Huss took the opportunity of inveighing against those su
perstitious indulgences. The consequence was, that the company of studients
did violently snatch from him (the pope's messenger) his bulls & they do cloth
one of their own company in a whorish habit, put him into a cart, adorne his
brest with bulls, carry him about and acclaim unto him: the whore in the mean
time, with sweet words and gesture alluring the company, and distributing
blessings: at the length they burne all the bulls with many of the popes in the
midst of the market. As the instigator of these disturbances, Huss was cen
sured by the archbishop of Prague, and summoned by the pope to appear at
Rome. He did not obey this mandate; and pope John XXIII., in June, 1413,
interdicted the celebration of mass in Prague, in consequence of the presence
of Huss, who was denounced as a contumacious offender. To prevent further
riots, he quitted the city, and travelled from town to town. Having appealed to
a general council, he was summoned to that of Constance; and the king of
Bohemia procured from the emperor Sigismund a promise of a free and safe
passage through his dominions to and from the council, provided he should be
there found orthodox, or retract his opinions. On the contrary, however, he
remained unconvinced by the united arguments of the meeting, adhered to his.
opinions, and continued to disseminate them. He was, in consequence, seized
by the civil power of Constance, and condemned to the flames. He suffered, as
well as Jerome of Prague, in 1415, regarded as a heretic by the Catholic
church, as a dangerous enemy to all government by princes, and as a martyr by .
his followers.
Fifty-eight of the Bohemian nobility subscribed a letter to the council of
Constance, complaining of the execution of Huss; but they received no other
answer than a letter to three who had adhered to the Catholic faith, desiring the
latter to assist the bishop in putting down heresy and heretics. Much confusion
and various riots ensued. On the accession of the emperor Sigismund to the
crown of Bohemia in 1419, the Hussites took up arms against him; and a war,
in which both parties committed the most horrid excesses and cruelties in the
name of religion, continued for sixteen years. In 1420, pope Martin W. excom
municated the Bohemians. Meanwhile they differed in opinion amongst them
selves, and formed two independent parties: the one denominated Calirtins,
because they insisted upon being allowed the privilege of the chalice at commu
nion; requiring also that the clergy should imitate the conduct of the apostles,
and that mortal sins should be punished in a manner apportioned to their enor
 HISTORY OF POLAND. 135

returned to Poland in time to accept the grand-duchy of Lithuania,

now vacant by the assassination of Starodubski.
In 1440, Albert king of Bohemia and Hungary died without male
issue. The situation of the latter country at this time was extremely
critical, from its proximity to the formidable empire of the Turks,
whose military government was then threatening the states of Chris
tendom. In this emergency, the Hungarian nobles perceived the
necessity of an immediate choice of a leader, Elizabeth, the widow
of Albert, was pregnant at the time of his death; but the danger
was too imminent for that circumstance to have much influence over
their councils. The promising talents and martial spirit of the
young king of Poland were fully appreciated; and he was proposed
to the vacant throne of Hungary by an inferior officer, afterwards
the celebrated general Hunniades, who remarked that a marriage be
tween Uladislaus and Elizabeth would give a sanction, if any were
needed, to their choice. An embassy was accordingly sent to Poland
with proposals which were instantly embraced. Perhaps the mere
offer of a kingdom had less value in the eyes of Uladislaus than the
glorious office to which it raised him, of being the protector and the
bulwark of Christendom and Europe against the infidels; and he
determined, though not yet of an age to be allowed to manage the
affairs of civil government, to command his army in person.
Before arrangements could be made for this purpose, a strong
body of Polish auxiliaries were detached to serve under John Hun
niades, voivode of Transylvania, and also to give weight to those
who were favourable to the election of Uladislaus. The Turkish
army were at that time besieging Prague, and the humiliating terms
offered by the sultan Amurath excited the indignation of the Hun
garians. Under the conduct of the brave Hunniades, the Polish
troops performed prodigies of valour. They surprised the Turkish
army near the river Morava, and defeated Amurath with the loss of
mity. The other party were called Taborites, from a mountain ten miles from
Prague, which they fortified, and to which they gave the name of Tabor. These
advocated the abolition of the papal authority, primitive simplicity, a change
in the form of worship, and the acknowledgment of no other spiritual ruler
than Jesus Christ. In 1433, the council of Basil succeeded in reconciling the
Calixtins to the Catholic church, and indulged them in the use of the cup at
communion. The Taborites, however, refused to abandon their principles,
and took the name of Brethren of Bohemia. When Luther commenced the
Reformation, they espoused his cause, having been his precursors before they
became his disciples.Hist, of the Bohemian Persecution, p. 19 et seq. Bell's
JWanderings, p. 227.
136 HISTORY OF POLAND.

30,000 men killed and taken prisoners; after which all the towns
conquered by the Turks in Rascia were retaken. Uladislaus him
self, now king of Hungary as well as of Poland, also took the field,
obtained a complete victory over the Ottoman troops, pursued them
to the very frontiers of the Morea, and there defeated Carrembeius,
general of the Asiatic forces, whom he drove into the mountains
and inaccessible places. In this action he displayed great gallantry,
and his ardour was not checked by a wound which he received du
ring the contest. Amurath was compelled to sue for peace, and
promised to relinquish his designs upon Hungary, to acknowledge
the king's right to that crown, and to yield up all his conquests in
Rascia and Servia. Upon these terms a truce for ten years was
concluded, which was ratified by mutual oaths ; the Christians
swearing upon the Gospels, and the Turks upon the Koran.
Though the accession of Uladislaus to the throne of Hungary had
been opposed by the queen-dowager, who naturally wished to pre
serve the sovereignty for the infant which she had in the interim
brought forth, yet Uladislaus was now honoured with complimentary
embassies from the pope, the Greek emperor Paleologus, and several
other Christian princes. It is probable that he would have rigidly
adhered to the engagement which he had formed with the sultan,
had not those potentates incited him to an infraction of the treaty
so solemnly concluded. The pope's legate urged that this was the
most proper opportunity of completely humbling the Ottoman power,
as, by allowing ten years of repose, time was afforded the Turks
to gather strength for another attack upon the states of Christendom.
At the same time, he produced a special commission from the pon
tiff, to absolve the king from the oath he had taken at the signing
of the late treaty. The artful insinuations of the legate, the king's
belief in the dispensing power of the holy see, the persuasions and
promises of the emperor and other sovereigns, the excitement pro
duced by his late successes, and the desire of emulating the glory of
the brave Hunniades, rekindled in the bosom of Uladislaus the latent
idea of signalizing his zeal and valour. Without further reflection,
he crossed the Danube, and marched rapidly at the head of a
large army into Bulgaria. After having taken some fortresses in
his way, he penetrated into Thrace, with the intention of advancing
to Adrianople, and, by seizing the person and vast treasures of the
sultan, giving a final blow to the Turkish power in Europe.
Amurath was astonished at the treachery of his Christian enemies;
but neither that, the suddenness of the irruption, nor the rapidity


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 HISTORY OF POLAND. 137

of the Polish monarch's progress, could deprive him of the courage

and conduct for which he was already so famous. Assembling a
powerful army with the utmost expedition, he marched to meet the
Christians, whom he found encamped near the city of Varna, with
15,000 horse, and an equal number of infantry. Hunniades attacked
the Turks with vigour, and compelled them to give way. Accord
ing to the generality of historians, the sultan at this moment with
solemnity drew from his bosom the treaty which had been violated,
and holding it up towards heaven, exclaimed, O Christ if thou
art the true God, avenge thyself and me of the perfidy of thy disci
ples " An impetuous attack was now commenced by the Turkish
troops; and the right wing of the Polish army was on the point of
being broken. Uladislaus, however, with the reserve, dashed through
the centre of the Ottoman force, charged them at the head of his
followers, and carried all before him. Heedless of the cautions and
remonstrances of Hunniades, who foresaw the danger of his being
surrounded, the king continued to press forward till he had pene
trated to the station of the janissaries, who formed the body-guard
of the sultan. Hemmed in at last by the Turks, he maintained the
battle with undaunted resolution for a considerable time, and with
his own hand slew Karam Beg, one of the sultan's lieutenants, who
had advanced to take him. He refused quarter, determining rather to .
perish than to return with a character sullied at once by perfidy and
defeat. His horse was killed under him, when he continued to fight
on foot. All his efforts, however, to break through the Turkish
squadrons were ineffectual, and he sunk with his sword in his hand
amidst the heaps who had fallen beneath his arm. Thus died Ula
dislaus, in the twentieth year of his age, after having reigned ten
years in Poland and four in Hungary, and exhibiting proofs of cou
rage and military skill much superior to his years. Cesarini, the
cardinal legate, who had instigated him to this fatal enterprise, was
killed upon the field, which was strewed with the bodies of 10,000
Poles; and it required all the talents and generalship of Hunniades
to save the wreck of the army. The death of Uladislaus was dis
credited for some time ; but, when it was at last ascertained, the
grief and consternation which pervaded Europe were extreme. Every
nation of Christendom saw in imagination the Moslem army at its
gates, and its religion, laws, arts, and property, at the mercy of in
fidel invaders.
 138 HISTORY OF POLANI).

CASIMIR IV.-14441494.

When the Poles were at length convinced of the death of Uladis

laus, they hastily proceeded to take measures for the election of his
brother Casimir, at that time grand-duke of Lithuania: but this
prince, who probably entertained a design of making that duchy once
more independent, for some time refused the proffered dignity. At
the diet, he withstood all the persuasions and arguments, of the en
raged palatines; and it was only by threatening to deprive him and
his family of all power in the nation that they at length compelled
him to accept the crown. Still he refused to conform to the condi
tions proposed by the nobility, and to the continuation of the union
w between Poland and Lithuania; and at least, to escape their impor
tunities, he fled precipitately into his favourite territory of Lithuania.
Compelled to return to the diets, he still adhered to his purpose ;
and bore unmoved their insults, reproaches, and howlings. To
conquer his determination, a confederation of the nobility at length
met before him, and threatened to depose him immediately if he
persevered in his obstinacy. This had the desired effect; and it
has been observed by a late historian, that from this moment
Poland was in truth a republic,+a name which she already began to
assume ; and her kings were but the lieutenants of the diet.
The triumph obtained by the sultan Amurath over their late sove
reign at Varna for some time disheartened the Polish nation, and
discouraged the republic from continuing the war against the infidels,
who now became more considerable in Europe by the reduction of
Constantinople, and the entire overthrow of the Grecian empire.
The first military operation of this reign was confined to Moldavia,
the voivode of which, Alexander, a feudatory to the crown of Po
land, had been deposed by an usurper named Bogdan. The army
which was sent to reinstate Alexander, after considerable dangers
and losses, compelled Bogdan to sue for peace; but the glory of this
achievement was tarnished by the subsequent assassination of that
/ chieftain, in which crime some of the Polish nobility were suspect
ed to have participated. The repose of the province, however, was
confirmed; and, some years afterwards, its governor having solicited
the Poles for protection against the Turks, the request was granted,
an oath of fidelity exacted from the prince and inhabitants, and a
tribute required, the regular payment of which was made for a great
number of years afterwards. Thus, without hazarding an open
 HISTORY OF POLAND. 139

rupture with the Porte, a barrier was formed against the future
aggressions of that power. -

More decisive results were in the mean time produced in another

quarter, in which the previous victories obtained by Poland, how
ever splendid in themselves, had produced no solid advantage. The
Teutonic knights, received originally as friends, but who had event
ually become the most implacable enemies of the republic,+who
had instigated and assisted external foes and domestic troubles,
whose defeats had not humbled them,-and whose pride and rapacity
had been confirmed by the want of perseverance in the kings of
Poland,-still continued both by force and policy to extend their
dominions. But their ambition and tyranny, strengthened by im
punity, at length effected what all the victories of the Poles had
not been sufficient to produce. The Prussians were oppressed by
the most grievous exactions, and, on deficiency of payment, treated
with unspeakable barbarity. Long was the galling yoke borne with
out murmuring; but, as the inhumanity of their masters increased
with the misery of the oppressed, the latter at length resolved upon
a vigorous effort for the recovery of their liberty. Suddenly, all
Prussia and a great part of Pomerania appeared in arms; so unex
pected and universal a revolt paralyzed the efforts of the knights,
who had barely time to provide for the security of Marienburgh and
Schut. The cities of Dantzick, Thorn, Elbing, Culm, and Golub,
meanwhile implored the assistance of Poland, and desired to be ad
mitted under the protection of the republic, or upon the same con
ditions which had been afforded to Lithuania. The deputies from
these cities were favourably received by Casimir, who promised his
protection, but referred them to a diet with respect to a measure
of such importance as the union proposed. As an earnest of his
assistance, he erected Thorn, Elbing, Dantzick, and Krowlogrod
into palatinates, repealed the exorbitant taxes which had been im
posed by the knights, and assembled an army to enforce these regu
lations, and support the Prussians against the efforts made by the
Teutonic order to regain their power. -

All being prepared, Casimir at the head of his army marched into
Prussia, the inhabitants of which flocked to his camp to take the
oath of allegiance, and obtained a variety of privileges in return for
the zeal exhibited in their conduct. A number of valuable com
mercial immunities were in particular extended to Dantzick, the
inhabitants of which, in gratitude for these favours, bound them
selves to maintain his majesty and the court at their own expense,
- s 2
140 HISTORY OF POI, AND.

whenever he should think fit to honour the city with a visit. The
greatest unanimity appeared to prevail; and it was immediately re
solved to besiege Marienburgh, which city was accordingly invested
by the Prussian army, assisted by a considerable body of Poles; while
Casimir, with the remainder of his troops, covered the siege. The
knights, however, had not been idle during these proceedings. After
collecting a powerful force in Bohemia, Austria, and several pro
vinces of the empire, they proceeded to the relief of Marienburgh,
and attacked the Polish camp with such impetuosity, that the troops
in the latter were thrown into confusion, and Casimir himself was
compelled to have recourse to a shameful flight, after 4000 of his
soldiers had been killed or taken prisoners. The siege of Marien
burgh, in consequence of this defeat, was for the present abandoned.
Eager to retrieve the loss and disgrace he had suffered in his first
campaign, Casimir hastened to Cracow, and assembled a diet. To
them he represented, with all the power of persuasion he possessed,
the necessity of recruiting his forces, and of bringing into the field
such an army as should effectually destroy the dangerous power of
the knights, support the alliance with the Prussians, and redeem
all the territories which had been wrested from the republic. Ex
asperated at the success of the knights, and indignant at the dis
grace the national arms had suffered, the sentiments of the diet
responded to the wishes of the king, and the most vigorous measures
were resolved upon for repairing the recent disastrous failure. Again
Casimir found himself at the head of an army, anxious to wipe off
the stain upon the national arms. Prussia was once more made the
scene of a war, in which the knights were now vanquished in suc
cessive engagements, and their strongest fortresses were reduced.
A second time Marienburgh was invested; and its citadel, after an
obstinate resistance, was compelled to surrender at discretion. It
ought to be stated, however, that this event has been attributed by
some historians to the money, rather than the arms of the Polish
monarch. Several spirited efforts to redeem the affairs of the order
were made by the grand-master; but the superior power, the vigi
lance, and the good fortune of Casimir overcame every obstacle; and
those proud and haughty knights, who had for nearly two centuries
kept the whole of the northern nations in a state of ferment, and
extended their own ascendancy over all their immediate neighbours,
were compelled to submit at last to the conditions imposed by their
conqueror. At a conference held at Thorn, a treaty was concluded,
by which the knights ceded the territories of Culm, Michalow, and
 HISTORY OF POLAND. 141

the whole duchy of Pomerania, together with the towns of Elbing,

Marienburgh, Talkmith, Schut, and Christburgh, to the crown of
Poland. The king, in return, restored to them all his other con
quests in Prussia, granted a seat in the Polish senate to the grand
master, and indulged him with other privileges, on condition that,
six months after his accession, he should do homage for Prussia, and
take an oath of fidelity to the king and republic. Thus ended the
ill-acquired and worse-employed power of the Teutonic knights; a
body who, under the specious cloak of a religious institution, at first
introduced themselves amongst the powers of Christendom, and
afterwards, throwing off the thin veil which scarcely concealed their
ambition, recklessly tyrannized over sovereigns and people, and be
lied their pretensions to religion by abetting pagans in their opposi
tion to the gospel. If the national historians may be credited, how
ever, these advantages were dearly purchased by Poland; as, they
assert, 300,000 men had fallen, 17,000 villages and hamlets had
been burnt, and immense sums expended, in the progress of this
War.

Notwithstanding the partiality which Casimir had always dis

played towards the Lithuanians, to the prejudice even of his Polish
subjects, yet the former people did not scruple to attempt the sepa
ration of the two states, and the dismemberment of Podolia. By
the most strenuous entreaties, as well as by rich presents, Casimir
prevailed on the malcontents to desist from their designs; but, in a
short time afterwards, they instigated the Tartars to invade Polish
Russia. In the mean while, the Russians under Ivan Vassilievitch
took Novogorod the Great, which Vitoldus had annexed to Lithua
nia, and which paid an annual revenue of 100,000 roubles. As that
prince appeared disposed to continue his conquests, Casimir sued for
peace, and consented that Ivan should retain the possessions he had
already subjugated. These losses humbled the Lithuanians, who
now perceived the impolicy of their attempted separation from Po
land; and they were destined to be still further punished by the
devastations inflicted by the Tartars, whom they had invited to their
assistance, and whom they could not so easily get rid of. Several
provinces were laid waste by these barbarians; until John Albert,
son of Casimir, advanced with an army to the relief of the Lithua
nians, and, after two decisive victories, drove the Tartars out of the
duchy.
About the same time at which the varying circumstances above
recounted were reviving or damping the spirits of the Polish nation,
142 HISTORY OF POLAND.

the crown of Bohemia became vacant by the death of the celebrated

George Podiebraski, a Hussite, who had seized the reins of that
government. Matthias Cervinus, king of Hungary, and son of the
famous Hunniades, endeavoured by intrigue to procure his election
as the successor of Podiebraski; but the Bohemians were desirous of
having for their ruler one of the Polish princes, and the barons there
fore bestowed the crown upon Uladislaus, the eldest son of Casimir.
Much dissension meanwhile prevailed in Hungary, where a large
party advocated the election of a younger son of the Polish monarch,
named Casimir, and the consequent deposition of Cervinus. The lat
ter, however, expelled the young prince and an army of 20,000 Poles
who had marched into Hungary. On his death, instead of electing
Casimir, the Hungarians chose John Albert, another of the royal
princes of Poland; but Uladislaus aspired to the same crown, and a
civil war ensued between the brothers, in which John Albert was
taken prisoner, and compelled to renounce his claims. Uladislaus,
whose pretensions were supported by the widow of Cervinus, was
proclaimed king of Hungary; but his father was so displeased at
his ambition, for which one kingdom was too small, that he disinhe
rited him at his death.

The political importance of Casimir was materially enhanced by

the union of the crowns of Poland, Bohemia, and Hungary in his
family; but his frequent wars and foreign expeditions had exhausted
his treasury; and the glory acquired by their king was a poor com
pensation to the people for the heavy taxation by which they were
oppressed. Trade and industry languished amidst the pomp and
confusion of military exertions; and, by a succession of bloody en
gagements, even the nobility were diminished in number. During
this reign, several further innovations were introduced into the
original constitution, all unfavourable to regal prerogative. One of
the principal changes which took place, and which laid the founda
tion of still more important revolutions in the Polish government,
was the convention of a national diet invested with the sole power
of granting supplies. Each palatinate or province was permitted to
send to the general diet, beside the palatines and other principal
barons, a certain number of nuntios or representatives, chosen by
the nobles and burghers. This reign is therefore considered by the
popular party as the era at which the freedom of the constitution
was permanently established. As Casimir could not impose any
new taxes for the replenishment of his treasury without the consent
of the nation, he was under the necessity of applying repeatedly to
 HISTORY OF POLAND. 143

the diet for subsidies; and almost every supply was accompanied
with a list of grievances, and produced a diminution of prerogative.
In Poland, as in all feudal governments, the barons, at the head of
their vassals, were bound to fight in defence of the kingdom; and,
previous to the time of Casimir IV., the king could require such
military, or, as they were called, feudal services: but this monarch,
in compensation for some pecuniary aid, gave up that privilege, and
renounced the power of summoning the nobles to his standard. He
likewise agreed not to enact any laws without the concurrence of the
national diet. All these concessions, however, were adapted princi
pally to the aggrandisement of the aristocracy, and were therefore
inadequate to the removal of the evils under which the country la
boured. Indeed, the very first diet of representatives repealed the
decree of Casimir the Great, which permitted a peasant to leave his
lord on account of ill usage; and they even went so far as to enact
penalties against every person who should harbour any such fugitive.
However willing Casimir might be to redress these evils, their pe
culiarly difficult nature, and his want of energy, precluded the pos
sibility of his accomplishing an object which required time, patience,
and talents for its completion. He died at Grodno, in June, 1494,
aged 64. His queen was Elizabeth, daughter of the emperor Al
bert II. In reference to the weakness of character for which Casimir
was latterly distinguished, a Polish writer makes the following severe
remark, namely, that whatever good appeared in his reign must be
ascribed to the favour of heaven; and whatever bad, to the weak
ness of his administration.
It is observed by Hartnoch, that before Casimir's time the Latin
language was understood only by the clergy in Poland; in proof of
which assertion he alleges, that in an interview between this prince
and the king of Sweden at Dantzick, his Polish majesty was under
the necessity of using the assistance of a monk to interpret between
him and the Swedish monarch. Casimir, ashamed of the ignorance
which himself and court had shewn, published an edict, enjoining the
diligent study of the Latin; a language which has since become al
most vernacular in Poland.

Jous Ankar1494.1501.
In the diet which assembled on the day following the interment
of the body of Casimir IV., violent disputes arose relative to the
choice of a successor. Uladislaus, king of Bohemia and Hungary,
144 HISTORY OF POI, AND.

eldest son of the late monarch, was universally considered an im

proper person, as he had long resided in those countries, had adopted
their manners, and might, by his partiality to them, place Poland in
a secondary position; added to which reasons, the late king had
disinherited him. Sigismund, second son of Casimir, was powerfully
supported in his pretensions by the marshal of the crown and the
majority of the nobility; while the duke of Masovia had gained to
his interest the metropolitan archbishop of Gnesna. The friends of
each of the rival candidates supported their claims with the utmost
pertinacity; and the contention, from the equality of influence on
both sides, appeared to be interminable. At length, wearied out
with their dissensions, they agreed to compromise their differences
by the election of some other person; and they now turned their
attention to John Albert, third son of Casimir, a prince whose ex
ploits against the Tartars entitled him to some share of consideration.
The queen-dowager furnished a body of cavalry to support his
claims; and he was accordingly declared king of Poland. As the price
of the partiality which raised him to the throne, he assented with
out hesitation to all the immunities extorted from his predecessors,
and swore to their observance in a general diet held at Petrikau in
1496. At this diet it was enacted that no person under the rank of
nobility should aspire to ecclesiastical dignities, and that the pea
santry should be tried only at the tribunals of their masters.
The Ottoman Porte took an early opportunity of conciliating the
new king, and a treaty of peace was purchased by magnificent pre
sents. The European states, however, at that period regarded the
Turkish power with extreme jealousy, and were too anxious for its
overthrow to look with satisfaction upon the neutrality of so impor
tant a kingdom as Poland then was. The republic of Venice, then
the greatest maritime power in the universe, was the most formida
ble of the sultan's enemies. A splendid embassy was despatched
from thence, ostensibly to compliment John Albert on his accession
to the throne, but in reality to incite him to join the league which
was forming amongst the Christian powers against the infidels.
Uladislaus his brother, king of Hungary and Bohemia, also joined
in soliciting his assistance; and an interview was held between the
two kings at Livocz. For some time the king of Poland resisted all
attempts to draw him into a war; but the entreaties of his brother
being followed by those of other Christian princes, and his own in
clinations being seconded by the wishes of his people, who longed
for an opportunity to wipe off the disgrace incurred at Varna, his
 HISTORY OF POLAND. 145

prudence was overcome by such a concurrence of motives, and he

determined on seizing the first opportunity which occurred for com
mencing offensive operations against the Turks.
A favourable pretext was soon discovered for putting in practice
the determination of the king. Stephen, voivode of Moldavia (which
country had, as has already been observed, become dependent on
Poland), alleged certain real or imaginary oppressions, committed
by the Turks, as a reason for craving the assistance of the Polish
monarch. Uladislaus promised the co-operation of the forces of
Hungary and Bohemia; while the Venetians, then engaged in an
active warfare with the Ottomans, were making a powerful diversion.
So plausible a cause as succouring the oppressed was too strong a
temptation to be resisted; the brother kings assembled and united
their armies; and the whole were put under the command of John
Albert. At the head of 80,000 men, attended by 30,000 waggons
loaded with arms and baggage, he began his march into Walachia.
Stephen had promised to supply the combined army with provisions;
and, of course, no care had been taken to provide for its subsistence.
The indignation of the Polish monarch was therefore extreme, when,
having penetrated a considerable distance into the country, he dis
covered that the treacherous voivode had not only neglected to pro
vide the promised supplies, but was actually in treaty with the
Turks. It has been "alleged, indeed, that John Albert sought a
reason for a quarrel with Stephen; but the more probable cause of
his subsequent conduct was the breach of contract committed by
that governor. Without loss of time, the Polish monarch laid siege
to the capital of Moldavia, the inhabitants of which defended the
place with great gallantry. In the heart of an enemy's country, also,
the allied army suffered great privations from the want of provisions;
and their supplies were intercepted and cut off by the voivode, who
continually harassed the Polish camp by alarms and attacks. As
might maturally be expected under such circumstances, sickness and
mortality prevailed amongst the troops of John Albert, and added
to the ravages of famine and the sword. Such a combination of
calamities at length induced him to break up the siege, and retreat
into Poland. In his march he suffered all the disasters consequent
on his exposed and necessitous circumstances. At length the Polish
army fell into an ambush laid for them by Stephen. They were
entangled in a thick wood; and their manoeuvres were impeded by
the numerous defiles of the country. Crowds of them were crushed
7 T
146 HISTORY OF POLAND.

by trees which had been previously partly sawn through, and which
were now made to fall upon them. The confusion was terrible;
those who attempted to escape were massacred; 6000 of the Polish
army were slain; and the king was with difficulty extricated by a
few devoted followers. Fatigued with the work of slaughter, and
tempted by the plunder, the Walachians at length suffered a small
remnant to escape. On the banks of the Pruth they again attacked
the fugitives; but being now unprotected by their forests, the Poles
defeated and drove them back.
The Walachians now in their turn acted on the offensive. United
with the Turks, they made an irruption into Poland with a large
army, spread terror and desolation around them, and carried off
100,000 captives. Elated with success, the Turks continued to
pillage the country; but the rigours of winter effected what the
armies of Poland could not accomplish. Unused to the frosts and
snows of a northern climate, the Turks fell before the severity of
the season, which destroyed above 40,000 of their best troops. Many
of them ripped open the bellies of their horses, and, in the expecta
tion of finding warmth, took refuge in them, where they were found
frozen to death. The shattered remnant which escaped into Mol
davia had, to elude the pursuit of the Poles, laid aside the turban,
and assumed the Polish costume. Their ally, the voivode Stephen,
under the idea that they were enemies, attacked them with all his
force; and, it is said, 10,000 of them were slain upon this occasion.
Both parties were now glad to come to terms, and a peace was con
cluded. -

It was not long before the Polish monarch found another enemy
in Ivan Vassilievitch, duke of Muscovy, whose daughter was mar
ried to Alexander, brother of John Albert, and now duke of Lithua
nia. This prince had contracted to provide a chapel for his wife,
in which the rites of the Greek church were to be performed.
Under the pretext that this had been neglected, Ivan ravaged
Lithuania; and at the same time a Tartar khan invaded Beltz and
Lublin. John Albert, to stem the torrent, entered into an offensive
and defensive alliance with Shah Achmet, a Bulgarian khan, whom
he promised to meet with an army on the borders of the Ukraine.
The most solemn pledges were given on both sides for the performance
of the treaty. In the mean while, however, the Polish king con
cluded a peace with Ivan, and, with unpardonable baseness, suffered
Achmet to be attacked by the other Tartar khan. Achmet obtained
the advantage in the first battle ; but, in the second, his foree was
 HISTORY OF POLAND. 147

totally routed, and he himself was compelled to take refuge in the

dominions of his faithless ally.
Frederick duke of Saxony, who had been elected grand-master of
the Teutonic order, had refused to take the oath of allegiance to
Poland, which was required by the engagements of the order to
Casimir IV. To compel obedience, John Albert made formidable
preparations for an invasion of Prussia; but, on his arrival at Thorn
in April, 1501, he was seized with a malady which carried him off
in a few days, in the 41st year of his age. -

ALEXANDER.1501-1506.

As John Albert died without issue, the crown became once more
an object of contention to three claimants of nearly equal pretensions.
The first of these was Uladislaus, king of Bohemia and Hungary,
and eldest brother of the late monarch. The advantages of an union
with the extensive and powerful states of which he was the monarch
were displayed in the most glowing colours. His birthright was also
urged; and his opulence, which was unequivocally evinced by his
liberality to many of the nobility, purchased him many supporters
amongst the electors. Still the same reasons which had prevented
his election upon a former occasion were repeated as equally valid
upon the present; and primogeniture was little regarded in the
election of a Polish sovereign. Sigismund, the second son of Ca
simir IV., was also a candidate; and the affections of the people
were calculated upon as favourable to his claims. Alexander, grand
duke of Lithuania, a younger brother of the two preceding claimants,
likewise aspired to the supreme authority. The attention of the
nation was eagerly turned to the approaching election; and the
expedition to Prussia was abandoned. On the meeting of the diet
at Plotsko, the utmost pertinacity was exhibited by the friends of
the respective claimants; each elector seeming determined to adhere
to that side which interest, prejudice, or principle had originally
induced him to support. Corruption and intrigue added to the con
fusion; and for some time there appeared no prospect of a conclusion
to the disputes. At length, however, motives of policy decided the
election in favour of Alexander. The Poles considered that as the
Lithuanians were much attached to their grand-duke, his rejection
might irritate that people to dissolve the union which had been so
happily formed between the two nations; and this supposition had
T 2
I48 HISTORY OF POLAND.

sufficient weight to induce them to reject both the other candidates.

A new difficulty immediately arose in the refusal of the archbishop
of Gnesna, brother of the king, to assist in the ceremony of the co
romation, the performance of which by the primate was prescribed as
well by custom as by the constitution. After some delay, the
scruples of the prelate with respect to the king were overcome; but
he positively refused to place the crown on the head of the queen,
Helen, daughter of Ivan Vassilievitch, because that princess conti
nued to adhere to the doctrines of the Greek church. Previous to
the coronation of the king, it was agreed that Lithuania should
thenceforward be governed by the king of Poland, without having
a separate duke; that its deputies should attend the diets of election
in Poland; and that in both countries the same laws, privileges,
and interests should be enjoyed, and the same money circulated.
Indignant probably at the affront put upon his daughter by the
archbishop of Gnesna, and which carried with it an insult both to
his nation and religion, Ivan invaded Lithuania, and laid siege to
Smolensko. Alexander, however, by a rapid march and the most
spirited measures, struck such a terror into the Russian army, that,
on his arrival, his father-in-law gave up his enterprize, and consented
to a truce for six years. But the extraordinary bodily and mental
exertions which Alexander had made in this expedition were too
much for his constitution; and he was attacked by a chronic disorder,
from which he was not destined to recover.
Achmet, the unfortunate Tartar chief who had been so ungrate
fully treated by the late monarch, after traversing vast deserts in
his way to Poland, was seized by the palatine of Kiow, and con
fined during three years at Wilna, under pretence of waiting the
pleasure of the king. He was at length conducted to a diet at Ra
domski, where Alexander, as if to remind him of his fallen state,
received him with all the splendour of royalty. Undaunted by his
misfortunes and the perfidy of his enemies, Achmet firmly and ma
jastically remonstrated with the Polish monarch. I have no
wish, said he, to rail at the insults you have offered me; by so
doing I should deserve them. My reverses, my captivity, your own
remerse, must convince you of your injustice. Was it only to de
stroy me that you inticed me so far into these inhospitable regions?
I trusted to your promises, your oaths, your urgent necessities; for
you I have lost my subjects, troops, glory, and nation: where is my
recompense Where is the people who would treat an enemy as
you treat an ally and a friend? But he who is false to his God
 HISTORY OF POLAND. 149

can never be true to man! The latter allusion was to the oaths
which had been broken by the Poles. All he desired was permission
to return to his own country; but the rival khan by whom he had
been conquered urged his detention, and he was imprisoned at Troki,
though it was pretended that this was only to be for a short time.
By the assistance of some of his countrymen, who had come to de
mand his enlargement, he contrived to escape, but was retaken, and
guarded with greater vigilance in the fortress of Kowno, in Samo
gitia. With the same dignified heroism he submitted to this new
indignity, predicting that ere long the Poles would find in the khan,
by whose advice he had been imprisoned, a most dangerous adversary.
In 1505, Alexander declared the following limitations of sovereign
authority to be fundamental laws of the kingdom:-l. The king
cannot impose taxes; 2. He cannot require the feudal services; 3.
nor alienate the royal domains; 4. nor enact laws; 5. nor coin mo
ney; 6. nor alter the process in the courts of justice. During this
reign, the nobles conceded that nothing should be undertaken with
out the common consent of the deputies. Unfortunately, however,
it was not stated that a majority should be sufficient to carry a
measure, and hence unanimity of opinion amongst the deputies was
considered essential; a principle which afterwards gave rise to the
weto.

During the illness of the king, the Moldavians and Tartars, as

had been foreseen by Achmet, made an irruption into Lithuania,
where they committed the most revolting barbarities. Horrified by
the accounts he received of their atrocities, Alexander determined,
notwithstanding his disorder, to head his army in person, and punish
the treachery and cruelty of the invaders. A litter was prepared,
in which he was carried before his troops; and, by the preternatural
energy which seemed to support him, and the indignation which he
expressed, he embued the minds of his soldiers with so determined
a spirit of revenge, that success was rendered morally certain. On
reaching Wilna, however, he was so much exhausted as to be un
able to proceed; and his army advanced, under the command of the
king's favourite, Glinski, to meet the Tartars. The latter were
much superior in number to the Poles; but the difference was more
than counterbalanced by the intrepidity and courage which had
been inspired by Alexander. The battle raged with great fury,
and remained undecided for several hours; but at length the pala-.

Dunham's Hist, of Poland, p. 128.

150 HISTORY OF POLAND.

tine of Posen led 300 men to the top of an eminence within sight of
both armies, and so extended the line of his little troop that they
appeared to be a considerable body advancing to the support of the
Poles. The Tartars were seized with a panic, and began to give
way. Glinski perceived the effect of the stratagem upon his own
troops, and improved it by spreading a report amongst them that
succours were at hand. He exhorted his soldiers not to suffer the
glory of the day to be seized by these new forces, but, by a spirited
effort, to secure the victory to themselves. Animated by this advice,
they made a furious and decisive attack, broke and defeated the
enemy, and killed 20,000 Tartars in the field and pursuit.
Alexander was in the agonies of death when the tidings of the
victory arrived at Wilna, where, like the prophet of old, he had
held up his hands to heaven in prayer for the success of his army.
Though speechless, he collected all his strength, rose in his bed,
and expressed by signs his fervent acknowledgments to heaven;
after which he sunk down and expired. His death occurred on
August 19, 1506, in the 46th year of his age, and after he had
reigned fourteen years in Lithuania and four in Poland. He is de
scribed as of short stature, robust make, and great strength. His
visage was long, his hair exceedingly black, his eyes sparkling, and
his carriage bold and majestic. His taciturnity was remarkable,
and his genius heavy ; but his sentiments were generous and hu
mane. It is certain that he possessed many of the virtues requisite
to adorn a crown, and collected a number of scattered ordinances
into one body, which he rendered binding on all orders of the state;
but historians have observed that, had his reign been of longer
duration, his excessive liberality would have impoverished the king.
dom. He patronized the liberal arts, particularly music, of which
he was so ardent an admirer, that he squandered away great part
of the public revenue upon musicians; and it is added that his pro
fusion in this respect occasioned the passing of a law, called Statutum
Alexandrinum, by which the king was prohibited from disposing of
the revenue without the consent of the senate or diet. All the
donations made by Alexander were revoked after his death.

SIGISMUND I.-1506-1548.

With the consent of the diet, Alexander bequeathed the crown

to his brother Sigismund, who had twice before been a candidate
for the sovereign power. The duchy of Glogau had been assigned
 HISTORY OF POLAND. 151

to this prince by his brother, where he continued to reside till the

death of the latter. On his election at Petricovia, he repaired to
Cracow; and, having been crowned, he commenced the administra
tion of public affairs by reforming abuses, many of which had crept
into the government during the late reign. He rigorously enforced
the Statutum Alexandrinum, by revoking injudicious grants, and
such other donations as appeared to be prejudicial to the public.
To provide funds for the exorbitant pensions granted to artists, au
thors, aud others, the richest fiefs of the crown had been mortgaged,
and the whole revenue swallowed up. Sigismund retrenched these
prodigal grants, though he still allowed a liberal support to men of
real genius and talent. By a judicious application of the public
funds, he redeemed the crown lands, and rendered the revenue
available to the public service. The name of John Bonner, the able
and disinterested minister by whom Sigismund was assisted in these
reforms, was long remembered with gratitude by the Poles.
Having made every arrangement in his power for the best ad
ministration of the internal affairs of the country, Sigismund began
to turn his attention to his relations with foreign powers, and the
means of acquiring glory for himself and advancing the military re
putation of his people. Assisted by a ministry of uncommon talents,
he entertained sanguine hopes of being able to extend his frontier,
and rendering Poland formidable as well as happy. While his vast
designs were yet in embrio, however, a rebellion broke out in Li
thuania. On his election to the throne, he had conferred the go
vernment of that duchy or Glinski, a great favourite of the late
king Alexander. The enjoyment of this dignity, so nearly resem
bling independant sovereignty, appears to have frequently tempted
its possessors to throw off their allegiance to the crown of Poland;
and, as we have seen, the ties of nature were often insufficient to
prevent even the princes of the royal family from entertaining such
ambitious designs. The mere obligations of gratitude, therefore,
unsupported by inflexible integrity, were too weak to resist the
golden prospect of supreme power ; and Glinski, intoxicated by
prosperity and the influence he had acquired amongst the inhabitants
of the duchy, forgot that he owed all to the favour of his sovereign.
The latent designs of this man were concealed for some time; and,
for the more effectual accomplishment of his purpose, he entered
into a secret treaty with Vasil Ivanovitch duke of Russia, to whom
he promised one half of the duchy of Lithuania as the price of his
assistance. He hoped that, if he were once in absolute possession
152 HISTORY OF POLAND.

of the other half, he would soon be able to regain the moiety pos
sessed by Russia. The penetration of Sigismund, however, was too
much for the cunning of the double traitor. The king received
early intelligence of certain movements in Lithuania and Russia;
and though they were ill defined and uncertain in their nature and
object, he took the same precautions as though he had been assured
of the hostile intentions of the parties. At length, Vasil advanced
with an army of 80,000 men to the frontiers of the Polish territories,
where Sigismund, fully prepared for the occasion, promptly opposed
his progress. As soon as the two armies confronted each other, the
Russians were seized with a panic. The formidable appearance of
the Polish battalions, covered with forests of lances, struck such a
terror into their adversaries that they had recourse to flight, leaving
all their booty and baggage behind them.
At this time the Walachians and Moldavians, under Bogdan their
chief, made an irruption into Russia Nigra, laid siege in succession
to Halitz and Lemberg, and, by committing the most cruel ravages,
spread terror and desolation around them. The cause of this aggres
sion was the refusal of Bogdan's request for one of the Polish prin
cesses in marriage. Both the cities above mentioned, however, made
a vigorous resistance; and the barbarous progress of the assailants
was quickly concluded by the advance of Sigismund, who drove them
before him into their own country. In their retreat they wreaked
their vengeance on the towns through which they passed. At length
they were overtaken by the palatine of Cracow, who defeated them
in a decisive action on the banks of the Boristhenes. To terrify and
humble this perfidious and lawless people, the conqueror commenced
a fearful retaliation, destroying and laying waste their country
without pity or remorse. Their armies were compelled to seek
safety in the thickest fastnesses of their forests, leaving the country
an easy prey to the revenge of the conqueror. The cities of Do
richim, Sczepanowitz, Chezim, and Czarnowitz, were taken by
assault; and it is a stain on the character of the victors, whatever
may be pleaded on the score of provocation, that these places were
sacked and plundered without mercy, and men, women, and children
universally massacred, so that not a soul of either sex escaped the
sword. Sated at length with blood, and laden with spoils, the Poles
commenced their retreat. The enemy now collected their scatter
ed forces, ventured to follow to the banks of the Dniester, and
attacked the Poles at the pass of that river. A sharp action
ensued; but the Walachians were at length repulsed with great
 HISTORY OF POLAND. I53

slaughter, and were eventually compelled to sue for peace, the terms
of which were dictated by the king. -

Sigismund was preparing to re-establish the affairs of Lithuania,

when his dominions were again suddenly invaded by the Russians,
who took Smolensko before he could assemble his forces to oppose
them. It was not long, however, before he was in the field with
30,000 men, who advanced to meet the enemy. The latter re
treated behind the Boristhenes, on the steep banks of which they
stationed themselves. Whilst a bridge was constructing for the
passage of the Polish infantry, Constantine Ostrouki, who com
manded the royal army, commenced the attack by swimming his
cavalry over the river; a movement which, notwithstanding the ra
pidity of the stream, the steepness of the banks, and the resistance
of the enemy on the opposite shore, was executed with the most
astonishing celerity and success. After resting in entrenchments
for some hours, the Lithuanian troops were commanded to make a
charge, and afterwards to retreat gradually, so as to induce the enemy
to advance within reach of the Polish cannon. The stratagem suc
ceeded; the Russians mistook the retrogade movement of the Li
thuanians for a real flight, and pursued them with eagerness.
Meanwhile Ostrouki opened his line to the right and left; and
when the enemy had advanced sufficiently near, he ordered his ar
tillery to open a fire of grape-shot upon them. A dreadful carnage
was the result; and a complete victory rewarded the valour and
military talent of the Polish commander. The Russian general and
several noblemen of the first distinction were taken prisoners, and
30,000 (or, according to some accounts, 42,000) of their troops lay
dead upon the field; while the loss of the royal army did not exceed
300 men. In the utmost consternation, Vasil evacuated Smolensko
and the whole of the Polish dominions, justly fearing that his own
territories would ere long be invaded by the conqueror. An univer
sal dread was diffused throughout Russia; and it is indeed probable,
that, had not other concerns diverted the attention of Sigismund, he
would have followed up the blow, and attempted the conquest of
that vast country.
Albert, marquis of Brandenburgh, nephew of Sigismund, had been
elected grand-master of the Teutonic order; and, like his predeces
sor, the duke of Saxony, he refused to acknowledge the sovereignty
of the crown of Poland, and to pay the usual fealty for the province
of Prussia. He even ventured to commence hostilities against the
republic, by investing the fortress of Brauntberg, and reducing it by
- U
154 HISTORY OF POLAND.

assault. The effect of these measures was to draw off the attention
of Sigismund from the Russian war, in which, it is probable, the
marquis considered him too much engaged to take the requisite steps
for resisting him. The palatine of Sandomir, however, took Miel
sac and several other important places, and gained such repeated
successes over the troops of the marquis, that the latter, fearful of
losing the whole of his possessions, sued for peace. He waited on
Sigismund, who had arrived at Thorn, and contrived to disarm the
resentment of the monarch by his entreaties. The conditions of
peace were in the course of arrangement, when Albert received in
telligence of the approach of a body of 14,000 auxiliaries, led by
Wolfang, duke of Schonenberg. The tidings revived his ambition;
and, hastily breaking off the negotiations, he begged permission to
depart. Though the Poles knew that he intended to re-commence
hostilities, and recommended his detention to Sigismund, yet the
latter was too honourable to make a prisoner of one to whom he
had granted asafe conduct; and he suffered his treacherous relative
to retire from Thorn. The German troops ravaged the territory
around Dantzick, and at length ventured to besiege that town; but
the people defended themselves with so much spirit, and managed
the artillery on their walls with such courage and success, at the
same time making the most vigorous sallies, that the besiegers were
soon reduced to extremity in a country which they themselves liad ren
dered desolate. Having lost near half their army by famine, disease,
and the sword, they were compelled to raise the siege, and to retreat
towards Pomerania. In their march they were attacked by 12,000
Polish cavalry, who made a prodigious carnage; and, when the re
mainder of the wretched fugitives at length reached Pomerania,
instead of finding a shelter, they were inhumanly butchered by the
peasantry.
Dirschaw, Stargard, and other towns belonging to the marquis,
as well as the castle of Choincz, which had hitherto stood out against
Sigismund in the hope derived from the exertions of the Germans,
now surrendered; and the marquis, with the additional mortification
of having broke the faith of treaties to come to an impolitic rupture,
was reduced to the necessity of submitting himself to the clemency
of the conqueror. A concurrence of circumstances, and the policy
of Sigismund, however, were the means of his procuring better
terms than he had reason to expect. The doctrines of Luther, which
were then making considerable progress throughout the empire, and
the professors of which had been protected by the duke of Saxony,
 HISTORY OF POLAND. 155

were also embraced by the marquis, who had already taken a wife.
The connection between him and the Teutonic order was thereby
necessarily broken off, and he resigned the office of grand-master.
As a final blow to the political importance of the knights, Sigismund
determined on making Albert the barrier against their future en
croachments, by securing him in his own interests. For this purpose
he made liberal concessions to the marquis, and granted him half
the province of Prussia in the quality of a secular duke and a de
pendent on the crown of Poland. The knights were thus deprived
of the best part of their dominions, and those sparks of war were for
ever extinguished which those ambitious and restless neighbours of
Poland had taken every opportunity of lighting up. By this ar
rangement, however, a blow was given to the Roman Catholic re
ligion in Prussia, and Lutheranism soon diffused itself from that
country into Poland. The marquis might naturally hope to become
the founder of a new dynasty, which, on the failure of the line of
Jagellon, would occupy the throne of Poland by uniting Prussia with
that country; and, though the knights had never recovered the blow
inflicted on their order in the reign of Casimir IV., their power
would undoubtedly have been now more considerable had not the
doctrines of Luther made so rapid a progress in their dominions.
After twenty years of peace, the Walachians, under their voivode,
Peter, or Petrillon, advanced into the small province of Pokucia, and
burnt Sniatyn. The palatine Tarnowski, on receiving tidings of
this irruption, marched with 6000 men to meet the invaders, and
fortified himself in the town of Oberstein. Though the enemy were
50,000 strong, and occupied the neighbouring heights, he had the
courage to engage them. Instead of commencing the attack in front,
however, he fell upon their flank, while several pieces of cannon
played upon the first lines of their army with such effect that the
main body was forced upon the wings. A general confusion, which
ended in a total rout, was the consequence; and the voivode, who
was dangerously wounded, escaped with difficulty.
It has been asserted that Sigismund meditated the entire conquest
and annexation of Walachia to his own kingdom ; and that he as
sembled a large army at Lemberg for the purpose of carrying his
schemes into execution. The difficulties of his situation, however,
were too great to allow him to proceed. He was harassed by the
opposition and the contentions of his nobles, who frequently exerted
their undue share of power to disconcert his best-laid plans. He
married, first, Hedwig, princess of Transylvania, and, after her death,
U 2
156 HISTORY OF POLAND.

Bona, daughter of John Sforza duke of Milan, whom he received

from the hands of the emperor Maximilian. The latter princess, by
her intrigues, embarrassed both him and his ministry, and not unfre
quently brought both into disrepute. It is true that one of his gene
rals assisted the Hungarians against the Turks under Solyman the
Great ; but the Christian army suffered a severe defeat, in which
Lewis king of Hungary was slain. Sigismund therefore naturally
resisted all the entreaties of pope Julius II. to march against the
infidels, and was even proof against the temptation held out to him
of the chief command of all the armies of Europe. He could not
forget the fate of Uladislaus VI.; and, when he saw Charles V. and
Francis I. engaged in violent disputes between themselves, instead
of being united against the common foe, he was certainly excusable
in indulging a doubt as to the sincerity of their co-operation with
him. Added to these considerations, old age and its usual conco
mitant love of peace were creeping upon him ; and he was satisfied
with seeing his people enjoying an abundance to which they had
hitherto been strangers.
After the death of Vasil, grand-duke of Muscovy, Ouczina, who
was appointed regent during the minority of the young czar, made
several inroads into Lithuania, and penetrated into the country
adjacent to Wilna ; but the brave Count Tarnowski, who had so
recently exhibited his valour and military talents in defeating the
Walachians, placed himself at the head of the Lithuanian and Polish
troops, and quickly dispersed the enemy. Not satisfied with this
success, he advanced into Russia, took the castle of Hemell, and
placed a strong garrison in it. He then besieged Starodub, where
the tutor of the young duke had shut himself up with several of the
principal nobility of Russia. The troops of the garrison, who were
commanded and animated by the bravest officers in the Russian ser
vice, defended themselves in a gallant manner. The Polish artillery
made but little impression on the walls of the place, which were
constructed of beams of wood riveted together, and supported by a
bulwark of earth; but one of the Polish engineers having directed
the troops to fire those palisades with pitch and gunpowder, the
flames, augmented by the wind, became immediately so violent that
the fortifications were soon reduced to ashes. The fire was likewise
communicated to the city itself, which compelled the regent and
nobility to surrender, in order to escape the conflagration. The
Poles are said to have carried off 60,000 prisoners of all ages and
ranks, together with an immense booty.
 HISTORY OF POL, AND. 157

Sigismund was the protector of arts and sciences, which made no

inconsiderable progress under his auspices. He suggested many
good laws for the better government of the nation, and assimilated
the codes of Poland and Lithuania. By these means, notwithstand
ing the jealousies that existed between the higher and the petty no
bility, as well as between both these classes and the burghers, the
number of private feuds and litigations was considerably diminished.
A new source of dissension had arisen in the doctrines of Huss, which
had gradually merged in those of Luther, and, as has been above
observed, were rapidly spreading over Pomerania and Prussia. To
prevent their diffusion in Poland, and a repetition of the scenes of
riot and confusion which appeared to attend them in other countries,
Sigismund had recourse to strong, but (in his eyes, no doubt) neces
sary measures. Previous to the treaty with the marquis of Bran
denburgh, the Lutherans of Dantzick openly resisted the authority
of the Polish king, derided what they called his bigotry, deposed
their magistrates, created new, ones, desecrated the churches, pil
laged the monasteries, expelled the Catholic clergy, and committed
many other excesses. It cannot be wondered at that Sigismund
should, from these outrages, conclude heresy and rebellion to be
synonymous, and determine on punishing one as well as the other.
During the resistance made to his authority by Albert, the Lutherans
were too powerful to be persecuted; but, no sooner was peace con
cluded with that prince, than steps were taken for putting down
the new religion. The old worship was restored at Dantzick, and
many of the most outrageous adherents of the new were seized, four
teen of whom were beheaded, and the rest banished. That these
severities were rather intended to repress their excesses than to
punish their opinions, appears probable from the subsequent fact,
that Sigismund, though he continued to refuse admission into public
offices to the protestants, took no further measures against the to
leration of their principles.
For a long period, Sigismund continued to enjoy considerable politi
cal importance. He possessed, in his own person, the republic of
Poland, the great duchies of Lithuania, Smolensko, and Severia,
besides territories lying beyond the Euxine and the Baltic; while
on the head of his nephew Lewis, son of Uladislaus, were united
the crowns of Hungary, Bohemia, and Silesia. Such a concentra
tion of power and dominion was regarded with extreme jealousy by
the house of Austria, which has been blamed, with reason, for in
stigating the Moldavians, Russians, and Tartars, to their various
I58 HISTORY OF POLAND.

attacks on the Polish nation. The death of Lewis, as related above,

was the first check to the flow of good fortune which attended king
Sigismund. The daughter of Lewis married Ferdinand of Austria,
whereby her dominions were for ever lost to the house of Jagellon,
and inseparably annexed to the hereditary possessions of the Austrian
family. These events, it is supposed, affected the health of Sigis
mund, who was sensible of the enmity with which his family was
regarded by the house of Austria, and beheld with chagrin such an
accession of dominion to a prince whom he considered as his rival.
Certain it is, that about this time he was attacked with a lingering
disorder, which, in the space of a few months, carried off the great
est monarch who had ever wielded the Polish sceptre.
Sigismund died on the 1st of April, 1548, after having attained
the great age of 82, the effect, says a late historian, of tem
perance, of exercise, and of bodily vigour. His strength was pro
digious; he could break in his hands the hardest metals. Modest,
humble, humane, enlightened, indefatigable, the father of his peo
ple, he had strong claims on their affection and gratitude. But his
character will be best known from the success of his administration.
When he ascended the throne, he found the eastern provinces of his
kingdom little better than deserts; the Teutonic knights in open re
volt; strife and poverty within. His victories taught his enemies
to respect his territories, which soon smiled with abundance: in
dustry brought comfort and content to his people, who loved him
in life, and revered his memory after death. At no previous period
of her history could Poland boast of so much wealth, nor, conse
quently, of so much general happiness; never before did she num
ber so many able generals, or such valiant nobles. The esteem of
four successive pontiffs, of the greatest potentates in Europe, not
even excepting the grand signior, who respected his character still
more than his power, rendered him a striking contrast to the despi
cable princes, his immediate predecessors. His monument in the
cathedral at Cracow bears the following appropriate inscription:
Divus Sigismundus Jagellonius, Poloniae rer, & Lithuanae dur
magnus, Scithicus, Valachius, Moschoviticus, Prussicus, victor ac
triumphator pater patriae : in hoc monumentum a se magnificen
tissime erectum, illatus requiescit. -

Orichovius, a Polish historian, in speaking of this reign, exclaims,

with much indignation, The king is almost wholly destitute of
power; he cannot procure any subsidy on the most pressing emer
gency, for carrying on war, or for the portions of his daughters,
 HISTORY OF POLANT). 159

without increasing the privileges of the nobility. Notwithstand

ing this exclamation, however, it is scarcely necessary to remark to
the English reader, that the power of levying taxes at discretion is
the most dangerous prerogative that can be lodged in the hands of
a sovereign, and the most formidable engine of despotic authority.
Indeed, as has been well observed by a judicious writer, if it were
wished to point out any particular period at which the Polish consti
tution attained its most perfect state, the reign of Sigismund I. might
perhaps be fixed upon, when the person and property of the subject
were secured by ample provisions, and the crown still retained con
siderable influence. But the time was arrived when an inordinate
passion for liberty induced the nobles to render the throne wholly
elective, and at each election to continue their encroachments upon
the regal authority until the king was reduced to a mere pageant.
The compliances of Sigismund with these encroachments admit of
great palliation, when it is remembered that those to whom they
were made had raised him to the throne, and were become nearly
incontroulable by the concessions of his immediate predecessors.

SIGISMUND II. (Augustus.)1548-1572.

The many estimable qualities of Sigismund I., and the circum
stance of his son being the last male heir of the house of Jagellon,
had induced the Polish nobles to relinquish their usual display of
power in an election, and to declare Sigismund Augustus successor
to the throne many years before the death of his father. When that
event occurred, therefore, no interregnum nor election followed.
The young prince had been married first to Elizabeth, daughter of
the emperor Ferdinand I. ; and, after her death, he had clandestine
ly contracted a marriage at Wilna with a young widow, Barbara,
daughter of the duke of Radzivil. His mother, the princess of
Milan, had indulged him in all the laxity of manners, if not of
morals, for which Italy was even then distinguished; and the nobles
consequently hoped to find in him a pliant instrument for their own
ambitious purposes. Their first attempt was to induce him to con
sent to have his last marriage annulled, on the ground that it was a
contract made without the knowledge of the king his father or of
the state, and was therefore illegal; while the advantages of a pow
erful foreign alliance were displayed in pompous array against the
mere gratification of a private passion. The usual argument, that a
king lives but for the good of his subjects, was urged with vehe
160 HISTORY OF POLAND.

mence; and they concluded by insisting that his marriage with Bar
bara should be declared void, and another contracted in which the
interests and honour of the nation, and not his own individual feel
ings, should be considered as of the greatest importance. Their
astonishment and chagrin were excessive when they found that he
peremptorily and decisively refused to accede to their wishes. He
observed, that the man who could deliberately falsify his vows to
the woman whom he had sworn to love, could not be expected to
adhere to those which he might make from motives of policy; that
his marriage vows to his wife were sacred and indissoluble; and that
he was determined to resist every effort to induce him to violate
them. In spite of all their entreaties, expostulations, and menaces,
he adhered to this resolution.
As a last resource, the nobles threatened to depose the king ;
when, by a master-stroke of policy, he succeeded in silencing their
clamours. He began by denouncing as unconstitutional the practice,
which had then become prevalent, of one person holding several
offices in church or state; he adverted with severity to those amongst
the nobility and the hierarchy who enjoyed such pluralities; and
he proposed to abrogate them, and return to the ancient law of the
kingdom. These denunciations and propositions had the effect of
winning to his interest all those who were not actually profiting by
the abuses he complained of; and the assembly, while they loudly
execrated the holders of multitudes of dignities and offices, were no
less warm in their praises of the king. All opposition to the queen
was drowned in the popular excitement ; and, as if to make her
amends for the intended injury, she was crowned with unusual ac
clamations. The people reaped the advantage of this disinterested
ness and integrity of conduct, in the virtues which their queen
exhibited; and she quickly gained the love of all ranks and parties
by her unostentatious benevolence, her charity, the efforts and in
tercessions she made in behalf of innocence suffering under oppression,
and her unaffected piety. The nation, however, was not destined
long to enjoy the blessings which emanated from her. She died in
an early part of Sigismund's reign, and her decease was deplored as
a national calamity. - -

The first public attempt towards establishing a free election of the

king was brought forward in this reign. In 1550, Sigismund was
constrained to agree that no future monarch should succeed to the
throne unless he was freely elected by the nation. The particulars
given by Olaus Magnus the Goth of an embassy, sent by this
 HISTORY OF POLAND. 161

monarch to the duke of Muscovy in the following year, afford a cu

rious illustration of the barbarous attempts at grandeur which then
prevailed in the court of the latter prince, and are therefore intro
duced here as an interesting specimen of the manners of the northern
nations at that period:
Some old histories of the northern kingdoms relate, that some
princes of Muscovy did receive the embassadours of kings and
princes with wonderfull delusions & they do the same yet. For they
chose them, & so they do now, for that occasion many common peo
ple that were very tall men, & very ancient, & grave, & graceful,
with grey long beards, in gallant cloths (for the prince cloths them
for it) that being set in the ample company of the nobles scattered
here and there amongst them, and saying nothing, they may with the
splendour of their ornaments, and great multitudes, ravish the eyes
of the embassadours that come in: who being charmed or terrified
with so great state, may propound nothing that is harsh; or if they
do propound, they may consent to have it ended by the common
votes of them all. But that state as it is but counterfeit magnificence,
so it is supposed that it grows contemptible in the end of it. For
they are far from that esteem they thought to win. For the more
perfect embassadours, who have gone into the world upon great
affairs, despise and are ashamed of all that counterfeit state and
false pomp. Moreover it is a custome amongst the Tartars that the
embassadours before they propound their embassage to their emperour
shall be forced to passe between two fires, especially for this reason,
that if they carry any poyson to destroy the prince, it may first kill
those that carry it, being dissolved by the heat of the fire. And they
will not otherwise hear those embassadours, unlesse they bring pre
sents, and deliver their embasse, on their knees, and give such
honour to a mortall man that is due to saints and angels in heaven;
and they that refuse to do this are scarse absolved without danger of
their lives. But that this custome of entertaining embassadours
amongst the Moscovites, may appear by more clear examples, I
shall insert the embassage of the most illustrious king of Poland,
Anno Domini 1551, which was directed to the great duke of Mosco,
in the order that here follows. The embassadour of the king of
Poland Matthaeus Barthlomievicza Kneze, Gedroitzhi, a very noble
man, coming 200 German miles, from the famous city Vilna of Li
thuania, to Mosco, the metropolis of Moscovia, when he was to have
his entrance, after he had gone the foresaid journey, he was enter

taind by some knights, that were appointed by the great duke for
X
162 HISTORY OF POLAND.

that purpose: and afterwards a few dayes being past, he was brought
into the castle in great solemnity (such as the Moscovites thought
fit) to deliver the king's letters, & he passed through two portals,
where very tall men that had huge long beards (w are most com
monly of the baser sort of people) sat round upon seats, and were
clothed in very glorious clothing, that belong'd to the great duke,
that so he might boast of the glory of his court to men that came
from far countries, at last he was brought into the palace, where the
great duke with his princes all cloth'd as the other were, stayd for
him. But the great duke sate upon a seat, that was farr off from
the other princes, and was clothed with a long robe down to his
heels, of piled velvet and the outward skirts of it were embroidered
with perls and jewels: and he held in his hand a scepter or staffe,
guilded on the upper part, but it was silver'd over on the lower part,
that he leaned upon: Lastly, he had on his head a miter, which
they in their language call, Kalpak, which was made of the best
black fox skins, which are of a huge price in that country, and far
dearer than sables. But when the embassadour entered into the
palace, presently they that brought him in, and presented him to the
great duke, cast themselves down upon the pavement before him,
and they knocked their heads against the ground 3 or 4 times, as
the custome of the Moscovites is, to shew their reverence to their
supreme lord. But when the embassadour was come to the doors
50 foot off from the duke, together with his 12 servants that came
with him, he was commanded by an advocate with him, (whom they
call Przistan,) to stand still, and this was done by order from
the great duke, nor was he suffered to come nearer to him ;
and there he stood untill he had made his speech to the great
duke, and delivered his kings letters to the dukes secretary ap
pointed to receive them. The embassadour of the great duke had
on a time when he was in Poland refused to receive the letters of
this king, because he had not stiled his lord Czar Ruski, (that is
emperour of Russia as he was created by the metropolitan of that
land, and for this reason the same duke had sent him his own em
bassadour. After this the said embassadour of the king of Poland
was brought back again by the advocate in great state to his lodging
for ostentation sake. And let this suffice concerning the manner of
entertaining embassadours amongst the Moscovites.
* Book xi., chap. 9, p. 134. In the following chapter, this curious writer
adds, Moreover, Albertus Crantzius, a famous German historian, affirms in
his Wandalia, that an embassadour of Italie was most miserably murthered,
 IHISTORY OF POLAND. 163

The dissentions consequent upon the introduction of the princi

ples of the Reformation into Poland, were, during the reign of
Sigismund Augustus, notwithstanding the precautions he adopted,
productive of disagreeable consequences. That many of the burghers
or citizens should have adopted those principles was not to be won
dered at ; but open or concealed Protestants were also to be found
amongst the highest classes of nobility and members of the senate.
Even the hierarchy and clergy were tinctured with the spirit of the
times. The bishops of Kiow, Kaminiek, Culm, Warmia, and Cu
javia, leaned to the protestant side; as did Direwiski, canon of
Cracow, Sismanini, confessor of the queen-mother, and Prasnicki
and Cosmin, preachers to the king. Those prelates who adhered to
the Catholic church were unable to devise measures for putting a
stop to the tide of innovation, which was making so rapid a progress
even amongst their own order. How to proceed towards the nume
rous ecclesiastics who had thrown off the obligation of celibacy, was
a delicate and difficult question. Many had already married, and
boldly defended their conduct to the world. At first, severity was
tried, though with no better success than attended it in other coun
tries. The bishop of Cracow caused a lady to be burnt for denying
the real presence, and a priest in the diocese of Cujavia was con
demned to the flames for administering the sacrament under both
kinds. Considerable numbers were punished with banishment and
confiscation of property. Whether it arose, however, from the
greater mildness of the Polish clergy, or from the opposition and
odium which they incurred, these measures were not persevered in
to the extent which they reached in some of the other kingdoms of
Europe. Certain it is that the conduct of the prelates was animad
verted upon with much warmth in the diet.
At this assembly the chancellor made a proposition for investing
the bishops with new and more extensive powers, in order to check
the progress of heresy. He was replied to by Raphael Lesczynski,
a powerful baron, who, having become a disciple of the Reformation,
had by that means disqualified himself for retaining the office of pa
because he did not uncover his head when he was to deliver his message, before
the prince of Moscovia. For when the embassadour alleaged the custome of
his country (so that no majesty nor power could be supposed to be offended for
the embassadours head being covered) the cruel prince scoffing, said, That his
hat should be nailed to his head with an iron pin; and that he would not vio
late such a custome but confirme it the more. What would this liberal-minded
predecessor of the modern autocrat have said to the Quakers of the present day?
2 x
164 HISTORY OF POLAND.

latinate, which he previously held. So bitter was his opposition to

the ancient faith, that when the usual mass was saying at the open
ing of the diet, he had refused to uncover his head or to kneel, and
stood erect during the whole ceremony, his contempt for which was
evinced by his smiles. He now thundered forth against the digni
taries of the church in the strongest terms. With an eloquence
equal to his boldness, he denounced the factions, the briberies, and
the partialities by which they attained their elevated stations, and
the luxury, immorality, and pride which they displayed in the ex
ercise of their duties. Through their idleness, said he, and
their bad example, religion has suffered, its exercise has been de
graded, and its purity has been sullied by childish superstitions.
Hence their aversion to such believers as ascend to the first ages of
the church to acquire a knowledge of its doctrines and practice:
hence these proscriptions, these murders, this right of life and death,
which they assume over free citizens, whose only offence is a refusal
of their guidance lest the flock be lost with the shepherd. A simi
lar spirit appeared to pervade the greater part of the assembly; for
even those who remained attached to the Catholic church saw with
dislike the anomalous junction of ecclesiastical and civil power which
was enjoyed by the bishops, and were desirous also to reduce the
pomp and splendour of the hierarchy to something more in accord
ance with Christian humility. The castellan of Cracow, a sincere
Catholic, argued against the propriety of continuing the power of
life and death in the hands of the bishops, as subversive of freedom,
and rendering them the judges as well as the accusers of those whom
they chose to persecute. At the same time, he declared his opposi
tion to the progress of heresy. Let our bishops oppose it, said
he, but let them not employ weapons for that purpose which are
unsuitable to their own characters. The means he recommended
for this purpose were good example, reason, and persuasion.*
An appeal was at this time made to the senate by a canon of
Przemysl, named Orzechowski, author of a work on Polish history.
Having publicly contracted a marriage, the bishop of the diocese had
sentenced him to degradation and banishment. Certain customary
forms, however, had been omitted in the process; and the appeal
was now laid against the illegality of the conviction. The priest
himself appeared to plead his own cause, and was warmly opposed
by the bishop who had condemned him. Though several of the
ecclesiastical dignitaries were inclined to consider the sentence as

* Dunham, p. 141-2.
 HISTORY OF POLAND. 165

unnecessarily severe, and to renounce their right of trying all cases

except those of heresy, yet they were aware that by allowing the
present case to go before the lay tribunals, the culprit would gain
an unconditional acquittal. They could not bring themselves to
this acknowledged surrender of power, and therefore, to retain the
apparent decision of the cause in their own hands, they released the
canon from all ecclesiastical penance, and restored him to his clerical
functions. It was, however, required of him to make a confession
of the orthodox faith, and that he should visit Rome to procure a
confirmation of the absolution he had obtained. It is added that he
subsequently obtained a dispensation from the pope for keeping his
wife. Such was the termination of an affair which, more than any
thing that occurred at this time, displayed the difficulties by which
the clergy were surrounded.
It may be readily surmised that the situation of the king was by
no means enviable during these struggles, and he might be excused if
he exhibited symptons of indecision. Some have supposed that he
was secretly inclined to the new doctrines, which he openly protected
in Lithuania. An edition of Luther's translation of the scriptures
was permitted to be dedicated to him, as was Calvin's commentary
on St. Paul's epistle to the Hebrews. The latter Reformer, as well
as Melancthon, was persuaded that the king of Poland was about to
make an open declaration in favour of their doctrines, for a more full
explanation of which he had sent a Franciscan into Switzerland.
But, whatever were the real opinions of Sigismund, he was too
conscious of the power of the bishops, and of the great influence ex
ercised by the clergy over the people, the majority of whom were
still Catholics, to venture on any decided and public change. About
this period also a legate from the pope arrived in Poland, ostensibly
to arrange and settle the differences existing amongst the bishops,
but with the further design of watching the measures of the king.
Sigismund at length decided in favour of the power of the bishops,
to whose tribunals the converts to the new faith were subjected.
The unexpected severity of this measure was only equalled by its
impolicy. An attempt was made to enforce obedience to the church
by lighting up the fires of persecution, but the number of converts
was too great to be dealt with in this manner. To condemn hun
dreds of thousands of victims to the stake was out of the question;
and the bishops were therefore induced to drop all further proceed
ings against the Protestants, whose cause gained strength from the
intolerant measures which had been taken to crush it.
166 HISTORY OF POLAN ID.

The inhabitants of Dantzick had been amongst the first to adopt

the Reformed religion; and they heard with indignation of the ef
forts made by Sigismund to coerce its followers. To avert the blow
aimed at their faith, as well as to revenge themselves on him by
whom it was struck, measures were taken for transferring their
allegiance from the Polish sovereign to the emperor. Affairs were
in this critical state, when Sigismund, attended by a strong guard,
suddenly appeared in Dantzick. The usual formalities of respect
were gone through; but it was evident that he was regarded with
distrust and jealousy by the inhabitants. Indeed, so apprehensive
were they of the nature of his designs, that, to prevent the possibility
of attack by his soldiers, the burgher guards were placed in the
streets at every twenty paces distance to protect the people. To
summon the whole population to arms, if necessary, sentinels were
stationed in the church steeples, with orders to ring the alarm bells
in case of disturbance. It required all the tact of which the king
wss master to soothe and conciliate the suspicious Dantzickers; but
he at length succeeded, by his wise and dignified conduct and pro
fessions, in regaining their confidence. With the utmost frankness
he entered upon the discussion of the subjects of complaint. He
reminded them of the ample privileges which they enjoyed, their
personal freedom, and almost regal jurisdiction within their own
precincts; and he asked them what further advantages they could
hope to acquire by placing themselves under the protection of the
emperor. Of his own attachment to them, and the affection of the
Polish nation in general, he gave the most fervent assurances. With
regard to the change which they had made in their religion, he can
didly observed that it did not meet with his approval; but he as
sured them, at the same time, that they had no reason to dread a
repetition of his father's conduct from him, as he would never at
tempt to effect by force what ought to be only accomplished by rea
son. The result of this judicious and well-timed address was as
favourable as it deserved; and the people, who had before looked
upon the king as an enemy and persecutor, were now emulous in
their endeavours to testify their loyalty and attachment to his per
son and government.
From this time, Sigismund never again interfered with the reli
gious opinions of his subjects. The meetings and proceedings of the
Protestants were held openly; and the Hussites and Calvinists effect
ed an union which added materially to the general strength and
importance of their body, by terminating the bickerings and disputes
 HISTORY OF POLAND. 167

which had prevailed between those hitherto rival sects. So consi

derable was this class now become, that many of its members were
elected as deputies to the national diet, where they even ventured
to propose the abolition of celibacy amongst the clergy, the celebra
tion of the sacrament under both kinds, the performance of mass in
the vulgar tongue, and the discontinuance of the custom of remitting
first fruits to Rome. That such propositions should have been suf
fered to be made is a proof of the moderation of the Catholic party
still, it ought to be remembered, the most numerous and the most
powerful. Indeed, the brief period during which the severities of
persecution were suffered to prevail in Poland, when contrasted
with the years of dreadful and protracted cruelty and retaliation
which disgraced other countries, is highly honourable to the Polish
nation, and ought to redeem it from those charges of bigotry and
superstition which are too frequently made against it.
Sigismund improved the continuance of a long peace by the re
formation of those abuses which had gradually been intermixed with
the government, and by inculcating an obedience to the laws and
customs of the nation. He was also peculiarly sedulous in his
endeavours to recover such of the royal domains as had either been
usurped or unjustly alienated from the crown. In these proceedings,
however, he did not attempt to injure any one who had a proper
title to such possessions; but the funds recovered afforded an annual
revenue for the payment of the army, and the discharge of the
necessary expenses of the state. Though he preferred peace to war,
these measures induced the world to believe that he neither wanted
the power, spirit, nor capacity to resist and punish injuries. .
The attention of Sigismund was, in 1555, called from the internal
management of his kingdom by the conduct of William de Fursten
burgh, grand-master of the Ensiferi, or knights of the sword in
Livonia. It will be necessary in this place to take a brief retro
spective view of the history of this province, in order that the reader
may perfectly comprehend the nature of the events which subse
quently occurred.
The ancient province of Livonia was of considerable extent,
reaching from the Gulf of Finland on the north to the duchy of
Lithuania on the south, and from the Baltic on the west to Muscovy
on the east. Its length was about 500 English miles, and its breadth
nearly half that extent. Its name is supposed to be derived from
an appellation bestowed on it by the Bremish merchants who colo
nized it, viz. Het Lieve Land, a beloved land. It was divided into
 168 HISTORY OF POLAND.

the provinces of Esthonia or Eastland, Lettia or Lettland, Curonia

or Courland, Semigallia, Districtus Piltensis, Polish Lifland, &c.
Riga was the capital of the whole.
According to the Swedish historians, the inhabitants of Livonia
made incursions into Sweden about the year 836 after the flood.
Various wars and conquests are related as having occurred between
the kings of this people and the Danes and Swedes, by whom and the
Goths the Livonians were successively subjugated, but always re
covered their liberty. A. D. 1077, Canute king of Denmark, sur
named the Saint, attempted to bring them under his dominion by
introducing Christianity amongst them; and, for some time after
wards, the Danish monarchs retained the title of dukes of Esthonia.
About the year 1158, some merchants of Bremen were driven by a
storm upon the shore of Livonia, where they formed a settlement,
and a second time introduced the Christian faith. The first bishop,
Meinhard, who is represented as a good and pious man, was conse
crated in 1170 by the archbishop of Bremen. During his absence
from his new see, the proceedings of the soldiers and monks stationed
there so disgusted the native converts, that they used to swim in
running waters, to wash off, as they said, their baptism. Meinhard
was succeeded, in 1193, by Berthold, abbot of Lucca in Saxony.
Many Germans, who had taken the cross for the Holy Land,
followed him into this pagan region, on being promised by pope
Celestine III, the same indulgences as if they warred with the
Mussulmans. Berthold was slain in a war with his infidel flock.
His successor, Albert, acknowledged Livonia a fief of the emperor
Henry VI. in 1200, and obtained the power to coin money, &c. He
built Riga in 1202, and raised an army, whose zeal was so great
that they procured authority from the emperor to institute a new
order of German knighthood for the defence of their colony, which
was dedicated to the Virgin Mary.
This order was effectually initiated in 1204, and confirmed by
Pope Innocent III., according to the rules of the Knights Templars.
Their habit was a white cloak, with two swords crossed and a star
in red; whence their appellation of Ensiferi, or sword-bearers. On
the ordination of a knight, the grand-master struck him thrice upon
the shoulder with a sword, saying,

HBig rmertt empfang bon meiner #ant,

2%u tuttyen Gottes unt, hartem 3Lamb,
 HISTORY OF POLAND. 169

That is,

This snord take thou out of my hand,

To fight for God and Mary's Land.

Their institution was often to hear mass, not to marry, but to

lead a sober, chaste life, to fight against the infidels, and to de
fend the holy see. For these services they were received by the
pope into the protection of God and all the saints, and were to have
and enjoy whatever they conquered from the pagans to themselves
and their order for ever. The first grand-master was Vinno a
Rohrbach, who founded several towns. In 1206, William, bishop
of Modena, was sent as legate into Livonia, and decided that the
knights should possess one-third of the lands then taken, or that
should be conquered, and that the remainder should belong to the
bishop of the province. The knights soon after seized upon the
territories conquered by the Danes in their neighbourhood; but, in
1238, Volquin Schenck, the second and last grand-master, was
killed in a battle with the Lithuanians. They now united with
the Teutonic knights, and were thenceforth governed by a heer
meister, or provincial master, deputed by the chapter in Eastern
Prussia. In 1253, Courland and Semigallia were subdued by Hen
ry Groningen, third heer-meister; and, about the same time, Riga
was constituted an archbishopric, with nine dependent bishoprics.
In the following year, the knights effected a temporary conversion
to Christianity in Mendau, duke of Lithuania; but he soon relapsed,
and waged several bloody wars with the order.
Peace being established in 1287, the knights and archbishops of
Riga began to quarrel between themselves; and, from 1292 to 1341,
a series of intestine wars were carried on between them. It is re
lated of these holy apostles of the north, that, in little more than
one year's time, there were fought nine pitched battles, with dif
ferent success on both sides; whilst the natives, treated like slaves,
attempted to revolt, but were again reduced to their fetters. Many
battles were also fought with the Lithuanians, in which great num
bers were slain on both sides. Sigfried Blomberg, archbishop of
Riga, in 1369 attempted to change the habit of his canons from that
of the order; whereupon tke knights seized upon all his territories,
except the town of Riga, which held out against them. In 1381,
8 Y
I70 HISTORY OF POLAND.

the duke of Muscovy laid siege to Dorpat with a great army, but
was repulsed with loss.
In 1382, the knights began to throw off the name of frater, or
brother, and to assume that of domine, or lord. In 1391, their dis
putes with the archbishop were submitted to the decision of Pope
Boniface VIII. According to Cromer, the knights sent by their
ambassador 15,000 ducats to the pope; whereupon he declared that
the archbishop should be dependent on the order. The Livonian
hierarchy, however, rejected this decision ; and, with the assistance
of the pagan Lithuanians and Russians, fought a battle with the
order, in which the knights, though considerably weakened, had the
advantage. The luxury prevalent amongst the order at this period
may be estimated from the passing of a law, that a knight should
not keep above ten horses, and a comptur, or commander, not above
one hundred, for their own particular use or equipage. The plenty
and ease which they enjoyed contributed, in no small degree, to
render them lascivious and vicious.t

* An old writer, quoting Alexander Guagninus, relates that no less than

300,000 men were employed in the siege, and had almost ruin'd the works by
continual attacks and storms, whereby the strength and number of the be
sieged being tired and exhausted, they applied themselves with great humilia
tion, to implore the assistance of heaven, as their only refuge. The night before
Friday, the governor lay prostrate the whole night with great devotion before
an altar, and prayed fervently for a deliverance out of that deplorable condition:
rising from prayers at break of day (the Muscovites only expected the sun's rise
to carry the place) he took his bow and arrow and went to a window of the
castle, from whence he successfully directed it, to that part of the camp, where
he thought the great duke had his quarter, and shot him through the heart:
the astonished Muscovites at this sad accident, ran about amazed, and thought
of nothing else, but how to fly and save themselves, and taking up the corps of
their dead master in haste, and confusion, made their way to Moscow; where
upon the besieged sallied forth, pursued and killed great numbers of them;
and for a remembrance of this providential deliverance, that same bow was de
dicated and hung up before the altar in the great church there; where it con
tinued, and an annual commemoration was celebrated for this miraculous action
until 1558, when czar Ivan Basilewitz made himself master of the castle.
# The author above quoted records a story of the heer-meister Siegfried
Spanheim (1424); that not regarding in the least his vow of chastity kept several
concubines, and endeavoured to give one of them in marriage to a prentice of
Riga, which he refusing, incurred the indignation of his master and mistress,
who both resolved to be revenged on him : a few days after, he was accused of
a theft by subborned persons, and the heer-meister condemned him without much
enquiry to be hanged; whilst this young man was going to be executed, seeing
no reprieve, he thus expressed himself; Since I am so unjustly condemned in this
 HISTORY OF POLAND. 171

The dissensions in Livonia continued until the election of Walter

de Plettenberg, a gentleman of Westphalia, to the dignity of heer
meister, in 1495. This person was so renowned in his day for va
lour, wisdom, and good fortune, that a French writer affirmed there
were but three great persons in the worldAlexander, J ulius
Caesar, and Walter Plettenberg. He made peace with the arch
bishop of Riga, endeavoured to reform the abuses which had crept
into the government and practices of the knights, and devoted much
of his time and attention to the welfare of the people whom he had
been elected to govern. He was interrupted in these pursuits by an
invasion of the Muscovites, who plundered and burnt the country
around Narva, Dorpat, and Riga. Plettenberg, in return, made
an incursion into Russia with 4000 cavalry, with whom he engaged
and defeated 40,000 of the Russians, on September 7, 1498. A
mortality amongst his troops compelled him to retreat; and, as he
himself was attacked with the prevailing sickness, the Russians
again with a great force burst into Livonia, which they ravaged so
unmercifully, that, after their retirement, 40,000 persons were
missing, who had been either killed or carried into slavery.
On the recovery of the heer-meister, he once more invaded Russia
with 7000 German horse and 4000 Courlandish infantry. Having
received intelligence that the Russian army was advancing in im
mense force, with orders to surround his comparatively little band,
and to drive them like cattle to Moscow, he marched on in good
order till he met the enemy, 100,000 strong, and divided into twelve
bodies. Being provided with field-pieces, to which the Russians
were not accustomed, he attacked the huge force which surrounded
him, and thrice forced his way through their army. Discomfited
by the uncommon bravery of the Livonian troops, the Russians at
length fled, and prodigious numbers were slain in the pursuit. It
is said that the czar himself witnessed the battle from a distance,
but durst not hazard his person against the desperate bravery of the
heer-meister's troops. The conquerors, though too much fatigued
to follow the fugitives, kept the field three days; but the Mus

world, I do summon herewith the heer-meister before the severe judgment of God,
and appoint him to appear there thirteen days hence. Spanheim little regarded
this, but continued in his diversions as formerly, till the appointed day coming
he was seized with a sudden horrour and struck with death, which took him
away in an instant, crying out to the company, I am a dying, and see him who
summoned me to the tribunal, before me.
Y 2
172 HISTORY OF POLAND.

covites did not venture to rally. At the czar's desire, Plettenberg

agreed to a peace for 50 years, which was confirmed by oaths on
both sides.
When Albert, grand-master of the Teutonics, commenced his
war with the Poles, he borrowed money of Plettenberg, and in re
turn rendered him free and independent. Charles V. also created
him a prince of the empire; and he issued a coinage of equal value
with that of Portugal, then the finest in Europe. Under him, Riga,
Revel, Dorpat, and other towns, embraced the Reformed religion.
He was succeeded by Henry de Galen: when the czar, Ivan, sur
named the Terrible, made a demand on the bishopric of Dorpat
for tribute. Galen immediately engaged the assistance of Gustavus
Vasa, king of Sweden, who, in 1555, drove the Muscovites from
the siege of Wibourg, in Finland. Meanwhile, William Fursten
berg, coadjutor to Galen, besieged William of Brandenburgh, arch
bishop of Riga, and Christof, duke of Mecklenburgh, his coadjutor,
in the town of Kokenhausen, which, in 1557, was taken, and the
archbishop and the duke were made prisoners.
As the archbishop was brother to Albert duke of Prussia, and of
course nephew to the king of Poland, Sigismund Augustus des
patched an ambassador to the knights to demand the release of the
prelate; but the messenger was assassinated, and, with great pro
bability, Furstenberg was suspected of having been the author
of the crime. So gross a violation of the laws of nations, as well
as of humanity, naturally aroused the spirit of the Poles; and, to
revenge the deed, an army of 100,000 men was raised, at the head
of which the king marched into Livonia. Christian III., king of
Denmark, had previously sent an ambassador to Furstenberg, now
become heer-meister, to mediate peace; but the latter refused to
listen to terms, till he learned that the Poles and Prussians were
marching against him. Sigismund Augustus sent a naked sabre to
Furstenberg, with the message, that with such instruments he was
resolved to open the prison of the two dukes, and to procure their
full restitution. Every place submitted to the formidable army led
by the Polish king; and the treacherous heer-meister was compelled
to break off an alliance he had formed with Russia, and to sue for
peace. Through the mediation of the emperor Ferdinand and some
other German princes, an accommodation was effected, and Fur
stenberg obtained peace; though it was only by the most humiliating
submission, the release of the archbishop, the disbursement of the
 HISTORY OF POLAND. 173

expenses of the war, and the acknowledgment that he held his do

minions under the king of Poland, without whose consent he could
neither make peace nor war.
The advantages gained to Poland by the subjugation of the
powerful province of Livonia were considerable, and materially
strengthened the kingdom against the attacks of Russia. Indeed,
the support which that power had given to the knights, during their
war with the archbishop, was a mere pretext to gain a footing in
the dominions of both parties. Ivan the Terrible now renewed his
former demand against the bishopric of Dorpat for tribute, and like
wise for a free trade for his subjects with natives and foreigners
throughout all Livonia. He also insisted on the rebuilding of many
Greek churches, destroyed during the late Reformation, and that the
treaty made with Poland should be renounced, or, in case of refusal,
he threatened them with fire and sword. The Livonians, who had
disbanded their army, sent an embassy to Moscow with presents
for the czar, and instructions to compound for peace with him for a
sum of money. This he refused unless they would dismiss their
only standing force of six companies of German troops, to which, by
a blind fatality, they consented. The ambassadors likewise agreed
to pay him, in lieu of all demands, 40,000 rix-dollars, and that the
bishopric of Dorpat should in future render him an annual tribute
of 1000 gold ducats. When they had retired to their lodging, the
czar sent after them for the money, which, of course, they had not
with them, but promised to remit shortly. On this he invited them
to dine with him at his own table, where, with his usual barbarous
raillery when he contemplated any infliction of his vengeance, he
had caused all the dishes to be covered. On the covers being re
moved, the dishes were discovered to be empty, and the disappoint
ed envoys were sent back to their lodging with the answer, that he
himself would go to fetch the tribute from Livonia.
In pursuance of this threat, the czar sent an army of 40,000 men,
under a Tartar chief named Sigaley, who committed the most cruel
barbarities in Livonia. He himself followed, and laid siege to Narva,
which he took. In July, above 100,000 Russians under Sigaley
* It is related of this monster, amongst other brutal jokes, that, on occasion
of some rejoicing in his palace, he condescended to assume the dress of some
Italian vocalists, and to join with them in their performance before his court.
But, true to the ferocity of his character, he amused himself by beating time
with a staff on the heads of such of the unfortunnte musicians as did not sing
to please him, until they were bathed in blood
174 HISTORY OF POLAND.

besieged and took Dorpat. In the following year Furstenberg re

signed his office to his coadjutor, Gotthard Kettler, who sent an
embassy to Augsburgh, where the emperor Ferdinand I. held a diet
of the empire, to represent the deplorable state of Livonia; but they
obtained only the promise of a small sum of money, which was never
paid. Meanwhile the czar, not satisfied with the miseries inflicted
on Livonia, determined on carrying the war into the Polish do
minions by attacking Lithuania. He insolently refused returning
any answer to the proposals of peace made by Sigismund, and seve
ral towns submitted to the overwhelming force which he led. Their
defenceless inhabitants were massacred or taken as captives to Mos
cow; and the most diabolical cruelties were every where practised
by the barbarian Russians. Not only the men who were capable of
making a resistance, but even the most helpless, were ruthlessly put
to death. The feebleness of infancy or of age was no protection:
children were plucked from their mothers' arms, and dashed to
pieces before their eyes; women were violated and afterwards mur
dered; the streets were literally deluged with blood; thousands
of the people were driven away as slaves; and conflagrations of
every thing combustible generally concluded the atrocious tragedy.
Amongst the captives taken were a great number of Jews, who,
after an obstinate refusal to submit to baptism, were drowned in
the river Dwina, the ice of which was broken for this cruel purpose.
The Polish army had been disbanded immediately after the ter
mination of the expedition into Livonia; and the suffering people of
that country did not, in consequence, receive any assistance from
them. The new heer-meister of the knights of the sword hastened
to Cracow to implore the aid of the king in expelling the invaders;
but though Sigismund was naturally anxious to protect his new
subjects from the calamities which they were enduring, he had not
the power to proceed without the assistance of the nation. On this
occasion, the chivalrous spirit of the Poles appears to have been
dormant; and the king was compelled to apply for support in his
intended expedition to the Lithuanians, whom he promised to re
ward with several privileges. At Wilna a diet was held, where
Sigismund and the grand-master were both present, and the Lithu
anian nobility resolved to relieve Livonia. In the treaty which was
entered into, the king's sovereignty over Livonia was again recog
nized, and that province was united to the Polish republic ; while
Courland and Semigallia were awarded to Kettler, who engaged for
himself and his successors to do homage to the king for these pos
 HISTORY OF POLAND. 175

sessions. Sigismund engaged to defend Livonia against all enemies;

and as a great proportion of the people of that country were Pro
testants, their religion was thenceforth to be tolerated, and their
privileges secured.
The treaty entered into at Wilna was subsequently approved in
the castle at Riga. Kettler and most of the knights of the sword,
like Albert and the Teutonic order, had imbibed the doctrines of
Luther; and he therefore solemnly abdicated his title of grand
master, gave up the insignia of the order, and was immediately re
warded with the title of hereditary duke of Courland and Semigallia,
the nobility of both which provinces now took the oaths of allegiance
to him. This event terminated the existence of the order of the
sword, which had been in possession of Livonia from the year 1204.
The inhabitants at first shewed some reluctance; but they yielded
in the end to the arguments enforced by the power of Sigismund.
Notwithstanding the advantageous prospects which this treaty
presented, the result did not correspond with the expectations it
had excited. The city of Revel, finding itself unprotected, both
on account of its distance from the king of Poland and the duke of
Courland, and the impossibility of carrying on trade in Poland and
Lithuania, which was already engrossed by Riga, formed the reso
lution of declaring to the duke, that, as he was no longer in a con
dition to afford their city protection, they would chuse the king of
Sweden for their patron; a proposal to which the nobility of Est
hopia immediately assented. The duke refused to comply, and
Eric, king of Sweden, determined to support the city of Revel and
the Esthonians with a fleet and army, which he despatched under
Nicholas Horn, with instructions immediately to invade the duke's
territories. Horn was received with great joy by the burghers of
Revel and the Esthonians, who immediately united themselves to
the crown of Sweden. Gaspar Oldenbach having refused to sur
render the cathedral church of Revel, it was attacked, and forced in
the space of six weeks to surrender. His Polish majesty beheld
these events with jealousy, and sent Count Lunsky to Stockholm,
to demand restitution of Revel; but Eric replied that he had the
same right to protect Revel and Esthonia as his Polish majesty had
to the rest of Livonia. Upon this declaration, the duke of Cour
land besieged the city, with a view to reduce it under the power of
the crown of Poland; but he was forced to relinquish the enterprize.
The Swedish garrison made so vigorous a sally, that one wing of
176 HISTORY OF Poi,AND.

Kettler's army was totally defeated, his camp and artillery were
taken, and he himself was compelled to retreat with precipitation.
The Russians, who had in the mean time ostensibly agreed to
an accommodation, broke off the conference as soon as their troops
were in a condition to take the field. Early in the spring, a de
tachment of 40,000 men was attacked, defeated, and dispersed by
2000 Poles. Their main army, however, was divided into two
bodies, one of which marched towards Smolensko, under the conduct
of General Srebny, and the other, which was commanded by Peter
Swiski, advanced further, and encamped in the plains of Czasnitz,
near the river Usla. Nicholas Radzivil, palatine of Wilna, com
mander of the Lithuanian troops, and Gregory Chodkiewicz, marshal
of the camp, having received intelligence, by means of spies, that
the Russians did not keep any strict guard in their camp, attacked
them so suddenly that they had no time to prepare for resistance.
The confusion created by this surprise, in conjunction with the ar
dour of the assailants, rendered the Muscovites incapable of defend
ing themselves, and their entrenchments were forced before they
could arm for the engagement. Thirty thousand men fell before the
conquerors: the rest had recourse to flight, and were either drown
ed in the adjacent marshes, or slaughtered by the peasants. The
latter did not even spare the general himself, who had the misfor
tune to fall into their hands. His head was struck off and carried
on a lance to the Polish chief. The other Russian troops, who were
posted near Orsha, on learning the defeat of their countrymen, im
mediately quitted Lithuania with so much terror and precipitation,
that they left their baggage with all their military equipage in their
camp.
The same year was likewise rendered remarkable by a victory
which Stanislaus Pacz, palatine of Witepsk, obtained over 30,000
Muscovites who besieged the castle of Jezerisk. Pacz had only
3000 men, whom he consigned to the command of the standard
bearer of his palatinate and of John Swipored; and these two offi
cers made such a vigorous attack upon the lines of the besiegers,
that they completely forced them, after an engagement in which the
enemy lost 8000 men.
This war continued for some years, with almost an equality of
advantage on each side; for, if the Muscovites were compelled to
withdraw into their own country after a defeat, they soon re
turned with a greater body of troops, whose numbers made them a
 HISTORY, OF POLAND. 177

compensation for their losses. Obstinacy and a kind of barbarous

valour served instead of regulated courage. In vain were they con
quered near the lake of Sitno, and afterwards near the fortress of
Vielis: they quickly retook the field with new troops, and continu
ed their devastations.
In 1562, Sigismund Augustus, in order to check these cruel ra
vages, resolved to attack the destroyers in their own country, and
to carry fire and sword into the very heart of Muscovy with an
army of 100,000 men. The expedition, however, was unsuccessful.
The Muscovites, even from their frequent defeats, had learned the
art of war, and had become at least capable of making a resistance.
The Poles besieged the fortress of Ula without effect, as the garri
son made a brave and skilful defence. The Russians also threw in
a body of succours, and Sigismund was compelled to raise the siege.
A short time afterwards, Romain Sangusko, grand-marshal of
Lithuania, obliterated this disgrace by the bloody defeat of the
Russian army. He even surprised Ula, where Sigismund had been
unsuccessful, after which he burnt the place, and stained his victo
ries by cutting the brave garrison to pieces in cold blood. The Tar
tars also, at the instigation of Sigismund Augustus, entered Russia,
and took, pillaged, and laid the city of Moscow in ashes, after hav
ing put above 30,000 souls to the sword."
The glory acquired by the Poles was the only advantage which
followed their efforts. Still the Russians kept possession of the
palatinate of Polotsk, which they had overrun. In the mean while,
these cruel inroads and barbarous excursions equally exhausted and
fatigued both nations. Each began to feel the effects of the im
mense consumption of blood and treasure; and famine pressed hard,
in consequence of the neglected harvests, and the scarcity of hus
bandmen. Necessity first suggested the thoughts of a truce to the
czar, who had hitherto disdainfully rejected all the proposals made
by the Polish monarch. Accordingly, a convention for an armistice
of three years was signed, which period had not expired when
Sigismund Augustus was no more.
The affairs of Poland with regard to Sweden were still unsettled
at the conclusion of the truce with Russia. Duke John, uncle to
king Eric, had sought and obtained in marriage the princess Cathe
rine, sister of Sigismund Augustus; and their nuptials were cele
brated at Cracow with great pomp. This union gave much offence
to the wayward and suspicious king Eric, who dreaded the influence
of his relative, and cited him to appear at Stockholm, to vindicate
Z
178 HISTORY OF POLAND.

his conduct in allying himself with Poland, and disposing of certain

castles in Livonia to that crown for the sum of 20,000 crowns. John
gave a short and spirited answer to the ambassadors; refusing at
the same time to obey the citation, unless proper security should be
given for his safety. He also put his castles in a state of defence,
and received an oath of fidelity from the Finlanders. Eric, how
ever, in the following campaign, had the good fortune to deprive
Sigismund of eight cities and castles, all garrisoned with Polish
troops; and his force subsequently succeeded in reducing Abo and
making his uncle a prisoner, who was condemned to perpetual
confinement, in which he was voluntarily accompanied by the
duchess. An armament, which had been sent by Sigismund Au
gustus for the relief of Abo, was surprised and defeated by the
Swedish admiral. To further his designs against Denmark, king
Eric endeavoured to extricate himself from the war with Poland;
but the negotiations on this subject were fruitless, as the Polish
monarch made it an essential preliminary that duke John and his
wife should be released. The Polish troops also took Pernaw, in
Livonia; but after several abortive attempts to reduce Revel, they
were compelled to raise the siege of that place.
The wicked and insane king Eric was at length compelled to
release his uncle. The monarch had often solicited the czar to form
an alliance against Sigismund Augustus, but without effect. The
barbarian Muscovite, who had been repulsed in the addresses which
he had paid to the princess Catherine of Poland previous to her mar
riage with duke John, now demanded of Eric, as a preliminary article
to the treaty, that she should be restored to him; and the Swedish
king at length determined to gratify the czar at the expense of his
honour, his natural affection, and humanity. This base trans
action was intended to be put in execution on the day appointed for
the solemnization of his own marriage with a kept mistress. His
design, however, was discovered; and the attempt made to spirit
off the duchess failed, as she had taken effectual measures to dis
appoint him. The subsequent deposition of king Eric, and the ele
vation of duke John and the duchess Catherine to the crown of
Sweden, are events foreign to this work. It is sufficient to observe
here, that Esthonia remained in the hands of the Swedes, though
exposed to the furious inroads of the Russians.
Until the reign of Sigismund Augustus, the connection be
tween Lithuania and Poland had been more an alliance than
an union; but that monarch, having no children, and being the
 HISTORY OF POLAND. 179

only surviving male heir of the Jagellon, family, planned the per
manent union of the two nations, lest upon his decease the connection
should be dissolved, and each country again governed by a distinct
prince. After some difficulties, and being once frustrated in his
attempt, he obtained, from a general diet held at Lublin in 1569,
that Poland and Lithuania should from thenceforth be united and
considered as one nation; that one sovereign should be chosen con
jointly by both people; that the Lithuanians should send nuntios to
the general diet, be admitted into the senate, and have an equal
share in the public honours and employments; that no alliance
should be made with foreign powers, and no ambassadors des
patched, without the consent of both parties; that the same money
should pass current in both countries; in short, that they should
have no distinction of privilege or interest. Upon the ratification of
this union, Sigismund Augustus renounced all hereditary right to
Lithuania. From this period the same person was uniformly elect
ed king of Poland and grand-duke of Lithuania; and the two nations
were incorporated into one republic. In the articles of union it was
stipulated that instead of Lublin or Parzow (appointed by the
treaty of Hrodlo, 1413), Warsaw should be the place where the
representatives of the two nations were to assemble.
Sigismund Augustus died at Knisin, on June 7, 1572, aged 52.
After the death of Barbara, his second wife, he had married Catherine,
sister of his first consort, and daughter of the emperor Ferdinand I.
For some time previous to his decease, he had been separated from
her, and had ineffectually solicited the pope to annul his marriage.
All hope of posterity by a younger wife was thus precluded; and in
Sigismund Augustus ended the male line of Jagellon, a dynasty
which had governed the two nations with glory during 186 years.
In revenge for the obstinacy of the pope, he extended many favours
to the Protestants, who were now allowed to enjoy the chief offices
of state in common with his Catholic subjects. The Reformed party,
indeed, endeavoured to foment the misunderstanding between the
king and the see of Rome, by urging the propriety of a divorce with
out the consent of the pope, and thereby breaking off the depend
ence of the kingdom upon the pontifical power; but this was a step
* The only remaining branches of the Jagellon family were two sisters of
the king; Catherine, first married to John, duke of Finland, and, secondly, to
John, king of Sweden, and mother of Sigismund III., afterwards king of Po
land and Sweden; and Anne, afterwards raised to the crown of Poland, and
married to Stephen Bathori, prince of Transylvania.
z 2
I80 HISTORY OF POLAND.

which Sigismund would not venture to take. His character has

been exalted by historians for patriotism, prudence, penetration,
activity, love of justice, generosity, and liberality;-qualities much
more valuable than military talents, which, indeed, he did not pos
sess in an eminent degree. The unfortunate circumstances attend
ant on his last marriage, probably induced that libertinism with
regard to women of which he has been accused. Towards the close
of his life he indulged himself with a mistress, who had an absolute
disposal of all his favours; and the excesses he committed in his in
tercourse with her, in conjunction with his age and infirmities,
hastened his end. His death without issue gave efficacy to the con
cession he had made in 1550, which might otherwise have been
counteracted by the popularity and influence attendant on a claim
ant by hereditary succession. For it may not be improper to remark,
that, during the Jagellon line, the sovereigns, upon their accession
or election, although formally raised to the throne by the consent of
the nation, still rested their pretensions upon hereditary right, as
well as upon this consent; always styling themselves heirs of the
kingdom of Poland. Sigismund Augustus was the last who bore
this title. In him terminated that hereditary influence which had
given comparative tranquillity, during a long succession of sove
reigns, to the diets of election; and on his death, all those troubles
and confusions which are inseparable from a crown wholly elective
in the hands of a too-powerful aristocracy, broke in upon the king
dom. From this period, the cabals and convulsions, continually
recurring at every choice of a new sovereign, rapidly impaired the
strength of the state and the dignity of the throne. The Poles
gradually lost their consequence among foreign powers; and the au
thority of succeeding kings depended more on their own personal
abilities, and accidental circumstances, than on any permanent prin
ciple of vigour inherent in the crown, which was nearly stripped of
all its prerogatives. Meanwhile the political importance of Russia
continued to increase, until at length the distracted state of Poland
rendered it an easy prey to that over-grown power.
------ HISTORY OF POLAND. 181

PART IV.

From the Extinction of the Dynasty of Jagellon to the Abolition of

the Monarchy in King Stanislaus Augustus.

On the death of Sigismund Augustus, all title to the crown from

hereditary right was formally abrogated, and absolute freedom of
election was established upon the most permament basis. As the
singular constitution of the Polish government was now completely
formed, it may be necessary in this place briefly to recapitulate its
history, and to describe the several orders of which it was composed,
with their respective powers and duties.
In the early stages of the monarchy, the judges and generals of
each tribe long continued the principal officers of the government.
By their voices peace or war was declared; and as each brought his
armed followers with him, their meetings were numerously attend
ed, as well as frequent. After the division of the country into pa
latinates by Micislaus II., and the introduction of Christianity, the
national meetings were discontinued; and the palatines and bishops
became the privileged advisers of the king. For this purpose, they
waited upon him at his court, met him in his progresses, or attend
ed him in his wars. As society improved, and the wild law of per
sonal revenge began to give way to the arbitration of the governing
power, the number of cases submitted to the king, as well as to the
palatines, became so great, that judicial authority was granted at
first to the principal barons, and by degrees to the whole of the no
bility. From this authority, which was hereditary, there was no
appeal; and, previous to the introduction of written laws, the only
guides were natural equity and prescriptive custom. An assistant,
with equal judicial powers, was allotted to each palatine; and vicars
presided in the episcopal courts, it being thought improper for a
bishop, as a minister of peace, to pass sentence of death on any
human being.
War, for some time, formed the only subject of deliberation be
tween the king and chief barons; but as it frequently happened that
the monarch required the advice or assistance of those powerful
182 HISTORY OF POLAND,

chiefs, in time they assumed the right of being consulted on affairs

of state. By degrees this right was extended to the inferior nobility,
who often collected themselves together for the purpose of consult
ing on important topics; and, as their numbers and power were
considerable, their opinions and decisions were not unfrequently re
ceived with deference by the king and senate. Hence, in time,
their will, as they discovered their own strength, became uncon
troulable. In the mean while, the formation of towns and the wants
of trade and concentrated population, induced another change in the
internal administration. To suit the circumstances of the burghers
the Teutonic law was introduced; and, being less severe and arbi
trary than the feudal customs, it attracted artisans and free pea
sants to the secure sanctuary of towns. Royal charters were
from time to time granted favourable to the freedom and security
of these inhabitants, who were thus protected in the acquirement
of wealth; and many of the great barons bestowed similar immuni
ties on the towns belonging to them. As each community retained
a considerable portion of the native along with the Teutonic laws,
much confusion and many contradictions existed, until Casimir the
Great, as has been seen, introduced uniformity.
By the statute of Wisliza, as it was called from the place where
the diet was held, the respective jurisdictions of the palatines, cas
tellans, starosts, judges, &c., were carefully defined, together with
the nature of cases in which appeals might be made to the king and
senate, or to the supreme Teutonic tribunal. Civil or criminal
causes of great importance were finally decided by the king, senate,
and diet, or the general courts of the nobility, of which there were
two for Poland, and one for the grand-duchy of Lithuania; the
former holding their sessions at Petricau or Lublin, and the latter
at Wilna or Minsk. These courts were composed of a certain num
ber of the clergy and laity of each palatinate. Judgment was given
by a plurality of voices; but, in matters purely ecclesiastical, the
number of clergy was required to be equal to that of the laity. The
lay members were elected every four years, the ecclesiastics once in
two years. At Radem and Wilna were likewise courts relative to
the finances, where all matters of property between the crown and
the subject were debated. The affairs of merchants and foreigners
came before the marshal's tribunal. In the courts of the palatines
were tried the most important questions respecting property or in
heritance; the starosts and castellans had jurisdiction over criminal
cases; and minor disputes were committed to the provincial cham
 HISTORY OF POLAND. 183

berlains, called succamerarii. Though some of the provisions of this

statute were modified, amended, or annulled, and others added, by
succeeding diets, it continued to be the basis of the legislation of
Poland till the termination of the monarchy.
Though the king had anciently enjoyed despotic power, his office,
at the period of Polish history at which we are now arrived, was the
least important in the state. Without power to support his dignity,
his principal influence depended on his patronage. He alone could
dispense the dignities and benefices of the state; and his favour was
therefore courted by the ambitious and ueedy as long as he had them
to bestow. The homage, however, generally ceased when its object
was gained, as, when a person had once acquired an office, he could
not be removed from it except in case of convicted delinquency.
On every election of a new king, the nobility assumed a power of
altering the government, and imposing such conditions on the object
of their choice as they thought proper; and these were called the
Pacta Conventa. This contract was drawn up, methodized, and
approved by the senate and nobility; then it was read aloud to the
king by the grand-marshal, and sworn to, before the ceremony of
his coronation. The principal articles of this contract, which may
be deemed the great charter of Poland, and the barrier of the privi
leges of the people against the encroachments of the crown, were as
follows: -

That the king should not attempt to encroach upon the liberty of
the people, by rendering the crown hereditary in his family; but
that he should preserve all the customs, laws, and ordonnances re
specting the freedom of election.

That he should ratify all treaties subsisting with foreign powers

which were approved by the diet.
That it should be his chief study to cultivate peace, preserve the
public tranquillity, and promote the interest of the realm.
That he should not coin money, except in the name of the republic,
nor appropriate to himself the advantages arising from coinage.
That in declaring war, concluding peace, making levies, hiring
auxiliaries, or admitting foreign troops upon any pretext within the
Polish dominions, the consent of the diet and senate should be ne
cessary. -

That all offices and preferments should be given to natives of

Poland and Lithuania; and that no pretence should excuse or
palliate the crime of introducing foreigners into the king's council,
or the departments of the republic.
 184 HISTORY OF POLAND.

That the officers of his majesty's guards should be Poles or Li

thuanians, and that the colonel should absolutely be a native of Po
land, and of the order of nobility.
That all the officers should be subordinate to the authority of the
marshal.

That no individuals should be vested with more employments

than the law allowed.
That the king should not marry without the approbation of the
senate; and that the household of the queen should be determined
and regulated by the republic.
That the sovereign should never apply his private signet to acts
and papers of a public nature.
That the king should dispose of the offices both of the court and
of the republic, and regulate with the senate the number of forces
necessary for the defence of the kingdom.
That he should administer justice by the advice of the senate and
his council.
That the expenses of his civil list should be the same with those
of his predecessors.
That he should fill up all vacancies in the space of six weeks;
and that this should be his first business in the diet, obliging the
chancellor to publish his appointments in due form.
That the king should not diminish the treasure kept at Cracow,
but, ou the contrary, endeavour to augment that and the number of
the crown jewels.
That he should borrow no money without the consent of the diet.
That he should not equip a naval force without the consent and
full approbation of the republic.
That he should profess the Roman Catholic faith, promote, main
tain, and defend it, through all the Polish dominions.
Finally, that all their several liberties, rights, and privileges
should be preserved to the Poles and Lithuanians in general, and to
all the districts and provinces contained within each of these great
divisions, without change, alteration, or the smallest violation, ex
cept by the consent of the republic.
To these articles a variety of others were occasionally added, ac
cording to circumstances and the humour of the diet; but the above
formed the standing conditions, which were scarcely ever altered or
omitted. To the observation of the Pacta Conventa the king swore,
upon his knees at the altar, in the following manner:
 HISTORY OF POLAND. I85

We , elected king of Poland, and great duke of Lithuania,

Russia, Prussia, Masovia, Samogitia, Kiow, Volhynia, Podolia,
Podlasia, Livonia, Smolensko, Siberia, and Cznernicovia, promise
before Almighty God, and swear upon the Holy Evangelists of
Jesus Christ, to observe, maintain, and fulfil all the conditions sti
pulated at our election by our ambassadors with the senators and
deputies of Poland, and of the great duchy of Lithuania, and con
firmed by our plenipotentiaries; and to execute the same in all the
clauses, points, articles, and conditions specified in that contract,
in such a manner that the speciality shall not derogate from the ge
nerality; nor, on the contrary, the universality from the particu
larity; all which we promise solemnly to ratify on the day of our
coronation. -

Though the king was acknowledged without exception, yet he

could not exercise all the functions of sovereignty before the cere
mony of his coronation. The space between the election and coro
nation was a kind of interregnum. During this period, the marshal,
in all processions, carried his staff bent downwards before the king;
whereas, after the coronation, it was always held erect. Previous
to his coronation, the king could neither dispose of offices nor bene
fices, grant favours of any kind as a sovereign, nor apply the great
seal of the chancery to any act, deed, edict, or ordonnance. He
appointed the day for performing the ceremony of his coronation,
and it was usually fixed on the day succeeding the funeral obsequies
of his predecessor. All imaginable magnificence was observed in
this solemnization; and a foreigner, unacquainted with the Polish
constitution, would have naturally concluded, that a monarch who
ascended the throne with so much pomp and splendour, was neces
sarily vested with very extensive prerogatives. To the archbishop
of Gnesna belonged the right of placing the crown on the king's
head, and administering the oath ; yet instances have occurred in
which this office was performed by the bishop of Cracow.
As the king of Poland was tied down by the Pacta Conventa to
consult his people with respect to his own marriage, so their con
sent was necessary to the dissolution of the nuptial engagements.
He could neither divorce the queen, nor separate from her bed,
without the approbation of the diet, unless he was married before
his election. Her majesty had no distinct household, except a mar
shal, a chancellor, and some inferior domestics. She was furnished
with money by the king to defray the expenses of the civil list; and,
2 A
186 HISTORY OF POLAND.

with respect to her domestic economy, was little more than his
housekeeper or steward. The king's whole revenue, for the sup
port of the regal dignity, did not exceed 400,000 crowns; exclusive
of which, there was a maintenance for the queen-dowager, his con
sort, and children, in case of his death ; though the latter were
denied the privilege of all other subjects, of rising to places of trust
and profit, lest this should give them an ascendant in the future
elections. The revenues appointed for the maintenance of dowagers
arose from certain starosties applied to this purpose; but as they
were often reversionary, and could not be seized before the death of
the possessors, the queens were frequently reduced to great distress.
The members of the senate were nominated by the king, and con
sisted of the great officers of the nation. It was also essential that
they should be of noble birth, and possessed of a certain quantity of
landed property in Poland or Lithuania. Besides being judges with
in their respective districts, they were entrusted with the different
branches of the executive, and appeals might be made to them from
the inferior tribunals. The senate indeed presided over the laws,
was the guardian of liberty, the judge of right, and the protector of
justice and equity. They were the mediators between the monarch
and the subject ; and, in concert with the king, whom they were
sworn to advise with boldness and sincerity, they could ratify laws,
and correspond with foreign powers. Their office was for life, and
they had the title of ercellency; but their dignity was supported by
no pension or emoluments necessarily annexed. At the general
diet, the senators sat on the right and left of the sovereign, accord
ing to their dignity, without regard to seniority. Their number
varied according to the changes which took place in the limits of the
kingdom. At one time they amounted to 144; at another, they
were scarcely 100; but the general number was 139, namely, the
archbishops of Gnesna and of Leopold or Lemberg, 13 bishops, 35
palatines and castellans who ranked as such, 79 castellans, and 10
great officers of state, consisting of a grand-marshal, a chancellor, a
vice-chancellor, a treasurer, and a marshal of the court, for the
kingdom, and a similar arrangement of officers for the duchy of
Lithuania. The power of the senate, however, was bounded by the
supervision of the diet. -

The primate, archbishop of Gnesna, sat at the head of the senate,

and indeed was second only to the monarch in the republic. He
was likewise apostolical legate, er-officio, and possessed such a va
riety of privileges as gave him very extraordinary weight, not only
 HISTORY OF POLAND. 187

in the senate but in the commonwealth. It was capital to draw a

sword, or even to speak irreverently in his presence. During the
interregnum the primate coined money, under certain restrictions;
and he had power to convoke the senate, and oppose the conduct of
the monarch, whenever he acted contrary to the constitution. His
marshal was a senator and castellan of the republic. The cross was
carried before him, or held behind his chair when he sat. When
the primate visited the king, he was met at the bottom of the stairs
of the palace by the chamberlain, or one of the chief officers of the
crown. His marshal lowered his staff only before the king. Ano
ther great officer attended him at the top of the stairs, and conducted
him to the royal presence, while the king advanced to meet him at
the door. He received the visits of ambassadors, without being
expected to return their civilities. He was the head and sovereign
of the republic during a vacancy of the throne: he regulated the
diet of election, issued out writs for holding the petty and general
diets, and performed divers other acts of sovereignty, assisted only
by the senate, the other members composing rather his council than
his colleagues. It is probable that the Poles annexed these extra
ordinary privileges to the dignity of the primate, rather than to that
of any lay-senator or officer of state, because they were secured by
his sacred profession from his aspiring to the crown; and indeed it
is obvious, from the court paid to him by the ambassadors of all the
candidates for the sovereignty of Poland, that he was considered the
principal director of the diet, his negative alone being sufficient to
void an election otherwise unanimous. There were anciently six
teen bishops in the senate; but the separation of Kaminiek, Kiow,
and Smolenko from the republic, reduced the number to thirteen.
The palatines presided over the tribunals and public assemblies
in their respective districts, fixed the price of provisions and mer
chandise, regulated weights and measures, and judged and protect
ed the Jews. This part of their function was particularly specified,
that those useful and industrious men might not be oppressed. In
war they commanded the troops raised within the limits of their own
provinces. Each palatine had the assistance of a person vested with
equal authority in civil matters, and who was required to be pos
sessed of a land-estate to a certain value.
The castellans possessed a similar power, though in an inferior
degree, to the palatines, of whom they were considered the lieu
tenants or deputies. As has already been observed, they were in
vested with judicial authority, and they also presided at political
2 A 2
188 HISTORY OF POIAN D.

meetings of the nobility, and held principal commands during war.

The castellan of Cracow took precedence in rank of all the palatines
and temporal dignitaries of the state; but he himself had no juris
diction. The number of great castellans was 32, and of sub-cas
tellans 49.

The starosties, from the word starost, signifying aged, were ori
ginally offices with few duties, but with portions of the crown-lands
attached to them, and were intended as honourable rewards to the
aged servants of the state, on which they might retire when unfit
for more active situations. In time, however, they were conferred
on persons of all ages, sometimes as rewards for meritorious services,
and in other cases according to the favour of the party at court.
Many of the starosts had a civil jurisdiction, in the exercise of which
they held a great court once in six weeks, and lesser courts once a
fortnight. The collection of the royal revenue was entrusted to
them; to defray the expenses of which duty, they reserved one
fourth of the whole amount. They had no seat in the senate.
Judges, clerks, and bailiffs were employed by them to enforce jus
tice in case of resistance. The starosts without jurisdiction had
some particular privileges: they acted as limited justices of the
peace in trivial affairs, but were greatly inferior in dignity and
power to those above described, who, besides the rights mentioned,
were the executive ministers of all sentences, saw public executions
performed, were the conservators of the peace, and united the func
tions of judges, justices, and sheriffs, with certain restrictions.
The diet was composed of the senators and of deputies elected at
the dietines held in each of the palatinates and provinces of the na
tion. The nuntios or deputies, were strictly bound down to a cer
tain line of conduct in the discharge of their office; and on the
dissolution of the diet, they were required to appear before their
constituents, and give an account of the manner in which they had
performed their specified duty. Every palatinate had three repre
sentatives; but the business devolved on one, who was elected for
his ability and experience; and the other two were added only to
give weight to this leading member, and do honour by their magni
ficent appearance to the palatinate they represented. The number of
senators and deputies who attended the diet generally amounted to
about 400. Ordinary diets were held every two years, and con
tinued for six weeks; and ertraordinary diets were convened on
urgent occasions, and continued three weeks. So strictly was this
rule adhered to, that the diet has been known to break up in the
 HISTORY OF POLAND. 189

middle of an important debate, and to leave the business to a future

meeting. The diets at which deputies attended were denominated
comitia togata, because the members attended without arms or
horses. But during an interregnum, the whole body of the nobility
met in the open plain, armed and equipped as if for battle; and
hence these assemblies were called comitia paludata. On the latter
occasions, indeed, tumult and bloodshed were not unfrequent.
The reigning king summoned the comitia togata, by letters to the
castellans, starosts, and other district officers, in which they were
commanded to assemble the electors in the dietines on a certain day,
to choose the nuntios for the general diet. A sketch of the business
to be considered by the assembly was likewise sent, in the drawing
up of which the senate was consulted; and six weeks were allowed
the members to prepare themselves for the intended session.
These national assemblies, which, in ancient times had been
mostly convened at Petrikau, were, after the period at which we
have arrived, generally held in a large plain near Warsaw, which
has been thus described by Mr. Coxe :
The spot, which is settled by the constitution for the place of
election, is the plain of Vola, about three miles from the capital.
In the midst of this plain are two enclosures of ground, one for the
senate, and the other for the nuntios. The former is of an oblong
shape, surrounded by a kind of rampart or ditch; in the midst of
which is erected, at the time of election, a temporary building of
wood, called szopa, covered at top and open at the sides. Near
it is the other enclosure for the nuntios, of a circular shape, from
which it derives its name of kola or circle, within which there is no
building erected, the nuntios assembling in the open air. When
the two chambers are joined, they meet within the kola, the sena
tors' chairs and the benches for the nuntios being ranged in the same
regular order as in the senate-house at Warsaw, while the seat of
the primate is placed in the middle. The szopa is always pulled
down at the conclusion of the election.
The first business of the assembly was to chuse a marshal, upon
which occasion the debates and tumults ran so high that the whole
time for the session of the diet was sometimes consumed in alterca
tion and wrangling about the election of a speaker, who had then
nothing further to do than return quietly to his own home. After
his election, he kissed the king's hand; and the chancellor, as the
royal representative, reported the matters to be deliberated by the
diet. Then the marshal acquainted the king with the instructions
190 HISTORY OF POLAND.

of the deputies from their constituents, the grievances they would

have redressed, and the abuses they required to be remedied. He
likewise requested his majesty to fill up the vacant offices and bene
fices, according to law; and he was answered by a set speech from
the chancellor, who reported the king's inclination to satisfy his
people, as soon as he had consulted his faithful senate.
As the deputies were strictly bound to vote according to the in
structions they had received from their constituents, it cannot be
wondered at that they should pertinaciously adhere to their pre
viously-formed opinions, and that the unanimity essential to a
decision should be of uncommon occurrence. After the introduction
of the veto, by which any single member of the diet could annul the
proceedings of all the rest, the operations of government were fre
quently shackled by the dissentient opinions congregated at these
assemblies. It often happened that the army was left without pay,
and the state consequently without defence, at the most critical
periods. Other despicable tricks were sometimes resorted to for
defeating the objects of the majority: as consuming the time of the
diet in trifling disputes until the day arrived for its dissolution,
This was called drawing out the diet. On other occasions, when
it was thought imprudent to oppose any resolution openly, the dis
sentients used to make some proposition which they knew would be
rejected, but which would occupy the time of the assembly and ir
ritate the members ; and this manoeuvre was styled blowing into
the nest to vex the flies. Not only an unanimity of voices was
necessary to pass any bill, and constitute a decree of the diet, but
every bill had likewise to be assented to unanimously, or none could
take effect. This, if out of twenty bills, one happened to be opposed
by a single voice, all the rest were thrown out, and the diet met,
deliberated, and debated for six weeks to no purpose. It sometimes
happened that the army, dreading the loss of their pay by the in
conclusive deliberations of the diet, or the nobility, doubting the
faith of their deputies, drew up their forces near the place of meet
ing, in order to over-awe the assembly, and compel them to come
to a decision. Notwithstanding every precaution, however, succes
sive diets were often dissolved when the most prompt measures were
necessary for the salvation of the country. -

To add to the other inconveniences attending the constitution of

the diet of Poland, a spirit of venality and corruption was too pre
valent in the assembly. Here, as in some other countries, the cry
of liberty was often kept up for the sake of private interest. Deputies
 HISTORY OF POLAND. 191

came with a full resolution of profiting by their patriotism, and not

lowering their voice without a gratification. Determined to oppose
the most salutary measures of the court, they either withdrew from
the assembly, protesting against all that should be transacted in their
absence, or else excited such a clamour as rendered it necessary for
the court to silence them by some lucrative pension, donation, or
employment. Thus not only the business of the assembly was ob
structed by its own members, but frequently by largesses from
neighbouring powers, and sometimes by the liberality of open enemies,
who had the art of distributing money with discretion.
The affairs of which the diet took cognizance were, declaring war
or concluding peace, forming alliances, the election or marriage of
the monarch, the imposition of taxes, framing of laws, and levying
of forces, together with the final determination of civil and criminal
causes, there being an appeal from all the inferior courts to the
general diet. It was here too that foreigners were naturalized, and
admitted to all the rights of natives; and peasants, who had wealth
and ambition, were advanced to the rank of nobility. The afflux
of people which the diet occasioned was astonishing. Wherever it
happened to sit, 30 or 40,000 persons were added to the usual num
ber of inhabitants. Here the Poles rivalled each other in pomp and
profusion. The nobility, who were not deputed, attended with
their families for pleasure: they drank deep of their favourite liquor,
Hungarian wine; and feasting and mirth were often more pursued
than the business of the state. In consequence of their festivity,
the deputies sometimes came intoxicated into the diet, affronted the
king, excited tumults, harangued in the most scurrilous and abusive
terms, and sometimes occasioned the dissolution of the assembly.
These circumstances imparted to foreigners an unfavourable idea of
the nation in general, as well as of the diet itself. There is no
other way of managing this ferocious assembly, says one writer,
than by soothing, cajoling, and bribing a considerable majority,
able and ready not only to over-awe, but even to drub the opposi
tion into immediate submission and assent.
At the diel of election, a marshal was chosen by order of the
nobility, and confirmed by the approbation of the senate. This
preliminary being adjusted, the senate and nobility formed an asso
ciation, which they confirmed by the most solemn engagements, to
nominate no person for king until one of the candidates had obtain
ed the unanimous consent, and to preserve all the rights and immuni
ties of the republic. They obliged the principal military officers to
 192 HISTORY OF POLAND.

swear fidelity to the state, to exert no undue influence, and to use

the army only against the enemies of their country, to defend the
frontiers, and secure the honour and liberty of Poland and the grand
duchy of Lithuania. The officers likewise swore that they would
assert the public interest, in case of any sedition or revolt; that
they would restrain the soldiers from all violence; and that they
would receive money upon no consideration or pretence from the
clergy, laity, candidates, or their ambassadors. They also engaged
not to advance to the heart of the kingdom with their troops; not
to approach the diet, nor to augment or diminish the army, but by
consent of the diet. Lastly, the treasurers of the crown were forbid
to issue any money without the approbation of the primate and his
council, except for the pay of the army; and the deputies of disputed
cities were refused a place in the diet, until they had proved their
title.
When the marshal was elected, and a court of justice or kaptur
established, the diet entered upon business, by drawing out their
bill of grievances, abuses, and exorbitances, either with respect
to the republic or to individuals, which they intended to be
redressed. Then a certain number of senators were deputed
to the army, to keep them steady, and to assist the generals with
their advice. Senators and deputies were appointed to take an in
ventory of the crown treasure and jewels deposited in the citadel of
Cracow, a report of which they were obliged to make to the diet.
Eight senators were then charged with the treasure, and a particu
lar seal and key given to each, that none of the keepers might have
access singly. The same form was observed with respect to the
crown revenue, an exact estimate of which was given in to the diet.
During the session of the electoral diet, which was limited to
fourteen days without prorogation, all courts of justice, except the
marshal's, were suspended, and private affairs of property deferred
until the ceremony of the coronation was over. Foreign ministers,
and a legate from the pontiff, usually attended; and the diet as
sumed the title of Most Serene during this session, it being vested
with all the powers of the republic.
The next proceeding was to give audience to the plenipotentiaries
of foreign powers, and the advocates of the candidates to the crown.
The pope's legate was honoured with the first notice, as being the
representative of Christ's vicar, the sovereign of princes. Next
came the ambassador of his imperial majesty, who was succeeded
by those of France and other Catholic powers. They made their
 HISTORY OF POLAND. 193

harangues in Latin, and were answered by the primate, who pre

sided at the senate, and the marshal of the deputies. Unfortunately,
it was not always eloquence and the most persuasive oratory that
could gain the esteem of a Polish diet: many of the deputies desired
more substantial arguments, and the qualifications of candidates for
the crown were appreciated by the liberality of their ambassadors.
Immediately before they proceeded to election, public prayers were
read, and the whole joined with one voice in beseeching that heaven
would direct their choice, and judge them according to the integrity
with which they conducted themselves in an affair of such conse
quence to the republic. This impressive ceremony, however, must
have appeared absurd and impious, during the latter elections of
the republic, when intimidation and corruption were allowed to
sway the decisions of the diet.
The nobles of each palatinate gave their votes in particular rotas,
the archbishop alone preserving his seat. The first senator of every
palatinate numbered the votes, which were afterwards transmitted
in a roll to the nuntio-marshal. If all the votes proved unanimous
in favour of one candidate, the primate or president demanded
thrice, with a loud voice, whether the grievances had been redress
ed, and then proclaimed the king; the marshals of the crown and
duchy observing the same ceremonies. In case of a contested
election and divided voices, the senate assembled in a particular
part of the szopa, labouring by persuasion, promises, and menaces,
to bring all the electors to one opinion; and should this unanimity
be found impracticable, it sometimes occurred (though in violation
of a fundamental law of the constitution) that the opinion of a ma
jority was taken for a legitimate election, as in the case of Stephen
Bathori, prince of Transylvania. The election of a successor during
the life of the monarch was no less contrary to the laws of Poland;
yet an instance of this too occurs in the reign of Sigismund I., who
had the address to have his son nominated to the succession in his
own life-time. Foreign princes indeed generally opposed this breach
of the constitution, which tended to exclude their right of offering
themselves candidates; and in the year 1661, the emperor sent an
ambassador to the general diet, to oppose a measure which, by use,
might terminate in rendering the crown hereditary. With respect
to the candidates, it was resolved that they should not be present
at the election; that the elected should not be an absolute neigh
bouring prince; that he should be unmarried; and that he should
profess the Catholic faith, at least before his coronation. There
9 2 B
194 HISTORY OF POLAND.

can be no doubt that the spirit of equality, which pervaded the

whole of the Polish nobility, gave birth to the law that a native
should not be raised to the sovereignty. Avarice, and the poverty of
many of the gentry, probably rendered it convenient that the can
didate should be rich and munificent. Almost all the above regu
lations, however, were occasionally infringed, the religion of the
monarch alone excepted.
Upon the whole, it cannot be denied that many advantages might
have been derived from the elective system in the Polish govern
ment, had the right of suffrage been vested in the whole nation, or,
what is the same thing, in persons representing the whole popula
tion; but, whilst that right was enjoyed only by a class, it is no
wonder that it should have been abused, and the national welfare
disregarded for the sake of private interest. Another fatal error in
the constitution was the exclusion of native worth and talent from

the supreme dignity, by which means foreign powers were in a

manner invited to interfere with the national affairs, and a way was
paved for the ultimate partition of the Polish territory. By the ex
ercise of the Liberum Veto, also, it was in the power of any interested
or seditious individual to render nugatory the best-concerted mea
sures, and to endanger at any critical moment the very existence
of the state.
The exertion of this fatal privilege is not to be found in any pe
riod of the Polish history antecedent to the reign of John Casimir.
It was under his administration, in the year 1652, when the diet of
Warsaw was debating upon transactions of the utmost importance,
and which required a speedy determination, that Sicinski, nuntio of
Upita in Lithuania, cried out, I stop the proceedings. Having
uttered these words, he quitted the assembly, and, repairing im
mediately to the chancellor, protested, that as many acts had been
proposed and carried contrary to the constitution of the republic, if
the diet continued to sit, he should consider it as an infringement
of the laws. The members were thunderstruck at a protest of this
nature, hitherto unknown. Warm debates took place about the
propriety of continuing or dissolving the diet. At length, however,
the venal and discontented faction, who supported the protest, ob
tained the majority; and the assembly broke up in great confusion.
This transaction entirely changed the constitution of Poland, and
gave an unlimited scope to misrule and faction. The causes which
might induce the Poles to acquiesce in establishing the Liberum
 HISTORY OF POLAND. 195

Veto, thus casually introduced, have been thus stated by a compe

tent judge on the subject:
1. It was the interest of the great officers of state, particularly
the great general, the great treasurer, and great marshal, in whose
hands were vested the administration of the army, the finances, and
the police, to abridge the sitting of the diet. These great officers of
state, being once nominated by the king, enjoyed their appointments
for life, totally independent of his authority, and liable to no con
troul during the intervals of the diets, to which alone they were re
sponsible. This powerful body accordingly strongly espoused the Li
berum Veto; conscious that they could easily, and at all times, secure
a nuntio to protest, and by that means elude all enquiry into their
administration. 2. By a fundamental law of the republic, nobles
accused of certain capital crimes could only be brought to trial be
fore the diet; and as, at the period just mentioned (1652), many
persons stood under that description, all these and their adherents
naturally favoured an expedient tending to dissolve the only tribu
nal by which they could be convicted and punished. 3. The exi
gencies of the state, occasioned by the continual wars in which
Poland had been engaged, demanded, at this particular crisis, an
imposition of several heavy taxes; and, as the sole power of levying
all pecuniary aids resided in the diet, all the nuntios who opposed
the raising of additional subsidies, seconded the proposal for shorten
ing the duration of that assembly. 4. But the principal reason,
which carried through and afterwards supported the power of dis
solving diets, is to be derived from the influence of some of the
great neighbouring powers, interested to foment anarchy and con
fusion in the Polish counsels. Before this period, if they wished
to form a cabal, and to carry any point in the national assembly,
they were obliged to secure a majority of votes: under the new ar
rangement, they were able to attain their end on much easier terms,
and to put an end to any diet unfriendly to their views by the cor
ruption of a single member.
The bad effects of the Liberum Veto were soon felt by the na
tion to such an alarming degree, that all the members in the diet of
1670 bound themselves by an oath not to exert it, and even passed
a resolution that it should be entirely void of effect during the con
tinuance of that meeting. Notwithstanding, however, these salutary
precautions, one Zabokrziski, nuntio from the palatinate of Bratlaw,
interposing his negative, brought this very diet to a premature dis
solution.
2 B 2
196 HISTORY OF POLAND.

This Liberum Veto, indeed, has been always considered by the

most intelligent Poles as one of the principal causes which has con
tributed to the decline of their country. From the aera of its
establishment public business has continually suffered the most fatal
interruption: it abruptly broke up seven diets in the reign of John
Casimir, four under Michael, seven under John Sobieski, and thirty
during the reigns of the two Augusti; so that, within the space of
112 years, 48 diets have been precipitately dissolved by its operation;
during which period Poland has continued almost without laws,
without justice, and, excepting the reign of John Sobieski, with
few symptoms of military vigour. Yet so strongly did the motives
above displayed attach the Poles to this pernicious privilege, that
in the act of confederacy, framed in 1696, after the decease of John
Sobieski, the Liberum Veto is called the dearest and most invaluable
paladium of Polish liberty.
Though the Poles were thus too much attached to their favourite
principle of unanimity to abolish the Veto, yet, in order to qualify
the inconveniences resulting from it, recourse was had to meetings
called confederations, in which the decision was carried by a majority.
These were generally convened by manifestoes from a few of the
principal nobility in times of danger, and when the proceedings of
the diet had been rendered nugatory by opposition. Threats of
confiscation of property were held out to those who declined attend
ing; and those who appeared swore to defend each other's honour,
possessions, and life, against all foes. The king presided at these
assemblies, if a majority of the nobles attended, and thus rendered
their proceedings legal. General confederations were such as were
formed with the consent of the senate and the nobility; but it fre
quently happened that confederations were called by factious mino
rities, and several of these assemblies were sometimes sitting at once,
denouncing each other's objects, and recriminating their opponents
as traitors. The army held confederations against the king, the
diet, or their officers, generally when their pay was in arrear. The
most dreaded confederation of the nobility, however, was called the
Rokosz, by which an appeal was made to arms as a last resource.
As only the general confederations were strictly legal, it was re
quired that their authority should terminate with their existence,
and their acts be submitted to the next diet. These conditions had
the effect of rendering the confederations more active and decided
in their proceedings, and they seldom terminated before their objects
were attained. A marshal was appointed to each confederation,
 HISTORY OF POLAND. 197

whose authority was even greater than that of the marshal of the
diet.
The dietines, or provincial assemblies, called in the language of
the country lantage, were composed of such persons as possessed
estates of three acres or more each. On receipt of the king's writ
for a general diet, the palatine communicated the contents to all the
castellans, starosts, and other inferior officers and gentry within his
jurisdiction, requiring them to assemble on a certain day to elect
deputies, and take into consideration the business specified in the
royal summons. Besides these matters, other local business con
nected with the palatinates was transacted at these meetings. A
majority was sufficient to carry any motion; but, as all who attended
were armed, conflicts were not uncommon. To the ancient Poles,
as to the modern Irish, says Mr. Dunham, nothing could be more
agreeable than a bloody affray.
One of the most extraordinary parts of the Polish constitution
was the manner of raising and maintaining an army. Originally
Poland was an open country as at present, without castles, fortresses,
or places of strength. In course of time the government ordered
fortifications to be erected in the cities, to oppose the incursions of
the enemy. They were subject to royal authority, and defended by
regular garrisons. These, it was found, strengthened the hands of
the monarch, and composed a kind of standing army, with which
some ambitious prince might destroy the liberties of the people.
The citadels and fortifications were therefore neglected, and some
of them demolished. They were then usurped by neighbouring
lords, who thus extended their authority over burghers and citizens,
as well as over the peasants on their own estates. Governors and
garrisons were sometimes maintained by the government; but as the
governors were generally chosen out of the neighbouring nobility,
they often applied the revenues to their own purposes, and suffered
the garrisons to make pillaging excursions into the adjacent country.
When an invasion by an enemy occurred, or an expedition against
a foreign foe was projected, the king assembled the pospolite, or
Polish gentry, by circular letters; but, unhappily, the constitution
required that three such circular letters should be sent, at stated
periods, to each palatinate, before which time the enemy might pos
sibly overrun the kingdom. The landholder was exempted from the
public service, unless he were the chancellor or starost of a frontier
place. The pospolite was not obliged to march above three leagues
beyond the limits of the Polish dominions, nor could the nobility be
198 HISTORY OF POLAN ID.

legally compelled to remain in arms above six weeks at a time

regulations from whence resulted manifold inconveniences. It is
likewise observable, that during this state of hostile preparation, an
entire stop was put to the course of justice, all tribunals were shut
up, and every case, whether criminal or civil, whether relative to
life or to property, was necessarily deferred until the dissolution of
the pospolite. It was the privilege of the Polish gentry not to
march against the enemy at the command of the sovereign, until he
had redressed all the grievances of which they complained ; and it
was not uncommon for them to seize occasions of the greatest public
danger for presenting remonstrances to the throne. These were de
fects in the Polish constitution too obvious to require animadversion.
Nothing could have a more formidable appearance than this army
of military nobility, fighting pro aris el focis ; but the pospolite
wanted discipline to direct their strength and valour. They were
mounted on horseback, and generally formed only a tumultuous body,
difficult to resist at the first onset, but if once broken, easily over
thrown. The Polish gentry were annually mustered and registered
by proper officers, in order to inform the crown what strength could
be drawn forth on critical junctures. It was, however, equally
difficult to get the pospolite under arms, and afterwards to reduce
them to tolerable discipline, obedience, and subordination. As all
were equal in point of rank, each aspired to an independent com
mand, and few could be brought to support with temper the rank
of a private soldier; whence proceeded frequent plots, conspiracies,
and desertions.
Anciently every twentieth peasant was armed with a long gun,
a scymetar, and a pole axe, as a foot soldier; but subsequently the
pospolite was entirely composed of cavalry. A small body of infantry
was indeed raised occasionally, though seldom applied to any useful
purpose. This foot corps was raised at the expense of citizens worth
4000 florins; burghers more wealthy being obliged by the constitu
tion to furnish a horseman completely armed. In the grand-duchy
of Lithuania, the clergy were obliged to fit out a number of men, in
proportion to their temporal and spiritual possessions; but only the
temporal estates of the clergy were subjected in Poland. Persons
possessing estates in different palatinates were obliged to appear only
in behalf of one manor. The poorer gentry might either appear in
person, or subscribe to equip one horseman for a certain number of
small estates. Brothers, who were joint proprietors, might depute
one person to represent the whole fraternity. The numbers that
 HISTORY OF POLAND. 199

appeared at the general rendezvous of the militia of Poland were for

midable. Uladislaus Jagellon led 100,000 horse against the knights
of the Teutonic order, besides great numbers that were left for the
defence of the provinces. Exclusive of this prodigious national
force, the Polish government occasionally took 20 or 30,000 foreign
auxiliaries into its service.
No magazines were formed for the subsistence of the Polish army,
so that the soldiers were reduced to the most distressed circumstances
in their expeditions, and the most important enterprizes were some
times relinquished just as they were on the point of being brought
to a fortunate issue. In their march they were not to be quartered
on the gentry, but were obliged to encamp in the open fields. Many
of the Polish nobility squandered the bulk of their estates in making
a magnificent appearance on these expeditions, and furnishing them
selves with glittering arms, fine horses, rich trappings, and elegant
'apparel, as well as in the maintenance of a numerous retinue. No
sutlers being admitted into the camp, every Polish officer was under
the necessity of providing himself with provision, and whatever
might be wanted in the course of a campaign, which he was obliged
to carry about in his march at his own expense, providing waggons
and horses, without any assistance from the government. Frequently
their own fortunes were not sufficient to defray all their charges, as
they received no pay for some time; and this necessity obliged them
to squeeze and oppress the wretched peasants. Even the inferior
officers and soldiers robbed, pillaged, and destroyed the country with
impunity. A soldier was seldom paid above once in a year, some
times not above once in two years, half of which time he lived upon
his own credit and address in pillaging and defrauding the peasantry,
who made up for all deficiencies, and suffered for all mistakes in the
constitution, or mismanagement in the administration.
Another flagrant defect in the military constitution of Poland was,
that the commander in chief held his employment for life, and could
not, even for misconduct, be superseded by the royal authority or
the power of the republic. Besides, the dignity was occasionally
conferred on some powerful nobleman, wholly unacquainted with the
art of war, but formidable from the number of his dependents.
Though the great art of war consists in celerity, a knowledge of the
enemy's motions, a perfect acquaintance with the situation of the
country, and the most profound secresy, the Poles gave themselves
no trouble about these matters. They paid little regard to oppor
200 HISTORY OF POLAND.

tunity, seldom reconnoitred the enemy or the ground, and osten

tatiously published all their designs to the whole world, depending
upon strength and courage, and despising the thoughts of clandes
tinely seizing an advantage, which they imagined was a reflection
on the national honour. Under all these disadvantages, it must be
confessed that the martial ardour, which has achieved so many vic
tories as adorn the Polish annals, would have been sufficient, under
more favourable circumstances, to have rendered the nation invin
cible.

From the preceding sketch of the principal departments of the

Polish constitution, the reader will be enabled to form an accurate
idea of the subsequent events which distinguished the singular his
tory of this country.

INTERREGNUM.1572-1573.

A variety of intrigues had been set on foot at the courts of

Vienna, France, and Saxony, in consequence of the old age and
decrepitude of Sigismund Augustus, and the extinction of the
house of Jagellon. Each of these courts, as well as those of Sweden
and Brandenburgh, entertained hopes of raising a prince of their
own nation to the throne of Poland. It was, in appearance, a con
test for the regal diadem between the Catholic and Protestant powers
of Europe ; though, in reality, policy, and not religion, determined
each of the candidates to push his own private interests without
regard to the principles of his opponents. The emperor, by means
of the pope's legate, had acquired great influence, and bid fair for
placing his son, Ernest archduke of Austria, on the throne, in
despite of the utmost efforts of the other princes. A favourable
opportunity was now afforded to the ambitious Polish nobles for
enlarging their already overgrown powers and immunities.
Much of the dissension which occurred at this time in Poland
was caused by the efforts of the Protestant party to obtain a share
of power, and of the Catholics to prevent them. When a difference
in religion first occurred in Poland, the general term of Dissidents
was applied to each of the conflicting parties, Catholics as well as
Protestants. The opening language of their confederations was,
Nos dissidentes in religione ;We differing in religion. In
a short time, however, the Catholics renounced this title, though it
 HISTORY OF POLAND. 201

was still applied to such of them as were opposed to persecution;

but it was afterwards generally used only in reference to the
Lutherans, Greeks, Socinians, and other sects of Protestants. These
only wanted a prince of their own persuasion to raise themselves to
an equality with the Catholics. Though their number was smaller,
yet they compensated that disadvantage by their unity, and made
such efforts as astonished their opponents,who, at first, treated their
designs as chimerical, and the vain expectation of a few visionaries.
When the emperor Maximilian perceived they were determined to
unite their interests in favour of the prince of Sweden, the elector
of Saxony, or the marquis of Anspach, he exerted his utmost influ
ence with the pontiff in behalf of his son. In consequence of this
application, a legate was sent to Poland; but his instructions re
garded only the general interest of the Catholic religion, without
any particular view to the designs of the house of Austria. His
arrival was soon succeeded by the death of Sigismund Augustus;
and then the ferment became violent among the Poles, each party
declaring openly in favour of one or other of the candidates.
To protect their territory from hostile incursions, and to preserve
internal peace, the nobility of Great and Little Poland, Polish Rus
sia, and Lithuania, took the precaution, in their dietines, of forming
a confederation. A diet of convocation, to arrange matters for
the diet of election, was held at Warsaw; and the marshal on
this occasion, John Firley, was a Protestant. The partisans of the
new faith endeavoured to procure the investiture of this nobleman
with greater authority than the constitution had hitherto allowed to
the office, and demanded that he should exercise some of the most
important functions of the interrex. This encroachment was natu
rally resisted by the Catholics, who were for adhering to the ancient
practice of allowing all such authority to remain in the hands of the
archbishop of Gnesna. After much altercation, the dispute was
compromised by an agreement that the prelate should retain the
power of convoking diets and dietines, and of nominating the suc
cessful candidate; while to the marshal should be conceded the
privilege of proclaiming the new king. When this difficulty was
surmounted, the time for the election was fixed; but a new dispute
arose by the Poles proposing Warsaw as the place of meeting, and
the Lithuanians a village on the frontiers between the two states.
Again discord was predominant; but it was at length decided that
the election should take place on a large plain on the eastern bank
of the Vistula, near the suburb of Praga. One of the principal no
2 C.
202 HISTORY, OF POLAND.

bles now moved, that as all the equestrian body were equal in the
eye of the law, they ought all to be present at the election of a so
vereign; and this motion was carried by acclamation. Thus the
more convenient machinery of a diet composed of deputies was su
perseded by an unmanageable assembly of thousands of turbulent
nobles, or, at least, of as many as chose to attend.
The Dissidents were engaged, during the sitting of this diet, in
procuring the assistance of the most tolerant of the Catholic nobility
towards extending their own privileges and religious freedom. As
nearly all the inhabitants of Lithuania and of Polish Russia now
belonged to the Greek church, and were consequently powerful from
their numbers, they felt no difficulty in securing themselves against
persecution. The efforts of the Lutherans, however, and of the
party favourable to their claims, were opposed by Cardinal Com
mendoni, the papal legate, and by the primate and many of the
Polish bishops. Hence both parties continued to regard each other
with all the hostility and suspicion engendered by religious preju
dice and bigotry; and these feelings produced a corresponding degree
of rancorous opposition during the subsequent deliberations. In the
interim, presents from the several competitors were liberally distri
buted, in order to secure such electors as might promote their inte
rest at the ensuing general diet. The whole kingdom was one
universal scene of corruption, faction, and confusion.
As the day appointed for the election drew near, the contest be
came more violent; smaller factions were united into greater parties;
and the impending shock appeared more fearful from the weight of
the impending bodies. The legate formed a kind of treaty with the
bishop of Cujavia and Albert Laski, a palatine of vast influence.
They agreed mutually to support each other, and to consent to no
election that was not favourable to the Catholic religion, to enter
upon no measures but by mutual consent, and to give their votes to
no person that was not reciprocally agreeable to the leaguers. The
vigilant legate next turned his views to unite all the Catholics of the
kingdom in the same interest, without declaring, however, in favour
of any individual; that being a matter of future consideration, to be
determined just as interest might happen to preponderate in the
conclave, from whence he received his weekly instructions.
Lithuania was in the same agitation as Poland. The houses of
Radzivil and Cotcheviz had acquired the greatest influence in that
duchy, on account of their wealth, the dignities they held, and the
great number of their dependents. They had long been rivals in
 HISTORY OF POLAND. 203

splendour and power; and now it was imagined that the heads of
both houses would come to an open rupture, as they seemed to
espouse the cause of different candidates for the crown. However,
some of their mutual friends, aware of the dreadful consequences of
such an explosion amidst the general confusion of the duchy, pro
posed a compromise, which was soon brought to a happy issue, under
the mediation of the legate. Some writers assert, that this prelate
first proposed to them the election of Ernest of Austria. It is, how
ever, certain that the Radzivils were the first who declared for the
house of Austria; and the legate had then the address to engage the
family of Cotcheviz in the same interest, by threatening to declare
for the czar of Muscovy, their inveterate enemy. The whole nego
tiation was conducted by him with the utmost subtlety and address.
He had an interview with the two chiefs in the midst of a vast
forest, and there they agreed that a prince of the house of Austria
should be elected duke of Lithuania; not doubting but Poland would
follow the example, to prevent a breach of the union, so salutary to
both countries.
The Polish historians are silent with regard to these occurrences;
but several German writers affirm that they took place during the
life of Sigismund Augustus. The breath had scarcely quitted the
body of the old king, it is added, when the legate despatched a
courier to Vienna, with a copy of the articles signed by the two
Lithuanian chiefs. After having sketched out the situation of the
parties in Poland and the duchy, he requested his imperial majesty
immediately to send an ambassador to Cracow, to endeavour to se
cure the palatine Laski in his interest, and to remit sums of money
and quantities of Hungarian wines to be distributed amongst the
members of the diet. It was, at the same time, recommended to
his imperial majesty to keep a body of forces in readiness, and to
send the archduke Ernest, with all convenient expedition, to Po
land, to encourage, by his presence, those who favoured his interest.
In a word, the legate enjoined celerity, which alone would secure
the throne to the archduke before the other candidates could have
time to concert means for frustrating his election. This advice was
undoubtedly prudent and politic; but the deliberations of the court
of Vienna were remarkable for their tediousness; besides which, the
low estate of the emperor's finances was alone sufficient to disconcert
all his projects for the elevation of the archduke.
At length the time arrived for the meeting of the diet of election.
The plain of Wola, though twelve miles in extent, was scarcely
2 C. 2
 w

204 HISTORY OF POLAND.

large enough to contain the electors, who poured in from all parts
of the nation. The scene was impressive; and, as all the assembled
nobles were armed, the meeting appeared more like the gathering
of an army destined for a deadly conflict than a peaceful legislative
assembly. The dukes of Prussia, Pomerania, and Courland claim
ed to be present by their deputies; but, as all the nobility of Poland
and Lithuania attended in person, this claim was disallowed. It
was found necessary, at length, in order to facilitate the collection
of the suffrages, to arrange the meeting into bodies composed of the
nobility from each palatinate. In the centre of the plain stood the
royal tent, in which the senators and great officers of state held their
deliberations. -

The negotiation which the legate had conducted with so much

address, was rendered futile by the emperor's necessities on one
hand, and his pride on the other. Intoxicated with the breath of
adulation, Maximilian required certain sacrifices equally unseason
able and ridiculous. He imagined it beneath the dignity of the
imperial diadem to solicit votes for his son's election, and thought
it more becoming his rank, and the high birth of the young prince,
to be invited to the throne of Poland. From the powerful party
which the legate had formed, he doubted not but an embassy for this
purpose would soon arrive; and while he was indulging in the vain
expectation, the opportunity for success was suffered to escape.
The Polish gentry were disgusted with the arrogance of the house of
Austria; and when the bishop of Plotsko recommended a prince of
that family, they all put their hands to their swords, and threatened
to punish with death whoever should again insult Poland with such
a proposal. Not content with this declaration, they seized upon
several persons whom they believed to be attached to the emperor ;
and they were on the point of declaring in favour of the elector of
Saxony, when a solemn embassy at last arrived from Vienna, and in
some measure appeased their resentment. Shew, pageantry, and
respect, have ever had a powerful influence amongst the Poles.
Rosemberg and Pernerstein, equally illustrious by their merit and
the dignities which they bore, entered the frontiers with a magnifi
cent train; but they were way-laid by the palatine of Sandomir, and
arrested. -

Upon this event, the enemies of the house of Austria took courage,
and with their utmost vigour supported the princes in the opposition.
They were, however, strenuously resisted by the legate, the palatine
Laski, and the bishop of Cujavia; though this confederacy could not
 HISTORY OF POLAN ID. 205

prevent the parties from coming to an agreement, that no difference

in religious opinions should create any contention among the subjects
of the kingdom ; and that all Poles, without discrimination, should
be capable of holding public offices and trusts under the government.
In this convocation it was further stipulated, that the future king
should be obliged to swear expressly that he would establish the in
ternal tranquillity of the realm, and cherish, without distinction, his
subjects of all persuasions.
Hitherto the emissaries of the several candidates acted privately,
and by intrigue, endeavouring to gain a majority at the electional
diet; not doubting but the minority would be compelled at last to
embrace their sentiments. A small party entertained the idea of
proposing a Piast, or native nobleman; but the public advantage
and private emoluments to be derived from a foreign alliance were
temptations too great to be resisted, and few of the nobility could be
found who would not have regarded with envy and jealousy the ele
vation of a mere equal. The intention was therefore speedily aban
doned. The first prince publicly proposed at the general assembly
of the states was the czar of Muscovy, whose ravages in Lithuania
had only been restrained by the hope of his gaining the Polish
crown; but the Poles dreaded the savage disposition and arrogant
pretensions of the czar, who had always been accustomed to govern
with the most despotic sway. The next person proposed was the
young prince of Sweden, son of king John and Catherine Jagellon,
sister of the late king, Sigismund Augustus. The election of this
prince, it was obvious, would be attended with a singular advan
tage, as Sweden and Poland united would be sufficiently formidable
to resist all foreign enemies, and check the aspiring ambition of the
czar of Muscovy. He had, besides, a natural claim (if such could
have been allowed) to the crown, as he was maternally descended
from the Jagellon family, which had furnished Poland with such a
number of illustrious monarchs. But the doctrines of Luther, which
he professed, rendered him odious to the Catholics; and many of the
Protestants were apprehensive lest a Swede by birth might shew too
great a partiality for his native country.
The young duke of Prussia was supported by a considerable par
ty ; and the intrigues of John Firley, leader of the Protestant party,
would probably have determined the election in his favour, had not
the infirm state of his health, and his incapacity for governing, proved
insurmountable objections. The Protestants, who had espoused the
claim of this prince, finding all their expectations frustrated, cast
 206 HISTORY OF POLAND.

their eyes on the elector of Saxony, the voivode of Transylvania,

and the marquis of Anspach. With regard to the elector, they in
sisted on his merits, the proofs he had given of his equitable govern
ment, his love of freedom, and detestation of tyranny. All these
qualities were acknowledged, and his address and the treasures of
Saxony had gained him a very powerful interest; but still he was a
German and a Protestant. The first circumstance was disagreeable
to the Poles in general, the second odious to the Catholics in parti
cular.
The tolerant spirit which the family of the Austrian prince had
generally displayed, while persecution was blowing its fires in other
countries, rendered the Protestant party somewhat favourable to
his claims; but the same cause operated to his disadvantage with the
adherents to the old faith, added to which the strong feeling of na
tional dislike, which the Poles had always cherished towards the
empire, rendered him unpopular with many of the electors. Some
of the bishops and great lords ventured to propose Rosemberg, the
imperial ambassador, whose merit was universally acknowledged,
and whose birth, employments, and possessions, were very consider
able. Some writers allege, that Rosemberg might have carried away
the prize from all his competitors, had he possessed courage to sup
port his party; while others attribute his conduct to a more honour
able cause, namely, a principle of fidelity and attachment to the
emperor. But there was another candidate whose pretensions, by a
concurrence of favourable circumstances, were at length rendered
irresistible.
John Crasoski, a Polish gentleman of extraordinary merit, but di
minutive stature, had recently returned from France, whither he had
travelled for improvement. His ability, humour, wit, and diverting
size, had rendered him extremely agreeable at the court of France,
and in a particular manner gained the esteem of Catherine de Me
dicis, which the little Pole had the address to convert to his own
purposes. He owed a variety of obligations to the favour of Henry
duke of Anjou, brother of king Charles IX. ; and he did not fail,
from mere motions of gratitude, and without a thought of serving
him on the present occasion, to exaggerate the virtues of that prince.
Persons at all tinctured with curosity (and in what country are
multitudes of such not to be found 2) flocked around the traveller,
and greedily swallowed his relations of the magnificence of the French
court, and the achievements of the duke of Anjou, whom he repre
sented as a young hero, who had crushed the hydra-head of faction,
 HISTORY OF POLAND. 207

distinguished his valour in the field, and become the glory and bul
wark of his country. The Poles were struck with this romantic
character, so much in unison with their own chivalrous ideas; and
many immediately conceived the notion of healing the civil divisions
of the kingdom, by offering the crown to the duke of Anjou. These
sentiments were cherished and confirmed by Crasoski, who returned
into France by order of several of the leading men of Poland, and
acquainted king Charles and queen Catherine that nothing was
wanting besides the formality of an embassy to procure the crown for
the duke of Anjou.
It has been asserted by some writers, that the first overtures in
this affair originated in the court of France, which made use of the
dwarfish Crasoski as an emissary, and for some time conducted a
series of very dark and mysterious intrigues. Charles IX. was jea
lous of his brother Henry's reputation. He regarded with envy the
laurels gathered by that prince in a variety of battles, and hated
him on account of the partiality with which he was treated by the
queen-mother. This aversion gave birth to the resolution of remov
ing him to a distance; and a fairer opportunity could not have oc
curred than the vacancy in the throne of Poland. The pretext was
so plausible that even the queen and Henry were deceived with
respect to the king's real designs, and imagined he intended nothing
more than to augment the glory of France, and promote the interest
of his brother. They entered heartily into the project, and seconded
Crasoski's proposal that a splendid embassy might be sent into Po
land. Accordingly, Montluc, bishop of Valence, Gille de Noailles,
abbot of Lisle, and several other persons of rank and ability, were
despatched to Cracow, where they met with a reception fully equal
to what had been promised by Crasoski.
The specious affability, eloquence, and liberality of the wily
Montluc operated powerfully on the minds of the Poles, and con
firmed their favourable sentiments of the duke of Anjou. This
Machiavelian ambassador, though his partiality to the doctrines of
the Reformers was notorious, did not scruple to use his utmost en
deavours to conceal the part which his master had taken in the
persecutions of the times. He had even been nearly falling a victim
for his opinions; as an order had been sent from the court of France
to arrest and put him to death before he could pass the frontiers on
his mission to Poland. With that presence of mind by which he
extricated himself out of every difficulty, he confounded the soldiery
who arrested him, confidently asserting that their instructions were
208 HISTORY OF POI, AND.

forged, exhibiting his own letters of credence, and threatening his

captors with the vengeance of Catherine de Medicis and the duke.
They were so far imposed upon by his assertions and manner, that they
contented themselves with detaining him at Verdun until further in
structions could be procured. But too much publicity was thus given
to the transaction; and the court, ashamed of the affair, disclaimed
any knowledge of it. After his arrival in Poland, the news of the
massacre of St. Bartholomew, and the indignation consequent upon
that transaction, impeded his designs; though he did not hesitate,
at first, to deny that such an event had really taken place. When
there was no longer a doubt of the fact, he pretended that he had
not been officially apprised of it by his government; and he added,
that though there had certainly been what he called an execution,
yet there were but forty victims, who had suffered, not on account
of their religion, but because they had taken part in a conspiracy to
dethrone Charles IX, and elevate to his place the prince of Conde.
His assertions induced the Poles to doubt or disbelieve the other
accounts they had received of the affair in question; as they never
entertained the idea that a deliberate falsehood could emanate from
the doubly sacred character of bishop and ambassador. The Pro
testants themselves were deceived, and merely stipulated for further
privileges in the state. Montluc was compelled to sanction an
armed confederacy of the noble adherents to the new faith, though
he never intended that their demands should be complied with.
His object, however, was secured; and they no longer hesitated in
giving their votes to his master.
The spirit of the emperor Maximilian was now, when it was too
late, aroused ; and he determined, though he had lost all chance of
success, to make the most vigorous efforts in favour of Ernest. He
earnestly solicited the states of the empire to assist him in the pur
suit of a crown, which he had lost entirely by his pride and inactivity.
He laboured to form a league among the German princes, and soli
cited the elector of Saxony, who had now abandoned all hopes of
succeeding in his own person, to furnish him with 10,000 horse for
one campaign; promising that should his son be elected king of
Poland, he would restore Dantzick and the Prussian cities to the
empire, together with that part of Livonia which had lately been
seized by the Poles. To the elector, in particular, he promised
restitution of all the frontier of Lusatia towards Saxony. Maximi
lian's negotiations could not be long concealed from Gaspard de
Schomberg, the French ambassador at the court of Saxony. This
 HISTORY OF POLAND. 209

minister possessed all the talents of a consummate politician, and

had gained the confidence of Catherine de Medicis by his address
and ability. He no sooner received intimation of the designs of the
court of Vienna, than he despatched an acount to Montluc, and set
out in person for Cassel, to solicit the landgrave and the Protestants
of the empire to assist the pretensions of the duke of Anjou. He
gained to his party the princess Sophia, widow of the duke of Bruns
wick, a rigid Protestant, and the strenuous enemy of the house of
Austria. Thence he repaired to the courts of Wolfenbottel and
Saxony; and there is no doubt he would speedily have formed a
very powerful alliance in favour of Henry de Valois, had such a de
monstration not been rendered unnecessary by the favourable state of
that prince's affairs in Poland.
- The French agents had judiciously distributed sums of money
amongst the electors, which caused them entirely to forget the pro
mises they had made to the house of Austria. Even the league
formed by the legate was neglected; and the chiefs of Lithuania
joined with the principal personages in Poland to elevate the
duke of Anjou to the throne. The diet was composed of 35,000
Polish gentlemen, of whom 500 only opposed the French interest;
and they were so ashamed of the despicable figure they made, that
they embraced, without solicitation, the opinion of the majority.
Prior to the election, however, it was determined that the articles of
the Pacta Conventa should be ratified by the ambassadors of the
intended sovereign ; and they were accordingly obliged to take
an oath that their master would maintain the laws, liberties, and
customs of the kingdom of Poland and the grand-duchy of Lithua
nia. It was also agreed that the king should be furnished with a
permanent council, consisting of four bishops, four palatines, and
eight castellans, the members of which should be chosen by the or
dinary diets, and changed every half year. In case the king should
infringe the laws and liberties of the nation, it was determined that
his subjects should be absolved from their oaths of allegiance.
This Pacta Conventa, the stipulations of which were afterwards
designated The Articles of Henry, besides containing the usual
restrictions,t was still further burthened with the following condi
tions, to all of which Montluc, in order to ensure the duke's election,
was compelled to agree:To give a preponderance to Poland in the
* This regulation was not put in force till the following reign.
# See page 183.
2 D
210 HISTORY OF POLAN ID.

Baltic, France was to send a fleet into that sea; in the event of a
war with Russia, 4000 of the best troops of France, to be paid by
their own government, were to march to the assistance of the Poles;
that money should be supplied to support them in a war with any
other power; that the king should annually apply a considerable
portion of his hereditary revenues in France to the advantage of the
republic; that he should pay the debts of the crown; and that he
should be at the expense of educating and supporting, either at Paris
or Cracow, 100 young Polish nobles. It was also stipulated that
Henry should marry the princess Anne, sister of the late king; but
the ratification of this article was deferred till the king should arrive
in Poland. When we reflect that the Poles succeeded in imposing
such conditions upon their new king, and that every subsequent so
vereign was compelled to make similar sacrifices, we cannot wonder
that an elective monarchy should have been so attractive in their
eyes.
The ambassadors having acceded to the conditions proposed,
Henry was proclaimed, the act of election prepared, and a splendid
embassy, composed of thirteen of the chief personages of the king
dom, appointed to wait on the young king in France. Passports
were demanded from the emperor; but Maximilian, who was piqued
at the result of the election, replied that he could not grant the
safeguard required, without consulting the Germanic body; while
they, on the other hand, pretended that the emperor's consent was
absolutely necessary. Montluc, however, advised that the embassy
should proceed, fully convinced that the emperor would not dare to
violate the treaties subsisting with France and Poland. He set out
in person for Leipsic to prepare the way, and the embassy followed
a few days after. The elector had given orders for their reception,
but, at the same time, expressed his astonishment that they had not
waited for the passport they had solicited. He gave them to un
derstand, likewise, that if they proceeded further, they might find
cause to repent their temerity. In a word, an order was given to
prohibit their quitting the electorate; but it was soon revoked, and
the ambassadors were permitted to proceed on their journey.
The Polish noblemen caused a great sensation in the French ca
pital by their magnificent equipages, their flowing robes, bows and
quivers, and shaven crowns, as well as by the variety and extent of
their literary acquirements. Their reception at the court of France

"See page 51.

 -

HISTORY OF POLAND. 211

was magnificent, nothing being omitted which could inspire them

with a high idea of the riches, power, and grandeur of that monarchy.
Their arrival, too, afforded a seasonable salvo to Henry's honour, as
he was thereby at liberty to break up the siege of Rochelle, without
diminution of his glory. He was, however, indignant at the number
and extent of the concessions he was required to make, and began
to wish to evade the disagreeable dignity which had been awarded
him. To be nothing more than a judge or a minister of state in the
hands of the sovereign diet, did not suit the ambitious views of this
prince ; and as his brother, the king of France, lay in a lingering
but hopeless illness, the crown of his native country seemed a more
tempting object than a mere nominal sovereignty over a people so
fierce and turbulent as the Poles. For some time he wavered with
regard to the article respecting the Dissidents; and even Montluc,
with all his effrontery, durst not own that he had sanctioned its in
sertion. On one occasion, when the Polish ambassadors were in the
presence of their king elect, they expressed their indignation in
strong terms at the bishop's tergiversation and cowardice. Henry
enquired of one of them, the Count Zborowski, the reason of the
warmth which he exhibited; when the latter replied, in the most
undaunted manner, I am telling your majesty's ambassador, that,
had he not undertaken to procure your sanction to the article in
question, your majesty would never have been elected our king;
and I say more, that unless you do sanction it, our king you never
shall be Whatever Henry might think of this uncourtly address,
so different from the conventional style of politeness prevalent in
Paris, he did at length agree to the obnoxious clause, and swore to
its observance; though he secretly resolved not to be bound by the
obligation, which he considered as forced upon him.

HENRY.1574-1575.

Henry continued to hesitate about commencing his journey to his

new dominions, still hoping that some circumstance might arise
which would afford a pretext for declining it altogether. The Poles
began to be irritated at his delay, and at first hinted, and afterwards
openly threatened to elect another person as their king, in the stead
of one who thus insulted their nation. It is more than proba
ble that Henry would have been glad to be relieved from his irk
some dignity, clogged as it was by so many disagreeable conditions;
2 D 2
212 HISTORY OF POLAND.

but his brother, who was jealous of the popularity he had obtained,
and feared his ambitious designs, was anxious to remove him to a
distant sphere of action, and actually compelled him to quit the
kingdom. He left France attended by a splendid retinue, and ac
companied by the queen-mother as far as Lorrain.
During his inauspicious journey, and whilst he remained with
Frederick elector of Saxony, Henry experienced a foretaste of the
mortifications he was doomed to encounter amongst his new sub
jects. In the palace of the elector (who was actuated on this occa
sion, no doubt, as much by a feeling of wounded vanity and
disappointed ambition as by conscientious motives) was a large
painting, representing in all its horrors the recent massacre of St.
Bartholomew. On a sudden the curtain which covered it was with
drawn, and the French prince was sarcastically asked if he recol
lected Coligni and other personages who were represented as
participating in the sanguinary scene. French Protestant refugees,
purposely engaged for the occasion, served him at table; whilst the
elector and his company, in their conversation, spoke in no measured
terms of the Lorrain butchers and the Italian traitors.
When the king reached the Polish frontier, he was received with
respect by his subjects, and conducted to the capital. Preparations
were immediately made for his coronation, which took place on Fe
bruary 21, 1574. Even on this solemn occasion, he was openly
insulted by the Protestant party, with John Firley at their head.
They insisted on further concessions, or, if these were refused, they
threatened to stop the ceremony. The altercation was carried on
with violence in the very cathedral, and a bloody contest was on the
point of taking place within its walls; a catastrophe which was only
averted by the presence of mind of one of the palatines, and the ce
remony was allowed to proceed.
Henry at first engaged the affections of the Poles, who were cap
tivated by his majestic air, and blooming vigorous youth. They
were delighted with his graceful manner and persuasive eloquence,
as well as with the fluency and purity with which he expressed
himself in the Latin tongue. But the effect produced by these ex
ternal advantages soon wore off; and he continued to experience the
most annoying insults from his boisterous subjects. The Protestant
party were not backward in displaying their hostility on every occa
sion; and even many of the Catholics, who had been overlooked or
refused a participation in the distribution of offices or emoluments,
regarded him with dislike. Though it was scarcely to be expected
 HISTORY OF POLAND. 213

that he should regard the Dissidents with complacency, yet, as he

had sworn to grant them certain privileges, they considered every
demonstration of a desire to humble them as a breach of his obliga
tion. His character was not such as to conciliate these factions.
That he was fickle, superficial, and ostentatious, were circumstances
hardly necessary to induce the Poles to regret their choice. They
saw that he was not a proper person to wield the heavy sceptre of
the Piasts and Jagellons. Indeed, he felt his own incompetence to
rule over the turbulent people who had elected him their king, and
amongst whom, as he had met with no sympathetic spirit, he was
never perfectly at his ease.
An incident which occurred at this time added to the unpopularity
of the king. Amongst the proud and arrogant nobility, who were
eager to display their own superiority in the state, was Samuel Zbo
rowski, a young man whose great riches enhanced the fiery temper
for which he was distinguished. This person one day struck his
lance into the ground opposite the door of the king's lodging, and
in a loud voice challenged any person to remove the weapon who
might dare to prove his zeal for the new sovereign. A domestic of
the grand-chamberlain, Count Tenczyn, accepted the challenge by
bearing off the lance in triumph. It is well known to be no uncom
mon thing in Poland for the richer nobles to be attended by others
of inferior property; and this daring individual was himself a gen
tleman, though of an obscure family. Zborowski felt himself
affronted at the circumstance, and imagined that Tenczyn had em
ployed his retainer on purpose to insult him. He therefore loudly
demanded that the same hand which had presumptuously removed
the lance should instantly replace it. To this demand Tenczyn re
plied that he did not chuse to interfere; threats and defiances
followed in rapid succession; and at length Zborowski, at the head
of a party of armed cavalry, attacked some of the friends and follow
ers of Tenczyn. During the conflict, the king hastened to the spot;
but, though his appearance induced the combatants to desist in his
presence, it was only for the purpose of repairing to a more convenient
place, where they might decide their battle without interruption.
Again the contending parties met, and blood flowed on both sides.
The castellan Wapowski in vain endeavoured to restore peace. His
efforts only inflamed the rage of Zborowski, who inflicted a mortal
blow upon thc unfortunate mediator. Such a crime was considered
sufficient to seal the fate of the perpetrator; and the bleeding body
of the murdered man was borne into the presence of the king. Ven
 214 HISTORY OF Poland.
geance was loudly demanded on the assassin; and the king promised
that justice should take its course. It is not known, however,
whether the fear of offending a powerful party, or partiality towards
the aggressor, influenced Henry in his conduct; but certain it is that
he contented himself with banishing Zborowski, without depriving
him either of his honours or estates. This sentence, so inadequate
to the crime, and so contrary to the laws, excited universal indigna
tion ; and the feeling was increased when, on the death of the
celebrated Protestant champion, John Firley, palatine of Cracow, his
office was bestowed on a brother of the obnoxious Zborowski.
Wearied with listening to the clamours which were now raised
against him, Henry flew to dissipation for relief. In vain did the
factions by which he was surrounded attempt to harass him with
their mutinies and insults. He avoided both their complaints and
menaces by shutting himself up in his palace, where he passed his
whole time in alternate idleness and revelry. He only waited a
proper opportunity for escaping from the dangerous and disagreea
ble dignity which had been thrust upon him, and was careless of
what might occur to a nation too fierce for his abilities to conciliate.
The death of his brother Charles, on the 30th of May, 1574, and
by which event Henry became heir to the crown of France, at length
decided his resolution, and he determined on secretly flying to his
own country.
To effect his design before the Poles could receive any intimation
of it, the king was careful to conceal the letters which announced
the event of his brother's death. His precautions, however, were
ineffectual; by some other means the news transpired; and the
senators advised him to assemble the diet, at which, in the manner
prescribed by the laws, he might solicit the permission of the nation
to retire to France for a short time, in order to arrange the
affairs of his new kingdom. There can be no doubt, from the
unpopularity of the king, that such a permission would readily have
been granted, and that, even had the Poles been aware that he did
not intend to return, such an opportunity of getting honourably rid of
their imbecile king would have been willingly embraced. But there
were others from whom Henry wished his designs to remain secret.
His brother, the duke of Alengon, was thought to have designs on the
vacant throne of France; and, to counteract his plans, Henry de
termined on leaving Poland without the formality and loss of time
required by the senators. The Poles were too unsuspicious to
believe that the man whom they had honoured with the crown of
 HISTORY OF POLAND. 215

their kingdom would be mean enough to fly from it like a criminal

from justice; and the king therefore found little difficulty in con
cealing his intentions.
When Henry had completed his plans, he gave a grand entertain
ment, on the evening of the 18th of June, to the sister of the late
king, Sigismund Augustus. On this occasion, in order more effec
tually to lull suspicion, he behaved with more than his accustomed
ease and politeness. After conducting himself with great cheerful
ness, he retired at his usual hour to his apartment; and the lights
were extinguished. At the same moment, one of his confidential
servants entered, cautiously conducted him by a private passage out
of the palace, and led him hastily to the rendezvous which had been
appointed by his friends. Some historians relate that this was in
the royal stables; while others assert that it was in a chapel in the
suburbs. However this may be, a party of horsemen were ready to
receive him; and he set off with them at full speed towards the
frontiers of Silesia, which they reached on the following morning.
In a short time the flight of the king was noised about in Cracow.
The inhabitants left their beds, and filled the streets in all directions;
while their lighted torches shed an awful light over the scene, which
was rendered more impressive by the murmurs resounding from side
to side. Rage succeeded to consternation; and, had not the ma
gistrates posted guards in the streets, all the French then in the
city would have been sacrificed as perfidious wretches, whose blood
only could wash away the indignity put on the Polish nation. As
it was, they were insulted wherever they were discovered. Parties
were detached after the fugitive king in different directions; but
he had proceeded many leagues on his journey before he was over
taken by the grand-chamberlain Tenczyn. He now refused to
confer with that nobleman until he was assured that he came as a
friend, and had put off his armour; and, it may be easily supposed
that all the prayers and remonstrances of Tenczyn were insufficient
to induce him to alter his determination. It was in vain that the
chamberlain respectfully but firmly expatiated on the injury which
the king was now inflicting on his own character, as well as the
state, by his precipitate and inglorious flight, and urged him to
return and wear the crown of a great nation in a manner worthy of
himself and his own country. Henry drew a ring from his finger,
and presented it to Tenczyn, promising that he would return as soon
as he had placed the affairs of France upon a proper footing.
216 HISTORY OF POI, AND.

Henry had foreseen the consequences of his flight, and had taken
such measures as he thought most likely to appease the people.
Danzai, who had been left for the purpose, made his apology to the
republic in full senate, unfolding, with the utmost eloquence, the
motives for the king's abrupt departure. Henry had likewise left
letters on the subject in his apartment, written with his own hand,
and addressed to the chief nobility and clergy. But nothing could
deprecate the wrath of the Poles, who thought themselves slighted
by their monarch, for whose sake they had refused the crown to so
many competitors. They now informed him that the necessities of
the state, and the dangers which surrounded the republic, were suf
ficient to prevail over their attachment to his person; and that, if he
did not immediately return, they would formally proceed to depose
him, and elect another sovereign. It is not probable that Henry felt
much uneasiness at this threat, though he still thought it necessary
to keep up appearances. He accordingly excused himself by urging
the wars in which France was engaged, and which rendered his pre
sence indispensibly necessary in that country; but he gave the Poles
reason to hope that he would resume the reins of government amongst
them as soon as his circumstances would permit. He likewise
offered to send such ministers to govern Poland in his absence as the
republic could not but approve, their integrity being irreproachable,
and their abilities universally acknowledged. As a pledge of his
intentions, he despatched Guy de Pibrac to Warsaw; a person who
had formed numerous friendships and strong connexions, and gained
the affections of the Poles, during his residence amongst them. The
nation, however, was too much irritated to listen to expedients; and
faction again began to rear its head, and excite a ferment in the
commonwealth. Two parties at that time divided Poland, and
agreed only in the resolution of deposing Henry, against which mea
sure all the eloquence and address of Pibrac proved ineffectual. It
was at length agreed, that if the king did not return before the 12th
of May, 1575, he should be considered as having abdicated the
crown; and messengers were despatched after him with notice of
this decision.
Meanwhile, notwithstanding the alleged urgency of his affairs in
France, Henry delayed his journey for some time at Vienna, where
he was nobly entertained by the emperor Maximilian, and who is
said to have inspired him with favourable sentiments towards his
Protestant subjects. He then repaired to Venice, under an imperial
 HISTORY OF POLAND. 217

escort, where he spent nine days, as he used to say, under the en

chantments of pleasure and magnificence. Indeed, he appears to
have indulged in the voluptuousness and refinement of Italy, which
were, no doubt, doubly congenial to his disposition after his emanci
pation from his stern northern subjects; for, after visiting Savoy
and other places, where he was received with great honours, he did
not reach Lyons till 1575. It may be here observed that, in leaving
Poland, he imagined he was quitting a barbarous country to take
possession of a kingdom abounding in pleasures; but he was deceived
in his expectations, as his reign in France was only a melancholy
series of calamities and intestine wars, and closed with his assassina
tion.
Though the Polish nation had been so deeply affronted by the
flight of their late king, and probably did not sincerely wish for his
return, yet they determined to act with prudence and caution in
their unprecedented situation. Accordingly, no measures were
taken till the expiration of the time before prescribed, when
a diet was assembled at Stenzyca ; and, as Henry did not appear,
he was formally declared to be divested of the regal dignity, and the
throne declared vacant.

INTERREGNUM.1574-1575.

The emperor Maximilian now conceived that he had met with a

fair opportunity for recovering what he had so recently suffered to
escape him through his indolence and punctilious haughtiness. He
had watched with attention the turn which affairs had taken in
Poland; and, as soon as the deposition of Henry de Valois was effect
ed, he despatched Henry Dudith, a Hungarian, to form a party in
favour of his son Ernest. This minister, who was a man of deep
penetration and impenetrable cunning, exerted his utmost endea
vours, and succeeded in forming a considerable interest amongst the
- palatines. Uchanski, the primate, archbishop of Gnesna, promised
him his vote; and several of the nobility entered into a resolution
to support the house of Austria at the ensuing election, which was
appointed at Warsaw in the month of December. For some time
there appeared to be something enigmatical in the conduct of this
party. Before they ventured to divulge their sentiments to each
other, they talked mysteriously, gave significant hints, and thorough
ly sounded the dispositions of the persons whom they proposed
10 2 E
218 HISTORY OF POLAND.

drawing into their views. At last they all agreed, that it would be
preferable to elect the emperor himself instead of his son, as the
dignity of the imperial diadem, they flattered themselves, would
give a sanction to their choice, and destroy the hopes of any com
petitor. -

While these schemes were in progress, however, other princes

put in their claims to the vacant throne, and two parties had been
planning the election of a Piast, or native of the country. The
persons proposed, however, declined the proffered honour; and the
attention of their supporters was now turned to the princess Anne,
whose hand had been offered to their late monarch. At the head of
this party were the palatines of Cracow and Sandomir. It was their
intention to elect the princess, to marry her to Stephen Bathori,
prince of Transylvania, and, by virtue of that union, to elevate him
to the throne. Their proceedings, however, appeared to be frus
trated by the senate, who espoused the cause of Maximilian, and
proclaimed him in the diet king of Poland and grand-duke of Lithu
ania. Many of the Piast party were confounded by this sudden
measure; and the emperor was on the point of being established on
the throne of Poland, when the spirit of one gentleman, Zamoiski,
starost of Beltz, afterwards famous in the history of his country,
revived the hopes of his party, and rendered nugatory the efforts of
Maximilian's supporters. In imitation of the tribunes of Rome,
who had the power of opposing decrees of the senate, this Polish
gentleman protested against the proclamation, and with great intre
pidity declared it to be violent and illegal. He was supported by
the two palatines, the French interest, and Count Tenczyn, who
proceeded to the election of the princess Anne and Stephen Bathori.
They were accordingly proclaimed, December 14, 1575.

STEPHEN BATHoRI.1575-1586.

As neither the election of Maximilian nor that of Bathori was

legal or constitutional, the friends of both parties perceived that
strength and expedition alone could effect the accession of their re
spective favourites. Both parties accordingly wrote to the princes
for whom they had declared, intreating them to fly with all the
speed possible to take possession of the crown. On this occasion,
Bathori proved the most alert. Whilst Maximilian was disputing
about certain conditions, which the Poles required for the security
- History of Pol.AND. 219
of their privileges, his competitor entered Poland, married the prin
cess, and was crowned on the 1st day of May following, His am
bassadors had previously confirmed The Articles of Henry, and
promised to recover the conquests made by the Russians, to pay the
debts of the crown, to replenish the Polish treasury with 200,000
florins, to redeem the captives made by the Tartars, not to employ
Polish troops in foreign wars, and, should it be necessary, to main
tain 1500 infantry at his own expense.
Stephen Bathori, though of an ancient family, had raised himself
from a private station to the sovereignty of his native country by
the fairest means and universally acknowledged merit. As he had
in his earliest youth shewn an inclination to arms, his first educa
tion had been in the camp, where his courage, capacity, and pru
dence, soon acquired him the esteem of the soldiers. From these
excellent qualities he also gained great authority among the people,
who pitched upon him to transact some difficult negotiations at the
imperial court, where he had the good fortune to conclude his busi
ness to the mutual satisfaction of the parties concerned. When the
supreme dignity in Transylvania became vacant, by the death of
John Sigismund, nephew of Sigismund Augustus, king of Poland,
Bathori was nominated successor by the universal voice, without
having once solicited the honour, or even entertaining thoughts of
raising himself so high above his countrymen. This circumstance
laid the foundation of his future good fortune, which has been uni
versally ascribed to the early proofs of distinguished merit which
he exhibited.
The appearance of a prince of such merit soon increased the
number of his friends amongst the Poles, and proportionably dimi
nished the interest of Maximilian, who had not yet abandoned his
claim, but was, on the contrary, preparing to treat Bathori as an
usurper. It was universally acknowledged that the new king was
a warrior and a politician; that he was affable, generous, and vir
tuous. Besides, the respect which the grand signior entertained
for him was well known ; and it was believed that the whole force
of the Ottoman empire would be employed to support his election.
The apprehensions of a civil war, however, were dissipated by the
death of the emperor, which occurred whilst he was busily employed
in preparations for supporting his claims to the crown of Poland.
Bathori commenced his reign in circumstances the most favourable
that could be wished. All the provinces now yielded immediate
obedience, while the people in general testified the strongest attach
2 E 2
220 HISTORY OF POI, ANI).

ment to his person. The only place which continued to adhere to

the house of Austria was the city of Dantzick, the inhabitants of
which, notwithstanding the death of Maximilian, refused, under
various pretences, to acknowledge Bathori's sovereignty. They even
went so far as to demand an oath from the king, in acknowledgment
of their absolute freedom and independence. Bathori declared that
he had no power to give up the rights of the republic, and referred
the Dantzickers to the senate. He, at the same time, mildly ad
monished them to avoid giving occasion for a civil war, which must
necessarily terminate to their own prejudice; but the infatuated
citizens, construing the king's lenity into fear, shut their gates
against his ambassador, seized upon the fortress of Grebin, and
published a manifesto equivalent to a libel on the monarch and the
republic. The king, incensed at these contumacious proceedings,
marched against Grebin, the castle of which he retook, and ravaged
a part of the territories belonging to the magistrates of Dantzick.
They, in their turn, retaliated on the see of Uladislaw, and the
monastery of Oliva, which they burnt to the ground, to prevent so
important a station being taking possession of by the Poles.
Bathori, notwithstanding these outrages, still considered the
Dantzickers as his subjects, and resolved, if possible, to reclaim
them by reason. He therefore renewed his overtures for an accom
modation; but, as they continued to reject all his proposals, he was
at length compelled to declare them rebels and enemies to the state.
A small body of troops, under Zborowski, were accordingly sent to
lay siege to the city; but, emboldened by the appearance of what
they conceived so inconsiderable an enemy, the citizens determined
on quitting their walls, and attacking the Poles in the open field.
As they were assisted by a body of Germans, the design was formed
of falling on the Polish camp by surprise, during the darkness of the
night. All was prepared, and the sally was commenced, when a
sudden storm of uncommon fury, accompanied by tremendous thunder
and lightning, disconcerted the plans of the Dantzickers, and spread
a panic through their ranks, under the impression that it was a
judgment from heaven. John de Collen, who commanded them,
was therefore compelled to return to the city.
As soon as the citizens had recovered from the superstitious dread
with which they had been seized, an expedition up the Vistula was
set on foot, and put under the command of Collen. The flotilla had
commenced its voyage, and was proceeding towards its destination,
which was no less than the city of Warsaw itself, when they were
 HISTORY OF POI, AN ID. 221

attacked from the banks of the river by the Polish army, and a
desperate conflict ensued. Victory at length decided in favour of
the Poles, who killed 8000 of their opponents, and made many pri
soners. Instead of being intimidated by this defeat, the Dantzickers
appeared to he animated to a more vigorous exertion of their strength;
and their first impulse was resentment against Collen, to whose
misconduct they attributed the late reverse. With considerable
difficulty, that commander appeased the clamours which were excited
against him amongst the multitude, and which he only effected by
assuring the people that he would take ample vengeance on their
enemies, and defend the liberties of the city with the last drop of
his blood.
Ivan the Terrible, in the mean while, took advantage of these
disturbances, to encroach upon the other side of Poland. Under
the idea that the present was a favourable opportunity for extend
ing his dominions towards the Baltic, and at the same time of re
venging the preference given to Henry de Valois in the preceding
election, he despatched a powerful army to attack Revel, which city
was besieged by his troops with great fury and obstinacy. The
courage of the garrison, however, rendered all his efforts unavailing,
and he was compelled to relinquish the siege, and content himself
with wreaking his vengeance upon the open country; and, it is
needless to say, Livonia was ravaged with the utmost inhumanity.
Bathori, however, was not to be diverted from an enterprize which
he had determined upon, and which he considered as essential to
the integrity of the republic that he governed. Resolved upon lay
ing siege in person to Dantzick, he prosecuted his design with the
utmost vigour. The city was invested, and battered with great
fury. Again the besieged made the most animated efforts to defend
the place. They sallied from their walls, and defeated the Poles in
several skirmishes; and the king, who had made a variety of judi
cious approaches towards the fortifications, was compelled to aban
don them, and encamp at a more secure distance. In so favourable
a field for the display of valour and conduct, John de Collen did not
fail to take every opportunity of distinguishing himself, and of en
deavouring to regain the confidence of his countrymen. He headed
every attack upon the royal camp, and, from the gallantry which
he displayed in these conflicts, was become the terror of the besiegers,
when he perished in a sally where prodigious slaughter was made
on both sides. This disaster threw a damp on the spirits of the
Dantzickers; and it now became evident that much of their
222 HISTORY OF POLAND.

bravery had been excited by the dependence which was placed in

Collen's courage and capacity. Before two days had elapsed, they
sustained such a succession of attacks, and with such galling
disadvantage, that they determined on soliciting the mediation of
the electors of Saxony and Brandenburgh, as also of the landgrave
of Hesse. This was readily promised; and recourse was now had
to the clemency of Bathori. As his principal design had been to
establish repose, and reclaim the Dantzickers to their dependence
on the republic, he was not fastidious in the terms which he dictated.
By the treaty of peace signed by the king, it was stipulated that
the citizens should ask his pardon, acknowledge his sovereignty,
disband their forces, and repair the monastery of Oliva; while he,
on the other hand, confirmed all their privileges, and promised to
grant them full liberty of adhering to the Augsburgh confession of
faith, of which they had for some time been strenuous advocates.
Peace with the Dantzickers was no sooner restored, than the king
convoked a diet at Warsaw, to deliberate on the means of revenging
the ravages committed by the czar in Livonia, as well as for sup
porting the dignity of the crown, and retrieving the honour of the
nation, both of which were sullied by the unpunished and unresented
violation of treaties. Ivan had made himself master of the principal
towns in the province. By an insidious air of clemency which he
assumed, many cities were induced to open their gates to him, rather
than by resistance to incur the displeasure of a prince whose power
they could not withstand, and whose vengeance they knew would be
dreadful. Motives of policy directed the czar to perform his promises
to some, in order that he might, with more plausibility and security,
glut his bloody disposition, by sacrificing the credulous inhabitants
of others. Amongst the latter was Ascherod, where a great number
of the Livonian nobility then resided. No sooner had the burghers
of that place opened their gates to the troops of this monster, than
the Russians began the most barbarous massacre recorded in the
annals of time, slaughtering without distinction all who were capa
ble of bearing arms, and abandoning the women and children to the
shocking brutality and the most savage violations of the Tartars,
who cut off their ears and noses, and subjected them to the most
horrid cruelties.
Duke Magnus of Denmark had been declared king of Livonia by
the czar, who now visited him at his residence at Wenden. Not
withstanding the abject submission made by this puppet king, he
was thrown into prison, and the inhabitants and garrison of the
 HISTORY OF POLAND. 223

place treated with all the barbarity which their savage invaders could
devise. The czar himself ordered the tongue of a minister and the
heart of a burgomaster to be cut out in his presence; and Petronius re
lates that many persons of good condition were whipped nearly to
death, or roasted on spits before a fire, and basted with their own
blood! Such was the horror inspired by the perfidy and cruelty of
the Russians, that several noblemen, ministers, and people of qua
lity, retired into the castle, and refused to surrender. The tyrant
in a short time erected four batteries, from which he kept up a heavy
cannonade upon the walls of the building during five successive
days. As the place appeared to be nearly untenable, and no hopes
remained of protracting the resistance, the wretched inmates re
solved, rather than submit to their unmerciful enemies, to blow up
the fort and themselves with their remaining gunpowder. The
clergy who were amongst them, and had witnessed the dreadful
executions performed in the town, acquiesced in this determination,
and exhorted the self-devoted victims to prepare themselves for
death by taking the holy sacrament. In this dreadful situation, a
singular dispute arose between the Lutheran ministers and a Prus
sian abbot. No wine could be found; and the abbot advised the
administration of the sacrament in one kind. The Protestants ob
jected to this, declaring such a multilated ceremony to be inefficaci
ous; and this dispute augmented the terror and misery of many
whose minds were already weakened by their awful condition, and
who imagined their eternal salvation depended upon the due perform
ance of this last office of religion. At length, a valet-de-chambre
of Duke Magnus found a small vessel with Rhenish wine, which he
gave to the Lutheran ministers. By them it was received as a
special gift of providence; and they administered it to three or four
hundred persons of both sexes. Their stock of gunpowder was then
laid in a vault beneath the great gallery, where they determined
to await their doom in prayer. Meanwhile, the Russian artillery
had effected a wide breach in the wall, and these incarnate fiends
were now advancing to storm the place. A general movement of
the besieged was made to the gallery, where they threw them
selves on their knees, and recommended their souls to the mercy of
God. Henry Boisman, a gentleman who had been a captain to
Duke Magnus, extended a burning match from the window, and
fired the train; when, with a dreadful explosion, the building was
lifted from its foundations, and buried the sufferers in its ruins.
Boisman alone was thrown from the window; and, though terribly
224 HISTORY OF POI, ANI).

bruised and scorched, he was taken up alive. Being conveyed to the

czar, he related, with a faultering tongue, the circumstances which
had occurred, and then expired; when, with the characteristic bar
barity of the Russians, his body was impaled. A few of the inmates
of the castle, who had hid themselves in cellars and vaults, and
thereby escaped the explosion, were dug out, and cruelly beat to
death with rods.
The whole of Livonia, with the exception of Riga and Revel, bled
under the scourge of the insulting and sanguinary conqueror, before
the Poles had taken any measures to check the progress of his arms.
For the purpose of declaring open war against the czar, an ambassa
dor was sent to Moscow. This person, whose courage must have
been of no ordinary character, entered the audience chamber with a
drawn sword carried before him, which he delivered with the king's
letter to the czar, and, in a short harangue, demanded satisfaction,
in the name of his master, for the damages and cruelties which had
been inflicted upon the people of Livonia and Lithuania, or, in case
of refusal, he denounced war against Russia. His friends trembled
for his safety; but contrary to expectation, he was dismissed in the
manner usual with ambassadors, and without injury. A body of
Polish troops were now detached into Livonia; Wenden and Dun
neburg were surprised, and an army which the czar had sent to
retake the former place was defeated.
Bathori, in the mean while, was making the most vigorous
preparations for taking the field in person. To effect this, he
requested a contribution from the diet. The nobles, however, were
now beginning to feel their own power, and hesitated at taxing
themselves, though they willingly concurred in laying burthens upon
the other orders of the state. The clergy voluntarily advanced a
considerable sum; but the nobles reluctantly sanctioned a tax of a
florin per acre upon their estates, and three of the most powerful
opposed even this supply. Bathori, with the money thus raised, and
large sums which he borrowed, took the field; and Christopher,
prince of Transylvania, received orders to join his majesty with all
the standing forces of that country. Levies were likewise made in
Germany; a corps of Prussians and Hungarians joined the Poles;
and the royal army was immediately after augmented by 10,000
Lithuanians. At the head of these forces, the king marched towards
the scene of cruelty, and laid siege to Polocz on the Dwina. This
city was one of the strongest places on the frontier; and its situation
rendered it of considerable importance, as it opened a communication .
 HISTORY OF POLAND. 225

between Lithuania and the province of Livonia. It was one of the

towns which had been seduced by the specious promises of Ivan to
surrender its liberties; and its inhabitants were now doomed to
suffer a dreadful punishment for their credulity. As soon as the
Russians received intelligence of the approach of the Polish army,
they resolved to put all the citizens to death, expecting by that
execution to strike terror into the king's troops.
The most shocking spectacle which fancy could have pictured was
presented to Bathori as he advanced: a prodigions number of
mangled bodies, fastened to planks, and panting in the last agonies,
were seen floating on the river. This horrid barbarity, instead of
terrifying, animated the Poles with the most ardent spirit of revenge;
and the place was attacked with determined bravery. Finding that
their cannon made scarcely any impression upon the walls, they
mounted to the assault with burning torches in their hands, set fire
to the wooden fortifications, and would have reduced the city, and
consumed the garrison to ashes, had not a deluge of rain baffled their
endeavours. At last the Hungarians, incensed at the resistance of
the besieged, and encouraged with the king's promise of distributing
the whole booty among the soldiers, advanced to the walls amidst a
furious discharge of artillery from the ramparts, applied their torches,
and soon set the whole in a blaze; upon which the Muscovites
surrendered at discretion.
It reflects the highest honour on Bathori, that he did not retaliate
on the garrison the cruelties they had committed, though he had
scenes before his eyes sufficient to justify the keenest revenge. A
variety of Germans were found in the city, some expiring under the
most dreadful tortures, and others dead of pains which human nature
could not support. Several officers had been plunged in cauldrons
of boiling oil, with a cord drawn under the skin of the umbilical
region, which fastened their hands behind; in this wretched situa
tion their eyes were torn out from the sockets, or burnt with red
hot irons, and their faces otherwise cruelly mangled. The disfigured
carcases evidently declared the treatment which they had met with,
and the dreadful tale was confirmed by the testimony of the few
who survived. The Polish soldiers were wrought up to a degree of
madness: they even sought to lay violent hands on the bloody
authors of this tragedy; and all Bathori's authority could scarcely
prevent the whole Muscovite garrison from falling a sacrifice to their
resentment.
2 F
226 HISTORY OF POLAND.

Unfortunately the humane conduct of the king, on the reduction

of Polocz, was not followed up in other successes to which that event
gave rise. Two detachments from the Polish army penetrated into
the enemy's country by different roads, wasted all before them to
the gates of Smolensko, and returned with the spoils of 2000 towns
and villages, which they had pillaged and destroyed. Such was the
cruel method of carrying on war in the northern kingdoms, the
worst inflictions of which always fell upon the defenceless inhabitants
of the scene of action.
We have already seen that an irregular triple war was carried on
in Livonia during the reign of Sigismund Augustus. The Poles
were at war with the Swedes and Muscovites, the Swedes with the
Poles and Muscovites, and the latter with the Poles and Swedes;
each striving to gain possession of Livonia, and committing the most
cruel ravages on the territories of the others. The Poles and Swedes
at length came to the resolution of compromising their own differ
ences, and falling with their united forces on the savage Russians,
whose numbers seemed to increase notwithstanding the most bloody
and seemingly decisive defeats. In 1579, when this accomodation
was set on foot, Pontus de la Gardie, a French gentleman in the
Swedish service, to whom king John had given his natural daughter
in marriage, was besieging Oesel, after having made great progress
in the reduction of the country. As to the Swedish monarch him
self, he was too much occupied at home by the dissensions consequent
upon his attempts to re-introduce the Catholic religion amongst his
subjects, to bear a proportionate share in the Muscovite war, which
Bathori was of course left to prosecute singly, without any other
assistance than what arose from his own courage and the affection of
his subjects. In these resources, however, he placed the utmost
confidence, and thought it sufficient that he was at liberty to employ
the whole strength of Poland against the czar. He accordingly
made the most vigorous preparations for opening another campaign,
which he doubted not would bring the war to a fortunate issue.
The successes of Bathori had now rendered him an object of jea
lousy to the Polish aristocracy, who feared that a ruler possessing so
much energy might be tempted to infringe upon some of their over
grown privileges and immunities. The Lithuanians, however, were
actuated by a more disinterested spirit, and received him at Wilna
with the most enthusiastic rejoicings. At Warsaw his reception
was characterised by sullenness and silence; and it was with diffi
culty that he procured some supplies from the diet. Zamoiski,
 HISTORY OF POLAND. 227

who, with a few other powerful nobles, had been most active in
assisting the king, was made grand-marshal. An embassy from the
czar arrived at this diet to propose a peace; but Bathori, confident
in his own powers, refused to listen to the terms, and replied that
the next messengers would find him in Russia.
John Sariowzamoski, who had distinguished himself against the
Swedes, was appointed general of the Polish army, and sent, early
in the spring, with a powerful force, to invest Pleskow, one of the
strongest cities possessed by the Russians. In order to open a way
for regular approaches, the strong castle of Ostrow, situated on an
island which covered the city, was first attacked, and carried, after
an obstinate defence, in which the Russians had shewn that they
were not deficient in either courage or military capacity. Upon the
reduction of this castle, trenches were opened before Pleskow ; and
the king arrived in the camp to direct in person the operations of
the siege. The garrison consisted of 7000 men; the fortifications
were extensive and strong; and the enterprise required not only a
numerous army, but the utmost vigilance and conduct. The city
was supplied with all kinds of provision, and was watered by nu
merous streams, which not only furnished water and fish for the
garrison, but greatly impeded the operations of the besiegers, by
filling their trenches, and frequently, upon a flood of rain, destroy
ing their works. It was situated in the midst of a fertile plain, and
was bounded by rugged hills, which confined the Polish camp,
though they were at too great a distance from the place for the
erection of batteries upon them. The strength, as well as the
beauty of Pleskow, was much increased by its being surrounded by
forty monasteries, which formed strong bastions, connected by the
city walls. In the centre rose a massive citadel, which was main
tained by a separate garrison of 2000 Muscovites, and appeared in
a manner impregnable. Some of the Polish officers, intimidated by
the formidable appearance of the place, advised Bathori to relinquish
an enterprize which might prove fatal to his reputation, and to lay
siege to Novogorod; but, animated by difficulties, in surmounting
which he hoped to obtain the greater glory, he rejected this counsel,
and determined to persevere.
The garrison, relying on their own strength, at first made vigo
rous sallies, and fought a number of pitched battles; but in these
they were almost always defeated. The townsmen, however, were
also extremely numerous and warlike, and, joining with the soldiers,
frequently poured forth like a torrent, calling into exertion all the
2 F 2
228 HISTORY OF POLAND.

courage and conduct which Bathori possessed. But the Poles have
ever been invincible in the open field; and the garrison, perceiving
at length that they were weakened by repeated defeats, without
having materially retarded the operations of the Poles, resolved to
remain within their walls, and content themselves with defensive
measures only. The attacks of the Poles were now directed against
one quarter of the town, whilst another was battered by the German
and Hungarian auxiliaries. The latter, having effected a breach,
determined immediately to storm it, and advanced for that purpose;
but their commander being slain, the troops were dispirited, and
were on the point of being totally routed, when the Poles came up
to their assistance, and renewed the battle. They attacked the
breach, entered it, and planted the Polish standard on the tower of
Porchow. Their valour infused new spirit into the Hungarian
troops, who bravely seconded the efforts of the Poles. A lodgment
was effected, and the garrison was about to submit, when the brave
Swisky, who commanded the place, mounted his horse, though
covered with blood and wounds, re-animated the Russians by his
energetic example, led them back to the breach, and checked the
progress of the assailants on the brink of the last ditch which had
been sunk for the defence of the tower. To give a stronger impulse
to the exertions of the garrison, the clergy themselves repaired to
the scene of action, and inspired the troops, by their emphatical dis
course and adjurations, with all the fury and ardour which religion
was capable of imparting. The Poles at length gave way, and were
followed by the Hungarians, after they had maintained their ground
for the whole day, exposed to a galling fire from the artillery of the
tower, and the musketry and arrows of the numerous garrison.
While these events were occurring at Pleskow, several detach
ments of Polish troops fell upon the Russian territory in different
quarters, and reduced a great number of cities, towns, and fortresses.
Immense forests and vast marches, which appeared to render hostile
inroads utterly impracticable, were found to be no defence against
the warriors commanded by king Stephen, who penetrated as far as
Novogorod. These irruptions, together with the necessity to which
the brave garrison of Pleskow was now reduced, at length humbled
the pride of Ivan the Terrible. His desire for peace was increased
by the entrance of a Swedish army into Livonia, under Pontus de
la Gardie, who drove the Russians out of Wikke, Wesenberg, and
Totsburg, and was laying siege to Narva, after having surprised
Ivanogrod on the opposite bank of the river. More effectually to
 HISTORY OF POLAND. 229

accomplish his purpose, the czar proposed to submit the terms of

accommodation to pope Gregory XIII., to secure whose good-will he
feigned an intention of effecting an union between the Greek and
Latin churches, and acknowledging the supremacy of the holy see.
These objects he solemnly promised to accomplish, a splendid em
bassy was sent to Rome, and magnificent presents were made. In
consequence of the apparent sincerity of the imperial convert to the
Catholic church, the pope's nuntio, Cardinal Possevinus, was ap
pointed to open negotiations for restoring the tranquillity of the
north.
The king of Poland, on the other hand, began to see reason for
not being averse to a pacification. He perceived that all the ad
vantages he gained served only to ruin the enemy's country, with
out producing any advantage to his own. He had lost 40,000 men
by the rigour of the season, the fatigue of sieges and marches, and
the desperate valour of the garrison of Pleskow. The severity of
the winter compelled the Poles to convert the siege of this place
into a blockade; but the troops were as much harassed by this ser
vice as they would have been by more vigorous operations, as they
were kept perpetually under arms, to prevent being surprised by
the spirited Swisky, who was using his utmost endeavours to as
semble all the neighbouring garrisons, in order to give battle to the
Polish general Zamoiski. In consequence of the extreme cold and
the scarcity of provisions, diseases now appeared in the camp. The
huts and tents of the soldiers were become solid masses of snow;
and the sentinels, though relieved every hour, were frequently found
dead upon their posts, or so benumbed, that when they recovered
their natural heat, they were seized with ardent fevers. On one
occasion, indeed, the Russian general fell into an ambuscade, while
he was endeavouring to surprise the Polish camp; but the advan
tage gained at this time by Zamoiski was inconsiderable, though it
was purchased with the lives of 1000 of his best soldiers. In short,
every circumstance concurred to render Bathori weary of a war in
which no substantial advantage accrued to his nation, and from
whence he acquired nothing besides the reputation of a skilful ge
neral, and an active, able monarch. He was, moreover, too sincere a
Catholic to resist the desires of the pontiff; and he therefore willingly
listened to the representations of the nuntio.
A treaty of peace was at length signed by the Polish monarch at
Zapolia; whereby the czar yielded up Livonia, which had been the
primary cause of the rupture, and the scene of so many sanguinary
230 HISTORY OF POLAND.

but fruitless contests; and Polotsk, with several other fortresses,

was annexed to Lithuania; while, on the other hand, Bathori with
drew his forces from Pleskow, and restored all the places he had
taken from the Russians, which, indeed, it was not possible for him
to retain. Upon the whole, if the king gained no other advantages
from this war, he secured the important one of disabling a powerful,
turbulent, and ferocious neighbour from again disturbing his govern
ment. The losses he had sustained were indeed considerable; but
they bore no proportion to the sufferings experienced by the hostile
nation, the ruler of which had sacrificed the lives of 400,000 of his
subjects to the desire of reducing a province which did not contain
so many inhabitants. Besides, all the provinces composing the Rus
sian frontier were entirely desolated and converted into a desert ;
the Muscovites were cut off from all communication with the Baltic,
shut up in their forests, excluded from all commerce with other
nations, and deprived of every outlet except what the Artic Ocean
afforded during the few months of the year in which its surface was
unfrozen.
Having thus established the public repose, Bathori, with his
chancellor and General Zamoiski, visited Riga. With the assistance
of that celebrated warrior (who was speedily rewarded for his valour
with the hand of his sovereign's sister) and of the historian Soli
kowski, afterwards bishop of Leopold, the king made several modi
fications in the laws and constitution of Livonia, which was di
vided into three palatinates, provided with a like number of
palatines, castellans, and other officers, in the same manner as those
of Poland. Dietines were appointed to meet at specified times and
places, and full liberty of conscience was guaranteed to the Protes
tant part of the community. It is related, amongst other circum
stances, that Bathori assembled a great number of the Livonian
peasantry, who, though Christians, had been kept in a state of
absolute slavery since the colonization of the country by the Bre
mens. He told them that he had taken compassion on their
wretched condition, and would cause them thenceforth to be better
treated. In particular, he promised to abrogate the custom by
which a peasant, however old and grey-bearded, was cruelly beaten
with rods for any small offence; and that, in lieu of this severe
punishment, he was resolved to order a small fine or imprisonment
to be for the future inflicted. Notwithstanding the apparent graci
* See page 168.
 HISTORY OF POLAND. 231

ousness of this offer, those miserable people, in whom long-continued

slavery had quite obliterated all idea of freedom, considered it as a
new punishment, and, prostrating themselves at the king's feet,
begged for the sake of heaven to be left to their old custom, as they
had found by experience that innovations never brought them any
good, but always laid a more heavy yoke upon them. The king
could not forbear smiling at their simplicity, observing to those near
him, Phryges non nisi plagis emendantur.
Peace was now established between Poland and all the neighbour
ing countries. A treaty had been concluded with the Ottoman Porte
some years before by the Polish ambassador, Lord John of Sienna,
a copy of which may not be uninteresting in this place, as it exhibits
a curious specimen of the diplomacy of the age. The relative posi
tions of Poland and Turkey, then two of the most powerful states
of Europe, whose wars, both before and after that time, were re
garded as of momentous interest to Christendom, form a striking
contrast to their present state. The Christian kingdom has become
(for the present at least) a province of Russia; and the same barba
rous and gigantic power is fast encroaching on the territories and
independence of the Moslem empire.

The League betwixt the most puissant and mighly Princes,

Sultan Amurath the Turkish Emperor, and Stephen King of Polo
nia, agreed upon and concluded at Constantinople, in the year of our
Saviour Christ Jesu 1577, and of the Prophet Mahomet 985.
I Sultan Amurath, the son of Selim Khan, the son of Solyman
Khan, the son of Selim Khan, the son of Bajazet Khan, the
son of the great emperor Mahomet Khan, &c., prince of these
present times, the only monarch of this age, of power able to
confound the power of the whole world, the shadow of divine cle
mency and grace, great emperor of many kingdoms, countries, pro
vinces, cities, and towns; lord of Mecca, that is to say, of the house
of the glory of God, of the resplendent city of Medina, and of the
most blessed city of Jerusalem, prince of the most fruitful country
of Egypt, Yemen, Zenan, Aden, and many other such like: In the
most loving manner declare, That the most glorious and renowned
Stephen, king of Polonia, great duke of Lithuania, Russia, Prussia,
Masovia, Samogitia, Kiovia, Livonia, and many other countries
more; prince of the courageous followers of Jesus, governor of all

* The Phrygians are not corrected otherwise than by stripes.

232 HISTORY OF POLAND.

the affairs of the people and family of the Nazarets, the welcomest
cloud of rain, and most sweet fountain of glory and virtue, eternal
lord and heir of the felicity and honour of the aforesaid noble king
dom of Polonia, unto whom all the distressed repair for refuge, wish
ing a most happy success and blessed end to all his actions: offering
unto us many religious vows and eternal praises, worthy our per
petual love and most holy league, and with great devotion perform
ing these and other like honours, as for the dispatch of his letters to
our most glorious court, for the new confirming of the most sacred
league and confederation with us, sending the honourable Lord John
of Sienna (his most faithful counsellor) his ambassador to our impe
rial court; declaring his love and integrity, and purging himself of all
the suspicion of hostility, hath requested the league and confedera
tion to be renewed. At whose instance we have given these our
letters confirming the said league of peace and confederation: Where
in we command, That none of our counsellors, beglerbegs, sanzakes,
generals of our armies, captains, or servants, shall do, or on my be
half presume to do any hurt unto the kingdom, countries, cities,
castles, towns, islands, or whatsoever else to the kingdom of Polonia
belonging. And in like manner that none of the nobility, generals,
captains, or others whatsoever belonging unto the king of Polonia,
shall dare to do any harm unto my kingdoms, cities, castles, or
towns, confining unto the kingdom of Polonia. In brief, my will
is, that he being a mortal enemy unto my enemies, and a fast friend
unto my friends, shall do no grievance or harm unto any my sub
jects, or things whatsoever unto my jurisdiction belonging. So, in
like manner, commanding also, that no hurt by any means, or for
any occasion, be done by our people unto the subjects, or whatever
else, unto the jurisdiction of the king of Polonia appertaining.
The creatures, ambassadors, messengers, and men of whatsoever
condition else, shall on both sides, freely without let or trouble,
come and go without any harm receiving, either in their persons or
goods. -

It shall be lawful also for the king of Polonia's subjects to seek

throughout our empire for any of the Polonian captives taken before
the time of this league ; and the same so found (if they have not
received the Turkish religion, but still remain Christians) to redeem
without the contradiction of any man.
And that whatsoever shall be taken and carried away after the
confirmation of this league, shall be all again freely and without any
thing paying, delivered and restored.
 HISTORY OF POLANI). 233

That the merchants on both parts may freely traffic with all
kinds of merchandise in the Black and White Sea, as also upon the
main ; and so paying their usual and lawful custom, to be in nothing
wronged or molested.
If any of the Polonian merchants shall die in our dominion, the
goods of him so dead shall not be embezzled, but kept in safety till
his brethren, or other his friends, shall come with the king of Polo
nia's letters; upon the shewing whereof, having also our letters
mandatory, the goods shall be forthwith restored unto the dead
man's heirs. In which sort also my merchants shall be dealt withal,
if any of them shall chance to die in the kingdom of Polonia.
If any wrong be done within the limits of mine empire, unto
any belonging unto the kingdom of Polonia, after the date of these
letters confirming the league, the doer of the wrong shall by my
commandment be sought out, and being found shall be punished,
and the wrong done, without any delay or contradiction, forthwith
recompensed. And the like justice to be also, on the behalf of the
king of Polonia, administered.
If any debtor shall depart out of mine empire into the Polonian
territory, wheresoever he shall chance to be found by his creditor,
he shall be brought to the judge of that place to be examined; and
whatsoever it shall be proved him of right to owe, the judge of that
place shall, according to the equity of the cause, make the creditor
to be satisfied.
But if the debtor himself cannot personally be found, no other
man shall, by reason of another man's debt, be taken, detained, or
molested: neither shall the innocent be troubled for the guilty, in
either or both our kingdoms.
In brief, upon whatsoever conditions and capitulations the league
of peace and confederation was in the time of my father, my grand
father, or great grandfather of famous memory, made with the kings
of Polonia, upon the same conditions and capitulations be it now
made also.

Whatsoever hurt hath hitherto been done to either part, by

reason of the disagreement of the governors and captains, shall all
be on both parties neglected and forgotten.
Also after the time of these letters confirming the league and
confederation, Whereas the king of Polonia shall in time pay a cer
tain sum of money used to be paid unto the Tartars; the Tartar
khan and his son Mirzeleby, their princes, shall restore the same
again, and not to dare to suffer his armies by any means to hurt the
2 G
234 HISTORY OF POLAND.

Polonian territories. So that on the part of the Tartars and their

armies, no harm shall be done unto the kingdom of Polonia; neither,
on the part of the Polonians, to the territories of the Tartars. And
if any harm shall by the Tartars be done in the king of Polonia's
territories, it shall by my commandment be again restored. And
so likewise on the part of the palatine of Moldavia, or the inhabit
ants of the kingdom of Moldavia, no harm shall be done unto the
countries subject unto the king of Polonia; but if any be done and
certainly known, to be by my commandment again recompensed.
On the part also of the king of Polonia and his subjects, what
soever harm shall be done unto the territory or subjects of the
Moldavian palatine or Tartars, the harm so done to be recompensed,
and the doers thereof punished.
Also that all such fugitives as, having done any notorious felo
nies or other villanies in Moldavia, and so are fled into Polonia, shall
at my request, or at the request of the palatine of Moldavia, be re
stored, and in no case denied.
That all the Polonian captives within my dominions, yet pro
fessing the Christian religion, may by the king of Polonia's subjects
be redeemed, not paying any more for them than their lords and
masters paid; every such master of the slave taking his oath that he
cost him so much. But such captives as have received the Turkish
faith, to be forthwith set at liberty. And so the Turkish slaves in
the kingdom of Polonia to be likewise manumised.
That our ambassadors on both sides (so long as we are in league
and amity) may freely come and go, and not be stayed in any place;
and being willing to meet together, may at their pleasure do so.
And being entered into the confines of either part, to be forthwith,
by some good and faithful guide appointed unto them, conducted
unto the place they are to go unto. And this to be on both sides
kept.
No man to dare to hurt or stay any merchant, having paid his
thirtieth part, or lawful custom.
If any of our subjects shall have any suit with the king of Po
lonia's subjects, the judges shall, without delay, be bound to admi
nister justice. All thieves and robbers shall be diligently sought out;
and being found, to be severely punished, and the goods taken away,
without impeachment, to be restored unto the right owners, their
heir, or to the king.
The sanzakes of Silistria and Bolograve, the customers and
water-bailiffs, shall not suffer any man but merchants, and such as


HISTORY OF POLAND. 235

are sent in our service, to pass over the river Neister; who passing
over, if they shall bring with them any slave or bondman out of Po
lonia, he shall be sent back again. The shepherds, if they will
transport their sheep into the jurisdiction of the king of Polonia,
shall not so do without the leave of the Polonian governors, before
whom they shall also number their sheep; of which, if any shall be
lost, the governors shall cause them to be sought for, and to be re
stored unto the shepherds, as also to pay for their hay.
The Sauzii, Janizaries, or posts, shall not dare, in time of peace
or war, to take any horses from the Polonian merchants, or other the
king's subjects coming into our dominions.
The palatines of Moldavia, in whatsoever condition they have
been towards the former kings of Polonia, they shall now also still
be so hereafter. The thirtieths and customs of both parts shall
continue in their old manner, and not be increased. The Polonian
king's subjects and merchants, as well Armenians as of any other
nation, whensoever they shall enter into Moldavia, or any other part
of our empire, shall not travel by uncertain and unknown, but by
the common and high-ways; wherein if they shall suffer any loss
or harm, either in their goods or persons, the doers of such wrongs
shall be sought for, and severely punished. Which merchants shall
be suffered, without any molestation, quietly to come and go, having
paid their thirtieths; and no merchant to be troubled for another's
debt.
If any of the Polonian king's merchants or subjects be willing,
for ready money, to redeem and carry away any slave taken out of
the Polonian kingdom, and yet professing the Christian religion, the
judges shall in no case withstand them, neither presume to take
them from them, or again to redeem them. But if any of such
slaves have received the Turkish religion, they shall not be again
demanded by the king of Polonia.
Such slaves as have not received the Turkish religion, if after
a certain space they shall be set at liberty by their masters, and in
the letters testimonial of their liberty it shall be declared that they
have received the Turkish religion; yet shall they not by the judges
be therefore detained.
In the city of Barusa, the Polonian merchants, having paid
their usual thirtieths, shall not be farther pressed with any other
unusual payment. -

My will is also, that the territories at this present in the pos

session of the king of Polonia, as hereafter to be by him taken from
2 G 2
236 - HISTORY OF POI, AND.

the Muscovite or any other the Christian princes, to be comprised

within this league, and so to be royally by him possessed.
And for the confirmation of the articles and conditions in these
our letters of confederation contained, I swear by the power of the
most mighty God, and of his most holy Prophet, and by the most
clean and pure spirits of all the prophets, That for all the days of
my life, and so long as nothing shall on the behalf of the king of
Polonia be done contrary to the peace and league, nothing shall also
on my part be done contrary unto the same. Witness the Almighty,
the upright Judge and Discerner of men's actions. From Constan
tinople, the year of the most holy Prophet Mahomet 985, the 14th
of the month Cziemassi Eumel, and of Christ 1577.

The politicians of the day beheld this league with displeasure.

The Turkish empire was then regarded with extreme jealousy, and
was considered as only waiting an opportunity to overrun the whole
of Christian Europe. A league of peace, therefore, between the
Porte and a power of such importance as Poland then was, could
not but be looked upon as ominous of ill; and the latter state was
even pitied as, notwithstanding the assurances of friendship from
the sultan, lying still in the lion's mouth, and like enough to be
the next that is devoured of him. How far these forebodings
might have been realized had the league continued to exist, is now
difficult to ascertain ; but there is no doubt that its breach weakened
both nations before the power of the growing empire of Russia,
which has since that event found no check to its ambition, but has
continued to spread its influence, not less barbarous than that of
Islamism, over Europe and Asia.
Bathori now applied his attention to the civil government of his
kingdom, the formation of beneficial laws, the impartial administration
of justice, and the correction of such abuses as had crept into the
government during the late tumults and confusion. The nobles,
since the time of Sigismund Augustus (whose infirmities during his
declining years had prevented him from attending to appeals from
the minor courts), had arrogated to themselves the power of appoint
ing judges to decide in a final manner in all cases, and who were
to be members of the aristocracy. Sigismund, indeed, opposed this
claim ; but it was conceded by Henry. Bathori endeavoured to
abolish the custom, as well as a practice of self-election which the

* Knolles' Hist, of the Turkish Empire, vol. i., p. 657.

 HISTORY OF POLAND. 237

inferior judges in the palatinates exercised, by decreeing that each

great palatinate should elect two nobles, and each small palatinate
one, to decide all disputed cases. Petrikau was fixed as the place
of meeting for those of Great Poland, and Lublin for those of Little
Poland. An appeal lay from these courts to a supreme tribunal at
Cracow, in the proceedings of which the king might constitutionally
take a part. In Lithuania, similar tribunals were established. By
these measures the inconvenience and confusion attendant on a
multiplicity of appeals from the inferior courts to the assemblies of
the palatines, and from the latter to the king, were avoided.
Another reform planned by the king was the remodelling of his
cavalry, in which consisted the chief strength of Poland, upon the
most efficient plans. From this monarch the Polish cavalry received
those regulations which afterwards rendered them so formidable to
the Russians, Turks, and other neighbours. This is the military
establishment to which the Poles gave the appellation of Quartienne,
because a fourth of the revenue was assigned for its maintenance.
To check the incursions of the barbarian Tartars, Bathori sent this
body of cavalry towards the frontiers; and by this means the Ukraine,
a vast tract of hitherto desert country, was filled with flourishing
towns and villages, and formed into a strong barrier against the
Turks, Tartars, and Muscovites.
But the measure which reflects the greatest glory on the memory
of Stephen Bathori, was the wise and politic plan he adopted for
disciplining the Cossacks, and attaching them to the Polish crown.
As these people have continued, since his time, to act a conspicuous
part in the affairs of Europe, a brief account of them may not be
inappropriate here.
According to Alberto Vimiria, this people derive their name from
the Sclavonic word Coza, which signifies a goat, either because they
clothed themselves with the skins of those animals, or lived like
them in woods, mountains, and forests. Some, again, say that Cosa,
in the Sclavonic language, signifies a scythe, the ordinary weapon
which the Cossacks anciently used; while others affirm that the
word Cossack, in the same tongue, signifies robber. The latter opi
nion is supported by the fact, that the Cossacks were originally a
set of banditti, who had fled from Poland, Lithuania, Tartary, Tur
key, and the neighbouring countries, and settled in the islands
formed in the outlet of the Boristhenes, or Neiper, and the immense
plains of the Ukraine. They were at first called Zaporonski, or
Zaporiensis, from the Poroni, or cataracts and rocks in the river.
238 HISTORY OF POLAND.

The Turks usually styled them Russians, from their dwellings being
partly in Red Russia, and partly in Besserabia, between the rivers
Boristhenes and Neister.
The Cossacks, at an early period, rendered themselves terrible to
the Turks, on account of their invasions by way of the Black Sea.
In 1548, during the reign of Sigismund I., they were only volun
teers of the frontiers of Russia, Volhynia, Podolia, and the other
provinces of Poland, who assembled together partly to defend them
selves from the Tartars, by securing the passes of the Boristhenes,
and attacking them as they returned with their prey; and partly to
rob upon the Black Sea, where, in consequence of the rich booty
they obtained, they drew many into their association. At first they
amounted to about 6000, under Eustachicus Descovitus, their gene
ral; but their numbers were quickly increased from the neighbour
ing countries. Sometimes they made descents upon Natolia, and
plundered the great towns, as Trebisond and Sinope; at other times
they even advanced within two miles of Constantinople, and carried
off booty and prisoners.
A part of the plunder taken by these marauders was carried to
their own houses, and the rest they laid up in some magazine, shel
tered by the Poroni, or Poronki, (rocks) in the Boristhenes. Of
these there are thirteen chains, which cross the river, and render
the navigation from the Ukraine to the Black Sea impracticable.
Some of these rocks are under water, and others above, as large as
houses, very near to each other, and impeding the course of the
stream; so that, when the water is low, they form cataracts, in some
cases fifteen feet high; but in the spring, when the melted snow
swells the river, nearly all the rocks are covered with water. Near
the lowest Poroni, the river is not above 150 paces broad; and this
place therefore afforded the easiest passage to the Tartars. No one
could be enlisted amongst the Cossacks until he had passed in his
little boat all the Poronis, and from thence by the mouth of the
Boristhenes into the Black Sea. Their principal rendezvous, or
magazine, was upon an island in the river, surrounded by a vast
number of small ones; some of them dry, and others overflown in
the spring. Many were mere morasses; but all of them were co
vered with reeds, &c., as large as pikes, which hid the passages
between the islands, and formed a labyrinth, known only to the
Cossacks, who called it Scarbniza-Woyskona, or the treasury of the
army. Here they laid up their money and ordnance. The Turks
lost many galleys among these islands, which fell into the hands of
 HISTORY OF POLAND. 239

the Cossacks, their own crews not being able to disentangle them.
The river at this place was three miles wide, and was usually crossed
in flat-bottomed boats.
The first objects of the Cossacks, in preparing for an expedition,
were to chuse a general, and construct their boats. The latter were
called Colna, and were about 60 feet long, 12 feet deep, and as many
wide. They were built very light, one plank pinned on the edge of
another, and widening upwards. At each end they had a stem, and
there were about twelve or fifteen oars on a side. Having no deck,
they were, to prevent their sinking when filled with water, com
passed about with a border of reeds, as large as a barrel, tied toge
ther, and fastened to the boat with ropes. This method of building
made the boats, when full manned, lie so deep in the water that they
could not be seen at any great distance; and yet, from their light
ness, they went at a great rate, so as to be in no danger when pur
sued by any kind of shipping then in use amongst the Turks. They
had a sort of wretched mast and sail; but these were seldom used
except in very fine weather. Their provision was a ton of biscuit,
which was taken out of the bung as wanted, a barrel of boiled millet,
and another of paste, made with water, which was eaten with the
millet. Every boat was provided with five or six falconets, or small
pieces of cannon, and carried about 60 persons; each man having
two guns. They set out about the beginning of June, and returned
about the first of August.
The Cossack pirates waited for a dark night, that they might pass
undiscovered by the Turkish galleys which lay at Oczakow to inter
cept them. In their frail vessels they cruized over all the Black
Sea, and appeared likely to become able navigators. No sooner had
the Turks intelligence that the Cossacks were at sea, than the alarm
was taken immediately, which quickly reached Constantinople, from
whence couriers were despatched to the coasts of Natolia, Romelia,
and Bulgaria, to put the inhabitants upon their guard; though it
not unfrequently happened that the Cossacks were on these coasts
forty hours before the arrival of the messengers. If they spied 8.
galley, they kept at a distance till night, observed the course of the
vessel, and, when it was dark, came up and boarded it. They took
all the ammunition, money, and merchandise, and then sunk the
ship, as they had neither skill nor opportunity to use it. If a galley
discovered them in the day-time (which was very uncommon, from the
lowness of their vessels in the water), they avoided fighting, by
rowing away from her, or retiring to shallows among reeds, where
 240 HISTORY OF POI, AND.

the galley could not follow them. About the end of the season,
these adventurers separated, and agreed upon the time and place of
rendezvous next spring, in the isles and rocks of the Boristhenes,
whence they returned to their piracy.
The government of the Cossacks was entirely military, insomuch
that in time of peace they had scarcely any magistrates or laws;
but when the nation by whom they were protected (which, at the
era we have arrived at, was Poland), proposed that they should rises
and take the field, the first step was to allow them to elect a general
from amongst themselves, who, in their language, is still called
Hetman, or Hatman, answering to the title of Imperator amongst
the ancient Romans. He had the absolute command so long as the
war continued, and indeed sometimes for a considerable period
afterwards, as it was not always found easy to depose a person who
had once tasted the sweets of power. Under this commander, how
ever, the Cossacks carried on warfare in their own way. They
handled their guns very dexterously, and had scythes set length-ways
upon poles, with which they fought very fiercely, and at the same time
skilfully; so that regular troops were often beaten by them. They
were, at that period, very indifferent horsemen, but excellent soldiers
on foot. They were inured to all manner of fatigues and hardships,
obedient to their commanders, active, and dexterous in intrenching
themselves, not only in the ordinary way, but also by making a fence
of their baggage-waggons, which covered them as they marched.
These moving intrenchments were absolutely necessary for them,
when they marched without horse in the open deserts and plains of
the Tartars, against whom they were forced to stand wherever they
met them. Instances have occurred in which 1000 Cossack foot,
marching betwixt their chariots and waggons, have, in a plain, re
pulsed 5 or 6000 Tartar cavalry, whose horses, though swift, were
but weak, and stopped by the least barricade. But, it must be ob
served, this way of marching, in the midst of their baggage and
ammunition waggons, would scarcely have been practicable in any
other countries than Poland and the deserts of Tartary, which lie
on a level. When they encamped, they endeavoured always to have
a river in front and a morass in their rear, covering their flanks with
their intrenchment of waggons; and by means of this discipline,
they sometimes defeated troops that would have appeared terrible
to the best-regulated armies.
The manners of the Cossacks were like those of soldiers, not being
solicitous about the future, but spending freely what they had
 * HISTORY OF POLAND. 241

amongst their companions, and leaving to-morrow to shift for itself.

They were very inconstant and mutinous, and apt to pursue present
advantages rather than their faith and promise. They were hard
drinkers; but, on account of their mode of life, war and piracy
being their business, and hunting and fishing their amusements,
they generally enjoyed good health. They were of good stature,
strong, nimble, indefatigable, great lovers of liberty, and uneasy
under any yoke. As the greater part of them derived their origin
from Lithuania, sentiments of affection were long cherished by them
towards the people of that country. In general, they professed the
Greek religion; though many followed the tenets of the church of
Rome, some embraced the doctrines of Luther, and, from their
proximity to Turkey and Tartary, Islamism and even Paganism
were not uncommon. Indeed, amongst a body of people constituted
as the Cossacks were, it may naturally be inferred that none of the
above religious parties would long retain their distinctive opinions,
that no great attention would be paid to doctrines, and that a mix
ture or amalgamation of creeds would be propagated. Their lan
guage was a dialect of the Sclavonic, extremely soft and musical,
as it abounded with diminutives. It was very common amongst
them for maids to woo the men. If a young woman fell in love with
a young man, she was not ashamed to go to his father's house,
and reveal her passion in the most tender expressions, accompanied
by promises of obedience if he pleased to accept her in marriage. If
she was rejected by the man on account of his youth, his disinclina
tion to marriage, or any other such cause, she told him that she was
resolved never to go out of the house till he consented, and according
ly took up her lodging there. To force her out would have been to
provoke all her kindred ; nor would the church have suffered them
to use any violence towards her without inflicting heavy penance,
and branding the house with infamy; so that, after two or three weeks,
the parents, or the young man himself, being moved with the con
stancy of the woman, accommodated matters as well as they could,
and made up the match.
The Ukraine (signifying a frontier country, or The Marches)
abounded with saltpetre ; and the Cossacks excelled in the art of
making gunpowder, with which they supplied several parts of
Europe. As they became numerous, they extended their territory
above 100 leagues in length, and became a most powerful and for
midable people, masters of a country so fruitful, that half the corn
was annually wasted for want of the means of transporting it to
11 2 H
242 History of Poland.

other nations. They did not, however, bestow much labour or time
in planting or the improvement of their country, which, from its
situation amongst so many hostile nations, has never been brought
into any tolerable condition. Besides, the Cossacks, like the Buc
caneers in America, were planters only by accident; they looked
upon living at home as a hardship, unless in the time they wanted
winter quarters; for their proper business was war, and they grew
rich, not by industry, but plunder. They were hence regarded by
their neighbours, with some degree of justice, as barbarians.
Such were the men whom the Polish monarch resolved to render
serviceable to his country, and to civilize and instruct in the arts of
war and peace. Amongst the peasants on the estates belonging to
Lithuanian nobles in the Ukraine, during the reign of Sigismund I.,
was one named Ostafi Daskiewitz. This man, who possessed a
strength of mind superior to his station in life, was the first who
divided the Cossacks into regiments, and taught them discipline.
Sigismund was fully aware of the value of such troops, and rewarded
Daskiewitz with the starosty of Tserkassy, and the government of
some fortified places near the Boristhenes. Unfortunately, however,
that sovereign had not the means or the opportunity of putting into
effect the excellent advice he received from the new starost, namely,
to maintain a kind of floating army on the river, consisting of 10,000
Cossacks, who, in the rudely constructed rafts which they used,
might have prevented any enemy from effecting a passage, and
would thus have formed a complete barrier against the irruptions of
the Tartars. For the support of this force, it was suggested that
small bodies of cavalry might be employed in foraging. But the
most important counsel given by Daskiewitz was to build forts and
small towns on the banks and islands of the Boristhenes. If Bathori
did not attempt those excellent precautions, he certainly effected
much in cultivating the affection of the Cossacks, which he first en
deavoured to gain by his liberality. He presented them with the
city of Techtemeravia, situated on the Boristhenes, which they form
ed into a magazine and the residence of their chieftains. He gave
them officers of all degrees, established discipline amongst them,
altered their arms, and formed them into a regular militia, which
afterwards performed eminent services to Poland. This force was
divided into six regiments, each consisting of ten companies of 100
men each, and commanded by a hetman. The grand-hetman, or
commander-in-chief, was invested with the symbols of his dignity
by the king. These consisted of an ensign, a bonzuk or horse-tail,
 HISTORY OF POLAND. 243

a club-shaped baton, and a mirror. As the Cossack militia were

foot soldiers, Bathori joined to them the 2000 Quartienne cavalry
mentioned above; and these forces so well secured the frontier,
that the country beyond Breslaw, Bar, and Kiow, between the
Neister and the Boristhenes, was re-peopled, the towns rebuilt, and
colonies planted there from the neighbouring nations. Amongst
the Cossacks were erected all kinds of trades and manufactures
then known in Poland. While the men were cultivating the earth,
and learning the arts of brewing, malting, and baking, the women
were employed in spinning and weaving woollen and linen cloths.
The ties of gratitude were thus added to their former allegiance;
and for many years they faithfully rendered the most effectual as
sistance to the republic, until, by a series of intolerable injuries,
they were converted from friends into implacable and dreadful ene
mies.
Though Bathori was thus exerting himself in securing the sta
bility and welfare of his dominions, he did not escape the envy and
jealousy which attend superior merit in all countries, but which, in
a most special manner, too frequently actuated the haughty aristo
cracy of Poland. The assertion of their liberties was often expressed
in the language of insult to their king, who could not, with all his
energy, repress their licentious outrages. Amongst the most turbu
lent were the family of Zborowski, whose insolence, during the
reign of Henry,t was in no degree abated under his more spirited
successor. Samuel Zborowski, who had been banished for the
murder of the castellan Wapowski, had the hardihood to return to
Poland on the accession of Bathori; and, as if to aggravate his
former crimes and in defiance of the laws, he joined a faction which
had for its object the destruction of Zamoiski, starost of Cracow.
That nobleman, however, had obtained information of their proceed
ings, but contented himself with cautioning Zborowski not to dis
turb the peace of the state, or even to appear in public whilst his
late sentence was still in force. If he persisted in so doing, he was
informed that the laws should be put in execution against him.
But this advice was thrown away upon the ferocious Zborowski,
who, inflamed by the magnanimity of his intended victim to further
* It is a well-known fact that the Cossacks of the present day serve as caval
ry. Indeed, the exploits of these semi-barbarous warriors, in the memorable
pursuit of the French army from Moscow, are too recent to render any account
of their modern mode of warfare necessary here.
# See page 213.
2 G 2
244 HISTORY OF POLAND.

outrage, engaged a party of ruffians to post themselves in the way

of the starost, and to murder him as he passed. This diabolical plot,
however, also reached the ears of Zamoiski, who, aware of the dis
position of his antagonist, had caused his motions to be watched,
and himself taken into custody. Further lenity to such a man
would have been criminal, and the starost laid the affair before the
king, who directed that the laws should be put in force. In the
course of Zborowski's examination, he admitted the existence of a
conspiracy, the object of which was nothing less than to depose or
assassinate the king, and in which his brothers, Andrew and Chris
topher Zborowski, were implicated. Sentence of death was now
pronounced against Samuel, who was beheaded at Cracow; and, in
order to examine the truth of the charges he had made against his
brothers, the senate assembled at Lublin. With that defiance of
law which the constitution of Poland too frequently enabled the
aristocracy to practise, the two culprits appeared to take their trial
at the head of large bodies of armed men, hoping thereby to intimi
date their judges into a favourable verdict. But Bathori was not a
man to be overawed in the discharge of his duty as king and judge;
and he carried on the proceedings with a degree of vigour that
damped the mendacious boldness of the offenders. The conscious
ness of guilt also depressed them at least as much as the firmness of
the king; and the haughtiness of their carriage was changed to the
humility of the suppliant for mercy. Their trial was conducted
with the strictest impartiality, and concluded by their being found
guilty, on the clearest proof, of high treason. Some qualifying cir
cumstances, however, appeared in the case of Andrew, and his
sentence was postponed to the meeting of the ensuing diet; but
Christopher was condemned to death. The nobility, though they
could not but acquiesce in the justice of the decision, were now
alarmed by the promptness with which the king had proceeded
against one of the most powerful families of their order, and earnestly
besought him to pardon the offenders; but this he decidedly refused.
Christopher, however, escaped into Germany; and, before the time
arrived for the judgment of Andrew, the king was no more.
During the events above narrated, a negotiation had been carrying
on with the king of Sweden respecting Livonia. The Polish mo
narch argued that the whole province, including Esthonia, had been
originally ceded to Sigismund Augustus; that, during the war with
Russia, the Swedes had contented themselves with taking possession
of towns in Livonia, whilst the Poles were carrying on the war in
 HISTORY OF POLAND. 245

the enemy's country; and that the agreement which had been en
tered into, whereby it was specified that each power should retain
those parts it conquered, related only to the conquests made in
Russia. He further offered, if Sweden would give up Esthonia, to
reimburse that nation for the expenses of the war. The king of
Sweden retorted that his people had fought as bravely for Livonia
as the Poles, and wondered that his brother-in-law, king Stephen,
should endeavour to deprive him of the price of his victories, instead
of thanking him for his assistance. He also demanded 300,000 rix
dollars as the dowry of his queen, and concluded his reply by saying
that there remained the race of the ancient Goths, who formerly
conquered Europe and Asia, and who did not fear either the Russian
or Polish sabres, but knew how to maintain and keep what they had
gained by their valour.
In a diet at Warsaw king Stephen demanded an increase of the
taxes, for the purpose of commencing a war with Sweden and the
Tartars. But the deputies were, as usual, unwilling to grant sup
plies; and the king urging his demand with much earnestness, some
of them retorted with a freedom of speech only to be found in a
Polish diet. One of them, in particular, said, Whilst your majesty
keeps our privileges as you have promised and sworn, you are our
good king; if not, you are but Stephen Bathori, and I am James
Niemiokowski. -

It would appear that the Polish system of government, introduced

into Livonia by Bathori, did not entirely satisfy the inhabitants of
that country; but what added most to their discontent was the ap
pointment of a college of Jesuits, consisting of a principal and twelve
brethren, at Riga. These instigated the new bishop of Wenden to
attempt the conversion of the serfs in his diocese to the Catholic
religion; and he, having made the proposal to them, gave them a
month to consider of their answer. Having consulted amongst
themselves, they replied, That they were simple and ignorant, and
had been brought up in the Protestant religion, in which they saw
their lords and masters continue, who understood much better than
themselves what was good or bad; and since they (their masters)
without doubt were not willing to go to the devil, he should first
endeavour to convert those masters, and afterwards come to them.
As the Jesuits continued to proceed in the work of proselytism,
and were regarded by the Protestant inhabitants of Riga with jea
lousy and dislike, several disturbances, affrays, and even murders
were perpetrated by the contending parties. At length, the citizens,
 246 HISTORY OF POLAND.

to put a stop to such outrages, sent a message to the governor of

Livonia, Cardinal Radzivil, with the threatening information that
they in Riga had ere now put one of their archbishops backwards
on a mare, and led him thus out of the town. A temporary calm
suceeded this demonstration of opinion.
On the death of Duke Magnus of Holstein, Cardinal Radzivil
took possession, in the name of Poland, of some of his territories in
Livonia, and advanced to seize on Pilten. But the inhabitants of
that place participated in the general dislike which pervaded the
province towards the predominance of Poland, and they now volun
tarily placed themselves under the protection of Frederick II. of
Denmark, brother to Duke Magnus. When the troops sent by the
cardinal approached the town, they were repulsed by the force in
the place, which attacked them with great spirit. This transaction
gave rise to an angry negotiation between the courts of Poland and
Denmark; and a war was only prevented by the mediation of
George Frederick, marquis of Brandenburgh and duke of Prussia.
The czar Feodor Vasilievitch, on the death of his father, Ivan
the Terrible, sent a splendid embassy to king Stephen, with the

* Many of the actions of this extraordinary man have been recorded in the
foregoing pages. He has been generally represented by most writers, with much
justice, as a most despotic tyrant; yet even his character has been overcharged
by many historians. Thus, some assert that when he walked out, or made
a progress through his dominions, if he met any one whose mien displeased him,
he would order his head to be struck off, or do it himself. Others as absurdly
relate, that he would order bears to be let loose upon a crowd of people assem
bled in the streets of Moscow, and diverted himself with the cries and agonies
of the persons devoured by these ferocious animals. Olearius informs us, that
Ivan wantonly commanded the eyes of the architect, who built the church of the
Holy Trinity at Moscow, to be put out, that he might never construct any
building of superior beauty. These incredible tales confute themselves; and it
is certainly a work of supererogation to enhance the cruelties of Ivan. His ca
reer was closed by his striking his eldest son on the head with a staff whilst
in one of his paroxysms of rage. The blow proved fatal; and an agony of grief
and remorse occasioned the death of the father. Ivan at one time sent an en
voy to England to demand the Lady Ann Hastings, daughter of the Earl of
Huntingdon, in marriage, though his wife Maria Feoderofma was still living;
and he even threatened, on obstacles being thrown in his way, to come to Eng
land in person, and marry some one of the ladies in Queen Elizabeth's court.
Yet, notwithstanding the ferocity and implacability of his temper, his political
character was respectable. He gave to his subjects, says a late writer, the
first code of written laws; he invited foreign artists to Moscow; he introduced
printing into Russia; he promoted commerce, and regulated the duties of export
and import; he permitted English merchants to establish factories within his
 HISTORY OF POLAND. 247

intention of perpetuating the truce then existing. But the tergi

versations of the late tyrant, with regard to his proposed conversion
to the Catholic faith, had provoked the papal court; and Cardinal
Possevinus and other Jesuits now urged to the king, that as the czar,
so far from becoming a son of the church, had not even received the
Roman Almanack or the Gregorian style, he had given just cause
for breaking off the truce. Bathori's inclinations tended in the
same direction; but the nobility refused their sanction, and the
diet, at which the subject was discussed, was broken up in confusion.
As the dispute concerning Pilten, likewise, was then undecided,
the king consented to prolong the truce with Muscovy for two
years.
The dissatisfaction which still prevailed in Riga with regard to
the introduction of the Jesuits, which was considered as a covert
attack upon the Reformed faith, afforded an apparently favourable
opportunity for the Swedes to break the convention which had been
entered into respecting Livonia, and to endeavour to gain possession
of the disaffected city. A revolt was planned by the inhabitants;
and Gotthard Wellinger, their syndic, had commenced a negotia
tion for introducing a Swedish garrison into the city. The king had
no sooner received intelligence of this conspiracy, than he summon
ed the pospolite, caused his army to advance to Riga, and built a
fortress on the opposite bank of the Dwina to keep the enemy with
in bounds, and prevent their making incursions. The disaffected
citizens, in consequence of these vigorous measures, found them
selves under the necessity of imploring pardon; and, for this pur
pose, they solicited the mediation of the duke of Courland. But
Bathori would listen to no excuses, being resolved to punish their
direliction from duty with the utmost severity. Before he could
execute his vengeance, however, he was carried off, as some allege,
in an epileptic fit; which one writer attributes to the violent rage
he was thrown into at the sight of the envoys from Riga, and which
ended in an universal spasm of the nervous system. His last words,
however, In manus tuas, Domine, commendo spiritum meum, have

dominions; and, with a liberality not always practised by more enlightened so

vereigns, granted to them the free exercise of their religion. He had even form
ed the design, which death alone prevented, of instituting various seminaries for
the cultivation of the Latin and German languages. In a word, he may fairly
be esteemed one of those sovereigns who have contributed to improve and civi
lize their subjects.
248 HISTORY OF POLAND.

been adduced as evidence of his religious sincerity, which was called

in question by some of his contemporaries.
The death of Stephen Bathori occurred at Grodno on the 12th of
December, 1586, in the 54th year of his age. He had removed
his residence to that city, as was alleged, to gratify his passion for
hunting; but it has been imagined that he was actuated by other
motives, and particularly by a desire of living at a distance from
his wife, who, being in the 52nd year of her age when he married
her, was not endowed with any winning attractions, if she had not
brought a kingdom for her portion. The character and conduct of
this monarch have been represented as nearly irreproachable. Gal
lant, active, prudent, and just even to rigour, he equally commanded
the respect, and won the affections of his people. His vigour, de
cision, and high reputation gained him the crown; his wisdom and
vigilance preserved it untarnished by the smallest blemish, and
transmitted it in its full lustre to his successors. It was a rule
with him to dispose of all honours and employments according to
merit; and hetwas a constant benefactor to literature and science.
Indeed, his own proficiency in several languages, and particularly
the Latin, was unequalled; and with the various subjects of history
and political information he was also intimately acquainted. To
him the university of Wilna owes its foundation; and he incited its
students to exertion and diligence by the prospect of honourable em
ployments. Though, as has been seen, he was warmly attached to the
Catholic faith, and endeavoured to propagate it amongst those whom
it was his fortune to govern, yet he never sought by intolerant
measures to crush those who differed with him in religion. The fol
lowing answers to the persons who urged him to such proceedings,
will ever endear his memory to all just men:I reign over per
sons; but it is God who rules the conscience.Know that God
has reserved three things to himself; the creation of something out
of nothing, the knowledge of futurity, and the government of the
conscience. Notwithstanding his good sense, however, there was
a violence in his temper which sometimes transported him to an ex
cess bordering upon madness; a failing to which, as we have seen,
his death has been imputed. By his subjects, the virtues enume
rated in the following epitaph were literally attributed to him:-

In templo plus quam sacerdos.

In republic plus quam rew.
In sententia dicenda plus quam juris consultus.
 HISTORY OF POLAND. 249

In exercitu plus quam imperator.

In acie plus quam miles.
In adversis preterendis injuriisque condonandus, plus quam vir
In public libertate tuend, plus quam civis,
In amicitia colenda, plus quam amicus.
w In convictu plus quam familiaris.
In venatione,ferisque domandis, plus quam Leo.
In tot reliqua vit plus quam philosophus.

In this reign the regal power was abridged by the appointment of

the permanent council specified in the Pacta Conventa of Henry de
Valoist In 1578, Bathori relinquished, as above stated, the supreme
jurisdiction, or the power of judging in the last resort the causes of
the nobles, excepting such as arose within a small distance; of the
sovereign's place of residence, Bathori, a few months before his
death, endeavoured to prevail on the diet to fix the succession, with
a view, as was supposed, of retaining the crown in his own family,
and transmitting it to his brother, as he himself had no issue. All
his attempts, however, proved fruitless: the states were resolved to
exclude their monarchs from any influence in elections, and to pre
serve their own rights inviolate; a resolution which gave great offence
to Bathori, who had never in any other particular deviated from the
constitution. Whatever lurking ambition might have been conceal
ed in the king's proposals, subsequent events have proved their pru
dence as regarded the welfare of the republic.
* In the church more than a priest.
In the state more than a king.
In giving his opinion more than a lawyer.
In the army more than a commander.
In the field more than a soldier.
In bearing adversity and forgiving injuries more than a man.
In defending public liberties more than a citizen.
In cultivating friendship more than a friend.
In company more than an acquaintance.
In hunting and taming wild beasts more than a lion.
In every part of his life more than a philosopher.
f See page 209.
f. The courts exercising justice in the king's name within the district were
called Assessoria Regni. Until the death of John Sobieski, the kings judged
frequently in person; but this ceased to be the custom from the time of Augustus
I., and the grand-chancellor exercised, in his majesty's name, that branch of
royal prerogative.
See page 183.
2 I
 250 HISTORY OF POLAND.

SIGISMUND III. (VAsA).1587-1632.

All the bad passions which had been kept in check by the superior
mind of Bathori, burst forth upon his death; and complaints, mur
murs, and defiances resounded from all parts of the republic. At
the diet of election, the Lithuanians demanded that Livonia, Podo
lia, and Volhynia should be incorporated with their duchy, and
complained that the elections of Henry and Stephen had been made
without their participation. The Prussians also made out a long
catalogue of grievances, which, though mostly imaginary, had a
tendency to augment the confusion; while the Livonians dwelt with
equal vehemence on the infractions made in their treaty with the
late king, chiefly with regard to the Catholic religion. The inhabit
ants of Riga also complained of many encroachments; and, finding
the diet not disposed to redress them, they drove the Jesuits out of
their city. The flame of hatred that existed between the families of
Zamoiski and Zborowski, and which had been with difficulty smo
thered during the late reign, was now rekindled with redoubled
fury. Each appeared at the diet with large bodies of armed men.
Those belonging to Zborowski amounted to no less than 10,000;
and though the Zamoiski force was smaller in number, it was more
select and effective. These two armies took up positions within
sight of each other, and there appeared every probability of their
coming to an action; but the senate, with the primate at their head,
in order to prevent such a catastrophe, issued an order that no person
in arms should be suffered to remain on the field. Indeed the re
quisite order for proceeding to business was only restored in conse
quence of a threat from the great body of the nobility, who had taken
no part in the various factions of the day, that they would sweep
away all before them.
The house of Austria, as usual, put forth a claim to the vacant
throne of Poland; and there were no less than three princes of that
family, Ernest, Matthias, and Maximilian, amongst the candidates
The czar of Muscovy, Feodor Vasilievitch, was also a competitor,
and possessed many friends amongst the Lithuanians; but though
the crown of Poland was at this time literally elective, yet both the
Poles and the people of the grand-duchy still retained a great affec
tion for the remains of the Jagellon family. Hence the claims of
Sigismund, prince royal of Sweden, and grandson of Sigismund
.*
 HISTORY OF POLAND. 251

I., were looked upon most favourably. The widow of Bathori,

aunt of the prince, formed a strong party in his favour, amongst
whom was the powerful commander-in-chief of the army, Zamoiski.
It is needless to say that the Zborowskis opposed the prince, and
supported the archduke Maximilian. The influence of the queen
dowager, however, as well as of the ecclesiastical order, together
with the interest of the senate, the army, and the Ottoman Porte,
were all exerted in favour of Sigismund, who was nominated by the
primate, and proclaimed by Zamoiski in the absence of the marshals,
on the 9th of August, 1587. In the mean while, the Zborowskis
and their party nominated and proclaimed Maximilian with similar
formalities.
The terms and views upon which Sigismund accepted the Polish
crown will be best developed by a slight glance at Swedish history.
He had declared himself a Catholic, and was hence unfavourable to
the established religion of Sweden. Some of the stipulations of the
Pacia Conventa were, consequently, rather prejudicial to the in
terests of the latter country; particularly one whereby it was pro
posed to annex Swedish Livonia to Poland. This, however, was
objected to by the Swedish ambassadors at Warsaw; and the queen
dowager prevailed on the diet to defer that article till the new king's
arrival. The Articles of Henry were guaranteed, and an offen
sive and defensive alliance concluded between Poland and Sweden.
It was stipulated that the kingdom of Sweden should belong to
Sigismund after his father's death, and that the succession to that
crown should be hereditary to his posterity; he having, during his
life, the privilege of visiting Sweden personally when necessity de
manded, with the consent of the Polish diet. He was, when re
quired, to keep a fleet at his own charge for the use of the realm of
Poland, and to furnish the Poles with artillery. Foreign troops
might be introduced by him into the kingdom, which were to be
paid at his own charge, and dismissed as soon as their services were
no longer required. No Swedes were to be admitted into the Polish
councils, or to places of trust and profit ; and his guards were to be
exclusively composed of Poles and Lithuanians. The Poles were to
enjoy the free navigation of the Baltic ; five fortresses were to be
erected on as many weak parts of the frontier; the national debts
were to be discharged; and all public and religious privileges pre
served. These terms were accepted by John king of Sweden, but
rejected by his brother Charles duke of Sudermania, then the idol
of the Swedish nation.
2 I 2
252 HISTORY OF POLAND.

As it appeared necessary to have recourse to force to put down

the party of Maximilian, the states of Sweden resolved to support
the election of Sigismund, provided the Poles would desist from their
claim upon Livonia. There can be little doubt that the Poles had
hoped, by so tempting an object as their crown, to induce both king
John and his son to have annexed that province to the kingdom of
Poland. In this, however, they were disappointed; for, as the
Swedish monarch was naturally averse to the dismemberment of his
dominions, the consideration of the subject was postponed till after
his death; and the intervening events precluded all further notice
of the subject. Before the prince's departure, the king charged him
not to quit his ships at Dantzick until the Poles had renounced their
pretensions on Esthonia; and the states obliged him to sign the fol
lowing assurances:
That whenever he should return into Sweden, he would bring no
more Catholic priests with him than he had kept at his father's court
previous to his departure, nor grant them any further liberties.
That he would promote none to dignities in Sweden who were not
of the Confession of Augsburgh, nor suffer any other religion to be
publicly professed there. That such priests as accompanied him out
of Poland, should return thither with him again; and that, during
their stay in Sweden, they should not interfere in public affairs,
teach schools, or apply the name of heretic to any person. That he
should not suffer the pope to bring in any archbishop or bishop, or
introduce the Roman style. At least once in three years he was to
visit Sweden, where the arms and title of that country were to be
preferred to those of Poland. He was not to alienate any of the
Swedish provinces, &c. Lastly, it was stipulated that if king Sigis
mund should at any time receive a papal dispensation from these
assurances and engagements, the Swedes should, on their part, be
released from their allegiance, oath, and fidelity, by which they
were bound to him. Some of these conditions, it may be observed,
were such as were impossible to be adhered to by one who ruled at
once over a Catholic and a Protestant country, and were even then
thought to be so framed as to set him aside from the Swedish suc
cession, in favour of his uncle, duke Charles.
Such was the state of affairs when Sigismund arrived at Dantzick.
As the Poles still urged the cession of Esthonia as an article of the
Pacta Conventa, he refused for some time to land; but, in conse
quence of the importunities of the Polish senate, who threatened to
send him back to Sweden if he refused to ratify the agreement, he
 HISTORY OF POLAND. 253

at length declared himself as follows:Concerning that part of

Livonia which is at present in the possession of the king of Sweden
our father, it is agreed between us and the states of Poland that
the whole affair shall be left undetermined, until we ourselves shall
come to succeed in Sweden. It has even been added by some his
torians that he secretly wrote to the governors in the disputed pro
vince, cautioning them that if they should receive any orders from
him in favour of Poland, they should not obey, but look upon them
as extorted from him. He arrived at Cracow on the 1st of December,
and ostensibly agreed to all that was demanded of him by Zamoiski
and the Poles. On the 16th of the same month, Maximilian arrived
at Mogila, to assert his claim to the throne. As an army of German
auxiliaries was on its march towards the capital, a contest became
inevitable; and Zamoiski marched against the Imperialists, who
were defeated and driven back. Sigismund was consequently
crowned on the 27th, and took the required oaths. But his throne
was still insecure; and the party of Maximilian, though it had sus
tained a check, was by no means intimidated. With the assistance
of the Zborowskis and large reinforcements from his own country,
the archduke seized Lublo; and it again became necessary for Za
moiski to march against him. Maximilian retreated before this
intrepid and patriotic warrior, who pursued him into Silesia. A
second engagement took place, in which the Poles obtained a com
plete victory, and the archduke was made a prisoner. The throne
was thus secured to Sigismund, and the glory of Zamoiski received
a confirmation which was further strengthened by his subsequent
magnanimity.
Maximilian was conducted to a Polish fortress, to await the de
cision of Sigismund towards him. Zamoiski nobly liberated his
inveterate rivals and foes, the Zborowskis, together with the other
Poles who had supported the archduke; and he treated his illustrious
prisoner with the utmost deference and respect. The latter, how
ever, in all the petty pride of legitimacy, obstinately adhered to the
etiquette of royalty, and refused to sit at the table of his truly noble
conqueror; who contented himself with the good-humoured revenge
of allowing his captive to eat at a table by himself, surrounded with
a golden chain. On one occasion, Maximilian, in allusion to the
undignified figure of Zamoiski, told him that he looked like a school
master; to which the general replied, Your highness is in the
right to call me so ; and therefore it is my task to punish the vain
ambition of young princes. Sigismund himself acted with great
 254 HISTORY OF POLAND.

dignity. The house of Austria had prevailed on the pope to send

Cardinal Aldobrandini to solicit in behalf of Maximilian; and that
prelate made strong efforts to induce Sigismund to suffer the arch
duke to retain the title of king, even after he had renounced the
crown. A large sum was also offered for his ransom; but Sigis
mund magnanimously rejected both proposals, and replied, The
crown of Poland I will not divide; it shall either be the archduke's
or mine; but as for a ransom, I do not imagine that any example is
an excuse for a mean action. Though Charles V. released Francis
king of France for a sum of money, and thereby brought disgrace
upon the imperial diadem, yet, for my own part, I am satisfied with
the advantages which providence hath given me over my competitor,
and shall not add insult to misfortune. I shall give Maximilian his
liberty, and not oblige him to buy it. In fact, no other conditions
were proposed to the prisoner than that he should renounce his
claim to the crown of Poland, promise never to resume it under any
pretence whatever during the reign of Sigismund, lay aside the title
and arms of the republic, restore certain territories which had been
violently seized from Count Cepus, and use his utmost influence to
maintain all the treaties between Poland and the princes of the
house of Austria.
Maximilian was on the point of accepting these conditions, when
some flattering prospects laid before him by Zborowski made him
alter his sentiments; but he soon grew tired of confinement, found
all his hopes were delusive, and signed the articles; upon which he
was immediately released. The agreement was ratified by the em
peror in 1589; and Maximilian was conducted under a Polish guard
to the frontiers of the empire, where he soon discovered his inclina
tions to break through all his engagements, and shewed that malevo
lence which little minds ever express towards those by whom they
are excelled in virtue and accomplishments. He detested Sigismund
for the obligations which he owed him, and could hardly refrain
from ordering violent hands to be laid on the guard; but the em
peror paid a more religious regard to his faith, and the duties of
religion and gratitude. He even apologized for his brother's conduct,
which he ascribed to the disappointment and rage of unsuccessful
ambition; and he compelled Maximilian to make the promised re
nunciation, and to fulfil every part of the treaty which the emperor
and Germanic body had not only ratified but guaranteed.
Sigismund was now firmly seated on the throne ; and though
unpleasant consequences were to be anticipated on his accession to
 HISTORY OF POLAND. 255

the crown of Sweden, yet it was his maxim not to anticipate evil;
and he accordingly began his administration with recommending to
the diet the deliberation of effectual means for stemming the torrent
of corruption which had overrun the kingdom, and which had nearly
been productive of such fatal consequences at the last election; for
to the corruption of the members he ascribed those civil divisions
which had almost terminated in the destruction of liberty. While
the nation, he observed, was divided against itself, some prince
would one day find his way to the throne by the sword, and cut
down all these barriers which they had for so many years been erect
ing in defence of their privileges. A speech to this purpose from
the throne could not but inspire the people with a favourable idea
of the royal justice, and the intention of their king to promote the
good of his subjects. It sunk deep into the hearts of the Poles, who
assured his majesty that they hoped the present age would never be
exposed to the consequences of another election; yet, out of respect
to his majesty's recommendation, they would do all that lay in their
power to destroy that venal spirit which too generally prevailed
among all orders in the republic. It was likewise ordained, at this
diet, that the part of Livonia belonging to Poland should be governed
successively by a Polish and Lithuanian palatine; and means were
discussed for restraining the unbounded licences and barbarous in
cursions of the Cossacks into Turkey and Tartary, which, it was
apprehended, might involve the republic in a war with the Porte.
Letters of amity had passed between Sigismund and the sultan
Amurath III. immediately after the commencement of the reign of
the former; and the greatest apparent friendship had consequently
been kept up between the two states. While, however, the Turk
ish court was debating, in 1590, which of the Christian powers they
might most advantageously declare war against, Poland was named
as presenting an easy conquest; but it was at length determined to
turn the Moslem arms against the emperor.
King Sigismund met his father the king of Sweden at Revel in
1589; when, to pacify the Poles, the latter assured them, that he
only wished to see his son crowned in Sweden, after which he should
return to Poland: though, on account of the misunderstanding then
existing between himself and his brother Charles duke of Suderma
nia, it is generally believed he intended to retain the prince in his
native country. The Poles, however, suspected the design, and,
remembering the insult they had received by the flight of Henry,
urged the return of Sigismund. The Swedes also remonstrated
256 HISTORY OF POLAND.

that this was no time to put such an affront upon the Polish nation,
who might, in revenge, elect the czar to their throne, and, by an
union with Russia, prove too powerful for Sweden. At the same
time, Zamoiski sent information to the king that the Tartars had in
vaded Moldavia, which hastened his return. He passed through
Riga, and there earnestly urged the restitution of the Jesuits in that
town. The magistrates appearing unwilling, he gave them a day to
consider; and they, to gain further time, promised to send their answer
after him to Mittau. Sigismund made no remark, but testified his
displeasure by turning his back on the town as he passed the river
Duna; upon which the fireworks which had been prepared in his
honour were suspended. The declaration sent to the king at Mittau
was to the effect, that his majesty might order any other priests to
Riga, but with Jesuits they would have nothing to do.
During these events, Alexander, voivode of Wallachia, and nomi
mally subject to Poland, had been deposed by his nephew Michael, who
seized on the province, and entered into an alliance with Sigismund
Bathori, prince of Transylvania, against the Turks. The Polish king
was also solicited to join in the general league which the Christian
powers were forming; but he declined interfering. The predatory
incursions of the Cossacks, however, had exasperated the neighbour
ing Tartars, who considered the republic accountable for the mischiefs
committed by its vassals; and the Tartar khan therefore eagerly
seized the offer made him by the Porte of the province of Moldavia,
which he prepared to enter with his whole force. The Turks also,
notwithstanding the existence of the treaty between the Porte and
the Polish king, shewed evident designs of seconding the efforts of
their Tartar allies. In 1595, the veteran Zamoiski marched against
the enemies of the republic, the first of whom was Michael, the
voivode, who, with an army of 60,000 Transylvanians and Servians,
advanced to defend his newly-acquired dignity, but was totally de
feated with great loss by the Polish army. The conqueror, having
taken possession of Wallachia, over which principality he appointed
a palatine named Jeremias as a tributary of Poland, advanced with
celerity to meet the Tartar hordes, who amounted to 70,000, or, ac
cording to some accounts, 100,000 fighting men.
The Cossacks had sustained two defeats before the arrival of the
Polish general. They were now animated by the presence of a
commander who had always been victorious, and fired not only with
a desire of wiping off the late disgraces, but of signalizing themselves
under the eye of so excellent a judge of valour and conduct. Their
 HISTORY OF POLAND. 257

ardour, indeed, drew them into a snare, in despite of the remon

strances of Zamoiski, who foresaw all the consequences of their blind
impetuosity; but they extricated themselves by their courage, as
sisted by the valour and capacity of the Polish general. Even with
the prodigious force under his command, the khan did not venture
to give battle to Zamoiski in the open plain; but he drew on the
Cossacks by skirmishes into a defile, which he had surrounded with
a triple line of his troops. Zamoiski used his utmost influence with
the Cossacks to check their ardour; but they pushed on, and were
soon hedged in on every side by an almost impenetrable rampart of
armed Tartars. In this situation they offered to capitulate; but the
khan would listen to no other terms than their surrendering at dis
cretion; a circumstance which drove them to despair, and produced
the resolution of selling their liberty at the highest price. . They
encouraged each other never to surrender, but to fight it out to the
last drop of blood; and beginning a furious attack, they soon made
terrible carnage. The khan saw his son killed before his face, and
was himself dangerously wounded. His people lay slaughtered in
heaps; yet he could not think of yielding the victory to a handful
of men, who fought under the greatest disadvantages. This obsti
nacy tended only to the destruction of his troops, who, after the field
was covered with slain, at length deserted their prince; and he
would inevitably have fallen into the hands of the Cossacks, had it
not been for the extraordinary efforts of a few of his faithful attend
ants. The scattered remains of his army had taken shelter in an
adjacent wood, from whence they were soon forced by famine, and
barbarously massacred by the Cossacks as they appeared. In short,
of this very formidable army, only the khan and a few of his officers
reached their own country; all the rest being either slain in the
field, butchered after the battle, or starved to death in their retreats
and lurking-places. The Turkish army, which during these trans
actions had only waited for the success of the Tartars to attack
Kaminiek, now found it prudent to retreat ; and the Porte was
consequently very desirous of prolonging the peace with the re
public.
This great victory encouraged the Cossacks to make an irruption
into Tartary, from which all the authority of Zamoiski could not
dissuade them. Regardless of his threats and admonitions, they
pushed on, destroying every thing with fire and sword, and nearly
produced a rupture between the republic and the Porte too wide to
admit of any remedy. Not content with the ravages committed
2 K
 *

258 HISTORY OF POLAND.

during the winter, they began another expedition early in the spring,
and, contrary to the faith of treaties, plundered several Turkish
vessels which were lying at anchor on the coast of the Black Sea.
They next entered the Chersonesus; and their barbarity increased
with their success. Neither age nor sex was spared: they first pil
laged, and then massacred the inhabitants. Such enormities at
length kindled the wrath of the emperor Amurath, who attributed
the whole to the Polish republic, which he imagined might have
checked the incursions of the Cossacks. He therefore pointed his
vengeance against Poland, directed the Tartars to make another
irruption into that kingdom, and issued orders to his pachas to raise
forces and sustain the Tartarian invasion with a powerful army.
The Tartars cheerfully obeyed an order so agreeable to their incli
nations: thirsting for revenge, they entered the Polish territory,
and marked their way with blood and horror. Even the Cossacks
themselves were outdone in barbarity. Loaded with spoils, the
invaders were returning to their own country, when they were sur
prised by the Cossacks, and totally routed and dispersed. Zamoiski,
likewise, was advancing to oppose the Turkish army, now intimi
dated by the fate of the Tartars. He was too prudent, however,
wantonly to engage in a war with the Ottoman empire, by abetting
the conduct of a set of freebooters who paid no regard to treaties or
the law of nations. On his approaching the Turkish camp, he sent
a trumpet to the pacha, informing him that the republic intended
nothing more than the defence of her own territories, and to repulse
any attacks made upon them. He likewise enquired in what manner
he was to regard so powerful an army as was then encamped on the
frontiers of Wallachia, signifying to the Turkish commander that
an explicit answer was absolutely necessary for the prevention of
bloodshed. To this message the pacha replied, that he would offer
no hostilities, provided the Cossacks were punished for their unpro
voked ravages. A negotiation ensued, which terminated in a treaty
and entire reconciliation, under the auspices of the English ambas
sador at Constantinople.
Zamoiski, to whose ability and exertions these successes were
altogether attributable, was received on his return to Warsaw with
the most enthusiastic greetings. Much umbrage, however, was
taken by the Christian powers at his conduct in this affair. The
league against the Turks was considered as weakened by the depo
sition of Michael from the voivodeship of Moldavia; and a letter
of reproof was sent by pope Clement VIII. to Sigismund for having
 HISTORY OF POLAND. 259

thus embarrassed the cause of Christendom. Zamoiski, however,

replied at great length to the letter of the pontiff, and defended his
own conduct from the aspersions which had been cast upon it. He
represented the unprotected state of the province, and the over
whelming advance of the Tartars; the dangers which would have
resulted to Poland, as well as to Christendom, from such neighbours,
had they gained possession of Moldavia; and the acknowledgment
which the Moldavian rulers had always made of the supremacy of
the Jagellonic kings. It may be necessary to add, in this place,
that Sigismund Bathori, prince of Transylvania, in 1590 transfered
the government of that province to his cousin, Cardinal Andrew
Bathori, who, through the mediation of some of the Polish nobility,
made peace with the Porte.
Though Sigismund had on former occasions exhibited uncommon
greatness of mind, it was soon discovered that he did not possess
ability sufficient to secure the good-will of a nation inheriting such
an ardent temperament as the Poles. Indeed, his adherence to
Swedish customs could not but be displeasing to a people so imbued
with national partiality as those he had been called to govern; while
his pride and indifference to the business of the state mortified some
of his firmest friends. Though he was indebted for his crown to the
warrior Zamoiski, he was inconsiderate enough to treat him with
coolness, and even disrespect; and his time was mostly devoted to
the pursuit of the philosopher's stone, in which he was assisted by
one of the many alchymists who appeared in Europe during the
sixteenth century. To the Dissidents he was not long in discover
ing his enmity; and he committed a farther violation of the Pacta
Conventa by marrying, in opposition to the wishes of the nation, an
Austrian princess, Anne, daughter of the Archduke Charles. For
a short time the dissatisfaction occasioned by this conduct was only
audible in confused rumours; but the Poles were not a people to
conceal their resentment, and measures were speedily taken for
giving expression to the national opinion. The grand-marshal and
several members of the senate convoked an extraordinary diet, the
object of which was to enquire into the nature of his correspondence
with the Austrian court. On this occasion the king was present;
and, as has been observed by a recent historian, the sight of a
king upon his throne, subject to the reproaches of his assembled
nobles, and constrained to acknowledge their justice, was new to
Europe, and even to Poland. Karnkowski, primate archbishop of
Gnesna, with all the indignation excited by the insult offered to his
2 K 2
260 HISTORY OF POLAND.

country's laws, proceeded to upbraid Sigismund for his conduct.

He dwelt upon the shameful violation of contract committed by the
king in espousing an Austrian, and gave him to understand that the
Poles could appreciate and resent such conduct. Remember,
said he, that your majesty is the ruler of a free people, and over
nobles who have no equals under heaven. The dignity conferred
upon you, sire, is far beyond that enjoyed by your father, who is
but the king of peasants. Call to mind the words of Stephen Ba
thori, of glorious memory, I will one day teach these little
Swedish kings to know themselves. Sigismund was highly in
censed at this degrading allusion to his native country, and the
honour conferred upon him by Poland. The hero of the nation,
Zamoiski, next entered upon the various subjects of accusation, each
of which he supported by evidence, either verbal or written. The
king now felt it necessary to moderate his anger, to bow to the
storm, and to promise to be in future more attentive to the contract
between him and his people, and to do nothing without the concur
rence of the diet. In consequence of these submissions, the pro
ceedings against him were dropped for the present. They were,
however, revived some time afterwards in a confederation, headed
by two of the most aspiring amongst the nobility. Not content with
the concessions they had already obtained, they insisted that the
king, in addition to his promise of amendment, should publicly ask
pardon of the diet for his offences. This was too great a degrada
tion; and Sigismund had recourse to arms for the vindication of his
authority against his presumptuous subjects. They, on their part,
were not backward in the contest; and the two armies met in great
strength at Guzaw. That of the king was led by Chodkiewicz,
afterwards famous for his exploits in the wars of Livonia, Russia,
and Turkey; and it was principally through his means that victory
declared in favour of the king. The rebels now submitted to his
power; though the dislike with which he was regarded by a large
party only terminated with his reign.
In the year 1594, John king of Sweden died; and Sigismund
held a correspondence with the states-general, assembled at Stock
holm, relative to the settlement of the administration of that country,
during his necessary residence in Poland. Whilst in his native
country, he ventured to express a partiality towards the republic,
and thus incurred the resentment and jealousy of the Swedes. His
religious principles rendered him more attached to the Poles; and
the unseasonable prejudices which he displayed on this subject,
 HISTORY OF POI, AND. - 261

widened still further the breach between him and the Swedish na
tion. He insisted on being crowned by Malaspina, the pope's legate,
contrary to the constitution of the kingdom, and was opposed by
the primate, the senate, and particularly by his uncle, Charles duke
of Sudermania. The whole kingdom, supposing he had a design to
introduce the Catholic religion, took the alarm; and Sigismund was
compelled to rest satisfied with being crowned by a Protestant bishop,
to swear to all the ordonnances made in favour of Lutheranism, and
to the perpetual exclusion of his own religion. He was, in short,
bound down by the strongest engagements from indulging in his
religious tenets at the expense of the Swedish nation, and even
obliged to have recourse to the intercession of the Catholic lords
who attended him for leave to keep a priest and confessor, as well
as for the celebration of mass at his court. These circumstances,
as might have been expected, paved the way to a revolution in the
government of Sweden.
On Sigismund's return to Poland, duke Charles was declared re
gent; but it soon became evident that he entertained designs of
abusing the authority with which he was entrusted, and of usurping
the sovereign power. Under pretence of defending the Confession
of Augsburgh against the attempts of the Roman Catholics, he took
several measures, the manifest tendency of which was to place him
self nearer the throne, and which seemed to threaten an immediate
revolt. Sigismund complained of this conduct, and sent ambassa
dors into Sweden to deprive Charles of the title of regent; but the
duke, by means of the popularity which he had acquired amongst
the states of the kingdom, procured from them a ratification of the
title and power which the king endeavoured to take from him. In
spite of Sigismund's orders to the contrary, he called the states to
gether at Arboge, where he was confirmed in the office of regent,
and received a commission to take whatever measures he might
judge necessary for the defence of the kingdom; while all those
were declared traitors who within six months should refuse or neg
lect to subscribe to these declarations.
Immediately on being invested with this portentous authority,
the duke made himself master of Stockholm and the fort of Elsen
burgh. Though literally in open rebellion, usurping an authority
which the king his master had taken from him, and exercising regal
power under the title of regent, he endeavoured, notwithstanding,
to put on an appearance of loyalty, and to assure the people that all
his proceedings were sanctioned by the king. Pretending that he
262 HISTORY OF POLAND.

acted only for the maintenance of the Protestant religion, he ejected

from their offices the magistrates and functionaries who had been
appointed by Sigismund, on the plea that they were favourable to
the restoration of Popery; and he placed in their stead only such
men as he knew to be devoted to his interest. Many of the senators
were removed, and some of them attainted; while the estates of
such as ventured to complain were confiscated. The chancellor,
Eric Sparre, was compelled to remove out of Scandinavia; and the
duke appointed such governors and garrisons into all the forts as
were entirely at his devotion.
Sigismund, on receiving information of these transactions, obtain
ed permission from the diet at Warsaw to pass into Sweden; and
the time fixed for his return was the feast of St. Bartholomew in
the following year. With the intention of making a descent at
Calmar, a sea-port town in Sweden, he embarked in the road of
Dantzick, with an army of 5000 men. Several delays, however,
took place; and it was, no doubt, imprudent to trust to the uncer
tainty of a sea voyage, whilst a march might have been accomplish
ed in a short time through Finland, which still continued faithful
to the king. Stephen Banner, admiral of the royal fleet, sailed up
and down for some time in the windings of Sweden's rocky coast;
and time was thus afforded to duke Charles to put his force in
readiness, and to make all the necessary preparations; whilst the
zeal of the king's friends was suffered to abate during the procras
tination of his affairs. It was also considered unwise in Sigismund
to enter his native country with a foreign force. Many imagined
that the duke of Sudermania would have submitted, if the king had
not used menaces towards him, and compelled him to take up arms
for the defence of his life and estate; and that it was only after he
had raised an army, and fortune proved favourable to him, that he
embraced the opportunity of carrying the rebellion farther than he
at first intended. His professions, undoubtedly, sanction such an
opinion; but the whole course of his conduct too plainly indicated
his previous designs.
Charles, at the head of an army, advanced to meet Sigismund as
far as the plains of Lincopen, and despatched some of the nobility to
the king, ostensibly to endeavour to produce an accomodation be
tween the parties. Sigismund at first refused to hear them, but
was afterwards prevailed upon to grant them an audience. In the
mean time, the Hungarians in the royal army, without receiving any
orders, fell upon the troops of duke Charles with so much fury
 HISTORY OF POLAND. 263

that if the king had not caused a retreat to be sounded, and even
gone himself into the field of battle, they would have totally defeat
ed them: Enraged, however, at seeing the victory thus wrested out
of their hands, they threw themselves upon the dead bodies of the
Swedes, and cut them to pieces. This action alienated the affections
of the Swedes still more from the king, as the odious treachery and
barbarity of the Hungarians was imputed to him. Several lords of
his party went over to Charles upon this occasion; and the latter
was soon in a condition to compel Sigismund to retire into Poland.
He also recovered Stockholm and Calmar, which had declared for
the king, aud punished as rebels all those who had discovered any
inclination to serve the royal cause. Under his auspices, a diet was
held at Jencopen, at which a day was prescribed for the return of
Sigismund into Sweden; and, in another assembly held in Stock
holm soon afterwards, the same decree was repeated. Charles, who
as yet played the dissembler, and moved by gentle degrees towards
the throne, procured an ordinance, that if the king did not immedi
ately come into Sweden, and by his presence put a period to the
calamities of the state, Uladislaus, his eldest son, should be elected
in his stead, upon condition that Sigismund should send him into
Sweden to be educated.
Though the duke of Sudermania had long possessed the supreme
power in Sweden under the name of regent, yet he had not hitherto
ventured to take upon himself the title of king. At length, every
thing appearing ripe for his purpose, he caused a libel to be disse
minated, in which Sigismund was accused of having infringed the
fundamental laws of the kingdom, and endeavouring to introduce
the Romish religion into Sweden. The king was represented as a
tyrant, who sought the destruction of his own subjects, and had al
ready put to death a great number of them in different engage
ments; and, in conclusion, the Swedes were exhorted to make choice
of another king. This document had the effect which Charles in
tended. At a special meeting of the states, held in 1600, Sigismund
was deposed, and the crown offered to the duke. With much ap
parent humility, and a multitude of pretended conscientious scru
ples, Charles, still desirous of lessening the odium of a wilful
usurpation, affected to decline the proffered honour. By this finesse,
he endeavoured to convince the world that he was placed upon the
throne solely by the wishes of the nation. After much dissimula
tion, he was declared king; but he was not crowned until two years
afterwards. -
 264 HISTORY OF POIAND,

During these transactions, the war had been carried into Livonia,
in which province Pernaw, Solen, Leiss, and Fallin, were seized
by the Swedes. Derpt was next besieged, and shared the same
fate; and indeed, within six months, the whole province, with the
exception of two or three strong places, was in the possession of the
duke's troops. The Poles, the Germans, and the Swedes, ravaged
the country by turns; and the unfortunate Livonians again expe
rienced all the most dreadful miseries that war could inflict. As
Livonia depended upon Poland, these transactions caused a rupture
between the republic and duke Charles; and the quarrel, which
had originally been rather of a personal nature, now became a na
tional one. The Poles were not backward in assisting their king;
and their general, Radzivil, besieged Kokenhausen, where he was
attacked by the Swedes. A bloody battle ensued, which continued
a whole day; when the Swedes were defeated, with the loss of 3000
killed, besides a great many prisoners. After this event, not only
Kokenhausen, but Wenden, Newhaus, Erla, and other castles, fell
to the Poles. Meanwhile, duke Charles, accompanied by Count
John of Nassau with a body of German auxiliaries, entered the
Duna, intending to besiege Riga. Having received intelligence,
however, that Zamoiski had arrived at Kokenhausen at the head of
a large army, he raised his camp with precipitation, and re-embarked
his troops and artillery during a violent storm, in which many of
his soldiers were drowned.
While Zamoiski, with 10,000 men, waited at Kokenhausen the
arrival of king Sigismund with further reinforcements, he addressed
a letter to duke Charles, in which he upbraided him with having
broken the peace with Poland against the Christian rule and the
law of nations, with invading the Polish province of Livonia without
provocation or denunciation of war, and with depriving his nephew
king Sigismund of his hereditary dominions, concluding with a
challenge to single combat. In his reply, Charles alluded to the
challenge in the following words: Nos es mihi par, si par esses,
non armis te, fed fuste deperum et unctum darem. The impetuous
spirit of Zamoiski was aroused by this language, and he retorted on
his opponent with all the pride of the Polish nation. With much
bitterness he observes that, This is indeed a sample of thy Suder
manick understanding, that, while boasting of thy regal extraction,

* Thou art not my equal; but if thou wert, I would not meet thee with arms,
but chastise thee with a cudgel.
 HISTORY OF POLAND. 265

thou shouldst propose a combat of porters, and not of soldiers.

After reproaching Charles with his treason to king Sigismund, he
proceeds, As to thy boast of birth, in that I am equal to any no
bleman, and son to that rank from whence kings have been chosen.
Nay, I must say more, that no king is of a more honourable birth
than myself. Thou contemnest a mere nobility, as mean and
undignified; though Charles V. of most august memory, and an
emperor of the greatest magnanimity, used, when he asserted any
thing, to affirm it on the faith of a nobleman. With regard to an
insinuation that, being of the gown, he ought to lay aside the sword,
he draws the following comparison between himself and his oppo
ment I am not only chancellor, but generalissimo of our forces:
I have fought for my country, and led forth her armies for more
than twenty years; and my name is known to all the world. My
actions are unstained and honourable, as well as the toils, expenses,
and dangers I have undertaken for the service of the commonwealth.
Thy name would have been known to few, hadst thou not usurped
the rule of another prince's dominion; and, what is an aggravation
of the fact, the dominion of thine own nephew.
King Sigismund, in the mean while, repaired to Wilna, leaving
the command of the army to Zamoiski, who took Wolmar and some
other places, particularly the fortress of Felin, before which he lay
three months, and afterwards made nine attempts to storm it in two
days. He was preparing the third day for another storm, when an
accident gave him possession of the place. By the carelessness of a
soldier in the fort, the powder magazine took fire, and blew up most
of the garrison, with the governor himself. No sooner had Zamoiski
gained this fortress, than the Polish army began to mutiny for want
of pay; and, as he was not provided with money for that purpose
by the king and diet, the patriotic general pacified them from
his own private purse. He then led them before Wesenburgh, and
took it ; after which he invested Wittenstein.
Feeling the infirmities of age creeping upon him, and disgusted
with the supineness of the king, Zamoiski, in 1602, relinquished
the command of the army, and retired into Poland, after having
appointed his lieutenant, Charles Chodkiewicz, to supply his place.
This officer, by his conduct and valour, proved himself a worthy
successor to the great man who had preceded him in the generalship.
He took Wittenstein and the town of Dorpat, beat several of the
Swedish parties, and made himself master of nearly all Livonia,
12 2 L
266 HISTORY OF POLAND.

which was now grievously afflicted with war, famine, and pestilence.
Chodkiewicz meanwhile defeated the Swedes before Wittenstein,
and again at Wolmar.
The duke of Sudermania (now Charles IX. of Sweden), sailed in
1605 towards Riga with a fleet of 40 ships, and 12,000 men on
board, summoned the inhabitants to surrender, and, upon their re
fusal, laid siege to the town. Andrew Lundersen, an officer in the
Swedish service, marched out of Revel at the same time with 4000
men, to join the army of his master; but the Polish general, being
informed of his march, intercepted his progress, and defeated him
between Fellin and Pernaw. He then advanced towards the be
sieged city, and seized upon an advantageous post, which nature
had fortified, and whence he could securely view the steps of the
enemy. The duke, who was desirous of engaging, strove to move
the Poles from their situation, and draw them out into the open
field. To succeed the better in this scheme, he posted himself upon
a little hill over against their camp, at the foot of which was a spa
cious plain, which divided the two armies. But Chodkiewicz deter
mined on continuing firm in a post where he could not be attacked,
and which kept the Swedes in awe; and he therefore cautiously
refrained from advancing, until the enemy, through their eagerness
to engage, at length did so at a disadvantage. In short, the duke
of Sudermania, impatient of any longer delay, ventured into the
plain to attack the Poles, and force them to an engagement. As
soon as Chodkiewicz perceived that his troops could fight to advan
tage, and that the disposition of the ground counterbalanced the
number of the enemy, he gave the word to charge, when the Poles
poured like an impetuous torrent from the hill where they had en
camped, fell upon the enemy that were below them, attacked their
right wing, broke it, and put it to the rout. The Swedes detached
a body of cavalry from their right wing to surround Chodkiewicz;
but prince John Sapieha, who had foreseen the manoeuvre, fell upon
this body, and put them to flight. The numbers of the enemy,

* The two latter plagues extended into the neighbouring country of Russia,
where the misery was incredible, parents eating their children, and children
their parents. Petreius, who was then in Moscow, writes that he himself saw
an almost starved woman in the street bite two pieces from the arm of her own
child, which she carried, and eat them as she went; and that she would have
devoured it quite, if the people had not taken it from her by force. The same
author adds, that, by computation, half a million of persons died of famine
throughout Russia.
 HISTORY OF POLAND. 267

however, still rendered the victory difficult. They frequently ral

lied, fought again, still resisted, but at last were compelled to fly.
What followed was more a slaughter than a battle. Eight thou
sand Swedes were killed upon the spot. Part of their fugitives
were knocked on the head by the country people; and others,
blinded by their fears, threw themselves into the bogs, where they
perished. The dukes of Brunswick and Lunenburg, who followed
Charles of Sudermania in this expedition, were slain; and Andrew
Lundersen, Count Mansfeld, and Charles himself, were dangerously
wounded. Indeed, his horse being fatigued, the latter must have
been inevitably killed or taken prisoner, had not a Livonian gentle
man, named Henry Wrede, presented him with his horse, upon
which he escaped to his ships ; while Wrede was cut to pieces by
the Poles. Charles left the command of his broken troops to Count
Mansfeld; but Sigismund was at that time too much entangled in
disputes with his own subjects to be able to follow up the advantage
he had gained.
A succession of the most extraordinary revolutions recorded in
history occurred about this period in Muscovy; and, as the Polish
nation became involved in the events which transpired, these cir
cumstances naturally become connected with, or rather form a part
of, the history of the republic.
In the year 1597, the czar Feodor Vasilievitch died, and left the
administration of affairs throughout his extensive territories in the
hands of his wife Gernia, or Irene. The brother of this princess,
named Boris Godunof, had been in 1542 appointed by Ivan the
Terrible to attend the person of his son prince Ivan. Being succes
sively promoted to higher offices, and obtaining additional influence
by the marriage of his sister with Feodor, he was, upon that mo
narch's succession to the throne, created privy councellor, master of
the horse, and invested with the sole direction of affairs. Thus
trusted by his sovereign, his ambition rose with his success; and he
finally aimed at nothing less than the title of czar, as well as the
exercise of the imperial functions. Besides Feodor, Ivan Vasilie
vitch II. left another son, an infant, named Dmitri, or Demetrius,
who was educated at Uglitz under the care of his mother, the dowa
ger-czarina, Maria Feodorofma. In 1591, this prince, then in the
eighth year of his age, was said to have been assassinated by order of
Boris. The real particulars of this transaction, being purposely
withheld from the public, have been variously related; and the fol
lowing unquestionable particulars can alone be depended on. A
2 L 2
268 HISTORY OF POLAND.,

body, supposed to be that of the young prince, was found weltering

in its blood; and certain persons, deemed to have been the assassins,
were instantly put to death by the inhabitants of Uglitz. When
the account of the catastrophe reached Moscow, Boris, having first
spread a report that Demetrius had in a violent fit of phrenzy de
stroyed himself, despatched his creatures Vasili Swiski and Cletchnin
to make inquiries into the circumstances of the prince's death. These
persons, having examined the body of the deceased, declared it to
be that of Demetrius, and confirmed the former report which had
been circulated by Boris, Maria Feodorofma, under pretence that
she had been grossly inattentive to her son's security, was compelled
to assume the veil, and confined in a convent; while many inhabit
ants of Uglitz, who spoke freely concerning the murder, were
capitally punished by imprisonment or banishment.
Boris managed this horrid transaction with such art and secrecy,
that scarcely any suspicions were entertained against him. Some,
indeed, who suspected his guilt, feared lest he should make some
attempt upon the life of the czar himself; but Boris, to conciliate
the popular mind, lessened the taxes, paid considerable attention to
the complaints of various towns, redressed the grievances of private
persons, and found means to make himself beloved by the people.
Upon the death of Feodor, the nation offered to take the oath of
allegiance to the czarina; but that princess, either through an ex
cess of grief for her deceased husband, or to pave the way to the
throne for her brother, declared that she would renounce the world,
and put the administration into the hands of the kns and the boy
ards. The people immediately rose and hastened to the gates of
the monastery to which the czarina had retired, and besought her
and Boris, who was also there, not to abandon their faithful subjects,
who would never obey any other rulers. Boris, who, in this trans
action, as well as several others, exhibited many traits of character
similar to that of Richard III. of England, shewed himself to the
people; and, to calm a tumult which threatened to be productive of
dreadful consequences, he promised that as soon as the forty days
of mourning had elapsed, he would take upon himself the reins of
government, provided the boyards would divide with him the cares
of so painful an employment.
The czarina took the veil; and the time of mourning being over,
the people were called together into the citadel. Basil Jacoblinitz

* The nobility of the empire.

 HISTORY OF POLAND. 269

Salo Calf, the chancellor, exhorted them to acknowledge the authority

of the boyards; but the whole assembly appeared to be enraged
at his discourse; and, as the czarina had retired from the world,
they loudly demanded that Boris Godunof, her brother, should make
his appearance. Upon these acclamations, Boris, who was within
hearing, shewed himself, and with a feigned modesty, which he as
sumed only to make the greater impression upon the people, refused
the crown they offered him. He even withdrew into the monastery
where his sister resided, and continued there a whole month. The
popular excitement in his favour was inflamed by this apparent hu
mility; and, flocking to the convent in crowds, the people threatened
to fire the building if he did not immediately appear. The czarina,
after vainly striving to calm their passions, returned, it is said, to
her brother, threw herself at his feet, and conjured him, with tears
in her eyes, to appease a people whose too great love for him was
about to hurry them to the utmost excess. At length, when he
conceived he had resisted long enough to stop the clamours of envi
ous tongues, he yielded; and the czarina hastened to inform the
people that her intreaties had induced her brother to comply, and
that he was now willing to take upon himself the administration of
the empire.
During seven years, Boris continued to govern Russia in peace,
and graced his elevation by his consummate abilities aud popular
manners; while his political and civil deportment caused him to be
ranked amongst the greatest statesmen of his age. Thirteen years
after the supposed assassination of Demetrius, however, a person
made his appearance in Poland, who declared himself to be that
prince. He gave out that his mother, suspicious of the attempts
against her son's life, had taken the precaution to remove him from
Uglitz, and to substitute another child, who was murdered in his
bed; and that, being educated in a convent, and concealed from the
knowledge of his persecutors, he had escaped from Russia into Po
land. In confirmation of this account, he as perfectly resembled
the prince as the time which had elapsed might have been supposed
to allow : he had, like him, one of his arms longer than the other,
and a similar mole on his right cheek; while his whole deportment
was calculated to produce the idea that he was the person he pro
fessed to be. Having been admitted into the service of a Pole of
great distinction, named Wiesnovitski, he discovered himself to that
nobleman; who, convinced, or pretending to be so, that he was the
son of Ivan Vasilievitch II., warmly espoused his cause. Applica
 270 HISTORY OF POLAND.

tion was made to the Polish Jesuits; and hopes were held out to
them, that, should (the supposed) Demetrius ascend the throne of
his fathers, his first care would be to draw over the Russians to the
church of Rome. The Jesuits immediately wrote to the pope, and
urged his holiness to engage the king of Poland to give assistance
to the young prince. -

Boris Godunof, having received intelligence of this unexpected

claimant to his throne, disseminated a report, that the impostor who
assumed the name of Demetrius was a monk, styled Gregory or
Griska. Otrepief, who had for some time resided at Susdal, and
had afterwards become deacon of the monastery of Tchudof in Mos
cow, where he first hinted his scheme of aspiring to the throne.
Neither threats nor bribes were spared by Boris in order to gain
possession of the person of his rival; but the influence of the Jesuits
was too great for all his efforts; and, when these expedients failed,
he despatched his emissaries into Poland to assassinate him. On
the other hand, it was asserted that the real Otrepief was a monk
who had accompanied Demetrius from Russia. Wiesnovitski, how
ever, alarmed for the safety of his proteg, recommended him to
the protection of the senator George Necinski, palatine of Sandomir,
a nobleman of the largest estate and greatest consequence in Poland.
The claimant, being acknowledged by him as the rightful heir of
the Russian throne, was soon afterwards betrothed in marriage to
the palatine's daughter Marina; and, in the beginning of the year
1603, was introduced to the king. Being admitted to a public au
dience before the diet, he excited the compassion of that assembly
by the dignity of his deportment, and the affecting manner in which
he related his extraordinary adventures; and though Sigismund
and the diet regretted that the situation of their country prevented
them from openly seconding his pretensions, yet they testified the
most cordial attachment to his interests, and laid no prohibition on
those nobles who might be disposed to engage in his support. By
the assistance of his two friends, Wiesnovitski and the palatine of
Sandomir, Demetrius was soon placed at the head of an army of
4000 Poles.
In August, 1604, the aspirant to the throne of Muscovy passed
the Boristhenes with his troops, and took Zerniga without any op
position. The Cossacks of the Don, won by his promises, joined
him; and Corelas, their hetman, opened to him the gates of Putinne.

* Griska, in the Russian tongue, signifies Little Gregory.

 HISTORY OF POLAND. 271

Many Russians of distinction flocked to his standard; and he ad

vanced almost without opposition to Novogorod Severskoi. In De
cember, he routed an army of 40,000 men; but Boris now levied
an immense force, which was placed under the command of Vasil
Swiski, and sent against the invaders. In the hope that many of
these troops would desert to the new prince, the palatine of Sando
mir, who commanded the army of Demetrius, eagerly sought an op
portunity of engaging, though his own force was infinitely inferior
in numbers. He was, however, totally defeated; 8000 of his
followers were either killed or taken prisoners, and all his artillery
and colours fell into the hands of the enemy. Demetrius himself
escaped with difficulty, his horse having been wounded.
The consequence of this defeat was the almost total desertion of
the Polish troops; and even two Carthusians, whom Demetrius had
brought with him as witnesses of his zeal for the Latin church, for
sook him. He was so chagrined with his loss, that he was on the point
of retreating precipitately into Poland; but the Jesuits, Nicholas
Ckerrakowski and Andrew Lowitz, were constant to him ; while
his Russian adherents, either convinced of the justice of his claims,
or fearing the vengeance of Boris, strongly importuned him to per
severe. Overcome by their suggestions, he threw himself into the
castle of Rillesk, where he defended himself with courage. As a
proof that he was himself convinced of the goodness of his cause, it
is related that whenever he went to engage, he was seen to lift up
his hands and eyes to heaven, and pray God to strike him dead with
thunder if his pretensions to the throne were not just. Fortune
soon after declared in his favour. He defeated the Muscovite army,
which besieged him, with a handful of men, and forced them to
make a shameful retreat. He then entered Pontivol, and quickly
found himself once more at the head of a powerful army of Russians,
who flocked to him from all quarters. Not only the poorer and
more ignorant classes gave credit to his pretensions, but even men
of the highest birth and quality declared in his favour. The flame
spread from province to province; and at length the people rose in
Moscow, and publicly proclaimed Demetrius as their rightful sove
reign. Though this insurrection was almost immediately quelled,
and the most dreadful punishments were inflicted upon its promoters;
though the patriarch published a ban of excommunication against
Demetrius and his party; and though Vasil Swiski openly affirmed
that he had himself examined the body of the deceased prince at
Uglitz; yet an universal belief spread itself through all ranks that
272 HISTORY OF POLAND.

the pretender to the throne was the real son of Ivan Vasilie
vitch II. -

While Demetrius lay at Pontivol, Boris again sent some of his

emissaries to assassinate him. They were, however, discovered;
when Demetrius treated them with clemency, and gave them their
pardons. He wrote at the same time to the patriarch, desiring him
to confine himself within the bounds of his ministry, and not em
ploy religion in the support of an unjust cause. It is said that
he also sent a letter to Boris, in which he reproached him in strong
terms with the means he had made use of to ascend the throne, and
offered him pardon, with considerable advantages to himself and
his family, on condition that he should retire into a monastery, the
choice of which should be left to himself. According to some ac
counts, Boris was so struck with the contents of this letter, that,
whether through indignation or remorse, he fell into an apoplexy
and expired. Other writers say that his death was occasioned by
poison, administered to him by one Peter Busmanof; but the Rus
sian historian Muller asserts, that, being driven to despair, he swal
lowed poison, of which he felt the first effects at dinner, and the
symptoms were so violent, that he had scarcely time to enter into
the monastic order before he expired. According to the Russian
custom, he changed his name from Boris to Bogolep. His decease
happened on the 13th of April, or the 24th, according to the new
style, 1605, after a reign of eight years and two months.
Feodor Borisovitch, the son of Boris, was declared successor to
his father by the patriarch; and the nobles who were present
in Moscow took an oath of fidelity to him. It was not long,
however, before he was deserted by the principal generals of the
Russian army, and by many persons of distinction. Meanwhile,
five towns in the neighbourhood of Pontivol had opened their gates
to Demetrius, who found in Bialogrod 150 pieces of cannon. Jale
ka and Luptine presently after surrendered; and the whole province
of Severia submitted to him. The city of Crom, which had declared
in his favour, was besieged by the troops of Feodor, and had already
sustained ten assaults. Fearful that it would fall under the re
doubled efforts of the besiegers, Demetrius despatched General
Zaporski to its assistance. As the troops of that leader were not
sufficiently numerous to break through the enemy's camp by force,
he had recourse to stratagem. He made use of an ignorant country
man, by whom he sent a letter to the governor of Crom, in which he
urged him to make a vigorous resistance, upon hopes of the speedy
 HISTORY OF POLAND. 273

arrival of 40,000 men, who were already on their march to succour

him. This poor fellow was taken by the besiegers, as Zaporski in
tended that he should. He was put to the torture, and confessed,
what he himself was fully persuaded of, that Zaporski was upon
his march with a numerous army. Astonished at this false report,
the assailants immediately converted the siege into a blockade, and
marched to meet Zaporski, who, to confirm their fears, stretched out
his troops as much as possible, ordered a great noise to be made in
the camp, and commanded all the valets of his army to be mounted
on horseback. He likewise sent a few soldiers into the enemy's
camp, who, pretending to be deserters, assured the general and his
officers that another body of troops was following Zaporski; and
while the surprise excited by this mistake was at its height, he fell
upon them with all the impetuosity by which the Polish attacks
have ever been characterized. The result was successful, the first
ranks of the Russians being broken ; and Peter Busmanof, who had
been the first minister of Boris, immediately abandoned the cause
of his son to declare in favour of Demetrius. The example of so
considerable a man drew after him a great number of officers, who
submitted, and sent deputies to Demetrius to assure him of their
fidelity. General Ivan Houdon, who refused to comply, was put
under a guard, and sent to prison.
Strengthened by these accessions, Demetrius advanced by hasty
marches towards the capital without the least opposition. The
highways were lined with people; the towns opened their gates
with every demonstration of joy; while Demetrius supported the
prepossession of the Russians in favour of his birth by the affability
of his demeanour, and the gracefulness of his person. Having pub
lished a manifesto, in which he held out to the inhabitants of Mos
cow offers of clemency and favour on their return to their duty, they
rose in arms, stormed the palace, deposed and strangled Feodor
Borisovitch, and recognized the title of Demetrius. The widow of
Boris, with his son and daughter, were shut up in close prison.
The dowager czarina, fearing the vengeance of the conqueror,
swallowed a draught of poison, and administered it likewise to her
two children. The son of Boris died of it; but his daughter, upon
taking an antidote, survived.
Demetrius made a magnificent entry into the capital of the em
pire on the 30th of June, and was there solemnly acknowledged
great duke of Muscovy and king of Casan and Astracan. His pre
tensions to the crown, as real son of Ivan Vasilievitch II., were still
2 M
274 HISTORY OF POLAND.

further confirmed by the public testimony of Maria Feodorofma,

whom Boris Godunof had imprisoned in a distant monastery, where
she had remained in complete seclusion and oblivion. Demetrius,
on his accession, instantly released her from her confinement, and,
upon her approach to Moscow on the 8th of July, he rode to meet
her at the head of a numerous procession. At the first appearance
of her carriage, he alighted from his horse, and ran to embrace her.
The tenderness and affection which both parties displayed on this
interesting occasion drew tears from the spectators; and the strong
expressions of transport with which the czarina openly acknowledg
ed him for her son, seemed to afford a positive confirmation of the
reality of his imperial lineage. His coronation was solemnized to
ward the end of July with the usual pomp and magnificence; and
he seemed now firmly seated upon the throne.
Much contradiction exists in the writings of the friends and the
enemies of this singular man, as to his personal character. On one
side, he is represented as active, spirited, and merciful, soon of
fended, and as soon appeased; liberal, ambitious, and desirous of
making himself known to posterity; in a word, he was a prince who
loved honour, and recommended it by his own example. By the
opposite party he is described as extravagant, insolent, impetuous,
and hasty; and vulgar prejudice was so far excited against him,
that he was believed by many to be a magician, and to have gained
the crown by diabolical means. His ebriety and incontinence,
says Muller, were his most notorious vices, which frequently ex
posed him in the eyes of the public. Besides the princess Irene,
the daughter of Boris Godunof, all who pleased him were sacrificed
to his desires, without the least regard to rank or age. The true
causes, however, of the unpopularity which succeeded the first burst
of feeling in his favour, were the partiality he exhibited in favour
of the Poles, their manners and dress, in preference to those of his
native subjects; and the little reverence which he professed for the
ceremonies of the Greek church. Upon his first arrival at Mos
cow, adds the author just quoted, he entered the two cathedrals
with drums beating and trumpets sounding ; he paid no respect to
the clergy; he made no distinction between fasts and festivals;
would neither bow nor cross himself before the sacred paintings; he

* L'Evesque asserts that these reports of his incontinence were not founded
in truth, and particularly denies that the princess Irene was sacrificed to his
desires.
 HISTORY OF POLAND. 275

profaned the churches by admitting foreigners at the time of divine

service, and still more by the number of dogs which followed him
upon the same occasion.
It cannot be wondered at that a prince who had thus the hardi
hood and imprudence publicly to contemn all that was considered
sacred in the eyes of his countrymen, should, even had his preten
sions to the throne been more unquestionable than they really were,
incur a considerable degree of odium, and be accused of crimes of
which he was really innocent. Vassili Ivanovitch Swiski, or Chous
qui, endeavoured to form a conspiracy against the czar, and uttered
the most virulent harangues for that purpose: but these first efforts
proved unsuccessful, and the plot being discovered, he was appre
hended, and condemned by the senate. Demetrius, however, when
Swiski was brought to the scaffold, with a clemency which proved
fatal to him, prevented the blow, and granted his pardon to the
criminal.
Demetrius, with a heedlessness of popular opinion which strongly
contrasts with the suspicious conduct that might have been expected
in an impostor, continued his warlike exercises and field sports.
He imprudently attainted seventy lords, who had been attached to
the late czar, and distributed their estates among the Polish nobility
who had been instrumental in his elevation to the throne ; and he
put to death several judges who had been convicted of iniquitous
practices. The latter circumstance, however, was interpreted into
an inclination to cruelty; and the Jesuits having obtained a rich
establishment in Moscow, fuel was added to the concealed fire of
popular indignation. In 1606, he sent a magnificent embassy into
Poland, to return thanks to Sigismund for the assistance he had
given him, to renew the former treaties, and to demand his betroth
ed bride Marina, the daughter of the palatine of Sandomir, in mar
riage. The espousals were performed at Cracow; and she entered
Muscovy with her father, her uncle, and a long train of Poles and
German and Italian merchants. The bride, having made her entry
into Moscow, was lodged in a nunnery until the solemnization of
the nuptials. During this interval, Demetrius disturbed the devo
tion of the holy sisterhood with repeated feasts, concerts, and balls,
whereby he excited public horror, as a sacrilegious violator of reli
gious discipline. The new czarina was in due time crowned by

* Amongst the many idle tales related against Demetrius, it is said that, with
the other diversions which he gave in honour of his marriage, was a fire-work,
2 M 2
276 HISTORY OF POLAND.

the patriarch of Russia, who likewise performed the ceremony of

the marriage.
While the affairs of Demetrius wore a face of outward tranquillity,
the disaffection of his subjects was secretly increased to such a de
gree by his infatuated conduct, that a regular conspiracy was form
ed against him. With a blind confidence in his own security, he
had dismissed the German troops which he had in his pay. As to
the Poles, their number was inconsiderable; and instead of being
able to restrain the fury of an excited people, their presence and
conduct only served to inflame it. In fact, they treated the Mus
covites like a conquered nation, and with so much contempt, that
those vindictive people impatiently longed for an opportunity to rid
themselves of the proud foreigners, together with the prince who
had introduced them. The first symptoms of the quarrel were
shewn at an entertainment, where the Polish ambassador insisted on
being placed at the czar's table. As this pretension was contrary
to the custom of the country, the chief boyards were so provoked at
it, that they were hardly restrained from coming to blows.
Vassili Ivanovitch Swiski, who had owed his life on a former occa
sion to the magnanimity of the czar, was the leader of the new con
spiracy against his benefactor. Demetrius frequently received
intimations from different quarters of a projected insurrection; and
the odium in which he was held by the populace betrayed itself in
the most alarming symptoms. Persons were heard crying in the
streets, The czar is a heretic worse than a Turk, and not the son
of Ivan Vasilievitch. Still, however, either from a natural courage
which braved all danger, or from the inconsiderate levity of his cha
racter which would not regard it, he paid no attention to these
tokens of a storm; but rather, by obstinately persevering in his ob
noxious and unpopular conduct, seemed to invite the destruction
which threatened him. At length the explosion burst forth. Early
in the morning of the 17th of May, the conspirators assembled, and
were soon joined by the body of the nobility; while the people rose
to their assistance. They quickly possessed themselves of the prin
cipal avenues leading to the city; the great bell in the Kremlin,
in which a dragon was represented with three heads spitting out flames. Such
a spectacle, being uncommon in the country, affrighted the Russians; and it
was reported that the czar had contrived it on purpose to alarm his subjects.
The Poles were not wanting, on this and all other occasions, in ridiculing the
ignorance and simplicity of the Russians, which increased the hatred against
them and the sovereign who protected them.
 HISTORY OF POLAND. 277

the usual signal of alarm, was tolled; and a confused cry was spread
among the people, that the Poles were preparing to massacre the
inhabitants. The quarter in which those devoted foreigners resided
was attacked and carried, and they were all put to the sword; while
another party of insurgents ran furiously towards the citadel, where
the garrison, either surprised or corrupted, made but a feeble resist
ance. Peter Busmanof, the confidant of Demetrius, was killed
in the first onset; and Swiski led the way to the palace, bearing a
cross in one hand and a sabre in the other, and accompanied by a
vast multitude armed with the first weapons which chance pre
sented. The guards being overpowered, and the gates forced, the
conspirators rushed towards the apartment of Demetrius, who,
awakened by the tumult, summoned the few guards immediately
about his person. Sallying, without a moment's deliberation, against
his assailants, he hewed down several of the foremost ; but, being
quickly overborne by numbers, he attempted to retreat into the in
terior part of the palace. He was, however, so closely pressed by
his pursuers, that he threw himself from a window into a court, and
dislocated his thigh with the fall. -

In this deplorable condition, he was easily secured, and conveyed

back to the palace. Swiski loaded him with reproaches for his im
posture; but though death awaited him on every side, his courage
never forsook him, and he behaved like a prince to the last moment
of his life. A boyard presuming to speak disrespectfully to him, he
punished his insolence immediately by a blow with his sabre. He
persisted in declaring himself the son of Ivan Vasilievitch II.; and
his firmness in this respect made a considerable impression upon
many of the conspirators, who peremptorily declared that they would
protect him from all injury, unless Maria Feodorofma formally re
nounced him as her son. On this unexpected declaration, Swiski,
accompanied by a few of his most particular partizans, repaired to
the convent where the princess was lodged, and returned instantly
with an answer, That the real Demetrius was slain at Uglitz;
that the person who at present assumed his name was an impostor;
and that she had been constrained by menaces to acknowledge him
for her son. Upon the delivery of this message, the unhappy mo
narch was immediately dispatched by his enemies, together with a
German officer who was present, and who, it was feared, would give
an unfavourable account of what had passed.
Thus perished a man whose life had been checkered by the most
opposite events and circumstances. If his claims to the Russian
278 HISTORY OF POLAND.

sceptre were really well. founded, his fate deserves commiseration;

but, whether that were the case or not, even what is known of his
career displays so extraordinary a series of vicissitudes, as to seem
rather to appertain to romance than to sober history. We first
behold him a fugitive in a foreign country, supplicating shelter from
a private nobleman. By degrees his friends increase, and a power
ful king and a great people acknowledge him as a prince. His al
liance is considered as an honour by an influential senator. He
marches to reclaim his reputed dominions, and is defeated. Again
fortune smiles upon him, and he reaches the pinnacle of his hopes.
A crown is his reward, and a princess is his bride. Secretly plans
are maturing for his destruction ; but he despises them. Either
secure in conscious justice, or giddy with his rapid elevation, he
neglects the obvious means of guarding against his enemies, and
rashly treats with contempt the religious prejudices of a nation.
The flame of discontent now pervades all classes of society, and he
is at length murdered by a party, one of whom owed his life to his
clemency. To complete the contrast, his pretensions, which were
at one time regarded as valid by his own empire and the Polish re
public, have been contemptuously controverted by historians; and a
recent writer has styled him the Warbeck of the North.
The vengeance of the conspirators extended even to the inanimate
corpse of their victim, which was pierced with repeated wounds, strip
ped naked, and exposed for three days in the streets, where it was
treated by the populace with the utmost indignity. After being de
posited in the charnel-house, it was exhumed, and reduced to ashes,
or, according to Schmidt, shot from the mouth of a cannon, from a
notion that spectres were seen hovering about the place of interment,
and that the earth would be polluted by receiving so unholy a corpse.
A general tumult had succeeded his death; the houses of all the
foreigners were pillaged, and not only the Poles, who fell into the
hands of the yeople, but even many Russians, who wore the Polish
dress, were massacred. Though this state of anarchy lasted only
ten hours, yet more than 2000 persons lost their lives. The czarina,
wife of Demetrius, and daughter of the palatine of Sandomir, who
had so recently arrived from Poland with all the pomp and magnifi
cence which the times could produce, was hurled from the pinnacle
of prosperity, thrown into an obscure dungeon, and deemed herself
happy that she escaped with life.
At length something like order was restored by the election of
Vassili Ivanovitch Swiski to the throne of Russia. In a manifesto
 HISTORY OF POLAND. 279

which was immediately published, he justified his conduct in the

late insurrection, repeated the assertion that the late czar was no
other than Griska Otrepief, ascribed to him intentions of extirpating
the Russian nobility and introducing the Roman Catholic religion,
and asserted that he had gained possession of the throne by sorcery.
Another manifesto was published in the name of Maria Feodorofma,
and which repeated the substance of the message that Swiski had de
livered from her to the conspirators. But the mystery of this event
ful drama was still further protracted by the appearance of another
Demetrius upon the stage. Though the death of the former
claimant to that name had been so public, and though Swiski had
done all in his power to invalidate his title to it, yet the new pre
tender affirmed that he was the very person supposed to have been
slain, and that he had escaped with a small portion of his guards,
who remained attached to him. Nothing could be more glaring
than this imposture; but, strange as it may appear, some of the
Russian nobility adhered to him ; the Cossacks, encouraged by the
love of plunder, and glad of any pretext for pillage, espoused his
cause; and the Poles, for political reasons, gave him all the support
in their power. But the most remarkable circumstance of the case
was, that Marina, daughter of the palatine of Sandomir, who had
with difficulty escaped out of her dungeon at Moscow, publicly ac
knowledged him as her husband. Some progress was made in the
design of seating him on the throne; but fortune did not prove so
propitious to him as it had done to his predecessor, as he never ac
complished that object, but was assassinated by the Tartars who
served him as guards, while the unfortunate Marina and her infant
child were drowned.
Swiski, for the purpose of appeasing all future suspicion as to the
disputed identity of the prince, now endeavoured to secure his throne
by working on the superstitions of his subjects. A rumour being
spread, that the body of the young prince, formerly murdered at
Uglitz, had performed miracles, a deputation of several bishops and
nobles was despatched to take up the hallowed corpse from the se
pulchre, and to transport it to Moscow. Upon opening the tomb,
relates Muller from the Russian archives, an agreeable odour
filled the whole church: the body was uncorrupted, and the very
clothes entire; one of his hands grasped some nuts that were sprink
led with blood, and which the young prince had been eating at the
instant of his assassination. His relics were carried in great state
to Moscow : on their approach to the city, they were met by Vasili


280 HISTORY OF POLAND.

Swiski, the widow of Ivan Vasilievitch II., and a large concourse

of people, and deposited with much solemnity in the cathedral of
St. Michael. During the procession, many troubled with various
disorders were miraculously restored to health. After the body had
been placed in the cathedral, thirteen sick persons declared them
selves to have been relieved of their complaints by the interposition
of the saint; and the same number were healed on the following
day.
On the other hand, Schmidt relates these circumstances as fol
lows:On the 4th of June a dispute concerning Demetrius arose,
between the Strelitz (guards) and the people, who asserted that he
was not an impostor. The czar and the boyards cry out, The
people shall have ocular conviction that the true Demetrius was
killed at Uglitz; his body is now removing to Moscow, and has
performed many stupendous miracles. The boyards procured a
poor man's child, about thirteen years of age, cut its throat, and,
having committed it for a few days to the ground, conveyed it to
Moscow, showed it to the people, and declared that this was the
true Demetrius, whose body, although so long interred, was still
uncorrupted, which the foolish multitude believed, and were ap
peased.
The modern reader will not hesitate as to which of these accounts
is the most probable. The tomb of this child, however, is to the
present day regarded with great veneration by the Russians. There
can be little doubt that the second pretender to the name of Deme
trius was an impostor; but the history of the first is involved in
contradiction and obscurity. The Russian historians of that period
(who have been followed by most subsequent writers) generally
treat his pretensions as unfounded; but as their accounts were com
piled during the ascendancy of his enemies, we ought, perhaps, to
be cautious in admitting their authority.
While Swiski was thus endeavouring to entrench himself behind
the prejudices of his subjects, the slaughter of the Poles in Moscow
by his adherents, and the plea of rendering assistance to the rightful
czar, had afforded a favourable pretext to king Sigismund for an
attack upon the Russian empire; while the throes of civil faction
rendered that country less able to resist a foreign assailant. In
1609, the Polish monarch entered the frontiers of Muscovy at the

* See Coxe's Travels, vol. ii., for a series of plausible arguments in favour of
the identity of Demetrius.
 HISTORY OF POLAND. . 281

head of a numerous army, and made rapid conquests. Indeed, his

real object was undoubtedly the extension of his own dominions,
and the entire subjugation of Russia; and, certainly, more favour
able circumstances for such a project could scarcely have occurred.
His first success was the defeat of an army of 30,000 Russians near
Clusin; and a detachment from his main army, commanded by Sul
cofs, reduced Zarova. All obstructions being thus removed, he
proceeded to invest the city of Smolensko, the grand object of the
campaign, and which had been in the hands of the czars since the
year 1514. The siege, though prosecuted with the utmost ardour,
continued for the space of two years, during which the Russian
garrison defended themselves valiantly, and frequent battles were
fought beneath the walls. Several armies were sent to force the
Polish works, and raise the siege; but they were always repulsed,
and above 200,000 Russians perished by the sword of the conqueror,
or by sickness. At length, the brave garrison, worn out with dis
ease, fatigue, and famine, surrendered at discretion. Severia and
other provinces now submitted to Sigismund; and the Poles were
on their march towards the capital, when the Russians, attributing
their misfortunes to their ruler, deposed Swiski, and delivered him
up to the king of Poland. By the advice of Micislaus, governor of
Moscow, they also elected Uladislaus, son of Sigismund, to the im
perial throne.
This, however, was a changeful era in Russia. Scarcely was the
usual oath of allegiance taken to Uladislaus, and before he had time
to take possession of the dignity they had conferred upon him, when
the Muscovites revolted from his authority. As he had not yet as
sumed the reins of government, and could not therefore have given
any offence to his new subjects, some have attributed this event to
the terror they were under of becoming slaves to Poland; others
ascribe it to the natural inconstancy of the people; while a few,
with more plausibility, suppose that the Russians, having been se
duced by the address of Micislaus to elect the prince, had no sooner
recovered their recollection than they repented of the step they had
taken, regarding it not only as an indignity to the whole empire, but
an injury to themselves, thus to become the voluntary subjects of one
whom they ought to consider as a natural enemy. Certain it is,
however, that Uladislaus was no sooner elected than he was deposed.
The whole nation, as if in a general conspiracy, took up arms; and
an army, under Zachary Lippanow, marched in 1611 to Moscow,
- 2 N
282 HISTORY OF POLAND.

drove out the Poles, and elected Michael Foederowitz Romanof to

the long-contested throne.
Before this prince could establish himself in the sovereignty, the
Poles, to the number of 7000, regained possession of the capital, in
which they were besieged by the new czar. Finding the city inca
pable of defence, they evacuated it, after having laid 100,000 houses
in ashes, and consumed immense riches. They then retired to the
citadel, where they made so obstinate a resistance as would have
foiled the whole power of Russia, had they been properly supported
by Sigismund; but though both his glory and his interest dictated
that he should afford every assistance to this important garrison,
yet he was so chagrined at the disappointment experienced by his
son, that he sent but faint succours into Muscovy, and suffered the
Polish troops in the citadel of Moscow to waste and languish under
a tedious siege, and finally to capitulate, after having suffered the
last extremities, and been reduced to a third of their original number.
The czar Foederowitz did not neglect the advantages afforded
him by the inactivity of the Polish monarch, and resolved on reco
vering the provinces and cities which had been conquered by the
Poles during the late civil commotions. His first care was to provide
for the security of his capital, after which he advanced with a nu
merous army to besiege Smolensko, a place of great importance to
both states, but now defended only by a small garrison, who were
already dispirited with the losses of the republic. The place was
carried by assault upon the first attack; and the garrison, unable to
withstand the overwhelming force of their assailants, were cut to
pieces. Every soul in the place was massacred, without distinc
tion of age or sex. Nothing appeared now capable of withstanding
the energies of this powerful empire, unanimous in redeeming past
errors, and in revenging past injuries; while the blood of hundreds
of thousands of her people, which had streamed in every quarter,
seemed to cry aloud for vengeance. From this time forward, Sigis
mund's endeavours to retrieve his affairs in Russia proved futile :
the critical moment had escaped in which he might either have
subdued by force the divided Muscovites, or united them under his
government by policy; and it was now in vain to hope for a recur
rence of the same circumstances. Though he had been at one time
in possession of the whole Russian empire, and had seen his son
elevated to the imperial dignity by the people, yet he was now
compelled to rest satisfied with the preservation of the duchies of
Severia and Novogrod, which were all that remained of his conquests,
 HISTORY OF Poland. 283

and which had been purchased at the expense of thousands of lives

and immense treasures. At one period of the war, Poland had
been elevated into the most formidable position in Europe, and
Russia was on the verge of annihilation. The relative positions of
the two nations were now about to be reversed: Poland only expe
rienced occasional pauses in her decline; while Russia continued to
advance in power and importance.
Sigismund has been defended from the charge of indolence and
backwardness on this occasion, by suggesting the impossibility of
his foreseeing and avoiding the consequences of the general and
sudden change in the sentiments of the Russians, immediately upon
the election of Uladislaus to their throne; a change which seemed
to be effected by means invisible and inscrutable to the human eye.
Besides, it has been added, it is highly probable that his attention
was necessarily diverted from the affairs of Russia by a revolution
in Transylvania, which threatened Europe with a dreadful storm on
the side of the Ottoman empire. These considerations alone can
rescue the character of Sigismund from the charge of inconsistency.
He had for several years paid the most strict attention to the affairs
of Russia, and narrowly watched every revolution and change; he
had expended great sums of money, and shed rivers of blood in at
tempting the conquest of that country; and his giving up a scheme
which he had so long and so eagerly prosecuted, must therefore be
ascribed to some other cause than indolence. In fact, the circum
stances of the times may extenuate, if not altogether excuse, the
backwardness of Sigismund upon this occasion.
The nations by which Poland was surrounded were, at this time,
involved in a commotion which it was impossible for that country to
avoid being drawn into. Bethlem Gabor, a Transylvanian noble
man, aspiring to the sovereignty of his native country, had defeated
and expelled prince Gabriel Bathori, who had made himself odious
to his subjects by his tyrannies; and Gabor now took possession
of his dominions. Not contented with this success, he planned
the means of future conquests; and the troubles in Bohemia pre
sented a favourable opportunity for the exercise of his ambition. He
attacked Hungary with vigour; and, having taken the towns of
Cassow, Filek, and Tirnaw, he at length seized upon Presburg, the
capital, and assumed the title of prince of Hungary. The Bohe
mians, who had revolted against the emperor Ferdinand, and chosen
Frederick the elector palatine for their king, applied to Gabor for
his assistance against the forces of the emperor, which was readily
2 N 2
284 HISTORY OF POLAND.

promised, as the Turkish empire was expected to co-operate in the

efforts made by the Transylvanian ruler. The emperor, on the
other hand, requested the aid of the Poles; and as they had reason .
to dread the machinations of Gabor, and were besides interested in
the fortunes of Bathori, a descendant of the family of their late be
loved monarch, they were not backward in their support of the em
peror. Sigismund detached a body of 4000 Poles and Cossacks to
join the imperialists in Bohemia, by whose means Frederick was
driven from the throne of that kingdom. But this success was only
the prelude to a bloody war, in which all the courage and resources
of the Polish nation were put in requisition.
The Ottoman Porte at this period claimed the sovereignty of
Transylvania, which had repeatedly fluctuated in its dependence
between that power and the Germanic empire. The grand seignior,
therefore, resented the part which Poland had taken against Gabor,
and which was considered as an infraction of the treaty between king
Sigismund and the Porte. The intrigues of Gabor likewise widened
the breach between the two nations. He accused Gratiani, voivode
of Moldavia, of adhering to the Poles, though he was the vassal and
tributary of the sultan; and, in consequence of this charge, Sander
pacha was ordered to enter Moldavia with an army, and seize on the
person of the voivode.
Sigismund was too much interested in the safety of his ally, now
about to fall a sacrifice to his attachment to Poland, to remain a
passive spectator. Gratiani promised to raise 14,000 Moldavians,
to assist such auxiliaries as the king of Poland might send him;
and, in consequence, Zolkiewski, general of the crown, marched to
his succour with 8000 Poles and a body of Cossacks. The sudden
irruption of the Turks, however, disconcerted the measures of the
voivode; and he was compelled to fly for shelter to the Polish army
with no more than 600 followers. Thus circumstanced, Zolkiewski
formed the brave resolution, either of conquering an army of 70,000
Turks and Tartars, or of perishing in the attempt. His own force
did not exceed 20,000 men, most of whom were undisciplined Cos
sacks, upon whom no dependence could be placed, as they embraced
every opportunity of going in search of plunder; while the Moslem
army contained a large body of janissaries, the flower of the Otto
man empire. To retreat with honour he considered impossible; and
he therefore omitted nothing which prudence and military skill could
supply in aid of the valour of his troops. He seized upon the most
advantageous posts, and, by his address and superior skill in select
 HISTORY OF POLAND. 285

ing his positions and encampments, drew the Turks into a situation
where they could not use their whole strength. This point gained,
he harassed their advanced posts, cut off their convoys, and reduced
them to the necessity of attacking him in an almost impregnable
position, to avoid perishing by famine. Never, it has has been well
observed, was an action preceded by more conduct, or maintained
with greater valour. During a whole day, the Poles stood like an
impenetrable wall against the attacks of the janissaries in front;
while the Tartars, who had contrived to penetrate almost imper
vious woods and to surmount vast mountains, assaulted their flank
and rear. After a prodigious slaughter amongst the Tartars, they
were compelled to sound a retreat, and abandon the glory of the day
to the Poles.
Zolkiewski continued on the fleld of battle, expecting to renew
the fight in the morning; and it is probable that his courage and ad
dress would have ensured a complete victory had he been properly
supported by his officers. Whether from jealousy, however, from
fear, or from corruption, several of his principal chiefs deserted him
in the night, and carried off with them one half of his little army.
He had therefore now no hopes of successfully resisting a powerful
enemy, driven to desperation by necessity and defeat; and he was
compelled to plan a retreat, the difficulties of which it was almost
impossible to appreciate. All the passes in Moldavia were occupied
by Turks and Tartars; and through these he had to cut his way in
order to regain his own country. The plan which he conceived for
this purpose was truly admirable; and, though accidentally frus
trated, it will render the name of Zolkiewski immortal as one of
the ablest heroes ever produced by the republic.
As soon as the tidings reached him of the desertion of his troops,
he formed a square battalion of the soldiers who remained faithful
to him, around whom he placed a sort of moveable entrenchment,
composed of the carriages and waggons which accompanied his army.
In this order he retreated towards the Neister, and actually reached
to within two or three days journey of Mohilef, the first Polish
town on that side. During this march, the whole of the Turkish
and Tartarian forces made continual attacks upon him, and impeded
his progress by blocking up the passes, breaking the roads, and cut
ting off his provisions and means of subsistence. Being under the
necessity of avoiding the woods and mountains which lay in his
passage, he was frequently obliged to take a wide circuit. All the
day was employed in repulsing the enemy, in foraging, and bring
 286 HISTORY OF POLAND.

ing provisions to his moving camp; and during the night he made
forced marches. It sometimes happened that he had advanced so
far before day-break, that his pursuers were uncertain what route
he had taken. On the 1st of October, the Turks made a furious
attack upon him; but, sheltered by his waggons, he defended him
self with so much courage and address, and the field-pieces he had
with him were directed so advantageously against the enemy's bat
talions, that he obliged them to retire. So extraordinary a retreat,
performed with success for the space of eight days by 5000 men,
in the presence of 80,000 enraged enemies, is unparalleled in his
tory.*
The Poles at length arrived within two leagues of the Neister,
and were preparing the pontoons for their passage. That effect
ed, the safety of this brave little army, and the glory of their com
mander, would have been secured. After having surmounted so
many difficulties, however, and braving so many real dangers, they
were at last conquered by imaginary ones; and Zolkiewski lost the
reward due to his consummate talents. As the night came on, the
valets of the camp, observing some mules grazing near, ran to catch
them; but on a sudden, imagining that the Tartars, the objects of
their dread, lay in ambush behind them, they fled in affright to the
camp, and set up so loud a cry, that a similar panic seized upon the
soldiers. All fell into confusion; and the exhortations, menaces,
and example of Zolkiewski, were unheeded. They fled about the
country without a possibility of escaping; while the Tartars, in
formed of the disorder, fell upon the scattered fugitives, and cut
them to pieces, or made them slaves. The brave Zolkiewski was
almost the only person in the whole army who ventured to make a
resistance; and his courage and presence of mind never forsook him.
Being abandoned, however, by all his troops, he had no other pros
pect than to sell his life as dearly as possible. He fought with the
most determined valour, but was at length overpowered by numbers,
and slain, His head was cut off, and sent to Constantinople, as the
most welcome present that could be offered to the sultan; and the
conquerers ravaged Podolia. Thus unfortunately terminated the
career of a hero, whose abilities and exploits deserved a better
fate.

The retreat of the 10,000 Greeks under Xenophon, which presents the
nearest resemblance, possesses the advantage of having been recorded by the
inimitable pen of the person who conducted it. Otherwise it might not have
been considered more memorable than this exploit of the Polish general.
 HISTORY OF POLAND. 287

Gabor, who had been the principal cause of this war, was not sa
tisfied with the destruction of Zolkiewski and his little corps. By
his intrigues, he gained over the principal Turkish pachas to his
views; and they easily incited the already exasperated sultan to
enter into another expedition against Poland, beneath which, ac
cording to all external appearances, that country must have been
crushed. Osman, who then filled the throne of the Ottoman em
pire, was young, fierce, ambitious, and warlike; and he had beheld
with rage and indignation the check given to his army by a handful
of Poles. Besides, he might probably be further inclined to the
war for the sake of employing a dreaded body of troops, which, be
ing apt to mutiny when unemployed, might be as readily disposed to
dethrone him as they had lately been to give him the sceptre they
took from his predecessor Mustapha. Preparations for the campaign
were made throughout all the Turkish empire; and, early in the
spring, the sultan appeared in person, on the frontiers of Moldavia,
at the head of 292,000 men. Though Sigismund had incurred this
danger by affording assistance to the emperor against the king of
Bohemia and the usurper of Transylvania, yet he was now deserted
by Ferdinand, who dreaded that the storm might eventually be di
rected against himself, and he subsequently even refused leave to
Sigismund to raise forces out of Germany. Poland therefore stood
alone to resist the formidable power now brought into action.
In this state of affairs, Charles Chodkiewicz, who had so ably dis
tinguished himself as the successor of Zamoiski in Livonia, marched
to defend the frontiers at the head of an army consisting of no more
than 20,000 men. Having secured an advantageous position on the
banks of the Neister, he intrenched his force, and calmly awaited
the arrival of his numerous opponents. Here he was attacked with
great impetuosity by the whole Turkish army, who, despising the
small number of his troops, and inspired by the presence of the sul
tan, calculated on an easy victory. The most arduous attempts were
made to force the Polish lines; but, firm in their position, they
constantly repulsed the Turks with great slaughter. Whilst these
incessant actions were going on, however, the brave Chodkiewicz
expired of a disease contracted by the perpetual exertion of his bo
dily and mental powers. This event, in some measure, damped the
ardour of the troops; but Chodkiewicz having left the command to
Stanislaus Lubomirski, that officer, by his vigorous and well-con
certed measures, quickly re-animated their drooping spirits; and a
considerable body of Cossacks having joined them at the same time,
 288 - HISTORY OF POIAND.

their augmented number, though still inferior to half that of their

enemies, enabled them to continue the contest with a greater chance
of success. Their new auxiliaries had fought their way, sword in
hand, through a large body of Tartars and Turks, who had been
sent to oppose them, and who for eight hours disputed their passage.
Provoked at the obstinate resistance of the Poles, and at their
late accession of strength, the sultan determined on a general attack
upon their lines. This took place on the 28th of September, and
Osman headed his troops in person. Under his own eye, the pachas
led the janissaries to the attack at daybreak; and during twelve
hours the action was supported with the most desperate fury. Ten
times were the Turks repulsed; but, fresh troops constantly sup
plying the places of the fatigued, wounded, and slain, they were as
often led back to the charge. Still the Poles presented the same
impenetrable front to all their attacks, and resisted every effort to
break into their lines. At length the Ottomans were compelled to
sound a retreat, leaving 26,000 of their troops dead in front of the
Polish intrenchments.
This unexpected repulse, with other concurring circumstances,
inclined Osman at length to pacific measures. During the time in
which the two armies had confronted each other, he had lost in the
several attacks no less than 60,000 men, consisting principally of
janissaries, the flower of his army and the bulwark of his empire.
His troops likewise were unable to procure food and forage in suffi
cient quantities for the consumption of so immense a body of men
and horses. Famine began to be felt in his camp; and thousands
of horses on both sides died of hunger. Their carcases tainted the
air with putrid exhalations; sickness made ravages amongst the sol
diers; and a pestilence, notwithstanding the advanced season of the
year, seemed inevitable. The winter also was approaching, and
the Turks suffered severely from the cold and the heavy rains, which
carried away several tents, horses, cattle, and even part of their
artillery. On one occasion, the Poles made a sally in the evening
against the quarter of the janissaries, where they made such execu
tion as nearly put the whole camp in disorder, and which, had it
taken place in the night, must have perilled the entire Ottoman
army. Under these co-operating causes, the Turkish army was re
duced to one-half of its original number ; and the sultan was com
pelled to relinquish all hopes of penetrating into Poland. On the
other hand, Lubomirski was naturally extremely desirous of being
released from the assaults of an enemy so vehement, obstinate, and
 HISTORY OF POLAND. 289

still so powerful. When Osman, therefore, proposed a conference,

it was willingly accepted by the Polish commander; and the result
was a truce, the conditions of which were highly honourable to the
republic.
By this treaty it was agreed, That the sultan should raise his
army, and retire from the confines of Poland; and that the Tartars,
who had caused the war, should send an emirze to reside as a pledge
against future incursions. The Polish commander also promised, in
the name of his king, to keep a hostage in the court of the prince of
Tartary, and to pay yearly 40,000 florins (an ancient pretension of
the Tartars) as a donative from the king; and, moreover, to main
tain a resident at the Ottoman Porte, upon whose arrival such
presents should be sent as were conformable to the rule of other
Christian princes. And as the grand seignior was surety for the
Tartars, that they should forbear all invasions upon the Poles; so
the king of Poland should bind himself, on behalf of the Cossacks,
that they should commit no robberies in the dominion of the grand
seignior. It was also further covenanted, on the behalf of the Po
lish merchants, that, in consideration of a present of 100,000 che
quins, they should be allowed the privilege of a free traffic in plate,
sables, and Bulgarian hides. The sultan was to have the nomination
of the voivode of Moldavia, but none but a Christian was to be
elevated to that dignity, all Mussulmen being excluded; and
Poland was to restore Choczim to the Porte. It was, however,
stipulated, that this treaty should not be considered as binding
until the sultan should send an ambassador into Poland with the
terms, that the king might have time to assemble the diet, and
there resolve to despatch an envoy with ample authority to treat
and conclude a final peace at the Porte.
Thus was dissipated a storm which, though apparently directed
only against Poland, had threatened to overwhelm all Europe.
Besides the men who had perished in the Turkish army, they lost
nearly 100,000 horses; and the troops who returned home appeared
so naked, sickly, and poor, as to afford evident demonstration of the
loss and misery they had endured. Many of the chief nobility, who
took the field with ten or twelve horses each, were now compelled
to return on foot. On the other hand, the loss of the Poles in their
intrenchments, from famine as well as the sword, was very great;
and, had the Turks been enabled to continue their assaults for a
few days longer, this brave army must have been compelled to sur
render or perish.
13 2 o
290 HISTORY OF POLAND.

The conclusion of the treaty of peace between Poland and Turkey

was delayed for a short time, in consequence of a projected attack
upon the emperor by the latter power. Meanwhile, Osman, who
continued anxiously to expect the arrival of Sbaraski, the Polish
envoy, with the terms of a conclusive peace, was deposed and mur
dered; and when that nobleman made his appearance at the Porte,
the unsettled state of the government, under the sultan Mustapha,
rendered it a difficult matter to effect an adjustment. The machina
tions of the czar also tended to prevent that result; and it was only
after a warm remonstrance from Sbaraski to the grand vizier, that the
peace was concluded. This took place about the 20th of February,
1622, under the mediation of the English ambassador.
The peace which succeeded to these events was but of short
duration. The affairs of Livonia, which Sigismund had hoped to
settle by means of his expected preponderance in Russia, were still
undecided. King Charles of Sweden had, in 1607, endeavoured to
restore his influence in Livonia, by sending an army, under Count
Mansfeld, into that province, which, after taking Wissenstein and
some other fortresses, was repulsed before Wolmar, and defeated at
Derpt. A suspension of arms, agreed upon in the following year
by the generals of the respective powers, was broken by the king of
Sweden ordering Mansfeld to lay siege to Dunnamunde and Roc
kenhausen, both which places fell before him. A series of abortive
negotiations succeeded; the Poles insisting upon the restitution of
the places treacherously seized while the truce existed, and the
Swedes replying that the truce had not been sanctioned by their
king. The Swedish fleet, in the mean while, was employed in in
tercepting the mercantile vessels of Riga, hoping thereby to ruin
the commerce of the Poles; but the inhabitants of that city seized
upon a favourable opportunity of sending fire-ships, during the
night, into the midst of the hostile squadron, by which three men
of-war and two frigates were destroyed, and the admiral was com
pelled to quit the station. In 1611, John king of Sweden died,
and was succeeded by his son, Gustavus Adolphus, whose intrepidity
and victories procured him the title of the Lion of the North. While
Sigismund was engaged in the affairs of Russia in 1613, and was
consequently desirous to arrange the disputes with Sweden respect
ing Livonia, an armistice was concluded; but the Polish monarch,
remembering the treachery practised on a similar occasion during
the late reign, endeavoured to procure a permanent peace, under
the mediation of the elector of Brandenburgh. Through the influence
 HISTORY OF POLAND. 291

of that prince, and with the assistance of the king of Great Britain
and the states-general of the United Provinces, all of whom wished
to engage Gustavus in the defence of the Protestants of the empire,
the truce was confirmed, and afterwards repeatedly prolonged. In
1616, however, Dunnamunde was seized by the Swedes under Je
rome Gylderstern and Nils Sternchild; an event which, if properly
followed up, might have produced the immediate reduction of Riga.
That city was besieged, in 1620, by an army of 25,000 men, with a
fleet of men-of-war and transports, under the command of Gustavus
himself, who took advantage of the absence of the Polish forces in
Moldavia, to invest a place so long a source of dissension between
the two nations. As Sigismund was unable to render any assistance,
the inhabitants were left to their own resources. Radzivil, general
of the Lithuanians, indeed, endeavoured to throw succours into the
city; but his force was too weak to keep the field against the Swed
ish out-parties. After defending the city with great gallantry and
conduct for six weeks, during which they had experienced all the
evils of fatigue, famine, disease, and the assaults of a powerful and
active enemy, the inhabitants capitulated, and obtained conditions
worthy of the valour they had displayed. Besides confirming all
the former privileges of the city, Gustavus granted several new and
valuable immunities, which he promised still further to enlarge
should the people prove as faithful to him as they had done to the
king of Poland. The only measure of severity which he introduced
was the banishment of the Jesuits; and this, with the majority of
the inhabitants, tended considerably to enhance his popularity.
While a negotiation for a truce was going on, Gustavus advanced
into Courland, where he reduced Mittau. An armistice, by which
that place was restored to Poland, was at length concluded for one
year; Sigismund hoping, before the expiration of that time, to
bring the Turkish war to a conclusion, and thus to be more able to
cope with his northern adversary. The truce expired, however,
before the Polish troops could be withdrawn from the scene of
action; and Gustavus renewed hostilities by extending his conquests
to the gates of Dantzick, which port he likewise blocked up with a
squadron. As several Prussian towns submitted to the Swedes,
and Sigismund perceived that even his presence and most strenuous
endeavours could not avert the tide of ill fortune which appeared to
be rising against him, he solicited a prolongation of the armistice;
and this was at length granted by Gustavus, on condition that the
2 o 2
292 HISTORY OF POLAND.

Polish monarch should, in the interim, endeavour to come to such

terms as might ensure a permanent peace.
Much diplomatic discussion ensued, during this cessation of hos
tilities, as to the terms of agreement between the two sovereigns.
The policy of Sigismund induced him to agree only to short inter
vals of truce, that he might be ready to take advantage of any
unfortunate circumstance in the affairs of Gustavus ; while the
latter, with much apparent generosity, offered to come to immedi
ate terms by ceding Livonia to Poland, on condition of Esthonia
and Finland remaining attached to Sweden. It was also proposed
that, should Gustavus die without male issue, one of Sigismund's
sons should succeed to the throne of Sweden; that he might, in
the interim, quarter the Swedish arms; but that he should solemnly
engage not to disturb the government of Gustavus, or make any
attempts to gain his crown during his life-time. Radzivil, the
Lithuanian general, is said to have supported these proposals, and
thereby incurred Sigismund's displeasure. Indeed, many of the
Polish nobility, though incensed at the pretensions of Gustavus,
were very desirous of a peace, and even refused to contribute the
funds necessary for carrying on the war; but their king was inflexi
ble. Ignorant of the true character of his opponent, his views
were directed to the recovery of his hereditary kingdom; and, in
pursuit of that unattainable object, he afforded to Gustavus an op
portunity of extending his dominions, and forcing Poland to such
terms as he should prescribe.
The truce expired in 1625; and Gustavus immediately took the
field, and made himself master of all that remained to Poland in Li
vonia. Prince Sapieha, with 3000Lithuanians, made several vigorous
efforts to check his progress; but neither his talents nor the number
of his troops were equal to those of his opponent, who, taking ad
vantage of the weakness of the Polish councils, penetrated into
Lithuania, reduced Birsen, and spread consternation over the whole
duchy. Sixty pieces of cannon, found at Birsen, were sent to Riga;
and prince Sapieha, with a body of Lithuanians, was entirely de
feated near Wolsen by the Swedish generals Horn and Thurn. Still
Gustavus reiterated the same proposals he had made in the preceding
year; while Sigismund, grown peevish with old age, infirmity, and
disappointment, continued to adhere to his obsolete pretensions.
Gustavus, in consequence, made a descent on Pillau with a nume
rous squadron, and an army of 26,000 well-disciplined soldiers.
 HISTORY OF POLAN ID. 293

Several fortified places in Prussia, amongst which were Elbing,

Marienburgh, Dirschau, Chirstburgh, and Great and Little War
den, submitted to his arms; and Dantzick was only saved by 3000
men, thrown into it by Sigismund. During the absence of Gusta
vus in his own kingdom, however, the Poles, under Konieckspolski,
laid siege to Marienburgh and Merve, and fought two obstinate
battles with the Swedish generals who attempted the relief of the
garrison. Though worsted on both occasions, they compelled the
latter place to surrender at discretion, as well as Pautzke. The suc
cesses of Konieckspolski terminated in a victory over a body of Ger
mans on the frontiers of Pomerania. Gustavus, on his return, defeat
ed the Poles at Kasammarck, with the slaughter of 3000 men; after
which he laid siege to Dantzick, now almost the only sea-port left
to the republic. To relieve this important place, Konieckspolski
exerted his utmost ability and diligence, and, according to the Po
lish historians, attacked Gustavus in his entrenchments. The
latter, who was perhaps as rash as he was brave, exposed himself to
the enemy's fire like a common soldier; and, on an assault being
made on the town, he mounted the breach in person. This would
have been carried, had he been less exposed; but having received
a musket-shot, which grazed upon his shoulder, and obliged him to
retire, his troops, whose strength and courage seemed wholly to
depend upon the presence of their king, lost confidence and re
treated.
During these events, the states-general, who were desirous of
engaging Gustavus in a war with the emperor Ferdinand, and for
that purpose to disengage him from the Polish contest, sent ambas
sadors into Prussia to mediate an accommodation between him and
Sigismund. Both parties endeavoured to protract the discussions,
in order to gain time for some fortunate manoeuvre or circumstance;
while the war was carried on, in the mean time, with vigour. The
Swedes defeated Konieckspolski near Dirschau, though Gustavus
was again wounded as he was forcing the Polish entrenchments.
A subsequent victory, however, gained by the Polish general at
Marienwerder, might have proved fatal to the glory of Gustavus,
had the Poles been sufficiently strong to follow up the blow. Thus
circumstanced, Konieckspolski endeavoured to prevail on Sigismund
to listen to the terms of accommodation proposed by the Hollanders;
and the Polish senate warmly remonstrated with their king on his
obstimate adherence to a disastrous war. Gustavus also offered to
restore all his conquests except Riga, which he insisted should be
 p
294 HISTORY OF POLAND.
-

sequestered for 30 years in his hands; but he still tendered the

proposal for a partition of the title and arms of Sweden, which
might be retained by both monarchs.
The emperor Ferdinand and the king of Spain viewed with dread
these steps towards an accommodation in the north. It was their
interest to divert the attention of the young conqueror from the
empire ; and they therefore flattered Sigismund with promises
of assistance, by which he might not only be enabled to recover
Livonia, Finland, and Prussia, but even the crown of Sweden itself.
Gabriel de Roi, at the head of a splendid embassy, was despatched
from the court of Madrid, with an assurance from his Catholic ma
jesty that twenty-four men-of-war, with 12,000 troops, under the
command of the celebrated Wallenstein, should be sent into the
Baltic, and carry fire and sword into the very heart of the Swedish
territory. The whole expense of this armament, it was hinted,
would be borne by the court of Spain; and a reinforcement of
troops from the imperial court, under Adolphus of Holstein, com
pletely overturned the pacific resolutions of the Polish king. Even
the senate credited the solemn asseverations of the Spanish am
bassador, and consented to break up the conferences with the Hol
landers.
Before the Polish army could be put in motion, the active Gusta
vus had made himself master of Worndit. To add to the difficulties
of Poland, the Lithuanians, wearied of the contest, concluded a
separate truce with the king of Sweden; while that monarch, by
the heavy contributions he imposed upon the Prussians, was enabled
to carry on the war in their province with very little expense to
himself. Sigismund collected nine ships of war to reinforce the
long-expected Spanish fleet; but that force did not arrive. All
that was done by the court of Spain was to solicit the Hanse Towns
to furnish the required vessels; but they, fearful of introducing the
Spanish power into the Baltic, refused to provide a single ship.
Sigismund now applied to the ambassador for the promised remit
tance, that he might hire ships in Denmark for transporting his
army into Sweden, but was answered that the court of Madrid had
given no instructions on that subject. Still, however, the wily
envoy kept up the hopes of the Polish king, and prevailed on him
to send his own little fleet to sea, in order to raise the spirits of the
Hanse Towns. The Polish vessels accordingly set sail, and encoun
tered a small squadron of Swedes, whom they attacked and defeated;
but this success was but transitory, for, before the termination of
 HISTORY OF POLAND. 295

the campaign, the Polish ships were all either taken, destroyed, or
dispersed by the Swedes and Danes, both jealous of the republic
acquiring a maritime force.
The Polish senate, who now perceived they had been duped by
the courts of Vienna and Madrid, refused to contribute the supplies
for the war; and, in consequence, the Swedes were generally suc
cessful in Prussia. The Poles, indeed, attacked and defeated a de
tachment sent to seize one of the out-forts of Dantzick; but they
suffered a reverse in a more general engagement, by which Gustavus
opened a way to lay siege to Dantzick a second time. A squadron
of nine Swedish ships blocked up the harbour; while Gustavus
advanced with his army by land. Thus circumstanced, the Dant
zickers resolved to attack the hostile squadron with their own fleet,
which consisted of ten vessels, and bore down with a favourable gale
on the enemy. The engagement was maintained with skill and
courage for several hours. Both the admirals were slain. Two of
the Dantzick vessels were destroyed, and 400 of their seamen were
killed; while the vessel of the Swedish admiral was taken, and
that of his vice-admiral blown up. The advantage, though claimed
by the Swedes, seems to have fallen to the Dantzickers, who thereby
opened a free passage to their harbour, and compelled Gustavus to
relinquish his design of besieging the city. A detachment, sent by
that monarch to seize upon some Polish magazines near Newburgh,
and where 600,000 crowns were deposited for the support of the
army, was intercepted and cut to pieces by the Poles. On the other
hand, the balance of success was preserved by the Swedes conclud
ing the campaign with the reduction of Strasburgh and Broderitz.
After a winter spent as usual in fruitless negotiations, the Poles
in the spring attempted to regain possession of Broderitz, but were
attacked in their lines by General Wrangel, and defeated with the
loss of 3000 men, some pieces of cannon, and near 2000 waggons
loaded with provisions, ammunition, and baggage. The Swedes
now prepared to attack Thorn; but the garrison of that place was
augmented by General Dorckoff, who encouraged the burghers by
his presence and example to prepare for a spirited defence. At
this crisis also the Polish army was reinforced by the imperial gene
ral Arnheim, with 5000 infantry and 2000 cavalry. This reinforce
ment swelled the numbers of the Polish troops to more than those
of their opponents; but the veterans who had twined their laurels
round the standard of the republic were now worn out or in garrison,
and the new troops who supplied their place wanted experience; a
296 HISTORY OF POI.A.N.D.

defect which applied also to the German auxiliaries. At Quidzin

they were defeated with great slaughter, after an obstinate contest,
in which their commander Konieckspolski displayed talents that
merited a better fortune. Notwithstanding this disaster, however,
he laid siege to Steim ; but the perfidious Arnheim is said to have
communicated all that passed in the Polish councils to the elector
of Brandenburgh, by which means it became known to the Swedes;
and the consequence was that 4000 Poles were slain in a sally of
the besieged.
The infatuated Sigismund at length began to perceive that he
had been made a mere instrument in the hands of the emperor and
the king of Spain, whose sole object was to divert the attention of
the Northern Lion from their attempts to suppress the Protestant
interest in Germany and the Netherlands. Famine, pestilence, and
desertion also prevailed in the Polish army, and rendered Sigismund
still more willing to listen to the mediation of the kings of England
and France and the states-general of Holland. The treachery of
Arnheim was likewise attributed to the instructions of his court,
and gave energy to the complaints with which the Polish monarch
filled Europe. On the other hand, Gustavus was eager to enter
upon an expedition into Germany, which he had long planned, and
which had hitherto been prevented by the contest with Poland. In
1629, therefore, a truce was concluded for six years, upon terms
more favourable than the republic, in its present state, might have
expected. These were that Gustavus should restore to his Polish
majesty the towns of Broderitz, Steim, and Dirschau; that Marien
burgh should be sequestered in the hands of the elector of Branden
burgh, to be restored again to Sweden, in case a peace should not
be concluded at the end of the truce ; and Gustavus, on his side,
kept the port and citadel of Memel, the harbour of Pillau, the towns
of Elbing, Braunsberg, and all he had conquered in Livonia. As
Sigismund had lavished so much blood and treasure in endeavour
ing to retain these places, he signed these articles with reluctance.
However, he yielded to the importunity of his subjects and to ne
cessity, but fell into a melancholy state of mind, which brought on
a lingering disorder that terminated only with his life.
About this time, the new khan of Tartary, in order to display his
prowess, and under the idea that such an exploit would be favoura
bly viewed by the Porte, despatched 40,000 horse into Podolia and
Red Russia to sack and ravage the country. They divided them
selves into several parties, and penetrated as far as Socal. A strong
 HISTORY OF POLAND. 297

body of Polish and Cossack horse, however, under the command of

Stephen Chmielniski, attacked a troop of them on their return near
Burstinow, and totally routed them; and Stanislaus Lubomirski
fell upon another party, whom he overthrew, taking 2000 prisoners,
amongst whom was the younger brother of the Tartar khan. Had
the Polish nation been able to follow up these victories, they might
at this time have annihilated the Tartar kingdom. In the mean
while, the peace between Sigismund and the Porte was still further
endangered by the incursions of the Cossacks into the dominions of
the latter; and the applications for redress were only answered by
the Polish ambassador with a reference to the recent invasion of his
country by the Tartars, which was now about being repeated. How
ever, in the following year (1630), an amicable arrangement was
made, whereby, in addition to the promises made by the Porte, the
Tartars were still further secured by a promise of 20,000 florins and
6000 pair of boots yearly, on condition that they should never enter
Poland in a hostile manner, but serve the king of that country against
all nations whatsoever, the Turks only excepted. The Cossacks, it
was hoped, might be restrained from their depredations by employ
ing them in a war against the Russians.
While Europe was filled with the sound of Gustavus's victories,
Sigismund, overwhelmed with cares and vexations, regretting what
he had lost, and apprehensive of still greater losses, died in the
neighbourhood of Warsaw, on April 30, 1632, aged 66. His first
wife, as we have seen, was Anne, daughter of Charles, archduke of
Austria; and he afterwards married Constantia, her sister. By
Anne he had Uladislaus, at one time czar of Muscovy, and afterwards
the successor of his father; and Constantia had two sons, named John
Casimir and Charles Ferdinand. The reign of Sigismund was cha
racterized by a series of the most singular events recorded in history.
Called in early life to the throne of Poland, and born to the inhe
ritance of that of Sweden, he retained the elective crown, and lost
his hereditary dominions. In the early part of his reign, his fortune
triumphed over that of the house of Austria; but his connexion
with that court, in his latter years, involved him in a war with the
Ottoman empire, caused him the loss of a considerable province, and
produced a series of disasters. He was at one time in possession of
the whole empire of Muscovy, the crown of which was conferred
upon his son; but he was deprived of that great territory more sud
denly than he had acquired it. His contest with Gustavus was
protracted by an unseasonable desire to reclaim his hereditary do
2 P
298 HISTORY OF POLAND.

minions, then in the hands of a more powerful and talented prince

than himself; and he is accused of having persisted in error, not
from want of penetration to discover his mistake, but from shame
to acknowledge that he ever was in the wrong. Still it is unques
tionable that he possessed a virtuous mind, and considerable talents
both for the field and the cabinet. The charge of bigotry and in
tolerance with regard to his Protestant subjects in Sweden, may be
considerably palliated by the reflection that they, on their part,
treated his religion with at least equal contempt and abhorrence; and
the shock given to religion by the sects which divided Germany,
naturally inspired him with the belief that his union with the em
peror was necessary for the maintenance of the faith of his ancestors.
With regard to his tamely suffering the Russian empire to fall from
his grasp, it may be remarked that the people of that country had
been prepared by a succession of strange revolutions for any change,
and that the Poles were universally looked upon by them with jea
lousy and dislike. Hence, it would have been no easy matter for
Sigismund to retain what his more talented predecessor, Bathori, did
not venture to acquire. Lastly, it has been observed, that too strict
an equity was the rule by which he would be guided in the dispute
he had with Gustavus. He did not reflect that the latter had the
affections of the Swedes on his side, and a crown in possession; but
he looked upon him only as a rebel subject. Incapable of doing the
least injustice himself, he would not suffer it in another; and treat
ing Gustavus as an usurper, he insisted upon his giving up whatever
his father had usurped from him.
Poland, during the reign of Sigismund, produced a succession, or
rather assemblage, of the ablest generals that ever appeared in that,
or perhaps in any other nation, in an equal space of time. The names
of Zamoiski, Chodkiewicz, Lubomirski, Zolkiewiski, Konieckspol
ski, and others, present a constellation of valour and military talent
too bright to be extinguished by time.
-

ULADISLAUs VII.16321648.

When Sigismund was in the agonies of death, he placed the crown

of Sweden upon the head of his son, prince Uladislaus, as his here
ditary right; but, with regard to the diadem of Poland, he adhered
* Sometimes styled Uladislaus IV. See note, page 127.
 History of Poland. 299

to the constitution by leaving its succession to the choice of the diet.

The election of the prince, however, was generally considered as
certain, whenever the diet should meet to appoint a successor. Many
indeed imagined that Gustavus Adolphus, fresh from his successes
in the German war, and celebrated for thirty victories obtained over
the ablest generals in Europe, would have declared himself a can
didate for the crown of Poland, and that the Protestant party in the
republic, now very numerous, would have hailed such an event with
joy. But the Lutherans in Great Poland, instead of manifesting
any such spirit, declared openly against the king of Sweden, the
moment his name was mentioned as a candidate, and denounced
all those as enemies to their country who should presume to nomi
nate a prince so bold, ambitious, and obnoxious to republican free
dom. Whether they might have altered their measures had Gusta
vus really come forward as a candidate, and thereby flattered their
expectations of extraordinary privileges from a prince of their own
religious persuasion, is uncertain'; but the Swedish monarch was
too deeply engaged in prosecuting his wars to apply his attention to
canvassing at an election, and he accordingly neglected the suffrages
of his supporters.
A more substantial opposition was projected by the queen-dowager,
who had always regarded Uladislaus with the indifference of a step
mother, and had, even during the life-time of Sigismund, made
some attempts to procure the succession to her own son, John Casi
mir. She had even disseminated reports prejudicial to the character
and claims of Uladislaus ; and, in particular, that he favoured the
novel doctrines. At the opening of the diet, therefore, the clergy
naturally shewed him but few marks of affection; and several of
the Catholic nobility regarded him with jealousy. The intrigues
and machinations of his mother-in-law were, however, totally circum
vented by the magnanimity and paternal affection of John Casimir,
who, despising the idea of supplanting a brother by acts of calumny,
put himself at the head of the nobility who declared for Uladislaus.
The diet of election assembled on the 27th of September; but,
though no competitor appeared against Uladislaus, the session was
spun out to a considerable length. John Casimir proposed his bro
ther; and the bishop of Premislaw, who supported the nomination,
enforced the subject with considerable energy and oratorical skill.
While he soothed the diet by flattering encomiums on their inde
pendence, he insinuated that particular regard had notwithstanding
been ever paid to the offspring of those kings who had deserved well
2 p 2
300 HISTORY OF POLAND.

of their country. In particular, he reminded the assembly of the

benefits conferred on the country by the excellent administration of
the august house of Jagellon, to which, as he observed, Uladislaus
was nearly related, being, indeed, a lineal descendant from it. He
appealed to their veneration for the memory of the late king, and,
by a natural transition, descanted on the many great qualities and
promising genius of the prince, which afforded a favourable presage
of a happy and glorious reign. In conclusion, he observed that there
was scarcely room for opposition or deliberation, when every motive
of reason, interest, and feeling united in directing their choice to
wards the prince Uladislaus. On the admission of the pope's nun
tio and the ambassadors from the emperor and the king of Sweden,
the two former warmly recommended Uladislaus, and the latter made
no objection to the election, provided the king elect would renounce
all pretensions to the crown of Sweden. This proviso was resented
by the diet as unseasonable and foreign to the purposes of the em
bassy; and, the votes being unanimous in favour of Uladislaus, he
was nominated king, on the 13th of November, by the archbishop
of Guesna, and immediately proclaimed by the grand marshal. His
coronation did not take place, however, till the ensuing year, when
it was celebrated with all the usual solemnity.
Uladislaus had learned the art of war during the reign of his
father, having been engaged both against the Muscovites and the
Turks and Tartars; and the utmost exertion of his abilities was
called forth upon his first accession to the throne. The probably
unstable condition of the government under a young monarch tempt
ed the Russians, in the hope of profiting by it, to attempt the reco
very of the provinces they had lost during the late commotions;
and they accordingly advanced, in 1634, with an army of 80,000
men, towards Smolensko, which they besieged; whilst they made
irruptions upon the frontiers of Poland, desolating the countries
through which they passed. The operations of the siege were car
ried on with great fury; but the Polish garrison, having received
intelligence that the king was advancing to their relief, made a brave
resistance. Uladislaus quickly appeared at the head of the flower
of his army; and though much inferior to the Russians in point of
numbers, he determined on attacking their lines. The battle was
obstinate; but the result justified the reliance the king had placed
on the courage and attachment of his troops, and the skill and ta
lents of his generals. The Russian intrenchments were forced, and
they were driven into a narrow defile, surrounded by impervious
 HISTORY OF POLAND. 301

woods, where they were compelled to submit to the terms imposed

by the conqueror. By these it was stipulated, that they should lay
down their arms, return quietly to their own conntry, and not in
terrupt the tranquillity of Poland for the space of six years. Another
article was also added by the king, by which it was engaged that the
czar should renounce all pretensions to the duchies of Smolensko
and Zernikow.
During these events, the czar had demanded assistance from the
Turks; and the continued depredations of the Cossacks afforded a
plausible pretext for breaking the treaty concluded in the last reign.
The sultan Morat therefore, being incited to hostilities by one of
his nobles named Abassa, ordered the latter to make levies of men
in Moldavia and Walachia, and, with the Tartars, the militia of
Buda, and that of the banks of the Danube, to enter Poland. Ac
cordingly, 15,000 Tartars made an incursion, and laid waste the
country for ten leagues around Kaminieck. As they were retiring
with their booty, they were attacked, on the 4th of July, by 2500
Polish horse under Stanislaus Konieckspolski, who, seizing the op
portunity whilst the Tartars were feeding their horses, threw them
into disorder, recovered all the plunder, and took five of their chief
men prisoners. An army of 60,000 men, consisting of Turks, Tar
tars, Moldavians, and Walachians, under the command of Abassa,
now passed the Danube; and Konieckspolski, not being sufficiently
powerful to meet them in the field, concentrated all the force he
could collect from the Cossacks and lords of the country, and in
trenched himself upon a hill between the river Tyr and the town of
Choczim, where he hoped to be able to succour Kaminieck, in case
it should be assaulted by the enemy. Abassa, contemning the small
force of the Poles, resolved, without consideration, to attack them
- in their camp. For this purpose, he ordered his troops to advance;
but the Poles, having lined the hedges and ditches with musquetry,
received their foes with so warm a fire that 500 men were slain at
the first onset. The Turkish commander, fiuding it necessary to
make his approaches with more caution, ordered the Tartars to charge
the right wing, and the Moldavians and Walachians the left of the
Polish army; and the right would have been routed by the attack
of the Tartars but for the opportune arrival of Wisnovitski, with
some troops and a train of small artillery. Their assailants on the
left made but a faint assault, and then quickly turned their backs
and fled, but were not pursued far by the Poles. Abassa, however,
sounded a retreat, and hastily marched about 30 English miles from
302 HISTORY OF POLAND.

the scene of action. Having reached the Turkish territory, he put

his men in winter-quarters, and sent a dispatch to the Porte with
an account of a splendid victory gained over the Polish army.
As Uladislaus was still engaged with the Muscovite war, an am
bassador, with a train of 300 attendants, was despatched to the
Porte, to complain of the conduct of Abassa, upon whom the whole
blame was affected to be laid. The envoy was at first referred to
Abassa himself, who assumed the tone of a conqueror, and demand
ed the payment of ten years tribute from Poland. This was refused;
but certain presents were tendered to the sultan, to whom the am
bassador was at length conducted. The interview was stormy, and
concluded by the sultan half unsheathing his scymeter, and declaring,
With this I will subdue my enemies; and though my war in
Persia continues, I do not fear to undertake another in Poland.
Hostilities were now openly declared by the Porte; and great
quantities of provisions and ammunition were sent into Moldavia
by way of the Black Sea and the Danube. The Tartar khan put
his forces in readiness; and the beglerbeg of Greece advanced with
30,000 men to join the forces of Bosna, Silistria, and other parts of
Europe. An immense army was thus assembled; and Abassa fan
ned the military ardour of the sultan by reports that the Poles, in
dread of his approach, were willing to accede to terms of composition
for a yearly tribute. The news, however, of the victory gained by
Uladislaus at Smolensko, and the consequent peace between the
Poles and Russians, at length opened the eyes of Morat, whose fury
was now turned against the Muscovites, whom he considered as
cowardly and perfidious, and abused and imprisoned their ambassa
dors. He now found that he had provoked a victorious, valiant,
and powerful enemy, whose hostility was at this time peculiarly dan
gerous, whilst the Persians were attacking the Turkish empire on the
other side; and Shahin aga was therefore despatched as ambassador
to the diet at Warsaw, with proposals for renewing the ancient league
and articles of peace.
Shahin endeavoured to excuse his master from the blame of the
late acts of hostility, by assuring the diet that he had been moved
thereto by the evil suggestions and artifices of Abassa, who, as the
sole cause of the rupture, he promised, in the name of his master,

* These were, a coach lined with velvet, with six very fine horses; a bason
and candlesticks of silver, richly gilt; four clocks, ten vests of sables, six qui
vers of arrows, and some hunting dogs.
 HISTORY OF POLAND. 303

should receive such punishment as the Poles might think fit to in

flict upon him. Uladislaus replied that since the sultan could be so
easily prevailed upon to break the most solemn treaties, it was now
the duty of himself and that grave assembly to devise such means
as might in future prevent a recurrence of similar transactions; and
the ambassador, who had recently been treated so cavalierly by the
sultan, describing to the diet the insulting manner of his reception
at the Porte, the assembly entered warmly into the views of the
king.
Uladislaus now repaired into Podolia, to review his forces, which
consisted of 80,000 men, well accoutred, and eager to follow their
king to the walls of Constantinople. The sultan Morat consequently
became extremely solicitous to effect a reconciliation. He employed
one of his viziers, named Morteza, to procure the intercession of
Konieckspolski; and, as a proof of his sincerity, he caused Abassa
to be strangled by two kapugees. For some time the Poles perse
vered in their intention to invade Turkey; but at length a peace
was concluded, containing the following articles:That the voivodes
of Moldavia and Walachia should be confirmed by the grand seignior,
with the consent and recommendation of the king of Poland; that a
certain colony of contumacious Tartars should be expelled from the
frontiers of Poland; that the Poles should suppress all acts of hos
tility by the Cossacks in the Black Sea; that the Turks should
renounce for ever all demand or future pretence to tribute from Po
land; that they should build no new forts on the frontiers; that
the navigation of the river Nieper should remain free and undisturb
ed to the Poles; and that all other articles should continue as for
merly in full force.
Uladislaus, by the spirit and energy he displayed during these
transactions, convinced both the Russians and Turks that they could
not with impunity offend so active a monarch, and that it would be
advisable in future to pay a more religious observance to their
treaties with the republic. He now turned his attention to the
affairs of Sweden, the crown of which he considered as his own by
patrimonial right. The great Gustavus, after a series of victories
in Germany, was at length slain at the battle of Lutzen in 1633;
and Sweden was governed by the infant princess Christina and a
regency. The glory of the Swedish arms was sustained for some
time by the generals of that nation, who surprised Leipsic, took Sel
destadt, Colmar, and Paderborn, and defeated the imperialists near
Hamelen; but the unfortunate issue of the battle of Stenaw, and
304 HISTORY OF POLAND.

more particularly that of Nordlingen, gave a turn to their affairs,

and caused the loss of a part of their conquests. Had they not been
supported by Louis XIII. of France, they must have fallen before
the house of Austria. In this crisis, while the regency were en
tangled in difficulties, and their enemies were daily increasing
around them, the truce between Poland and Sweden expired; and
in 1635, Uladislaus began to make hostile preparations. It was
therefore absolutely necessary for the Swedes to send an army for
the defence of Prussia, which could only be effected by leaving some
other quarter of their dominions exposed; and they were conse
quently anxious to prolong the truce with Poland at any sacrifice.
A body of their troops, under La Gardie, did indeed march into
Prussia; but this movement was only a feint to give effect to the
projected negotiations. Uladislaus, who does not appear to have
been very anxious for the prosecution of the war, nevertheless de
termined on seizing the present favourable opportunity of recovering
a province which he considered as belonging to the republic; and
he therefore consented to the proposed conferences.
The deputies of the two nations met at Sturmsdorf; and, after a
short discussion, it was agreed, that on condition the Swedes should
evacuate all the towns they possessed in Prussia, and make formal
renunciation of that province, the truce should be prolonged for
twenty-nine years. Thus, without involving his people in fresh
scenes of blood and horror, Uladislaus gained all that could have
been anticipated from a successful war, and was left at liberty to
attend to the internal affairs of his kingdom.
In 1636, an army of Polish horse was sent to the frontiers of the
kingdom, to avenge the continued incursions of the Tartars, which
it was supposed were secretly abetted by the sultan, notwithstanding
the articles of the last peace. Morat, however, unwilling to
break with Poland at this juncture, disowned any participation in
the offence; and, to oblige Uladislaus, he gave liberty to all the
Poles who had been taken prisoners since the last treaty, positively
prohibiting all people from buying or keeping any of the subjects of
that country for slaves during the continuance of the peace. In the
following year, preparations were made for expelling Cantemir, a
rebellious Tartar, who had colonized Budziak and part of Moldavia;
but that chieftain was in the interim defeated by the great khan of
Tartary.
The most impolitic measure ever adopted in the councils of Po
land took place about this time. It has been seen that, for a number
 HISTORY OF POLAND. 305

of years, the Cossacks had acknowledged the sovereignty of the re

public, though they continued to be governed by their own laws
and rulers, and acted in most respects as an independent people.
King Stephen Bathori, aware of the services to be derived from
such allies, had indulged them with many privileges and grants of
land; and the result proved the prudence of his conduct. In all
the wars of the republic, the Cossacks had ever exhibited the most
devoted zeal and arduous enterprize. Their irregularity and love
of plunder, indeed, sometimes produced misunderstandings with
the Turks, and had even occasionally been the means of producing
actual warfare; but these excesses were winked at on account of the
security afforded by the Cossack tribes against the incursions of the
Tartars, and a dread of giving offence to such powerful and inde
pendent auxiliaries. The Polish nobility, however, jealous as they
might be of their own privileges, could not brook the least shadow
of freedom amongst their vassals; and they therefore viewed with
dislike the example of perfect liberty displayed by the Cossacks.
Their fears were certainly not without foundation; for many of the
Polish peasantry, when oppressed by their masters, took refuge in
the Ukraine, where they were exempted from slavery, and enjoyed
whatever property they could acquire without the dread of being
despoiled of it by rapacious landlords. As these accessions to their
population strengthened the Cossack community, they were joyfully
received; and multitudes of people, with their families, emigrated
to enjoy the free air of liberty in the Ukraine.
The Polish aristocracy felt the ill effects of these migrations,
many of their estates being left without sufficient hands to cultivate
the soil; and the injury consequently extended to the republic ge
nerally. The nobles applied to the government, and demanded back
their vassals; but the Cossacks refused to deliver up the fugitives
who had escaped from the exactions and drudgery imposed by their
late masters. Angry altercations ensued; and a scheme was pre
pared by which the Poles hoped not only to regain the serfs whom
they had lost, but to extend the sphere of their own influence into
the Ukraine itself. Some of them already possessed estates in that
country; but the tenure was different from those in Poland, the in
habitants being free, and rendering, instead of the feudal services
prevalent in the republic, a moderate annual rent to their landlords.
The design of the Polish nobility was nothing less than to put their
estates upon the same tenure in both countries, and thus virtually
to enslave the Cossack population. This, it was conceived, would
2 Q
306 HISTORY OF POLAND.

not only enrich the nobility, but also add considerably to the revenue
of the state.
The king and senate were induced to enter into this project, not
only on account of the reasons above stated, but also because it was
imagined the semi-barbarous Cossacks would thereby be attached
more closely to the republic, and, as they advanced in civilization,
would quit their piratical course of life. The imprudence of this
attempt to change the life and manners of a bold and military peo
ple, and reduce them to a state of slavery, was further enhanced by
the probability that they would thereby become less warlike, and
not so able to assist in the wars against the czar or the grand seig
nior, or to resist the incursions of the Tartar hordes; and its in
justice was evident from the fact, that the Cossacks were the allies
of Poland merely out of policy and gratitude for the immunities
they had received, and were therefore not liable to the laws which
the diet of the republic might think proper to pass. The senate,
however, was composed of persons whose private interest it was to
advance this ruinous project of converting the sword and lance of
the Cossack into the shovel and the pruning-hook. The king, for
getting his usual prudence, suffered himself to be guided by the
senate; and in consequence, without deliberating seriously on the
result of the measure, an armed force was sent into the Ukraine,
under the command of Konieckspolski, who, at the junction of the
river Zwamer with the Boristhenes, erected the fortress of Hudac,
as a check upon the Cossacks, and the first step towards the anni
hilation of their independence.
This gross infraction of the treaties existing between the republic
and the Cossacks, and of the conditions on which the latter acknow
ledged the Polish sovereignty, was naturally resented by men so
tenacious of their liberties that they could not endure the slightest
restraint. They flew to arms, and exerted their utmost endeavours
to disconcert the plans of the Polish general; but his vigilance, acti.
vity, and valour rendered their efforts unavailing. Several contests
took place, in which the Cossacks were always defeated; and at
length, on condition of receiving a pardon under the hand and seal
of the sovereign, they submitted, and delivered up their hetman
Bauluski, with several other persons of distinction amongst them.
With a treachery which will ever remain an indelible stain on the
memory of Uladislaus, these prisoners, or rather hostages, were be
headed. It had also been solemnly stipulated that the troops of the
republic should be withdrawn from the Ukraine as soon as the Cos
 HISTORY OF POLAND. 307

sacks laid down their arms; but this promise was also violated.
No sooner had the Cossack troops dispersed, than fresh soldiers
were marched into their territory; and a diet was assembled, in
which it was decreed, that all the privileges bestowed on the Cos
sacks by Bathori should be revoked and annulled, that the fortress
of Techtemeravia should be taken from them, and that they should
be reduced to the same state of subjection as the Polish peasantry.
It is somewhat surprising that the Polish nobility, anxious as
they were for despotic authority, should have been so blinded by
their ambition and cupidity as to have recourse to such outrageous
measures ; but it is still more wonderful that Uladislaus, whose for
mer conduct had ever been directed by the most just and prudent
policy, should have lent his sanction to them. It is little palliation
to say that they did not originate with him: it was his duty to oppose
the insane councils of those who were thus inflicting a suicidal wound
on the republic. Another army, however, was despatched into the
Ukraine, and Konieckspolski advanced to lay siege to Techteme
ravia, a fortress regarded by the Cossacks as the palladium of their
hiberties. Again they attempted to resist by force the designs of
their oppressors. Partly by valour, and partly by stratagem, they
defeated all the manoeuvres of the Polish general, compelled him to
relinquish the enterprize, and reduced his army to great extremities.
Still they solemnly protested they had no design to withdraw their
allegiance from the republic, their sole object being to preserve the
privileges granted them by their illustrious benefactor Bathori, and
confirmed by all his successors. Though conquerors, they offered to
lay down their arms upon the same conditions as those of the last
treaty, and a renewal of the armistice then agreed upon ; but, at
the same time, they declared their determination to defend their
territory and immunities to the last drop of their blood. The re
public was in no condition to enforce other terms; and the king and
senate therefore assented to the proposals made by the Cossacks,
who thereupon disbanded their forces and returned to their own
houses. -

Scarcely was peace restored, when the Polish lords commenced a

series of outrages in the Ukraine which totally alienated the affec
tions of the Cossacks, and eventually produced a destructive war,
that nearly proved the ruin of the republic. Detachments were sent
to seize by force upon those peasants who had taken shelter with
the Cossacks; the Greek religion, which was generally professed by
the latter, was suppressed, and their churches were taken from
2 Q 2
308 HISTORY OF POLAND.

them; and, instead of soothing and conciliating an offended and war

like people, every opportunity was taken of tyrannizing over them,
though they had been in reality conquerors in the late contests.
Emboldened by the moderation the Cossacks had displayed, their
oppressors madly persevered in their offensive conduct, till they
drove to extremity and rendered enemies the men who had ever
been, and who only wished still to continue, the defenders of their
country.
The spark which at length caused the long-smothered flame to
burst forth, originated in the injuries sustained by a private in
dividual. Bogdan Kzmielniski, who had at this time acquired
great influence and popularity amongst the Cossacks, was originally
a native of Lithuania; and, his father coming to reside in the
Ukraine, he was carried off by the Tartars. Being redeemed by
his mother, he returned into the Ukraine, where he was then al
most a stranger, and cultivated the lands which his father had left
him near the Polish fortress of Czehrin. He afterwards added a
piece of waste ground, which lay near the fort, to his paternal estate,
and cleared it of the bushes which grew upon it. From this in
considerable circumstance arose a succession of events which nearly
terminated in the destruction of Poland. Czaplinski, the governor
of Czehrin, claimed the land which had been cleared as his right,
and enforced his pretensions by a violent seizure. Kzmielniski was
not a man to submit tamely to an injury; and he appealed to Ula
dislaus. The land, however, was adjudged to the Polish governor,
whose interest prevailed at court; and no acknowledgment was
made to the Cossack for the expense and trouble he had incurred in
cultivating the disputed property. Burning with rage, he returned
home, where he made loud complaints to his countrymen of the in
justice inflicted upon him, exclaimed against the partiality of the
court, and haughtily accused the governor to his face of tyranny.
The latter caused him to be apprehended, and ordered him to be
publicly whipped; and at length, in contempt of the Cossack, Czap
linski carried off his wife by force, violated, and then put her to
death. Not content with this outrage, he set fire to the house of
Kzmielniski, whose infant son, then in the cradle, perished in the
flames. It is indeed asserted by some writers, as an extenuation of
this cruelty, that it was committed in revenge for Bogdan having,
on some former occasion, caused the Pole to be publicly and igno
miniously scourged. However this may be, Kzmielniski in a rage
deserted his home, and took refuge in the islands of the Boristhenes,
-

--

T30) (GID) Aj KZY[][EILIN|[3]{}

ON HIS WAY TO INCITE THE COSSACKS To REBELLION.

Ayrmedforks*History ofAb/and.
 HISTORY OF POLAND. 309

where, by the recital of his intolerable wrongs, he incited in the

whole nation a resolution to renounce the sovereignty of the repub
lic, to assemble an army, to revenge the injuries they had sustained,
and either to conquer or perish in the cause of liberty. Violences
had been perpetrated on other individuals; all that was wanted was
a rallying point to concentrate their efforts; Kzmielniski was now
elected their chief; and the most vigorous measures were taken for
executing signal vengeance on their tyrants.
Thus threatened with the dangers of a bloody war, Poland re
quired all the talents of its sovereign for its defence. To enhance
its misfortunes, however, Uladislaus, then at Meretz in Lithuania,
**
was seized with a malignant fever, of which he died in a few days,
on May 20, 1648, aged 52. He married, first, Cecilia, daughter of
the emperor Ferdinand II. ; and, second, Louisa Maria, princess of
Nevers.

.-

INTERREGNUM.1648.
* ,
The death of Uladislaus,
who was undoubtedly the best general
then possessed by Poland, was all that was wanting to encourage the
Cossacks to open revolt; and they now gave a loose to that fury

and revenge which had been so long suppressed by prudential mo
tives. Bogdan Kzmielniski, their commander, though raised from
the plough to the head of an army, displayed a degree of courage
and capacity which would have done honour to a veteran warrior, or
| a practised politician. He had skill enough to conquer the inve
terate hatred which his nation cherished against the Tartars; and he
made a treaty with those people, who had always before that time
been the enemies of the Ukraine. The confusion usual in Poland
in every interregnum favoured his designs; the nobility being occu
pied in disputes as to the choice of a successor to the throne. Bog
dan, taking advantage of this circumstance, advanced into Poland
with an army of Cossacks and Tartars, and, giving battle to general
Potoski in the neighbourhood of Korsen, gained a complete victory.
A second body of Polish troops was put to flight near Constantinow
in Volhynia; and the insurgents now ravaged the provinces of Po
dolia and Red Russia with all the fury of enraged barbarians. All
the gentry who fell into their hands were slain, after being compel
led to see their wives and daughters stripped naked, violated, and
then whipped to death by the Cossacks and Tartars. Such of the
310 HISTORY OF POLAND.

peasantry as refused to enlist in the ranks of the invaders, were

pillaged, stripped, and turned out naked into the fields to starve
with cold and hunger. The city of Leopold was threatened with
such imminent danger, that, to avoid the dreadful effects of an ex
posure to plunder, the inhabitants consented to pay a large contri
bution to the invaders. Cracow itself was considered so insecure,
that the crown jewels were removed from thence, that they might
be preserved from the rapacity of the enemy. Indeed, every city
and town in Poland was overwhelmed with consternation: while the
provinces exposed to the ravages of the Cossacks suffered so dread
fully, that the whole frontiers, towards Russia and Tartary, which
had formerly been extremely populous, were turned to a solitude,
and have not to this day recovered the effects of the visitation.
The diet, which was at that time assembled at Warsaw, were so
much terrified at the approach of their enemies, that some of the
members proposed the translation of the assembly to Dantzick, as
the only place of safety in the kingdom. Their fears were certainly
not ill-founded; but, in the mean time, circumstances occurred
which rendered the flight of the diet unnecessary. Kzmielniski,
pursuing the advantages he had gained, advanced as far as Pilavi,
where he encountered and defeated a third army of Poles, and made
himself master of their camp, in which he found an immense booty.
The loss of this treasure occasioned the safety of Poland. The day
after the engagement, the Tartars arrived in all the haste they could,
hoping to obtain a share of the spoil; but as they had not been con
cerned in the danger, the Cossacks refused to divide with them what
they considered their own by right of conquest. Fearing, however,
that the Tartars would have recourse to violence to enforce their
claims, they hastily retreated to the Ukraine, and thus relieved the
diet from the apprehension of immediate danger. From the dissen
sions of its enemies, therefore, and not in consequence of any exer
tions of its people, Poland was delivered from the most imminent
peril with which it had ever been threatened.
An opportunity was now afforded to the diet to secure themselves
from the future attacks of Kzmielniski, and to restore the govern
ment of the country to its wonted energy, by terminating the inter
regnum. Towards effecting the first of these purposes, levies of
men were commenced in all parts of the nation; all parties vied with
each other in zeal for the public welfare; and the clergy, in order to
enhance this spirit in the other classes of the community, con
tributed one half of their revenues towards raising and maintaining
 HISTORY OF POLAND. 311

an army. The example was followed with ardour; contributions

flowed in from the gentry ; and recruits were enrolled in such
numbers, that a force more than sufficient to crush the Cossacks
might have been assembled, had not the dissensions generated re
specting the choice of a king paralyzed these patriotic efforts for the
defence of the country.
The foreign competitors for the crown, taking advantage of the
unfortunate circumstances in which the republic was placed, ad
vanced their claims with the most disgusting haughtiness. The
czar of Muscovy imperiously announced his determination to seize
on the throne by force, should it not be granted to him by the suf
frages of the diet; and George Ragotski, prince of Transylvania,
with scarcely less effrontery, appeared at the head of 30,000 men,
with whom, if he were elected king, he promised to fight against the
Cossacks; or, if he were rejected, he threatened to join them against
the republic. Critical as the state of the nation then was, such
menaces could not fail to produce much uneasiness; but the diet de
termined to maintain the freedom of election, and their own right
to choose a king for their country. They therefore courageously re
jected the claims of both the pretenders to their crown, and ridi
culed the pretensions of the despots, whose manner of asserting them
had cut them off at once from all hope of success. -

The attention of a majority of the diet was turned to John Casi

mir, brother of the late king. This prince, to whose magnanimity,
as we have seen, Uladislaus was partly indebted for his crown, had,
after the election of that monarch, quitted Poland, and undertaken
a journey to Spain, with a view of offering his services to his cousin,
Philip IV., then at war with France. Passing through Austria
and Trent into Italy, he embarked at Genoa in a vessel bound for
Spain; but, prompted by curiosity, he ventured to land incognita
at Marseilles. Being discovered, he was arrested by the court of
France, and, on account of his connection with the house of Aus
tria, closely imprisoned for the space of two years. Being at length
released at the intercession of his brother, the king of Poland, he
repaired to Rome, and there entered into the order of the Jesuits.
Afterwards, grown weary of his function, he quitted that order, and
was promoted to the rank of cardinal. Though thus, at the present
crisis, labouring under the disadvantage of ecclesiastical engage
ments, which apparently disqualified him as a candidate for the
crown, and seemed to presage his incapacity of supporting the
312 HISTORY OF POI, AND.

weight of sovereignty; though obnoxious to many of the nobility

on account of his having belonged to the community of Jesus, whose
machinations against the Gospellers had produced great commotions
and rendered them extremely unpopular in Poland during the late
reign; though unassisted by troops, and recommended by no power
ful foreign interesthe was, notwithstanding, looked upon with a
favourable eye by many; and the Catholics, from the idea they en
tertained of his ability and piety, promoted his election with the
utmost zeal and energy.
A considerable party, however, was opposed to the claims of John
Casimir. At the head of this faction was Stanislaus Zaremba,
bishop of Kiow, who advocated the election of Charles Ferdinand,
younger brother of John Casimir, and bishop of Breslaw and Plotsko.
Thus was exhibited the novel spectacle of two brothers, both candi
dates for the same throne, and both seemingly ineligible on account
of their stations in the church. The bishop of Kiow, in the hope
that if he could succeed in appointing a sovereign, he himself might
be promoted to the primacy and archbishopric of Gnesna, laboured
strenuously in the cause of Charles Ferdinand; and his efforts were
further assisted by the co-operation of the Protestants of the nation,
who feared that Casimir's education amongst the Jesuits might in
fluence his future conduct in a manner prejudicial to themselves.
Christina, queen of Sweden, also lent her aid to the party of Charles
Ferdinand, because it was her interest that Poland should be ruled
by a weak and imbecile prince, and she dreaded the talents and
probable popularity of John Casimir. All the schemes of this party,
however, were overthrown by an energetic speech, spoken in behalf
of the elder prince by the bishop of Samogitia. With an eloquence
and force which were unanswerable, he completely removed all the
suspicions of partiality which the vows of John Casimir had occa
sioned, and refuted every argument advanced by the opposite party
against his election. The diet were won by this manly appeal,
and at length unanimously declared in favour of the prince whose
claims had been so ably advocated. Some of the more obstinate,
indeed, had held out in their opposition; but they were eventually
brought over by the pope's nuntio and the French ambassador.
Even the envoy from the court of Sweden yielded to the arguments
of the bishop of Samogitia; and queen Christina, when informed
that Charles Ferdinand had entered into engagements with the
house of Austria, declared against him, and warmly advocated the
 HISTORY OF POLAND. 3.13

cause of the prince she had so recently opposed. Accordingly John

Casimir was proclaimed king on the 20th of November, 1648, and,
being absolved from his vows by the pope, was crowned on the 17th
of January following.

John CASIMIR.1648-1668.

Soon after his accession to the throne, John Casimir, having ob

tained a papal dispensation, married his brother's widow, Louisa
Maria, a woman of great beauty, and still greater spirit, who blended
devotion with a strong propensity to political intrigues. However,
one of the first steps of the new king was to express his disapproba
tion of the measures which had given rise to the Cossack war. In
opposition to the whole body of the nobility, and in accordance with
what he considered the true interests of the kingdom, he persisted
in making efforts to procure an accommodation. Even a successful
war, he was aware, could only be productive of advantage to a few
individuals, who hoped to augment the number of their own depen
dents, and enlarge the sphere of their despotism, by imposing the
bonds of servitude on a warlike people, upon whose freedom and
martial spirit the very existence of the republic depended. When
he was warmly exhorted to take the field, he replied the Kzmiel
miski's house ought not to have been set on fire. His coolness, or,
as it was designated by the hot-headed nobles, his pusillanimity,
gave great offence to the aristocracy, who longed as much for re
venge upon the perpetrators of the late outrages on themselves,
their families, and estates, as they did for the extension of their
power. At length, they resolved to act without the consent of the
king; and, with a precipitancy which proved fatal to them, they,
in 1649, raised troops and marched into the Ukraine.
Kzmielniski had foreseen the danger, and was prepared to resist
it. According to Puffendorf, 10,000 Cossacks defeated the army of
the nobility, amounting to 50,000 men; and, in consequence, the
former reduced and plundered Kiow. This writer also adds, that,
resolving to repair their loss, and wipe off their disgrace, the nobles
raised every seventh man in the nation without the king's consent,
came to action a second time, and were defeated with still greater
slaughter and ignominy. This statement, with regard to the rela
tive numbers of the combatants at least, is probably incorrect; but
the account given by Fontaine appears to err in the opposite ex
14 2 R
314 HISTORY OF POLAND.

treme. He says that 340,000 men marched under the standard of

Kzmielniski, and that the khan himself was come in person to his
assistance; while the whole army of the Poles did not exceed 9000
men. This handful, blocked up in Zbarras, defended themselves
with courage; and had their only difficulty been the resistance of
the insurgents, they might have compelled them to give way. But
their provisions fell short; and the famine was so great, that they
ate their horses for want of other victuals. In this condition, ready
to sink under the burden of their misfortunes, fatigued with the
attacks of the enemy, pressed with hunger, without numbers to
make any efficient effort, and supported only by their valour, they
implored the assistance of the king. John Casimir, though he dis
approved of their proceedings, could not bear to witness the destruc
tion of these brave men; and he marched with the army of the crown
to their relief. His force amounted only to 20,000 men; but they
consisted of veterans, and the bravest spirits in the Polish dominions.
On his approach, Kzmielniski and the khan advanced out of their
lines to meet him with 110,000 men; the remainder of their army
being employed in blocking up the passes, and resisting the sallies
of the besieged.
In order more effectually to resist this unequal force, the king
entrenched himself near Zborow, where he was attacked during
three whole days by his numerous opponents. But his troops gave
them so warm a reception, and their losses were so great, that they
were at length induced to make overtures for an accommodation.
John Casimir was no less willing to put an end to a war of which
he had always disapproved; and a treaty was accordingly concluded,
whereby the king promised to renew the subsidy or tribute paid to
the khan by the republic, but which had been abolished during the
last reign; to grant an act of indemnity to the Cossacks, and to
confirm all their privileges; to augment the number of their militia;
and to allow the free exercise of the Greek religion throughout all
the Ukraine. The khan, on his part, swore to watch the frontiers
of Poland, and to defend them if necessary; and Kzmielniski like
wise promised that the Cossacks should preserve inviolate the alle
giance which they owed to the king and the republic.
This peace was not of long continuance. The primary motives
for Kzmielniski's conduct had been nothing more than the wish to
obtain justice, to gratify his private revenge, and to secure the
liberty of his country; but the sphere of his desires had widened
with the success which attended his enterprizes, and he began
 HISTORY OF POLAND. 315

to entertain thoughts of entirely throwing off the dependence of

himself and his countrymen on the republic. To facilitate his am
bitious designs, he projected the formation of an independent com
munity under the protection of the Ottoman empire; and, as this
arrangement would be as advantageous to the Porte as to the Cos
sacks, and the proposal was voluntary on his part, he anticipated
no difficulty in the stipulation of his own terms. In the mean while,
such of the peasantry of the Ukraine as did not form a part of the
militia, refused to submit to the Polish lords, or to allow them
again to take possession of their estates. The latter, in revenge,
attacked Kiow whilst Kzmielniski was celebrating the nuptials of
his son with a daughter of the voivode of Walachia, plundered the
city, and carried off the Greek patriarch. Deputies were sent from
the Cossacks to the king, to enquire if he was aware of, or had au
thorised this outrage, and to demand redress. John Casimir re
plied that though he highly condemned the transaction, yet, as it
had been perpetrated by the members of the aristocracy, he had not
the power to punish it. Dissatisfied with this answer, the Cossacks
determined on taking the execution of justice into their own hands.
They accordingly assembled in 1651, and, in conjunction with the
Tartars, made another irruption into Poland.
Whatever might be the private opinions of the king as to the
matter in dispute, the preservation of the state imperatively de
manded that he should resist the ruinous depredations of the united
barbarians, who, as usual, ravaged every province through which
they passed. He therefore raised an army of 100,000 men, with
whom he advanced to meet the invaders; and having encountered
a Tartarian army of thrice his own force near Bereteskow, a pitched
battle ensued, in which the Tartars were defeated with great slaugh
ter. The Cossacks, who had not been able to come up to the as
sistance of their allies, were dispirited by the result of the battle,
and thrown into some confusion. At this juncture, Bohun, Kzmiel
niski's lieutenant, marched out of the camp with a detachment to
attack a Polish outpost, consisting of 2000 men, under the palatine
of Braclaw. This movement gave rise to an idea in the Cossack
army that their chief had deserted them ; a general consternation
was the result; the whole fled in the greatest confusion, and reach
ed the Ukraine before they discovered their mistake. Astonished
and dispirited at their loss and disgrace, they sent proposals of peace
to the king, which were accepted, on condition that the Zaporavian
militia should be reduced to 20,000 men, that the Cossacks should
2 R 2
316 HISTORY OF POLAND.

express their penitence, and engage to adhere to the articles of the

late treaty. To these terms Kzmielniski determined to adhere no
longer than till he could raise a sufficient force, or meet a convenient
opportunity, to vindicate his duplicity; while the Polish nobility
murmured at the treaty, as too favourable to the enemy.
An occasion soon arrived for the Cossack chief to put his designs
into execution. The misunderstandings which existed between
John Casimir and his nobles, and the bloody wars between the re
public and its late vassals, were too powerful temptations to be re
sisted by the czar for making an attempt to conquer Poland. A
prodigious Muscovite army accordingly entered Lithuania in 1653,
by the way of Smolensko ; and they were immediately joined by a
strong detachment of Cossacks sent by Kzmielniski. This accession
of strength was of considerable importance to the Russians; and ano
ther body of Cossacks and Tartars, in the mean while, ravaged
Poland on the other side. The Polish garrison in Smolensko made
a vigorous defence against the Russian army; but they were at
length, after protracting the siege to a great length, compelled to
surrender. The Russians afterwards reduced Wilna and other
cities, which were delivered up to pillage, and the inhabitants treat
ed with the utmost barbarity; and nearly the whole of the grand
duchy of Lithuania groaned under the ravages of the invaders.
The miseries of Poland were thus accumulating, when a new
enemy appeared in Charles Gustavus, king of Sweden. Christina,
daughter of the great Gustavus Adolphus, had abdicated the crown,
and placed it upon the head of her cousin, the monarch above men
tioned. Scarcely was he seated upou the throne before he evinced
his determination to give the finishing stroke to the downfall of the
republic, then torn to pieces by invaders, rebels, and plunderers.
The losses consequent on the battle of Nordlingen, rankled in the
breast of the king of Sweden; and the treaty of Sturmsdorf, by
which Prussia had been evacuated, was too humiliating to his coun
try to be submitted to. Indeed, he did not confine his designs
merely to the recovery of that province, but aimed at nothing less
than the conquest of the republic itself. Many of the Polish nobi
lity, discontented with the policy of John Casimir towards the Cos
sacks, did not scruple to seek the aid of Charles Gustavus in support
of their faction. Some of the Polish writers attribute the war to
the resentment of the grand-chancellor Radzewiski, with whose
wife, it is said, the king had carried on an intrigue. To gratify his
vengeance, this senator formed a strong party against the court, and
 HISTORY OF POLAND. 317

then invited the Swedes into Livonia and Courland. However this
may be, the mediation of France was in vain interposed to bring
matters to an accommodation, and avert a storm which threatened the
destruction of Poland. Jealous of the glory of 'the Lion of the
North, and determined if possible to exceed it, Charles Gustavus
was too intent upon the prosecution of his schemes of aggrandize
ment, and too sanguine of success, to hearken to any thing like
reasonable propositions. His personal feelings had likewise been
interested in the cause, by a protest which the Polish minister at
Stockholm had entered against the resignation of Christina. This
excited him to revenge, and rendered him deaf to all the proposals
which John Casimir, through the successive ambassadors whom he
despatched into Sweden, made for an adjustment of their differences.
To some of the Polish ministers he refused to give an audience ;
and Meslem, the last of them, was ordered to quit the court in the
most insulting and contemptuous terms.
This last step was the immediate precurser of active hostilities.
Part of the Swedish army, in 1655, entered Poland, by the way of
Lower Pomerania and the New Marche, under the command of Ge
neral Wittenberg. A body of 15,000 Poles, sent by the king to
oppose their progress, was dispersed on the first appearance of the
Swedes; and, in consequence of this disaster, several of the disaf
fected nobility took the opportunity of submitting to Charles Gus
tavus, to whom they took an oath of allegiance. That monarch
himself, at the head of his main army, penetrated into Great Poland,
and succeeded in reducing the whole province of Masovia. Little
Poland followed, and dread and dismay accompanied his march.
He prudently treated the Poles with great lenity, gained their af.
fections, joined Wittenberg, and then set out with his whole army
in quest of John Casimir. The Polish king was encamped at Calo,
from whence he despatched Prizimski with proposals of peace; but
Charles Gustavus made no other answer to the minister than that
he would speak to his master upon the subject of his embassy. In
short, he pursued his march without obstruction, all the cities and
towns throwing open their gates as he approached, and offering to
supply him with all kinds of necessaries. The Swedish army was
advancing to Cracow, when John Casimir resolved to hazard a battle
rather than see his capital fall, without resistance, into the hands of
the enemy. His army did not exceed 10,000 men, and consisted of
troops who had never stood fire. They did, indeed, engage, and
318 HISTORY OF POLAND.

made a faint resistance, but eventually fled precipitately, losing

1000 men killed and taken prisoners.
Some days after this victory, Charles Gustavus a second time
defeated the Poles, on the banks of the river Donasia, about eight
leagues from Cracow, which city was then besieged. Though de
fended by Stephen Czarneski, it was quickly reduced, and the con
queror entered in triumph. The unfortunate John Casimir, destitute
of money and troops, and deserted by the mobility and army, was,
in the mean while, compelled to seek a refuge in Silesia.
With that injustice which too frequently follows misfortune, the
king of Poland was now accused of abdicating his throne; and many
of the palatines and militia, forgetting that his flight had been
compulsory, took an oath to Charles Gustavus, and acknowledged
themselves subject to the crown of Sweden. Deputations to that
monarch were sent by the governors of Great and Little Poland,
Masovia, Red Russia, Podolia, and Volhynia, complimenting him
in the most abject manner upon his arrival in the dominions of the
republic; and it was even in contemplation to offer him the crown,
which was affected to be considered vacant by the absence of John
Casimir. Radzivil, one of the most powerful palatines of Lithuania,
and who had been a very strenuous opponent of John Casimir's
policy, was peculiarly active on this occasion, and, by his influ
ence, raised a considerable party in favour of the Swedish monarch
in the grand-duchy. Had written obligations, seals, and oaths,
been sufficient to keep the Poles in subjection, the Swedes might
be said to have conquered a kingdom, of extent and power equal
to their own, in the space of three months. Charles Gustavus
himself passed into Prussia, and met with so little opposition, that
he seemed to march through an open country already subject to his
dominions.

This tide of success at length received a check in the spirited

conduct of the people of Dantzick, which, as soon as the first terror
of the other parts of the republic had ceased, re-animated the spirits
of the whole nation. At first, the burghers of that city seemed in
clined to imitate the pusillanimous example of their neighbours;
but the powerful influence of some of their preachers being exerted
against such a measure, the popular tide was speedily turned into
an opposite channel. These patriotic clergymen, by their address,
and spiritual harangues, exhortations, and example, attached their
townsmen more strongly than ever to the crown of Poland. Their
 HISTORY OF POLAND. 319

eloquence, public spirit, and courage were assisted by the impolitic

conduct of the king of Sweden, who had ordered a fleet to cruize
before the harbour, and to levy exorbitant duties upon all mer
chandize entering or leaving the port. This circumstance was turn
ed to advantage by the clergy, who represented it as a specimen of
what might be expected under the government of the Swedish
tyrant. Their appeal was answered by a general arming of the
townsmen; and the people of other places, animated by the example
of Dantzick, stood amazed at the prodigious success of the Swedish
arms, and at seeing themselves all at once subjected to a foreign
yoke. The contributions exacted by Charles Gustavus, and an ex
orbitant tax of fifteen timphes upon every hearth, excited a general
disaffection amongst a people ever averse to tyranny and bondage.
Though treated with great lenity in other respects, they resolved not
to become tributary to Sweden, a country upon which their own
king had legal claims; and the determination was at once taken of
repairing past errors, and breaking the chains in which they were
held by their conquerors.
It was no difficult matter to induce the Poles to break an oath
which they had taken out of fear, and to renounce all allegiance to
a prince whom they considered as a heretic, a stranger, and an
usurper. Priests gave absolution, and the pontiff dispensed indul
gences; and the Polish nobility now combined together for the re
lief of their country. As a first step towards the accomplishment
of their purposes, conditions of peace and alliance were offered to
the Tartars. These were accepted, and the compact proved of great
service to Poland. John Casimir was also privately invited to re
turn to his dominions; and he immediately put himself at the head
of the army which had been raised by the nobility. A corps of
Swedes were surprised in the neighbourhood of Jaroslaw by the
Poles and Tartars under the command of Czarneski, who totally
defeated them, and made himself master of their baggage. Though
this victory was in itself of little consequence, it gave rise to a most
overwhelming spirit of emulation throughout the whole Polish do
minions, all parties striving to distinguish their loyalty, and by their
valour to efface the remembrance of their perfidy to the king. In
none was the alteration of sentiment more sudden and complete
than in the Lithuanians, who, from being warm friends to the Swe
dish king, became his most determined opponents, and attacked and
slew the soldiers of that nation who were dispersed in quarters
throughout the grand-duchy, before they could unite or form them
320 HISTORY OF POLAND.

selves into a body. Charles Gustavus immediately advanced from

Prussia, to avenge those massacres. In his march, he encountered
and defeated general Czarneski, who commanded a corps of 12,000
men, above half of whom were cut to pieces or taken. This check,
however, did not hinder all the Poles, who were incorporated with
the Swedish regiments, from deserting to John Casimir, by which
means his numbers were considerably augmented.
As this campaign was made in the depth of a severe winter, the
Swedish army was in a short time reduced to a most deplorable si
tuation. In the march to Jaroslaw, the troops sustained the united
pressure of hunger, cold, fatigue, and disease; to which may be
added the attacks of the peasants, who murdered and stripped all
the stragglers. Besides, Czarneski had set a fresh army on foot,
with which he grievously harassed the Swedish rear, and gave per
petual alarms by means of his light cavalry. At length Charles
Gustavus arrived near Jaroslaw ; but finding it impossible to obtain
subsistence for his troops, he again began his march towards Prus
sia. The Poles made an attempt to surround him near Sandomir ;
and a report already prevailed that the Swedes were beaten, and
that Charles was killed in the engagement. He was, in fact, in the
most imminent danger, cooped up in an angle formed by the con
fluence of two great rivers, his passage over which was opposed by
forces more numerous than his own. This spirited monarch,
however, surmounted every difficulty: he forced a passage, repulsed
the Lithuanians, and opened a way to Warsaw, from whence he
pursued his march to Prussia. This retreat was not accomplished
without some loss. The margrave of Baden, who commanded a
body of 4000 Swedes, was surprised and defeated by the Poles at
Warka; while, on the other hand, Adolphus, the king of Sweden's
brother, and general Wrangel, obtained a complete victory over
Czarneski. Charles Gustavus himself prepared to lay siege to
Dantzick; but the Dutch mediation, enforced by a squadron of
twenty-eight men-of-war, induced him to relinquish that design.
During these events, Warsaw, which was held by general Wit
tenberg and a numerous garrison of Swedes, was besieged by the
Poles, and, after a resistance of three weeks, was compelled to capi
tulate. Contrary to the stipulated terms, Wittenberg and the
garrison were made prisoners; and this transaction induced Charles
Gustavus to form an alliance with the elector of Brandenburgh, by
which it was stipulated that the elector should enjoy an absolute
dominion in Ducal Prussia, on condition that he should assist in
 HISTORY OF POLAND. 321

retaking Warsaw, punishing the treachery of the Poles, and con

quering the republic. Having accordingly procured a reinforcement
of Brandenburghers, Charles Gustavus advanced to Warsaw, to
which city he laid siege. The utmost exertions of the Poles were
made to save the place. A battle was fought before the walls; and,
during three days, the bravery of the garrison protracted the siege,
and kept the contest in suspense. At length victory inclined to the
Swedes and Brandenburghers; the city was taken; and the slaughter
was increased by the obstinacy of the opposition. Nearly the whole
of the defenders were put to the sword, and the place was delivered
up to pillage; Charles Gustavus pronouncing the people to be trai
tors. To break off the alliance between the Swedish monarch and
the elector, the Poles and Tartars made an irruption into Ducal
Prussia, where they defeated the electoral army near Licca, taking
prince Radzivil and several officers of distinction prisoners. They
were, however, attacked and defeated with great slaughter at Phi
lippowa, by general Steinboek; on which occasion, Radzivil was
rescued out of their hands. General Wittenberg was exchanged
for certain Polish noblemen taking in this battle.
Poland was at this time in a most deplorable condition. The
public exchequer and private treasuries were exhausted, the villages
dispeopled, the fields uncultivated, traffic and commerce at an end,
and nothing but wars, robberies, and confusion seen or heard of on
every side, while the minds of the people were distracted by the va
riety of their miseries. At this juncture, George Ragotski, prince
of Transylvania, seized the opportunity of resenting his exclusion
from the throne at the last general election. According to some
authorities, indeed, John Casimir had despatched his grand-chancel
lor, Albert Pravesmoski, in quality of ambassador, to demand assist
ance from Ragotski, promising, in recompence, to endeavour to
procure the election of his son as successor to the crown of Poland.
No message could have arrived more grateful to the ambition of
Ragotski; and several days were spent in conferences between him
and the Polish ministers: but, as he insisted on several particulars
which neither the king nor his ministers had power to grant without
the approbation of a diet, the treaty was broken off, and Ragotski
remained' displeased and angry. Affecting to believe himself de
luded and slighted, he resolved to revenge the supposed affront, and
by the strength of arms to gain the crown of the republic to himself.
Dabricius, an astrologer, had flattered the Transylvanian prince
with promises of the certain conquest of Poland; but Ragotski,
2 s
322 HISTORY OF POLAND.

willing to proceed with caution, hoped to effect his purposes by

making an ally of the king of Sweden, and, by acknowledging Po
land tributary, obtain the crown from that monarch. His faith in
the art of Dabricius, however, led him to hope not only for the so
vereignty of Poland, but even extended to the acquirement of that
of Sweden; though policy required that he should in the interim
make use of Charles Gustavus as the instrument of his great pro
jects. Indeed, as he was at the head of an army of 30,000 men,
part of his expectations might have been realized had he followed
the dictates of prudence and the advice of Charles Gustavus, who
suggested that he should enter Poland by the palatinate of Bressici,
where all would have been favourable to him, and to wait there for
the junction of the Swedish army. But, confident of success, and
assured by his magical friend that, on whatever side of the republic
he might enter, his forces would be irresistible, he ravaged the fron
tiers of Poland with fire,and sword. -

The extinction of the republic at this period (1657) seemed ine

vitable. Prussia and the province of Great Poland, with the two
principal cities of the nation, Cracow and Warsaw, were in the
possession of the king of Sweden. The czar was master of Wilna
and great part of Lithuania; and though his troops opposed those
of Sweden in Livonia, yet both were equally enemies of the Poles.
Ragotski made no secret of his intentions; while the Tartars and
Cossacks, whose fealty could not be depended upon, were ready to
declare for the strongest party. But it was to the extremity of its
misfortunes that Poland owed its preservation. The other powers
of Europe, then more just as well as more politic than at the pre
sent day, saw with jealousy and alarm the appropriation of Poland
by its numerous enemies. Denmark was the first that appeared to
oppose the progress of the formidable power of Sweden, and com
menced preparations for hostilities. The Russians made an incur
sion into Livonia, and were laying siege to Riga. The Dutch ex
pressed their displeasure at the Swedish conquests in Prussia, and
sent a squadron into the Baltic to preserve Dantzick. Lubomirski's
army was augmented by a reinforcement of imperialists; and the
sultan expressed his disapprobation at the conduct of Ragotski.
This feeling was excited not so such by the successes of that prince
himself, as by the growing greatness of the Swedes, with whom the
sultan did not wish to be a neighbour. He accordingly issued an
express command, that, without contradiction or delay, the Tran
sylvanian prince should immediately stop his march and return into
 HISTORY OF POLAND. 323

his own country. The emperor of Austria and the khan of Tartary
also expressed their dislike of his proceedings, and threatened to in
vade his dominions unless he desisted from his enterprize. Still,
however, blinded by ambition and the lust of rule, he stopped his
ears to the counsel of his friends and the menaces of his enemies.
He subdued the fortress of Bristia, invaded with fire and sword the
province of Red Russia, plundered Podolia, advanced as far as Ka
minieck, and afterwards joined the Swedes at Cracow. The death
of the emperor Ferdinand III., who had sent some succours to the
Poles, was regarded by Ragotski as a happy omen of his own ulti
mate Success. -

On the accession of Leopold to the empire and the kingdom of

Hungary, the designs of his father Ferdinand for assisting the re
public were prosecuted with spirit. Some of the places which the
Swedes had taken in Prussia were besieged and taken by the im
perialists; and the Poles under Czarneski and Lubomirski attacked
Ragotski near Sandomir, as he was attempting to cross the Vistula.
The Wallachians and Moldavians had deserted him by the express
order of the sultan; and he was therefore easily beaten, with the
loss of 14,000 men, and all his artillery. On his retreat, he was
overtaken near the mountains of Transylvania by Czarneski, who
again compelled him to come to an engagement. Though, with his
usual bravery, he charged in person at the head of his troops, yet
he was not able to withstand the impetuous assault of the Polish
horse; and his men were thrown into confusion, which was follow
ed by a retreat, ending in a complete rout. His whole army was
defeated; many perished by the sword; and others, flying through
the woods and mountains, perished with famine. He himself was
compelled to come to a disgraceful peace, by which he engaged to
ask pardon of the king of Poland, to break the engagements he had
entered into with the king of Sweden, and to furnish a certain sum
of money, with a number of troops whenever it should be required
of him. On these conditions he was permitted to return with a
mean retinue into his own country.
But his misfortunes did not end here. The Tartars entered and
ravaged his dominions by order of the sultan, and carried away mul
titudes of people of both sexes and all ages as captives, some of
whom were of exalted rank. Letters also arrived from the Porte
to the nobles of Transylvania, in which Ragotski was declared a
rebel, and they were directed to proceed to the election of another
voivode. Finding it necessary to bow to the storm, he made a merit
2 5 2
324 HISTORY OF POLAND.

of necessity, and voluntarily resigned the government. On the first

opportunity, however, he again had recourse to arms for the reco
very of his dominions, and endeavoured to interest the emperor in
his favour, by identifying his cause with that of Christendom gene
rally. At first he gained some slight successes; but the Turkish
power was irresistible, he was again deposed, and another prince
placed on the throne of Transylvania by the grand vizier. Still,
however, Ragotski succeeded in raising a party, and by their means
deposed his rival; but he was at last, in May, 1660, defeated by
the Turks near Clausenberg. On this occasion he displayed his
usual courage; but being wounded in four places, and his army
overpowered with numbers, he was forced to yield the fortune of
the day to the Turks, leaving eight pieces of cannon and his stan
dard in their hands. The greatest part of his army being either
killed or taken, he himself with a few attendants reached Varadin,
where he died of his wounds.
Charles Gustavus, who had so recently emulated the fame of his
great predecessor, was scarcely less unfortunate than the Transyl
vanian prince. Frederick king of Denmark having declared war
against him, made so powerful a diversion in favour of Poland, that
he compelled the king of Sweden to desist from his project in order
to defend his own dominions. At the commencement of this war,
indeed, Charles Gustavus gained several advantages; and he in
trepidly marched his army across the frozen sea into Zealand,
with the intention of laying siege to Copenhagen. A peace be
tween Denmark and Sweden was the consequence, by which it
was stipulated that those two powers should shut up the mouth of
the Baltic to all foreign vessels; but the solicitations and promises
of the Dutch induced Frederick to break this treaty, and the war
was in consequence renewed. The Dutch fleet beat admiral Wran
gel at the mouth of the Sound, and compelled him to retire into
port, while the Swedes were defeated in the island of Funen. In
consequence of this war, Charles Gustavus was under the necessity
of withdrawing the greater part of his troops from Poland; an ad
vantage which the Poles did not suffer to escape them. By means
of his German auxiliaries, John Casimir was enabled, in 1657, to
lay siege to Cracow. General Wartz, who commanded the Swe
dish garrison, behaved with great gallantry, and, by numerous sal
lies, filled the trenches surrounding the city with carnage; but, as
he had no prospect of assistance, he was ultimately compelled to sur
render. A Polish army under Czarneski was likewise despatched
 HISTORY OF POLAND. 325

across the Oder, to make an irruption into Pomerania; but the only
achievement he effected was ravaging the country in a cruel manner,
and then hastily retreating lest he should be surrounded in the wil
derness which he himself had made. Attempts were also made upon
Riga and other places in Livonia, which, though unfortunate, ha
rassed the Swedes considerably.
But the greatest misfortune which at this time befel the cause of
Charles Gustavus, was the defection of the elector of Brandenburgh.
This ally, who had throughout only displayed a lukewarm interest
in the cause of Sweden, finding that Charles Gustavus was not in
a condition to procure for him the sovereignty of Ducal Prussia, as
had been stipulated, and that he had even resolved to compound
with the republic for 800,000 dollars, determined to close in with the
Poles, advance that sum to John Casimir, and unite his forces to
those of the king, upon the same terms he had stipulated with the
Swedish monarch. The Poles, glad of gaining such an ally at the
expense of their enemies, consented to the proposal, on condition
that Ducal Prussia should revert to the republic in case the elector
died without male issue; and on these terms the two princes united
to drive out the Swedes.
This combination of circumstances rendered it obvious that
Charles Gustavus must soon be compelled to relinquish all his con
quests in Poland. Thorn shook off the Swedish yoke; Graudentz
in Prussia was recovered by the Poles; and the Swedish troops
were defeated in Courland. These reverses, with the successes of
the Danes, above alluded to, were too severe to be borne by a man
who had till then been a conqueror. The sickness of which he died
was imputed to the vexation which this turn of fortune had given
him. His decease occurred on the 23d of February, 1660. A treaty
of peace was set on foot by John Casimir with the regency which
governed Sweden during the minority of Charles XI. ; and it was
signed and finally concluded on the 3d day of May. The Swedes
engaged to restore all their conquests in Poland, Prussia, and Livo
nia, Riga and a few other places excepted; and John Casimir re
nounced all claim to the Swedish crown. He thus recovered all his
dominions and dependent territories, on the reduction of which the
late king of Sweden had lavished the blood and treasure of his sub
jects with the utmost prodigality; in exchange for which he only
conceded an ideal right, which, however well grounded originally,
had now become obsolete.
 326 HISTORY OF POLAND.

The breathing time of peace enjoyed by the republic after this

release from suffering was but of short duration. Civil dissensions
again broke forth between the king and the nobles, the cause of
which has, of course, been variously stated by the partizans of the
opposite factions. John Casimir has been accused of entertaining
ambitious designs against the liberties of his country, and for that
purpose retaining in Poland 30,000 German auxiliaries. These he
had engaged ostensibly for the purpose of releasing certain noble
men, who were kept as prisoners by the Tartars, in contempt of

treaties; but in reality, it was asserted, with a design to render

himself despotic, contrary to the principles he had professed at his
accession. Such also was the ascendancy which his wife had gained
over him, that she prevailed upon him to solicit the nomination of
the duke of Enguien, son of the great Conde', for his successor; a
measure so contradictory to the first principles of the Polish consti
tution, as well as to his coronation oath, that it excited a general
discontent, and contributed materially to the violent commotions
which ensued. The secret designs of John Casimir were penetrated,
it is said, by Lubomirski, who, with great patriotism and courage,
stood forth as the protector of the constitution, and the guardian of
liberty. He first tried persuasion; but, finding that the king was
too confident in his auxiliaries to listen to his arguments, he levied
forces, attacked and defeated the Germans, took their general pri
soner, and compelled the king to dismiss the remainder from his
service; a circumstance by which John Casimir was so chagrined,
that it led to his abdication.
Another and more probable account of these events is related as
follows. The Muscovites, during the wars of the republic with
Sweden, had made frequent inroads into the dominions of the for
mer; and John Casimir was no sooner freed from the attacks of his
other enemies, than he determined on revenging the injuries thus
| inflicted. For this purpose, an army was sent to the frontiers under
Czarneski and prince Sapieha, who, in the neighbourhood of Polan
ski, succeeded in cutting off a Russian force of 26,000 men. In
another battle, which was fought shortly after in the plains of Glem
bokia, 10,000 of the best soldiers in the Russian service were left
dead upon the field. Upon these successes, John Casimir laid siege
to Wilna, which had been taken by the Muscovites during the late
war with Sweden. The city was easily carried at the first onset;
but the garrison, retiring to the citadel, a place of considerable
 HISTORY OF POIAND. 327

strength, defended themselves with great obstinacy and valour.

Every stratagem of war was put in practice, but in vain; until at
length, through the divisions which arose between the king and the
nobles, the enterprize almost proved fatal both to him and the
republic. Under the pretext of opposing the extension of the royal
prerogative, some of the mobility aimed at the acquirement of greater
power to their own order; and this want of unanimity in the camp
destroyed the vigour of the besiegers, exposed them to the sallies of
the garrison, and produced such a languor and inactivity as caused
the war to be considerably longer and more bloody than it would
otherwise have been.

The animosity between the king and the aristocracy at length

rose to such a height, that recourse was had to arms by both parties;
and the nation was thus about to be again involved in turmoils by
its own members. Lubomirski was placed at the head of the insur
gents. A battle ensued, and the royal party was defeated; when
the conquerors threw themselves at the feet of the king, imploring
him to restore peace to his subjects upon such conditions as would
secure their privileges. These submissions, however, were not sin
cere. The future conduct of the insurgents, indeed, proved that
they only, wished to render their cause more popular by drawing a
veil over their ambition, and thereby to induce the king to dismiss
the German troops. John Casimir had penetration enough to see
through their designs; but as he did not wish to incur the hatred
of his subjects and the odious name of tyrant, he agreed to all that
was demanded of him. No sooner, however, had he dismissed his Ger
man auxiliaries, than the discontented party threw off all restraint,
and behaved with such marked disrespect to their king, who was
naturally inclined to repose, that he formed the design of quitting
a throne which the turbulence of his own people had now converted
into a couch of thorns.
In 1664, an application had been made from the diet at Ratisbon
to the republic, requesting assistance in the war about to be com
menced by the Christian states against the Turks; but as the Po
lish forces were then employed in the Russian war, nothing more
could be acceded than terms of good will and gratitude for the assist
ance so recently received against Sweden. In consequence of an
irruption into Poland by the Tartars, in the beginning of the year
1667, Radiowski, with a train of 250 persons, was despatched as
ambassador to the Porte, to pray for justice on the offenders, or at
least that the sultan would not protect them from the vengeance of
328 HISTORY OF POLAND.

the republic. On the 9th of June he arrived at Adrianople; and,

having forwarded his presents, he was admitted into the presence
of the sultan at Demitochum on the 28th. Having delivered his
message, he was referred to the chimacam ; but, being a man of vio
lent temper, he expressed himself so warmly in his audience with
that minister, as drew forth some angry replies from the Turk;
and, in the end, a guard was set over him to confine him to his own
house. This violation, as he considered it, of his sacred office, so
provoked him, that he sometimes vented his fury in words and blows
upon the officers of his guard; and at length, having, by his excite
ment, thrown himself into a fever, he expired in a few days. His
secretary now took upon himself the charge of the mission, and was
presented with a horse and furniture by the chima.cam. So far was
he from receiving any satisfaction, however, on the subject of the
embassy, that the only terms with which he was entrusted in reply
were the following:That no compensation should be demanded
by the Poles for the late incursions made by the Tartars; that the
Poles should not make war against those Cossacks who had revolted
from them, and had placed themselves under the protection of the
Ottoman empire; that the peace recently concluded with the Mus
covites should be broken off; and that the Turkish merchants should
have free trade into Poland, and receive compensation for the inju
ries and losses they had lately suffered. To these terms no answer
was returned by the Poles, who were at that time too much occupi
ed with their own civil dissensions to resent the insult in a proper
Inanner.

In 1668, John Casimir assembled a diet at Leopold, to deliberate

on measures for paying off the long arrears due to the army; and,
to effect this purpose, it was thought necessary to call in all the gold
and silver of the kingdom to be recoined. This expedient being found
insufficient, it was resolved to issue an extraordinary coinage of cop
per, which was likewise raised to double its intrinsic value. It has
been affirmed that the king had secret objects of his own in these
measures; and that with the new copper coin, thus enhanced in
value, he paid the army; while he remitted the gold and silver to
* These were, a crystal cup in a case of gold, adorned with rubies and dia
monds; two baskets curiously woven with very fine rushes; a clock; a cabinet
of ebony supported by four silver eagles, in which also was a clock with a per
spective looking-glass; two large silver cups; two silver flaggons; a gun which
discharged twenty times; two spotted dogs ; four mastiffs; and 100 ells of
Holland.
 HISTORY OF POLAND. 329

France, in order to secure him a competency in his projected retire

ment. These calumnies, however, appear to have been fabricated
by his enemies, to vindicate their own conduct; as it does not
seem that he ever enjoyed any profusion of wealth after his seces
sion from the throne. Worn out at length with the cares of royalty,
shocked at the distressed state of the kingdom, discontented with
the factions of the nobility, afflicted by the death of his wife, and
impelled perhaps by a versatility of disposition, he abdicated the
throne in the 20th year of his reign, and in the 68th of his age.
This extraordinary event took place on the 27th of August, 1668,
before a general diet assembled at Warsaw. The scene was affect
ing, the conduct of the king manly and resolute, and his speech .
upon
thetic the occasion
eloquence has been
recorded characterized as the finest piece of pa- ,
in history. y

The active and turbulent reign of John Casimir was rendered

memorable by the revolt of the Cossacks of the Ukraine, the dis
astrous wars with Sweden, and the insurrections of the nobility.
Though, so far from being deficient in military courage, that in
every desperate emergency he always commanded his troops in per
son; though, to use his own expression, he was the first to attack,
and the last to retreat ; yet as he preferred peace to war, and
wanted the enterprising spirit of his brother and predecessor Ula
dislaus, he was accused by the Poles of indolence and pusillanimity.
In the early part of his reign, he had shewn himself mild, affable,
humane, and generous; and the aversion with which he was viewed
by the nobility, the aspersions they cast upon his character, and the
rebellions in which they engaged against him, may probably be
ascribed to his dislike of the Cossack war. Indeed, according to
Connor, he was even accused of having favoured the rebellion of the
Cossacks, merely to impoverish the nobility, and humble a set of
men whom he regarded as spies upon the royal conduct. In proof
of this, an intercepted letter was referred to, said to have been
written by the king to Bogdan Kzmielniski, in which the Cossack
general was invited to invade Poland; but there is no conclusive
proof that such a letter ever existed. That John Casimir did occa
sionally display symptoms of irresolution, may be conceded ; but
the multiplicity and extent of his misfortunes might certainly plead
in extenuation of greater faults than any which he exhibited. The
political sagacity of this monarch has been extolled from his predic
tions, that Poland, enfeebled by the anarchy of its government and
2 T
330 HISTORY OF POLAND.

the licentiousness of its nobles, would necessarily be dismembered

by the neighbouring powers; but it surely required no preternatural
insight into futurity to foresee that what had been so nearly accom
plished in his own reign might occur again.
No action of this king's life met with greater reprehension than
his abdication, which was stigmatized as either cowardly or treach
erous. Casimir Zawardski, starost of Culm, in his Secret History,
exclaims, Why did John Casimir renounce the sceptre, which he
had before so earnestly sought after Poland stood in amaze at the
view of such a step as seemed to point out the funeral of its liberties.
It appeared as if the king had foreseen the fall of the Polish empire,
and retired lest he should be overwhelmed in its ruins. This dis
honourable apprehension was urged as the cause of his retreat. He
was in a condition to support the cares of the government, as he
was still sensible of pleasures. It seemed as if he looked upon his
subjects as his enemies, and that he fled like a conquered prince,
driven out of his dominions. Upon this it may be remarked, that
the king had but too much reason to look upon his people as foes.
They were in open arms against him, while his prerogative was too
limited to admit of his making any considerable resistance. If com
parisons were allowed, it might be recollected that some of the
greatest princes had abdicated on trifling disgusts, whereas he was
driven by hard usage to this extremity.
Soon after his abdication, John Casimir retired into France, and
again embraced the ecclesiastical profession. Louis XIV., who prid
ed himself in affording an asylum to abdicated sovereigns, gave him
the abbeys of St. Germain and St. Martin, without which he would
have had no means of subsisting, as the pension granted him by his
late kingdom was soon withheld: a proof that the tears which were
shed at his abdication were not sincere. Notwithstanding his eccle
siastical engagements, he could not withstand the attractions of
Marie Mignot, a woman who, from being a laundress, had been
married first to a councillor at Grenoble, and afterwards to the Mar
shal de lHospital. She was a widow when she attracted the notice
of the abdicated king; and so powerful was the impression he re
ceived, that it was suspected he was secretly married to her. By
those who knew him in his retirement, John Casimir is represented
as easy and familiar in his conversation, and displeased with receiv
ing any honours or titles due to his former rank. He survived his
abdication only four years, and died at Nevers on the 16th of De
cember, 1672. His body was conveyed to Cracow, and buried in
 HISTORY OF POI, AN ID. 331

the cathedral at the same time with that of his successor Michael,
the day before the coronation of John Sobieski.
During the reign of John Casimir was introduced the Liberum
Peto,t by which each individual nobleman was endowed with a
power which the sovereign did not possess, and which contributed,
more than any other innovation, to destroy the balance of the Polish
constitution. It is true that the king was still the fountain of ho
nour, conferring the principal dignities and chief offices of the state,
and bestowing the starosties or royal fiefs; and hence he still main
tained a considerable degree of influence on the councils of the
nation.

The Catholics, who had, under the protection and influence of

the sovereigns who succeeded Henry de Valois, acquired a consider
able ascendancy, during this reign ventured to appropriate the title
of Dissidents; to all those who dissented from the Catholic religion.
This restriction of the original meaning of the title was attended at
first with no encroachments on the privileges of the other sects; and
the term Dissidents, though conveying the idea of a separation
from the established worship, was not yet regarded in an obnoxious
light. The Dissidents indeed still continued in such unquestioned
possession of all rights, civil and religious, that, when it was agreed
by both Catholics and Protestants (the latter term being applied
only to Lutherans and Calvinists, to the exclusion of Memnonites,
Anabaptists, &c.) to persecute the Arians, it was thought previous
ly necessary to expel them from the body of the Dissidents. In
consequence of this exclusion, the Arians, in the reign of John
Casimir, were first rendered incapable of being elected nuntios,
afterwards deprived of their places of worship, and finally banished
from Poland. -

In treating of the commotions in Poland during this reign, it may

be proper to notice a strange ferment excited amongst the Jews
throughout the world in 1665 and 1666, by Sabatai Sevi, who
pretended that he was the Messiah. Those of the children of Abra
ham who resided in Poland were peculiarly infected with the pre
tensions of this impostor, and crowds of them flocked to Constanti
nople to gain a sight of their king. Indeed, a Polish Jew, named
Nehemiah Cohen, took a conspicuous part in the delusion of his
brethren.
* Coxe's Travels, vol. i. + See page 194. : See page 200.
The minds of the Jewish nation had been prepared for the occurrence of
some extraordinary event, in the year 1666, by the prognostications of many
2 T 2
332 HISTORY OF POI.A.N.D.

INTERREGNUM.1668-1670.

On the resignation of John Casimir, the nation was again involved

in confusion and discord. To preclude the possibility of intrigue or
of the fanatics who abounded throughout Christendom after the Reformation.
Some of these predictions, founded on a supposed interpretation of divers pas
sages in the Apocalypse, mentioned the restoration of the Jews as at hand.
Reports were soon circulated that great bodies of people, supposed to be the
ten tribes who had been lost, were advancing through Arabia; while others as
serted that a ship, the crew of which spoke nothing but Hebrew, had arrived
on the northern coasts of Scotland, her sails and cordage being of silk, and
bearing the motto, The Twelve Tribes of Israel. Millions of people were
possessed with these fantacies, when Sabatai Sevi appeared at Smyrna, and an
nounced himself to the Jews as their Messiah, describing the greatness of their
approaching kingdom, and the strong hand whereby God was about to deliver
them from bondage, and gather them from all parts of the world.
This man was the son of Mordecai Sevi, a broker to an English merchant at
Smyrna. He had been expelled from that city for broaching certain schismatic
doctrines in the Jewish religion; and travelling to Salonica, he was married to
and divorced from two women in succession, and at last espoused a Polish or
German lady. Being come to Jerusalem, he began to reform the Jewish law,
and in conjunction with one Nathan, who acted the part of Elias, set on foot
his project of claiming the Messiahship. Numerous proselytes believed the
preaching and prophecies of these two worthies; and divers predictions were
promulgated, namelythat the Messiah was to have dominion over all the
world; that for nine months after he was to disappear, during which time the
Jews were to suffer, and several of them to undergo martyrdom; but then re
turning mounted on a celestial lion, with his bridle made of serpents with seven
heads, and accompanied by his brethren the Jews who inhabited the other side
of the river Sabation, he should be acknowledged as the sole monarch of the
universe; while sacrifices should be offered for ever in the holy temple, which
should descend from heaven, ready built, framed, and beautified.
On the arrival of Sabatai at Smyrna, the Jews in that city went to the most
ridiculous excesses in adoration of their new Messiah. Fasting and penances
of a painful nature were performed, and many fancied they saw the prophet
Elias in their houses and other places. All business was at a stand amongst
the Jews, who supposed that as they were so soon to have all the nations of the
earth in subjection, they were released from the necessity of attending to worldly
matters. Those who hesitated to believe the imposter were persecuted as here
tics; and some pretended, while others imagined, that a pillar of fire might be
seen to protect Sabatai when he was, examined before the cadi. At length he
embarked for Constantinople, there to depose the grand seignior, and enter
upon his kingdom; but the vessel being detained by contrary winds, the news
of his approach reached the ears of the vizier before his arrival. He was con
sequently arrested as a seditious person, and thrown into a loathsome dungeon.
The Jews, however, did not lose heart upon this reverse, but continued to visit
 HISTORY OF POLAND. 333

cabal, the nobility came armed, with squadrons of followers, into the
field of election; but this measure, instead of producing the pro
posed effect, nearly proved fatal to themselves and the republic.
They were soon, as usual, broken into factions; and the arms which
they had taken up in defence of public liberty, were capriciously
him in his prison; and, upon his being removed to Abydos, a castle of the
Dardanelles, great numbers flocked to see him from Poland, Germany, Leg
horn, Venice, Amsterdam, and other places, upon all whom he bestowed his
benediction, and promised to increase their store and enlarge their possessions
in the Holy Land. His guards, taking advantage of the zeal manifested by the
pilgrims, refused to admit any to his presence without a fee; and their gains
became so great from these payments, that they cautiously withheld from the
Porte all information of the influx of Jews to the prison, lest a stop should be
put to their proceedings.
During his confinement, Sabatai composed a new form of worship for his
nation, which was adopted by the Jews in many places. At length he was vi
sited by a Polish Jew named Nehemiah Cohen, a man of special note, learned
in the Hebrew, Syriac, and Chaldee languages, and as able to act the part of
Messiah as Sabatai himself. Having obtained a private interview with the lat
ter, he alleged, that according to the best expositions of the scripture, there were
to be two Messiahs. One was to be called Ben Ephraim, a preacher of the
law, poor and despised, and servant and forerunner to the second; and the
other, Ben David, was to be great and rich, to restore the throne of David, and
to perform all the acts and triumphs expected from Sabatai. Nehemiah was
contented to be the poor and afflicted Ben Ephraim, and to allow Sabatai the
honours due to Ben David; but he accused him of being too forward in pro
claiming himself to the world, before he, Ben Ephraim, had announced him.
Sabatai perhaps suspected that if Nehemiah were once admitted to a share in
his honours, he might shortly usurp the whole; and he refused therefore to un
derstand this doctrine. The dispute ran so high, that the Jews became ac
quainted with it, by whom Nehemiah's pretensions were rejected as schismatical.
Thus baffled, he repaired to the Turkish court at Adrianople, and laid an
information of the concourse of Jews flocking to the prison of Sabatai, whom
he represented to be plotting no less than the destruction of the grand seignior's
empire.
In consequence of this information, Sabatai was brought before the sultan,
who insisted on the performance of a miracle, which was also to be one of his
own chusing. He proposed that Sabatai should be stripped naked, and set as
a mark for his dexterous archers: if his flesh and skin were proof, like armour,
then he would acknowledge him to be the Messiah. But this was too sharp a
trial for the power of Sabatai, and he fearfully renounced all title to kingdoms
and governments, acknowledging himself to be no more than an ordinary Jew.
The sultan replied that as he had done so great a dishonour to the Mahometan
religion, by threatening its utter subversion, the only alternative left to him was
either to turn Mussulman himself, or be immediately led to the stake for im
palement. The imposter now made a virtue of necessity, declaring that he had
long admired the Mahometan faith, and was glad of having the opportunity to
334 HISTORY OF POI, A NID.

directed against the senate, the principal nobility, or each other.

On this occasion, however, the religious prejudices of the electors
were not brought into action. John Casimir had silenced the Soci
nians; and the other Protestant sects were now too weak to make
any opposition to the wishes of the Catholics. -

The primate archbishop of Gnesha, Stanislaus Prasmouski, fixed

the opening of the general diet for the 2d of May, 1669. As a first
step, it was enacted, to prevent a recurrence of similar difficulties,
that the king, when once elected, should not have power to resign.
The czar of Muscovy first claimed the crown for his eldest son, who
had been educated in Poland, spoke the language, and imitated the
manners of that country. In addition to these powerful recommen
dations, the czar promised to restore Kiow and all the other towns
he had conquered, to maintain an army of 40,000 men in support
of Poland, to advance 4,000,000 florins into the treasury for the
payment of the army, that his son should renounce all claims to the
throne of Muscovy, and that he should embrace the Catholic religion.
These flattering promises were backed by an army of 80,000 men,
who waited on the frontiers for the decision of the diet, and ready
to break into the territories of the republic should the Russian prince
be rejected. This menace rendered all the promises of the czar
suspicious; and even his offers of assistance were viewed as insults
on the weakness of the republic. The Poles, however, were com
pelled to temporize; and Pacz, high chancellor of Lithuania, was
despatched to Moscow, to promise the crown to the prince if the
nation could be assured of his sincerity in renouncing the Greek re
ligion. This was readily promised; and even the patriarch of Mos
cow, with his dependent clergy, conceded that as the intention of
the prince was to secure Christendom itself against the attacks of the
infidels, he might lawfully conform to the Latin church. The Poles
were thus under the necessity of finding further pretexts for delay.
The prince of Conde', the duke of Newburg, and prince Charles
of Lorrain, were also competitors for the crown of Poland; and each

make this his first profession in the presence of no less a personage than the grand
seignior himself. Thus suddenly dwindled to nothing the mighty pretensions of
Sabatai Sevi. His deluded followers were astounded at the apostacy of their
Messiah; and though some could not be persuaded that it was himself, but
only a demon in his likeness, who had assumed the Turkish faith, the majority
slunk back abashed to their various occupations in private life. The impostor
resided in the Turkish court till 1676, when he died.Rycaut's Hist. of the
Turkish Empire, vol. ii., p. 174-184.
 HISTORY OF POLAND. 335

of them was supported by his respective faction in the diet. In the

Conde' interest were the primate, general Sobieski, and Oberski,
starost of Warsaw, a nobleman of great influence, who openly
espoused the prince's cause. This course, however, seems to have
been extremely unpopular in the diet: for the standard-bearer of
the palatinate of Sandomir, having, on the 28th of May, obtained
leave to speak, broke out into a severe invective against Oberski,
charging him with selling his vote, and betraying the liberties of his
country. Letters were produced confirming this accusation, and
proving that the primate and twelve other lords had, on the 25th of
the same month, held a private meeting in favour of the prince of
Conde', whose election the senate meant to carry without the con
currence of the other branches of the legislature. The whole
assembly burst into a rage on the disclosure of these particulars;
sabres were drawn, and the immediate trial of Oberski was de
manded. That nobleman, pale and trembling, attempted to escape,
but was forcibly detained, and compelled to swear to renounce the
interest of the prince of Conde', and to consider him as incapable
of wearing the crown, as he had endeavoured to gain it by uncon
stitutional means.
Some days after these transactions, the primate, who had also
rendered himself obnoxious to suspicion, was required by the nobles
to pronounce the exclusion of the French prince; and the senate
was thrown into consternation at the request. The prelate, how
ever, evaded the demand by replying, that if the nobility expected
a decision of the whole senate, they must call them together; but if
they asked only for his particular declaration, he was ready to pro
claim that person sovereign who should have the suffrages of the
whole nation. He was supported by the bishop of Warmia, and
the palatines of Kiow, Culm, and Pomerania; and the grand
marshal announced aloud, that, should the nobles so tumultuously
proscribe a candidate of such high character as the prince, he him
self would quit his post and retire. Still the inferior nobility,
jealous of the infringement of their privileges, continued to expos
tulate and threaten; and the utmost confusion prevailed. The
archbishop at length, notwithstanding the support of some of the
higher classes of the aristocracy, was compelled, by the dread of
violence, to exclaim, I exclude him then, since they will have it
so. The hopes of the French prince were thus at once annihilated,
no one daring again to speak in his favour.
 336 HISTORY OF POLAND.

When something like order was restored in the diet, audience was
given to the emperor's ambassador. He advocated the cause of
Philip William, duke of Newburg; and the friends of the French
prince, as there was no chance of success for their own candidate,
joined with the party of the duke. The ambassador from the
elector of Brandenburgh spoke in his favour; and the king of Eng
land recommended him by letter. The duke himself made the most
magnificent promises; but as these were known to exceed his power
to perform them, they met with no credit. The prejudice against
his Germanic origin was likewise strong; and the Poles were too
jealous of the emperor to approve a candidate proposed by him.
Indeed, it was suspected that the imperial minister, notwithstanding
his public conduct, was privately assisting the cause of Charles of
Lorrain. The latter prince was prodigal in his presents to the no
bility, who, as long as his money lasted, were profuse in their pro
mises of support. His cause seemed more prosperous than that of
the duke of Newburg until it was observed that he relaxed in his
private donations, when the ardour of his friends cooled, and they
were easily supplanted by the party of the Piasts.
The senate were now accused, by the popular party, of protract
ing the session for the purpose of thwarting the will of the nation;
and the greatest tumult and confusion ensued. The principal lords,
being supposed to harbour designs of infringing the rights of the
diet, were assailed by the multitude, and narrowly escaped being
torn in pieces. Muskets were fired into the doors of the szopa by
the soldiery; and, to avoid the shots, some of the bishops and pala
times hid themselves under the seats, while others endeavoured to
escape by flight. Leczinski, bishop of Plotsko, and the castellan of
Posnania, effected their retreat with difficulty; two other lords were
slain; a third was shot through the hand; and the whole were
driven from the kola, and pursued by the reproaches and execrations
of the populace. The grand-marshal in vain endeavoured to ap
pease the multitude. Anarchy every where prevailed; the streets
were filled with disorders; and bloodshed and murders were perpe
trated in the night. At length, Opalinski, palatine of Kalisch,
found means to assemble the gentry, and addressed them as follows:
To what purpose should we thus assault each other for princes
with whom we have no acquaintance or connection ? Why shed the
blood of our countrymen to serve the ambition and promote the in
trigues of foreigners? Will any one of these princes, after his
 HISTORY OF POLAND. 337

election, acknowledge his obligations to the suffrages, or distinguish

those in any manner who have hazarded their lives, and spent their
fortunes, in elevating him to the throne? No! gratitude is not
the virtue of sovereigns; and mere policy dictates, for the sake of
establishing unanimity, that we should prefer the choice of a native.
Let us, therefore, consider our true interest, and, without destroy
ing one another, choose from amongst ourselves a person worthy to
command over the whole nation, who, by the ties of nature and in
terest, will be careful of our rights and privileges. Have we no
members of the republic who are capable of governing it? Or can
we, without dishonour, seek for kings amongst foreigners, as though
there were not in Poland a subject worthy of being raised to a
throne.

This address produced a powerful effect in the assembly. There

were, indeed, some who opposed Opalinski from the hope of profit
ing, during a protracted election, by the donations of foreign can
didates. The representatives of the palatinate of Podolia demanded
that the security of Kaminieck should first be provided for. They
were, however, not regarded by the majority; and about twenty
palatinates declared for a Piast. To try the sincerity of the electors,
Opalinski and others nominated Michael Coribut Wiesnowiski, who
was brought from his residence to the assembly. Though there
was no serious design in this measure of electing him as king, and
several other lords aspired to the regal dignity, yet the current
of popular enthusiasm was so strong, that, being once nominated,
the election of Michael followed as a matter of course. The Lithu
anians indeed, who had not been consulted, made some opposition;
but one of their deputies being cut to pieces before their eyes, the
rest were terrified into silence, and concurred in the election.

MICHAEL CoRIBUT WIEsNow Iski.16701673.

The nobility were amazed at their own choice. The new king,
though descended from Coribut, the brother of Jagellon, was
scarcely known in the nation. His father had lost a princely for
tune in the wars with the Cossacks; and he himself had long sub
sisted on the liberality of the late king. No one exhibited greater
surprise and consternation at his elevation than himself. He pro
tested with tears that he had not abilities for the office, and even
attempted to fly from the field of election, but was prevented by
15 l 2 U
338 HISTORY OF POLAND.

the nobility, who tumultuously vociferated, You shall reign, most

serene king ! In fact, they quickly began to console themselves,
in the hope that the new king would be so simple and easy as to be
wholly guided by their advice. The primate, indeed, at first re
fused to crown him, and retired to his castle at Lowitz; but the
palatine of Kalisch having prevailed on the senate to use their in
fluence with the prelate, and the minor nobility threatening him
with their vengeance, he was at length compelled to submit, and
to crown a king whom he despised. The nobles, partly in pity and
partly in contempt, supplied the empty kitchen of their sovereign
from their own larders.
Soon after his coronation, Michael married Eleanora, daughter
of the emperor Ferdinand JII., and sister to Leopold, whom he
had actually served in quality of gentleman of the bedchamber.
At first, this measure was viewed with jealousy by the Poles, who
imagined that the king intended to extend his own prerogatives
by the assistance of the Austrian family; and the queen was also
suspected of a design to render the crown hereditary. The good
nature of the king, however, and his ready compliance with all
demands, soon dissipated these suspicions. -

The czar of Muscovy, exasperated at his son's disappointment,

now revived the discontent of the Cossacks, whose hetman, Doro
zenski, had been provoked by a refusal of the diet to admit him to
the privileges of a Polish nobleman. An alliance was also conclud
ed between the Russians and the Turks, whereby it was stipulated,
that the czar should be nominal sovereign of the Ukraine, but that
the fortresses of that country should be occupied by Turkish garri
sons. The Polish ambassador, Wisoski, also, conducted himself
with such haughtiness at the Porte, as not a little inflamed the re
sentment of the vizier Kioprili, who ordered the Tartars to join the
Cossacks, and begin with their usual ravages. The united barba
rians accordingly advanced into Podolia, and laid siege to Kaminieck.
This fortress, which had often withstood the Turkish arms, was
now so ill supplied with men, ammunition, and provisions, that,
after a siege of eleven days, it was surrendered. The greatest con
sternation prevailed throughout the kingdom ; the people blaming
the senate, and they fixing the odium upon the new sovereign,
who, on the contrary, had not been long enough upon the throne
either to take measures for its preservation, or by his supineness to
give reasonable cause of complaint. Dr. Connor asserts that the
fall of Kaminieck was the consequence of the treachery of the
 HISTORY OF POLAND. 339

grand-marshal Sobieski and other lords, who wished to bring the

government into contempt. However this may be, the Poles were
too much occupied in accusing each other to take any effective mea
sures for the defence of their country; and the king was under the
necessity of purchasing a peace by ceding Podolia to the Cossacks,
and promising to pay the sultan 22,000 ducats annually.
However inglorious this treaty might be considered by the Poles,
it is probable that their king would have religiously observed it had
the Turks adhered to their part of the agreement; but they, having
advanced to Leopold, were so warmly received by the small garrison
there, that they were compelled, on the approach of the Polish ar
my under Sobieski, to raise the siege. Meanwhile the payment of
the stipulated tribute was refused. Though the Turkish force ex
ceeded 300,000 men, while that of the Poles only amounted to
about 30,000, yet Sobieski resolved to drive the pacha from Chot
zim, as a preliminary to the recovery of Kaminieck. The pacha
was so confident of victory, that he caused chains to be forged for
the Poles, and boasted his intention of fixing the Ottoman standard
on the walls of Cracow. His own want of temper, however, caused
his failure. Exasperated at seeing the Moldavians so slow in taking
the field, he summoned the voivode to his presence, and in the
heat of the altercation, struck him on the head with an axe. This
outrage not only provoked the voivode, but many of the Wala
chians also, who seized their prince, and conveyed him by force to
the Polish camp. He afterwards escaped, and made his peace with
the sultan; but the Moldavian was so much enraged at the affront,
that he privately informed Sobieski of the disposition of the Turk
ish camp.
When the Polish general appeared before the enemy, he was ad
mitted into the intrenchments by the Moldavians and Walachians,
who joined with him against the pacha's forces. Notwithstanding
this, however, the Turks contested the victory in the bravest man
ner. For several hours they maintained their ground, but were at
length compelled to give way before the superior courage of the
Poles and the talents of their general. A terrible slaughter en
sued, multitudes of prisoners were taken, and, of the whole Turk
ish army, not more than 15,000 were able to effect their escape.
Solyman pacha was slain, and three other pachas were wounded.
The booty taken was considerable; for, besides the ordinary bag
gage, the conquerors took 2000 purses of money, newly brought to
the camp for the payment of the soldiery, and 25,000 waggons of
2 U 2
340 HISTORY OF POLAND.

provisions and ammunition. Kaplan pacha, who was advancing

with a reinforcement of 4000 men, immediately retreated behind
the Danube.

Had this decisive victory been followed up by the Poles, Ka

minieck might have been recovered, Podolia regained from the
Cossacks, and the sultan compelled to renounce his claim to tribute;
but the pospolite refused to continue longer in the field than the
time prescribed by the laws of the country, and accordingly dis
banded themselves and returned home. Hence all the benefit that
accrued from the affair was the conquest of Chotzim.
On the same day in which this battle was fought, November 10,
1673, king Michael died at Leopold, in the 35th year of his age,
little esteemed or regretted by his subjects. He appears, however,
to have been of an amiable disposition in private life; and, though
his conduct on the throne has been characterized as imbecile, it
ought to be recollected that no person was more aware of his unfit
ness for royalty than himself, and that he endeavoured without
effect to prevent his elevation to so dangerous a dignity.

INTERREGNUM.16731674.

The usual discord and corruption of an election immediately

commenced on the death of the king. The diet opened on the 20th
of April, 1674, when several foreign competitors appeared, whose
claims were heard, and gained credit with their respective partizans.
The czar of Muscovy, notwithstanding his former disappointment,
solicited the crown for his second son, then in his fourteenth year.
His demands were now urged with more moderation, and fewer
menaces, then at the last election ; but, though his ambassador was
received with civility, little regard was paid to his mission. The
elector of Brandenburgh proposed his son, who, he promised, should
embrace the Catholic religion in case of his election. The national
jealousy against a German by birth, however, and the distrust na
turally felt by the Poles towards a religious conversion effected
merely for the sake of a crown, induced such a coolness towards
the prince that the elector soon thought it prudent to withdraw his
claims. Michael Abaffi, voivode of Transylvania, offered to join
his principality to the republic, to advance a great sum of money,
and to maintain an army of 15,000 men to assist in the war with
Turkey; but as the voivode was notoriously unable to fulfil these
 HISTORY OF POLA N D. 341

promises, they were not regarded. The king of Denmark offered,

on behalf of his brother, prince George, to pay 3,000,000 into the
treasury, to maintain 6000 horse, and to furnish a fleet when re
quired by the republic; but his efforts were thwarted by the Swedish
faction, and never produced any considerable results.
The two most considerable competitors were the duke of New
burg and Charles of Lorrain. The duke now made the same pro
posals for his son that he had formerly done for himself, with the
addition that the prince should marry the queen-dowager. She,
however, was enamoured with prince Charles, and carried her
affection for him so far as to pawn her very jewels to purchase him
votes. The Lithuanians, in the mean while, with the grand-chan
cellor Pacz, had, through jealousy of the designs of Sobieski, come
to a resolution that no person should be elected to the crown who
was not single and at liberty to marry the widowed queen; and they
were soon gained by her to the cause of the house of Lorrain. It
was, indeed, rumoured that prince Charles was privately married
to the queen; when a freak of jealousy almost deprived him of her
favour and the support of the Lithuanians. He soon made his peace,
however, with the love-stricken Eleanora ; the Lithuanians return
ed to his interest; and he advanced as far as Silesia to encourage
and succour his party.
The personal merit of Charles of Lorrain, in addition to other
circumstances, soon gave him an ascendancy over the duke of New
burg's party, which began to merge in that of the Piastes. At this
juncture, John Sobieski, the hero of the republic, ostensibly de
clared in favour of a French prince, though he did not name the
person. He drew the character of this imaginary candidate in the
most imposing manner, and some of the features strongly resembled
those of the famous prince of Conde'; but it is generally supposed
that Sobieski, in this delineation, intended to recommend himself.
The Piast party warmly entered into his designs; he was covered
with the laurels of victory ; and the army was at his devotion.
Meanwhile, the dissensions between the parties of the other candi
dates added comparative strength to his. The senate insisted that
the queen-dowager should marry the prince of Newburg, their fa
vourite candidate; while Pacz and his party swore to be true to
Charles of Lorrain and the queen. Sobieski now appeared at the
diet with a numerous and splendid retinue, which the Lithuanian
chancellor endeavoured to rival; and it was feared that the contest
would be ended by the sword. Sapieha, grand-treasurer of Lithu
342 HISTORY OF POLAND.

ania, however, tempered the impetuosity of Pacz; and the friends

of Sobieski exerted themselves in a similar manner towards him;
though the opposing partizans were extremely clamorous in the ex
pression of their opinions.
On the day of nomination, the pope's nuntio merely advised the
election of a Catholic prince, without recommending any particular
person. The imperial ambassador proposed the prince of Lorrain;
and M. Fourbin de Jansen, bishop of Marseilles, and envoy from
France, nominated the prince of Newburg. A double, if not a
triple election, became imminent, and was only averted by a proro
gation of the election till the 19th of May. In the interim, Don
Ronguellas arrived from Spain to support the prince of Lorrain;
and the Newburg party, feeling their case hopeless, were about to
join that of Lorrain, against Sobieski. Had such an event taken
place, a civil war must have been the consequence; but the elo
quence and influence of the palatine of Red Russia turned the tide
in favour of the grand-marshal. Friends and countrymen, said
the palatine, the republic is in extreme danger, and threatened
with all the horrors of a civil war; and yet what are the objects of
so fatal a division ? The queen, on the one side, devoted to Charles
of Lorrain, does not approve the prince of Newburg for a husband;
and thus the caprice of a woman is to set us in arms one against
another . On the other hand, we are divided in the cause of a
German, whose country alone should be a sufficient motive for our
refusing him. Thus we sacrifice ourselves for a stranger, and one
who is little known to us. Let us cease, then, these divisions,
which are founded on such frivolous causes, and yet must prove so
fatal in their consequences. Let us set aside both the competitors,
who are no otherwise considerable than by the cabals they have
found means to form ; and let the true interest of the kingdom in
fluence and direct our suffrages. What sort of character does rea
son dictate we should elevate to the throne at this juncture ? It is
that of a hero, who has courage enough to conquer for us in war,
and wisdom to govern us in peace. And why should we seek for
him out of Poland? We have among ourselves that great man who
deserves to be a ruler of the people. You all know him, and have
oft admired his courage and prudence. His victories and his vir
tues point him out with sufficient precision. The conquered Turks,
and the Cossacks brought under subjection, solicit you in his favour.
The security of your frontiers against the invasions of your enemies;
the tranquillity enjoyed in the heart of your kingdom; the conquest
 HISTORY OF POI, AND. 343

of Chotzim ; these are claims which should command your voices.

You perceive, by these circumstances, that I propose Sobieski, to
whose virtues you are bound in gratitude to make a recompence.
After having saved the state, can you refuse him the government
of it P
All the party of Sobieski immediately acceded with acclamations
to this nomination. The palatinates of Russia and Cracow declared
for him, and the choice was generally approved by the Poles. The
French ambassador quitted the party of the prince of Newburg, and
joined that of Sobieski, for which he was afterwards rewarded with
a cardinal's hat. Pacz and a few of the Lithuanians entered their
protest, but were followed from the kola, and prevailed upon to re
turn. The next day, the proclamation was made without a dissen
tient voice.

John SoBIEsk1.16741696.

John Sobieski was a native of the province of Polish Prussia, and

the son of James Sobieski, castellan of Cracow, by a daughter of
Stanislaus Zolkiewiski, grand-general and chancellor of the crown
of Poland. His father, who had gained a high reputation both in
the senate and the field, gave him a liberal education, and sent him
for improvement to the politest courts of Europe. He was distin
guished by John Casimir, who honoured him first with a colonel's
commission, and soon after promoted him to the rank of captain of
his guards. From this station he advanced himself through the
several civil and military degrees, until he was made grand-marshal
in the place of Lubomirski, and grand-general in the stead of Polo
ski, which offices he held at the time of the celebrated victory of
Chotzim.
Sobieski's first act on ascending the throne was to provide a suit
able maintenance for the queen-dowager, though she had violently
opposed his election. He gave orders for paying the arrears of the
army out of his own privy purse; and, in order to encourage the
zeal of the nobility against the Turks, he took upon himself the
support of 100,000 infantry during the war. Indeed, his ardour
was so great that he deferred his coronation until the next campaign
should be concluded. To secure himself on the side of Russia, he
signed a cessation of hostilities, during the war against Turkey,
with the czar.
344 HISTORY OF POLAND.

These preparations were not made with such speed but that the
Turks were in the field before the Polish army could be collected.
The grand vizier Cupriuli reduced Chotzim and Deskau, and laid
siege to Human. The garrison of the latter place, being much re
duced by famine and sickness, agreed to a treaty of capitulation;
but, while the terms were in consideration, a mine was sprung be
neath one of their bastions, by which means the Turks gained ad
mittance into the place, and put the whole garrison to the sword.
Having succoured Kaminieck, the vizier retired, leaving the Tartar
khan to oppose such efforts as might be made by the Polish king.
The composition of the Polish army being nearly voluntary, and
consisting of the gentry, who paid little regard to the orders of their
prince, Sobieski, in June, found himself at the head of only 16,000
men, instead of 60,000, as had been promised. By the month of
November, he had raised 30,000, with whom he marched into the
Ukraine, and speedily made himself master of the capital, and of
every other place of strength in the country except two. The
Turkish court now thought it necessary to make proposals for a
peace; but, as the king considered this but an artifice to stop his
progress, he refused to listen to the commissaries, and prepared to
lay siege to Czebryn, the conquest of which would have ensured the
possession of all the Ukraine. At this juncture, however, the Li
thuanians, under Pacz, complaining of the rigours of the season,
determined on returning home; and above 10,000 Poles took the
opportunity of following the example. A check was thus given to
the progress of Sobieski, who was compelled to content himself with
putting garrisons in the conquered places till he could raise another
army.
It required all the patience and courage of the king to avert the
evils which now threatened him. The Turks, who had been in
formed of the defection in the Polish camp, took the field in April,
1675, with a prodigious army under Ibrahim pacha, and laid siege
to Zbarras, the reduction of which place would have opened a way
to the very heart of Poland. Sobieski, with no more than 6000
men, did all that could be done for the relief of the place, by ha
rassing the outposts of the enemy, stopping their supplies, and other
annoyances. Besides the small garrison of Zbarras, that place con
tained about 5000 peasants, whose bravery in active warfare con
tributed greatly to its defence; but their patience becoming exhaust
ed by the miseries and privations of a siege, they revolted against
the governor, M. Desauteuls, a French gentleman in the Polish
 HISTORY OF POLAND, 345

service, and threw him over the walls. The town was in conse
quence taken ; but the pacha was so indignant at the conduct of the
mutineers, that he ordered the ringleaders to be executed, and the
rest sent to the galleys. Your treachery, said he, has deprived
me of the honour of conquering a hero; but it has afforded me the
satisfaction of punishing rebellious poltroons. -

After an unsuccessful attempt on Zlotskow, the Turkish army

advanced towards Leopold, beneath the walls of which city Sobieski
had entrenched his little force. Strong parties were detached to
insult or dislodge him; but as these were always defeated, the pacha
led his whole army, consisting of 60,000 Turks and 40,000 Tartars,
to the attack. As they were under the necessity of ascending a
steep hill, and passing through a woody defile, Sobieski posted a
small body of troops to dispute the passage, while a battery of can
non on the left took the enemy in flank. The wood was also lined
with musketeers, who made terrible havock ; but the Turks at
length broke through, and appeared on the plain. The king now
placed his cannon on the most advantageous posts, and poured grape
shot upon the dense mass of the enemy's army, which was thus in
a manner surrounded by 6000 Poles Suddenly the king, with a
small body of his best troops, burst upon the encumbered Moslem
army, and made such slaughter, that they were compelled to retreat
in disorder through the same defile by which they had advanced,
being galled all the way by batteries and musketry from the adjoin
ing woods. Above 12,000 Turks were left dead on the field, and
3000 taken prisoners. A more complete or glorious victory was
never obtained; but the Poles were too few and too much fatigued
to follow up their success. -

The Turks now made overtures for a peace; but their demands
were so haughty, including the surrender of Podolia and the Ukraine,
that they were rejected by the king, and the war was continued.
Many of the nobility were opposed to this course; and, though So
bieski was beloved by the people generally, yet it was with the ut
most difficulty he raised 15,000 men. With these, however, he
thought himself a match for the united Turks and Tartars. Indeed,
their enthusiastic courage warranted his hopes. A garrison of 70
Poles drove 2000 janissaries from before the castle of Breziani; and
10,000 Tartars were defeated by a small detachment of Poles and
Lithuanians under Harkownski. The town of Podhais, indeed, was
compelled to surrender; and, in defiance of the articles of capitula
tion, it was plundered and burnt, and the inhabitants carried into
2 x -
346 HISTORY OF POLAND.

captivity. Incensed at this perfidy, Sobieski advanced towards

Buezalz, which was besieged by the Turks; but they retired on his
approach, as they did also from before Trembowla. Having received
some reinforcements at Kaminieck, which still remained in their
hands, they invested Waignaff with their usual unskilful courage.
Sobieski encamped on the Neister, in a situation where he could
with advantage annoy the besiegers, which he did so effectually
that the irritated pacha resolved on storming the Polish intrench
ments. Having for this purpose drawn out his whole army, he was
not a little astonished, as well as intimidated, to find that the king
of Poland, notwithstanding the inferiority of his numbers, had
quitted his defences to fight in the open plain. The Poles made a
furious charge, and the Tartars were slain in heaps; but shame in
duced them to continue the conflict till night. The next day, the
Poles renewed the battle, and attacked the pacha's trenches. Four
successive days saw as many bloody battles, in which the Turks
were always worsted; when the pacha made overtures for peace.
A treaty was concluded on October 15, 1676, by which the disho
nourable compact and tribute agreed to by the late king were an
nulled; the Turks gave up all their conquests except Kaminieck,
consented that so much of the Ukraine as lay on the near side of
the Neister should belong to Poland, and promised to defend the
republic against its enemies; and the king allowed that part on the
opposite side of the river to the Cossacks under Dorosensko, on con
dition that liberty of conscience should be maintained. Notwith
standing the advantageous nature of these conditions, considering
the great superiority of the Turkish army, the enemies of Sobieski
did not fail to murmur against them as insufficient, though the king
had not been supported in a proper manner by the nobility. It may
be observed, however, that the sultan could hardly be made to com
prehend the necessity of the concessions he was thus called upon to
make, until the grand vizier had expatiated on the invincible cou
rage and talents of Sobieski.
Poland continued to enjoy the blessings of peace for an unusual
length of time, during which the king endeavoured to restore the
finances of the country, and to cultivate the pacific arts. He con
ducted his affairs with so much parsimony, however, as was highly
displeasing to the Poles, some of whom accused him of avarice, while
others suspected that he had designs of enslaving the nation by cor
rupting the diet or adding to the army. Subsequent events, however,
proved that he had been but preparing the means for a new contest
 HISTORY OF POLAND. 347

with the enemies of Christendom, whenever an opportunity should

occur for such an effort.
For some years Hungary had been the theatre of civil commotions.
The encroachments of the emperor on the one side, and the ambi
tious views of some of the native nobility on the other, had given
birth to a revolt in that country, which it was hoped the decapitation
of the principal conspirators would suppress. As the kingdom was
treated like a conquered country, however, the number and deter
mination of the malcontents were increased. The Transylvanians
and the famous Tekeli joined their party, which was now considered
as representing the Protestant interest, and insisted on liberty of
conscience. A party of 6000 Poles, commanded by Count Boham,
rendered them signal services; and an application was also made to
the Porte, which, after some delay, made preparations for a war
with the emperor. In vain the latter now made concessions: the
Hungarians raised their demands, and compelled him to implore
the assistance of the neighbouring powers to avert the gathering
storm. In particular, application was made to Sobieski, whose
former exploits against the Turks had rendered his name famous
throughout Christendom. The king of Poland, however, could not
but remember that the court of Vienna had withheld its counte
nance from him when pressed by the same enemies; and he therefore
for some time declined all interference. The influence of the pontiff
was now exerted to induce Sobieski to arm in defence of the Ca
tholic religion, the existence of which was threatened by the infidels.
The emperor also flattered the ambition of the queen of Poland,
who possessed a considerable ascendancy over the mind of her hus
band, by promising the archduchess as a wife to her son, and by
means of this alliance securing the succession of the Polish crown
to that prince. Pope Innocent XI. promised his assistance in this
scheme; and, as Sobieski was influenced by a strong feeling of re
spect for the pontiff, he suffered himself to be prevailed upon, either
through the ambition of securing the crown to his family, or his
natural ardour against the Turks, to engage in the war. His
brother-in-law, grand-chancellor to the crown, under pretence of
taking the waters at Hiertberg, met some of the imperial ministers
at Breslaw, where the conditions of the alliance were prepared; and
the count Walestein was shortly after sent by the emperor as am
bassador to the diet at Warsaw. It is true that the Polish nobility
were opposed to a breach of the peace with the Porte; but as So
bieski worked upon their religious feelings, by representing the
2 x 2
348 HISTORY OF POLAND.

Turks as infidels, and the Hungarian malcontents as heretics to the

holy see and rebels to their sovereign, a war was at length resolved
upon.
The treaty between the emperor and the king of Poland was
concluded on March 31, 1683. The terms were, that the emperor
should maintain 40,000 men in the field, and 20,000 in garrison;
that the king of Poland should assist with the pospolite and crown
army; that he should take the field in person, and, in case of a
junction between the imperial and Polish armies, he should com
mand the combined army; and that 6000 men should attack Tekeli,
while the rest endeavoured to drive the Turks from Podolia, the
Ukraine, and such other places as they held on the Polish and Aus
trian frontiers. By a second treaty, the king engaged to march to
the relief of Vienna, should it be attacked by the Turks, which it
was inferred would be the case from a threat of the grand seignior
to the emperor, that he would there exterminate him, in spite of
his crucified God f" -

Sobieski now opened the treasures he had been so long accumu

lating. No expense was spared in levying troops, and procuring
officers of merit from foreign parts. He raised and supported a
regiment of Cossacks at his own charge; and, it has been added,
that he even seduced Tekeli from the Turkish interest, and procured
from him intelligence of the strength and destination of the Ottoman
armies. All the understanding between them, however, appears to
have been a mutual agreement not to ravage the territories of each
other.
The grand vizier, Kara Mustapha, advanced into Austria at the
head of a large army. The Duke of Lorrain, who commanded the
imperial army, fell back on the approach of the Turks, first to the
island of Schut, and afterwards to the walls of Vienna. The Otto
man army made a feint of besieging Rab, but quickly abandoned
that enterprize, and advanced to attack the Austrian capital, where
the news of their approach caused the utmost consternation. The
emperor and his court, besides many of the principal lords, quitted
the place in haste, and fled to Lintz. Still not thinking himself
secure, he continued his flight with equal precipitation, though the
empress (then in the sixth month of her pregnancy), the ladies, and
all the court, were compelled to pass a whole night in a fo
rest, where with much difficulty a truss of straw was procured for
the empress to lie upon. Indeed, her terror was so great as to in
 HISTORY OF POI, AND. 349

duce some of the pains symptomatic of parturition; but they arrived

at length at Passaw, where they awaited the result of the siege.
On the 14th of July, the Turks opened their trenches around
Vienna. Their own force consisted of 150,000 men, besides the
Hungarian, Transylvanian, and Tartarian auxiliaries. Warlike
pomp and oriental luxury were mingled in their extensive camp,
where gold and jewels were displayed amidst mortars, cannon, and
all the terrible paraphernalia of war. The defences of the city were
but weak, and badly arranged; but there was in it a plentiful sup
ply of provisions and ammunition. The garrison were assisted by
the townsmen; and the duke of Lorrain took a position on the
heights without the besiegers' camp, so as to be enabled to en
courage or assist his friends as circumstances might offer. Though
the attacks of the Turks were made with great fury, yet they were
in general so unskilfully executed as to produce little effect. Du
ring six weeks a battery of 70 cannon did not break down a single
pan of the ravelin; and their mines were countermined. Indeed it
has been asserted that the vizier did not wish to take the city by
assault, but hoped, by forcing the besieged to a capitulation, to
possess himself of the treasures which remained in Vienna. Mean
while Tekeli attempted to gain possession of the citadel of Pres
burgh; but Lubomirski, with 2500 Poles, drove out the Hunga
rian troops with loss. As Tekeli was preparing to enter Austria,
the duke of Lorrain marched towards him. A battle took place
near Pisenberg, which ended in the total defeat of the Hungarian
army.
Vienna continued to be closely invested; and the governor, Count
Staremberg, sent the most pressing requests to the imperial court
for assistance. The emperor urgently entreated Sobieski to advance
for the relief of his capital; and the latter at length having hasten
ed the march of his troops, amounting to 20,000 men, set off in
person to take the command. On his way to Cracow, he visited the
shrine at Chenstokova, then as much renowned in Poland as Loretta
was in Italy, and implored the protection of heaven to his enter
prize. Having arrived at Tarnowitz, he reviewed the assembled
troops, and the royal bontchouk or standard was displayed. On the
31st of August, he joined the duke of Lorrain at Ollerbrun, where,
though their combined forces did not exceed 50,000 men, they con
certed measures for attacking the vizier's army, and relieving the
city. They crossed the Danube on the 10th of September; and, as
the enemy neglected to guard the defiles through which they had to
350 HISTORY OF POLAND.

pass, they easily gained the mountain of Kalemberg, which com

mands the whole country, and where they rested for the night;
while the besieged were overjoyed at the sight of succour so near
them. Early in the morning, the army was drawn out; the Poles
composing the right wing, and forming a crescent to prevent the
Tartars from breaking in on the flank. The duke of Lorrain and
the electors of Saxony and Bavaria, took the left. The king of Po
land attended mass in the chapel of St. Leopold, where, it is said,
the officiating friar assured him of the victory; after which he placed
himself in the centre of the army. He went from rank to rank,
and addressed his troops as follows:
Generous Polish cavaliers, It is not only to defend the glory
which your ancestors and your own courage have acquired for you,
of being esteemed the invincible bulwark of Christendom against
the Ottoman power;-it is not the defence alone of your own coun
try, which the fall of Vienna would by a natural consequence ex
pose to the cruel invasions of those against whom you are going to
fight;-but it is the cause of God, and to save the empire of the
West, which does us the honour to have recourse to our arms; an
honour which our ancestors never presumed to hope for, and which
is reserved for your valour. Think, then, of nothing but conquer
ing, or to die nobly on this occasion, to which the glory of martyr
dom is concomitant. Think that your king fights at your head, to
partake with you of your perils and your victories; and rest assured
that the God of battles, whose cause we are going to defend, will
not fail to fight for us.
Kara Mustapha, during these preparations, did not intermit the
operations of the siege; but he himself continued in his tent, drink
ing coffee with his two sons and the Tartar khan, and making a
jest of the anticipated assault by the Christian army. He did in
deed send a body of Tartars round the heights of Kalemberg to
observe their motions; and, on learning that they were advancing,
detached 12,000 men to sieze on the defiles and marshes which pro
tected his camp. It was now, however, too late; the Turks were
driven from every post they attempted to occupy; and the Christian
army continued to advance with as much regularity and steadiness
as the nature of the ground would allow. Before noon, Sobieski,
who had not anticipated so easy a conquest, was in possession of the
heights which commanded the vizier's camp, and, putting himself
at the head of a body of horse and hussars, attacked the Turkish
army with such fury as drove all before him. The duke of Lorrain
 HISTORY OF POLAND. - 351

also, formerly his rival competitor for the crown of Poland, now
seemed to emulate his glory, broke the Turkish right wing, and
entered their camp nearly at the same time. By a preconcerted
signal, Count Staremberg was informed of these events, and imme
diately made a sally from the city, doing considerable execution.
Kara Mustapha, who had during the early part of the engagement
contemptuously declined sending reinforcements to his troops, no
sooner saw the Christian banners waving so near him, than he lost
all the blind confidence which had supported him, and fled in the
utmost affright, leaving his camp and magnificent equipage to the
mercy of the conquerors. The only precaution he took was to stran
gle five of his wives, lest they should fall into the hands of the
Christians. At six o'clock in the evening, the king entered the
Turkish camp, where a young man presented him with the vizier's
war horse, which was barbed with steel armour, damasked with
gold, and quilted with crimson velvet. He afterwards sent one of
the vizier's stirrups to the queen, to be laid at the feet of the mira
culous crucifix of the cathedral at Cracow. In the letter to his
consort, he remarked, in his usual playful style, that the vizier
had left him his sole executor and legatee.
Sobieski's victory was complete; the janissaries, who had during
the engagement kept up the siege of Vienna, were driven from their
trenches; and, before the following morning, there was not a Turk
to be seen; the only traces of them being the smoke from the vil
lages which they burnt in their retreat. The king of Poland spent
the night at the foot of a tree, lying upon his horse's saddle instead
of a pillow. Immense riches were found in the Turkish camp,
amongst which was the great Ottoman standard or horse-tail; be
sides provisions, ammunition, and 180 pieces of cannon. The glory of
having beaten an army of 200,000 men was purchased with the
loss of no more than 600 private men and three officers. So great
a conquest, achieved in such an easy manner, was naturally attri
buted by the writers of the day to the especial interposition of hea
ven. On the day after the battle, Sobieski sent the Ottoman
standard to the pope, as a trophy of success.
On the entrance of Sobieski into Vienna, he repaired directly to
the altar, and returned thanks to Almighty God, joining himself in
the Te Deum, with his countenance fixed upon the ground. While
he thus attributed his success to heaven, the people were loud in
the praises of their deliverer; though the Austrian nobility could ill
conceal the envy and jealousy they felt towards him. On the 15th,
352 HISTORY OF POI, AND.

he sent his compliments, and a part of the booty taken in the vizier's
camp, to the emperor, now on his return to the capital. A diffi
culty, however, now arose as to the ceremonials to be observed on
the meeting of the two monarchs. With an unbecoming punctili
ousness, Leopold declined to meet as an equal the man to whom he
was indebted for the preservation of his capital; and Sobieski
refused to admit of any diminution in the respect due to a king of
Poland. It was, at length, arranged that the meeting should take
place in the open field, and that the two princes should advance
within a few paces of each other. The Polish troops were on their
march after the Turks when the emperor made his appearance;
when Sobieski and his son prince James galloped forward towards
him. Both monarchs uncovered at once, saluted, and covered in a
moment. The German historians say that the emperor began the
conversation, by thanking the king for his assistance, and compli
menting him on his valour; to which Sobieski replied that he had
done no more than his duty, and was but an instrument in the
hands of the Almighty. Others assert that Sobieski first addressed
the emperor in Latin, expressing his satisfaction that heaven had
prospered his endeavours for his imperial majesty, to which, either
through haughtiness or ignorance, the latter returned no answer.
The king then presented his son and the two generals of the crown;
and the interview was abruptly closed. There is no doubt, indeed,
that Leopold displayed a marked disrespect to his ally and deliverer;
but, two days afterwards, he sent a sword set with diamonds to
prince James, and 3000 ducats to each of the Polish generals;
writing, at the same time, an apology to the prince for not having
noticed him before, which he stated was in consequence of the im
pression made upon him by the sight of the heroic king his father.
The Polish officers were highly incensed at the slight paid to
their king, whom they intreated to return into Poland, and to leave
the ungrateful emperor to his fate. The troops also began to ex
press a desire to return to their own country. Sobieski, however,
was too warmly interested in the success of the Turkish war, to
suffer any personal considerations to influence his conduct; and he
continued to lead the army in pursuit of the Turks. Flushed with
his recent success, he resolved on attacking a strong body of janis
saries who had taken post near the fort of Barcan. This design he
did not communicate to the duke of Lorrain, as he was anxious that
the Poles should have all the glory of the anticipated victory. The
Turks, however, having been strongly reinforced, received him so
 HISTORY OF POI, AN ID. 353

warmly, that, on the third onset, his hussars turned their backs and
fled, leaving him to fight his way back through 14,000 janissaries,
supported by only 200 faithful adherents. Bruised by the justling
of horses and arms, closely pressed by the enemy, fatigued with
his own corpulence, the heat of the weather, and the exertion of the
engagement, and covered with dust, sweat, and blood, he could
scarcely keep his seat on horseback; and a Turkish soldier twice
attempted to cut off his head with a sabre. Two of his followers
supported him between them on his horse, and kept up his head to
prevent his being suffocated. Letting go their bridles, and spurring
rapidly along, they escaped with the king, who had never before
been in such imminent peril as he had now drawn upon himself in
this rash and chivalrous exploit. The appearance of the infantry
and the imperial army, put a stop to the pursuit; when the king,
weak and breathless, was laid upon the ground on a little hay, while
the troops bivouacked without order in the fields. The imperial
commanders could ill conceal the satisfaction this event occasioned
amongst them. -

The affront which the Turks had thus put upon the Polish arms
did not pass unrevenged. As the person of Sobieski was not known
to the janissaries, a report was spread amongst them that the thun
derer was slain; and, no longer afraid of his hitherto invincible in
fluence, they were eager to exterminate the remains of the Christian
army. Kara Mustapha had ordered Tekeli and a large body of
troops to proceed to the support of those at Barcan; but, confident
of success, the janissaries suffered themselves to be drawn into seve
ral disadvantageous skirmishes. On the 11th of October, two
days after his defeat, Sobieski appeared on horseback, and put his
troops in order of battle. The right wing he commanded in person,
the centre was assigned to the duke of Lorrain, and the left was led
by the crown-general, Jablonowski. The Christian army amounted
* The Cossacks in the Polish army were at this time employed in capturing
stragglers from the Turkish camp, who, on account of the intelligence which
was extracted from them, were called tongues. The king gave the Cossacks
ten crowns for each tongue; and they frequently brought their prisoners to
the camp tied in the same manner as a huntsman would secure a wild beast.
A Cossack returned one evening with a Turk whom he had captured and se
cured in this manner, threw him into the king's tent like a bundle upon the
ground, and then went to the treasurer for his premium ; after which he re
turned to the door of the tent, and, thrusting in his head to thank the king,
said, John, they have paid me: God restore it thee, and good night.
Dalerae's Polish Manuscripts. p. 15.
2 Y
354 HISTORY OF POLAND.

to 49,000 men; and the Poles, in particular, were eager to regain

the honour they had recently lost. On the other hand, the Turks
under the pachas of Buda, Silistria, and Caramania, secured their
left wing by certain marshes, and their right extended to the moun
tains. The most desperate valour was displayed on both sides. As
the king suspected the enemy would make the greatest efforts on
their right, he placed his artillery opposite to that part, while he
stretched his own right towards the Danube, in order to cut off
their anticipated retreat. The Ottoman army, perceiving his in
tention, began to be apprehensive that their communication with
the bridge and fort would be lost; and they therefore, after making
prodigious efforts against various parts of the Christian army, broke
their ranks in endeavouring to reach the bridge before Sobieski.
The road being too narrow to receive them, many were trodden
down, or fell by the sword of their pursuers; others threw them
selves into the Danube; and the bridge, being overloaded by the
fugitives, was broken down. Hundreds were stifled or crushed to
death in their flight; and the Danube was black with men, arms,
horses, and turbans. The fort of Barcan was attacked and carried
by the Polish infantry, who, deaf to the supplications of the van
quished and the remonstrances of their own officers, put the whole
garrison to the sword. No less than 12,000 Turks fell in this bat
tle, which was scarcely over, when Tekeli appeared with his force
on the neighbouring mountains. He was, however, too prudent to
hazard a contest with the victors, and retreated. ~

The fortress of Gran, or Strigonium, which the Turks had held

during 143 years, was now invested, and surrendered on the 24th
of October, after a siege of five days. Having thus driven the
Turks out of the heart of the imperial dominions, Sobieski led his
victorious army back through Upper Hungary to their own country.
His line of march was still in the hands of rebels; and a garrison
having been placed by the enemy in Zutkin, to harass the Poles in
their retreat, a detachment under Prince James and the palatine of
Lublin invested the town and citadel in succession, the latter of
which was stormed and taken. The Polish army was annoyed in
its march by the insurgents, and was repulsed before Eperies and Cze
bin. The king arrived at Cracow on Christmas-eve, and was saluted
with the news that the Cossacks on the near side of the Neister had
obtained a victory over 40,000 Turks and Tartars near Filgrotin,
after which they had crossed the river, and desolated the country of
those under the Turkish empire. In the following year, the treaty
 HISTORY OF POLAND. 355

between Sobieski and the emperor was renewed; and, by a secret

article, the latter ceded Moldavia and Walachia to the king and
his issue, provided the Turks could be driven from those provinces,
which were to be attacked by the Poles, while the imperialists act
ed upon the Danube. The Venetians on one side, and the czar of
Muscovy on the other, were also drawn into this alliance; as was
the hospodar of Moldavia, who was ignorant of the projected ap
propriation of his dominions. Two years were spent in these ne
gotiations. Still the emperor treated the Polish king with marked
disrespect and jealousy. The Lithuanians left in his dominions
were wretchedly provided for ; and the proposed marriage of prince
James with the archduchess was broken off.
Sobieski was too sincere in his desires to humble the Ottoman
empire, and too sanguine in his hopes of acquiring the provinces of
Moldavia and Walachia, to be diverted from his designs by the pride
and ingratitude of the emperor. At the head of a fine army, which
he had employed the intervening time in raising, he passed the
Pruth in March, 1684, and entered Moldavia. The whole country
submitted to the terror of his arms; though the hospodar, perhaps
informed of the secret article in the treaty, had gone over to the
Turks. Not meeting an enemy to oppose him, the king resolved to
proceed as far as the borders of the Black Sea, there to besiege
the strong town of Bailogrod, on the south bank of the Neister;
but as the country before him had been desolated by the Tartars,
he was quickly compelled to abandon that enterprize. He now de
termined to gain the borders of the Danube; but so many rocks,
mountains, and defiles abounded in the intervening district, as ren
dered this scheme also impracticable. Thus disappointed, he was
compelled to return towards the Pruth ; when the Moldavians and
Tartars began to shew themselves in the valleys through which he
had to pass, where their parties set fire to the dry corn and hay,
and thereby frequently enveloped the Polish troops in flames and
ashes. Wherever an opportunity offered, they attacked the king's
army; and in the Buccovines, a vast solitude interspersed with
ditches and narrow passes between the Pruth and the Carpathian
mountains, they placed an ambuscade near a defile between two
steep rocks, through which the Poles had to pass. The latter were
about to fall into the snare, when a deserter informed them of their
danger. The king immediately detached Rewowski, the treasurer
of the crown, with a body of select soldiers, who, climbed up the
sides of the mountains, came upon the Tartars from behind whilst
2 y 2
356 HISTORY OF POLAND.

they were sleeping, and totally routed them. . . The way being thus
cleared, the army proceeded to Smyatin in Pokatia. Thus termi
nated the last warlike enterprize of the great Sobieski, which,
though it produced no advantages to the nation, was deservedly ex
tolled throughout Europe as a masterly example of generalship.
While the world rung with the praises of the Polish monarch,
his subjects began to form cabals to disturb his peace. Many of
the nobility, notwithstanding his successes, had murmured at his
invariable assumption of the chief command, which deprived them
of the means of acquiring glory; and they consequently withheld
their support from him during the Turkish war. With a view,
perhaps, to silence these complaints, he afterwards gave the com
mand of his army to count Jablonowski, grand-general of the king
dom, and Sapieha, grand-general of Lithuania, who gained a victory
over the Turks and Tartars near Niesta: 4000 of the enemy were
slain; and 5000 waggons loaded with provisions and ammunition
for the garrison of Kaminieck, together with the money for their
pay, were taken ; while the total loss of the Poles, it is said,
amounted but to twelve men.
By a sort of fatality, Sobieski was compelled to endure the great
est injuries from those on whom he had lavished his favours. The
grand-chancellor, Wielopolski, brother-in-law to the queen, joined
in a conspiracy with the primate Radziewiski, a near relation of the
king himself, who had never forgiven the elevation of the bishop of
Marseilles to the purple in preference to himself. The real object
of the malcontents has not been discovered; but they were supported
by the Sapieha family, who had themselves received peculiar ho
nours from Sobieski. The latter family, under the pretence of
patriotism, did their utmost to thwart the king's design of procuring
the election of his son, prince James, as his successor. Prince Sa
pieha also, having encroached on the ecclesiastical rights of the
bishop of Wilna, was excommunicated by that prelate, who was
supported by all the clergy except the primate, from whom Sapieha
received absolution. The dispute threw the whole kingdom into
confusion, and caused the suspension of all the functions of govern
ment, as the diet was repeatedly assembled and dissolved without
transacting any business. The place of meeting of the diet was, of
itself, a bone of contention between the Poles and Lithuanians du
ring this reign. In 1673, it was enacted that every third diet should
be held at Grodno ; and, in conformity to this law, the first national
assembly was convened there in 1678. But when the next turn of
 HISTORY OF POLAND. 357

Grodno arrived, the king summoned, the diet to Warsaw. The Li

thuanians strongly opposed this infringement of their rights; and
their deputies, instead of proceeding to Warsaw, where the king,
senate, and nuntios of Poland were met, repaired to Grodno, and
formed a separate diet. In order to prevent a civil war, which this
division might occasion, a negotiation took place, by which the affair
was adjusted; and, from that time, the diets were occasionally sum
moned to Grodno, until the reign of the last monarch, Stanislaus
Augustus, when they were uniformly held at Warsaw.
The latter years of Sobieski's reign were disturbed by the cla
mours raised against his extreme parsimony. With a natural attach
ment to the tented field, and at the suggestion of Dr. Connor,
who prescribed air and exercise as necessary to his age and infirmi
ties, he spent a great part of his time in passing from place to place,
and encamping wherever the situation pleased him. This was
attributed to his desire of saving the expense of a court; and the
queen, whose ambition and intriguing spirit were well known, was
accused of encouraging the alleged meanness. To this woman he
had ever been devotedly attached, and to her will he submitted with
the most implicit docility. In fact, no two persons could be more
unlike than Sobieski at the head of an army, and Sobieski in the
presence of his wife. Her will was law to him; and he durst not
bestow a place of trust or profit on any individual without her sanc
tion. The character and latter years of this great king are described
by our talented countryman, Mr. Coxe, as follows:
The era of John Sobieski, splendid in itself, appears more lu
minous when contrasted with the darkness which preceded and fol.
lowed. The reigns of his immediate predecesssr and successor were
convulsed with internal commotions; but the spirit of discord and
anarchy was laid for a time by his transcendent genius. Under his
auspices Poland seemed to revive from the calamities which had
long oppressed her, and again to recover her antient splendour: such
is the powerful ascendancy of a great and superior mind. His mi
litary talents require no other testimony than the victory of Chotzim,
the recovery of the Ukraine, repeated defeats of the Turks and
Tartars, and the delivery of Vienna; while an exact insight into
the laws and constitution of his country, a manly and persuasive
eloquence, a love and protection of literature, an accurate knowledge
of foreign languages, and an unceasing habit of affability, moderation,
and temperance, render him no less an object of our admiration in
 358 HISTORY OF POLAND.

his civil capacity. But the monarch, who could allay the ferments
of public faction, could not suppress the domestic dissensions of his
own family; and the same great prince, who kept a turbulent peo
ple in awe, and chastised the most formidable enemies, was himself
under the controul of his consort, a French lady, of exquisite beauty
and elegant manners, but of restless intrigue, insatiable avarice, and
inordinate ambition. This unprincipled woman fomented a spirit
of disunion and jealousy among her children, and loaded her eldest
son with every species of indignity. She formed and supported an
administration, called, by way of derision, the Jewish junto ; and
introduced into the royal household a narrow parsimony unbecoming
the dignity of a powerful sovereign. In a word, by a series of of.
fensive and wicked measures, she lost her husband the affection of
his subjects, and rendered the close of his life as odious as the pre
ceding part had been popular and glorious.
The decline of Sobieski's life was clouded with affliction. He
felt himself a prey to a lingering disease, a complication of gout,
stone, asthma, and dropsy ; yet, instead of deriving any comfort
from his nearest connections, he experienced an aggravation of his
distress from the unnatural contests of his children, and the intri
guing spirit of his queen. The decay of his authority, and the in
decent cabals almost openly carried on for the choice of his successor,
affected in the strongest manner a person of his extreme sensibility:
his subjects, instead of lamenting, seemed eagerly to anticipate his
dissolution. Yet, in this deplorable state, the king's equanimity,
founded on religion and philosophy, did not forsake him; and he
retained, even upon his death-bed, that mixture of seriousness and
gravity, strength of reasoning and quickness of repartee, which so
strongly marked his character. He died on the 17th of June, 1696.
Some striking incidents, immediately preceding his death, are
transmitted to us by the chancellor Zaluski, bishop of Plotsko, who
was present when he expired.
Dr. South, in his Account of Poland, thus describes John Sobieski: The
king is a very well-spoken prince, very easy of access, and extreme civil, having
most of the qualities requisite to form a complete gentleman. He is not only
well versed in all military affairs, but likewise, through the means of a French
education, very opulently stored with all polite and scholastical learning. Be
sides his own tongue, the Sclavonian, he understands the Latin, French, Italian,
German, and Turkish languages; He delights much in natural history, and in
all the parts of physic. He is wont to reprimand the clergy for not admitting
the modern philosophy, such as Le Grand's and Cartesius's, into the universi
ties and schools, &c.South's Posthumous JWorks, p. 24.
 HISTORY OF POLAND. 359

Some alarming symptoms in Sobieski's disorder having awaken

ed the queen's solicitude respecting the succession to his fortune,
she earnestly entreated Zaluski to present himself before the king,
and insinuate some advice concerning the disposition of his affairs.
The bishop, when he entered the apartment, finding the king in an
agony of excruciating pain, endeavoured to give him comfort and
hopes of recovery. But Sobieski replied, I foresee my approach
ing death; my situation will be the same to-morrow as it is to-day;
all consolation is now too late.' Then, fetching a deep sigh, his
majesty asked him why he came so seldom to court, and in what
manner he employed himself at his diocese alone? Zaluski, after
expatiating upon the duties of the episcopal office and the resources
of literature, artfully turned the discourse to the business in ques
tion. Lately,' said he, I have been employed in no very agree
able, yet necessary duty: weighing the frail condition of human
nature; remembering, that as Plato and Socrates, so all men must
die; and considering the dissentions which may arise among my
relations after my decease, I have taken an inventory of my effects,
and have disposed of them by will. The king, who saw the pur
port of his discourse, interrupted him with a loud laugh, and ex
claimed, in a quotation from Juvenal, O medici, mediam condundite
venam! (Open a vein thereby insinuating that the bishop was mad.)
What, my lord bishop you whose judgment and good sense I have
so long esteemed, do you make your will? What an useless loss of
time ! &c. Not discouraged by this sally, the bishop persevered
in suggesting, that, in justice to his family and country, he ought
without delay to regulate the disposition of his effects, and to de
clare his final inclinations.For God's sake,' returned Sobieski
with a more serious tone, do not suppose that any good will arise
in this age 1 when vice has increased to such an enormous degree,
as almost to exclude all hopes of forgiveness from the mercy of the
Deity Do you not see how great is the public iniquity, tumult,
and violence? All strive who shall blend good and evil without
distinction. The morals of my subjects are overturned: will you
again restore them 2 My orders are not attended to while I am
alive: can I expect to be obeyed when I am dead? That man is
happy who with his own hand disposes of his effects, which cannot
be entrusted with security to his executors; while they who be
queath them by a will act absurdly, for consigning to the care of
others what is more secure in the hands of their nearest relations.
Have not the regulations of the kings my predecessors been despised
360 - HISTORY OF POI, AND.

after their deaths Where corruption universally prevails, judg

ment is obtained by money: the voice of conscience is not heard,
and reason and equity are no more. Then, suddenly giving a lu
dicrous turn to the conversation, he exclaimed, Quid ad haec, do
mine testamentarie? (What can you say to this, Mr. Willmaker?)
On the 17th of June, the king growing worse, the bishop was
again summoned to Villanow; when his majesty heard prayers, and
was particularly fervent in his devotion. After dinner, while he
was conversing with his usual gaiety in the presence of Zaluski and
the abbe' Polignac, he was suddenly seized with a stroke of apoplexy;
but recovering a little, he confessed, and, having received absolution
and extreme unction, expired almost without a groan, in the 66th
year of his age, and the 23d of his reign, on the same day in which
he was raised to the throne.
Sobieski left behind him his wife Marie de la Grange, three sons,
James, Alexander, and Constantine, and one daughter, Theresa
Cunigunda. Marie his wife, daughter of Henry de la Grange,
captain of the guards to Philip duke of Orleans, and of Frances de
la Chartre, was maid of honour to Louisa Maria queen of Uladislaus
VII. She was first married to Radzivil, prince of Zamoiski.
Within a month after his decease she espoused John Sobieski in se
cret, and brought him in dower a large portion and the favour of
his sovereign. Her influence over her husband, and the ill use she
made of her power when he ascended the throne, have been already
observed. After her ineffectual struggles during the ensuing elec
tion, she retired to Rome, and resided with her father the marquis
of Arquien, who, from being captain of the Swiss guards to the duke
of Orleans, had been promoted by her interest to the dignity of car
dinal. She continued to reside in that city until the year 1714,
when she retired into France, her native country. Louis XIV. as
signed the castle of Blois for her residence, where she died in 1716,
above 70 years of age. Her remains were transported to Warsaw,
and from thence conveyed, in 1734, to Cracow, and interred in the
cathedral of that city. - -

James Louis, the eldest son of Sobieski, was born at Paris in 1667.
He accompanied his father to the relief of Vienna in the 16th year
* She married, in 1696, Maximilian Emanuel, elector of Bavaria, and died
a widow in 1730. Her son Charles Albert, who succeeded to the electorate of
Bavaria, was the unfortunate emperor Charles VII.; and her grandson Max
imilian Joseph expired in 1778 without issue. Her granddaughter Maria
Antoinetta married Frederic Christian elector of Saxony.
 HISTORY OF POLAND. 361

of his age, and narrowly escaped being slain in the action near
Barcan. He afterwards gave such signal proofs of his military ta
lents, that, upon his father's indisposition in the campaign of 1687
against the Turks, he was entrusted with the command of the army,
although only in the 21st year of his age; and received from the
soldiers all the honours usually paid only to the kings of Poland: a
singular mark of deference in an elective monarchy, and which gave
encouragement to an expectation of the throne at its vacancy. His
father promoted this view with the utmost exertion of his interest;
but it was entirely disconcerted by the indiscretion of the prince,
and the restless intrigues of the queen, who, having conceived the
strongest antipathy to her eldest son, and a no less violent predi
lection in favour of her second son Alexander, a prince of a more
tractable disposition, sacrificed the dignity of her family to a blind
impulse of parental partiality. Prince James was first contracted
in marriage to the widow of the elector of Brandenburgh's brother,
a rich heiress of the house of Radzivil in Lithuania; but upon this
occasion he first experienced that ill fortune which afterwards at
tended him through life. An envoy was sent to Berlin to nego
tiate the marriage, which was agreed upon by the elector's and her
consent, and the prince himself came thither in person, with a nu
merous attendance, to consummate it. At the same time came to
Berlin the elector palatine's brother, prince Charles of Newburg,
brother to the empress, to see the ceremony of the marriage; but
the princess, taking more fancy to him than to the prince of Poland,
gave him encouragement to make his addresses to her; which he
did with that success, that he engaged her so far and so unexpect
edly, that he was privately married to her the night before she was
to be married to the prince of Poland, so that prince James was
forced to return back shamefully: which the king his father resent
ed so highly, that he was resolved to have satisfaction from the
elector of Brandenburg, for suffering his son to receive so notorious
an affront at his court; but the elector, knowing nothing of that
private intrigue, justified himself, and all animosities were at last
adjusted by prince James's marrying his rival's sister (Hedwige
Eleonora) the princess of Neuburg, who was sent into Poland, and
has two daughters by him.
* Connor's Hist. of Poland, vol. ii., p. 188, 189.-The eldest daughter Mary
Charlotte, married in 1723 Frederic Maurice de la Tour duke of Bouillon, who
dying within a few days after the marriage, she espoused, with a dispensation
from the pope, his brother Charles Godfrey the same year. By him she left
16 2 z -
362 HISTORY OF POLAND.

Alexander, second son of John Sobieski, was born at Dantzick in

1677; and as he was brought into the world after his father had
been raised to the throne, he was usually styled by his mother,
who adored him, the son of the king; while she affected to call
his brother James, who was born before his father's election, the
son of the grand marshal. Excited by his mother's partiality,
and inflamed by an ambition natural to youth, he even aspired to
the throne in opposition to his brother James. Afterwards, how
ever, when a more mature age had corrected his passions, and his
mother's influence had ceased to mislead him, he declined, from a
principle of fraternal affection, the acceptance of that very crown
which had once been the object of his warmest hopes. He spent
the latter part of his life principally at Rome with the queen his
mother. During his residence in that city, he never made his
appearance at the court of Clement XI., because that pontiff had
refused to receive him with the marks of distinction which he
claimed as a king's son. But the honours which were withheld
from him when alive were granted to him when dead; his body
issue a son, afterwards duke of Bouillon, and a daughter who espoused the
duke of Rohan-Rohan. Clementina Mary, the youngest daughter of prince
James, married at Montefiascone, in 1719, James Edward Stewart, common
ly known by the name of the Chevalier de St. George, the Pretender to the
British throne. This princess, though a woman of great personal and mental
endowments, could not engage the affection of her husband; and she was so
offended at his attachment to a favourite mistress, that she withdrew from his
house, and remained for some time in a convent near Rome. Afterwards, being
reconciled to him, she died at Rome on the 18th of June, 1735, aged 33; her
death, according to the account of a writer attached to the Stuart family, was
occasioned by religious abstinence and too severe mortifications. Her remains
were interred with regal pomp in the church of St. Peter, where a monument
was erected to her memory. She left two sons by the Chevalier: Charles, usu
ally termed count of Albany, and Henry, cardinal of Yorke. Charles married
the princess of Stolberg, by whom he has no children: a misunderstanding not
long after their marriage taking place between them, she quitted her husband,
and took shelter in a convent in the Tuscan dominions; and, as her quarrel
was espoused by the cardinal of Yorke, she obtained a separation for life. The
ample patrimony of James Sobieski was divided equally between his two
daughters. Having lent a considerable sum to the house of Austria, he ob
tained in return a mortgage upon certain estates in Silesia, which, upon the
division of the property after his decease, fell to the Stuart family, and were in
their possession when the king of Prussia secured Silesia in the year 1740. His
Prussian majesty confiscated these lands to himself by right of conquest; and
the house of Austria never made any further compensation for the above-men
tioned loan. -Cowe's Travels, vol. i.
 HISTORY OF POLAND. 368

being permitted to lie in royal state, and to be interred with the

same ceremonies which attended the funeral of Christina queen
of Sweden. He expired in June, 1714, having assumed upon his
death-bed the habit of a capuchin.

INTERREGNUM.16961699.

Sobieski had scarcely expired, before the cabals, which even

his authority could hardly suppress, broke out with undissembled
violence. The division of the king's treasure caused the most in
decent disputes and altercations between his widow and children.
James, without a moment's delay, endeavoured, though in vain,
to seize it by force, being anticipated by the queen, who, with
the assistance of the abbe' Polignac, sent to the amount of 3,000,000
French livres (125,000) into France. She had three great ob
jects in view: either to obtain the crown for Alexander, whom she
was secure of governing; to promote the election of count Jablo
nowski, great general of the crown, with an intention of marrying
him; or to favour the pretensions of the prince of Conti, warmly
supported by Louis XIV. At all events, she was firmly resolved
to procure the exclusion of her eldest son; and this was the only
point she carried. Had the family of Sobieski been unanimous,
James would have been elected king ; but no submission could
soften the implacable resentment of the queen, who, even when
she found it impracticable to secure the election of her favourite
son Alexander, or to compass any of her other designs, both in se
cret and openly set herself in opposition to the pretensions of
James.
Cardinal Radziewiski, archbishop of Gnesna, and primate of the
kingdom, now made his entry into Warsaw, and assumed the func
tions of interrex. The dietines were convoked for the 29th of July,
and the diet of election was fixed for the 29th of August; while
measures were taken for securing the frontiers and maintaining in
ternal tranquillity. On the assembling of the dietines, the tumult
and confusion that prevailed were excessive; at Marienburgh blood
was shed ; and nothing of consequence was agreed upon except
that the election should be made by the pospolite, or assembly of
the nobility of the kingdom. Instructions were indeed given to the
nuntios to abstain from bribes, and to promote the freedom of elec
tion and the repose of the kingdom; but this advice was soon for
gotton.
2 z 2
364 HISTORY OF POLAND.

On the 29th of August, the preliminary diet was opened with

the usual ceremonies; but a dispute arose between the provinces of
Great and Little Poland respecting the choice of a grand-marshal.
The bishop of Posnania endeavoured to awe the disputants by ap
pearing in his episcopal robes; but the tumult continued through
three successive days. At length the nobility of Great Poland and
Lithuania conceded the honour to Little Poland; and, in consequence,
Kumieniski, starost of Podolia, and nephew of the palatine of Kiow,
received the staff of office, and was formally installed. He soon
ingratiated himself into favour with the nobility by his eloquence,
and the zeal which he manifested in the support of their privileges.
After various disputes as to the validity of some of the elections of
deputies, the primate proposed to put off the diet of election to the
ensuing year; thus, under pretence of allowing time for deliberation,
endeavouring to keep the sovereign power in his own hands as long
as possible.
Previous to the meeting of the diet, prince James had retired to
Dantzick, there to await the success of the efforts made to place
him on the throne. The queen-dowager, however, anxious to secure
the election of her second son, was less prudent. Having repaired
to Javerow, she was cautioned, by the primate and several nobles,
not to approach the capital during the election. Disregarding this
advice, she proceeded to Cracow, and summoned a meeting of sena
tors and nuntios in her apartment, whom she addressed in regard to
her son with all the virulence which inveterate fury could inspire,
and all the affected candour towards the Poles which the most con
summate hypocrisy could suggest. Although I am not by birth
a Pole, said she, I am one by inclination, and am more attached
to this nation than to my own family. Reflect maturely whom you
will nominate your king in the place of my much-regretted husband;
and I sincerely recommend to you not to elect one of my children.
I too well know all their dispositions, and particularly caution you
not to raise to the throne the eldest, prince James. His inconsider
ate rashness will involve the kingdom in speedy and inevitable ruin.
The bishop of Plotsko, though her creature, disgusted at these ap
pearances of unnatural rancour, importuned her to desist; but she
exclaimed with greater violence, Do not interrupt me; I will
never retract what I have said, as I prefer the safety of the repub
lic to my own interests and the splendour of my family. I again
exhort the Poles to elect any candidate in preference to one of my
 HISTORY OF POLAND. 365

children. This virulent opposition to the views of her eldest son

was but too successful.
The disgraceful squabbles in the diet were interrupted by intel
ligence that the Tartars had made an irruption into Podolia, carried
off a great number of the inhabitants as slaves, driven away the
cattle, and destroyed the harvest just ready for the sickle. In ad
dition to these misfortunes, the republic was doomed to experience
greater from the disobedience of the army, which, instead of resist
ing the barbarians, refused to act until their arrears of pay for the
last ten years were advanced. Bogislaus Baronowski, a hussar in
Lubomirski's regiment, but who belonged to a good family, ha
rangued his fellow-soldiers as follows:And is this then the re
ward of our fatigues and blood-shed in defence of the republic, that
we must be left to perish P Ah! rather let us be beforehand with
the Turks and Tartars. Let us take from them the means of
plundering the frontiers, by paying ourselves with our own hands,
and carrying off thence whatever we can. Yet, why should I call
it carrying off? It is preserving the substance of the republic; for
by this means the enemy will be disappointed of their prey, and the
republic discharged of its debts. These arguments were well
adapted to the licentious propensities of the army, of which Bogis
laus was now declared general, and their revolt screened under the
name of a confederation. Their first step was to lay the surround
ing country under contribution; and they afterwards sent to the
senate to demand their pay. The opposition of the nobles to the
late king's measures had caused these heavy arrears, which he was
prevented by death from liquidating ; and it was therefore not
without justice that the soldiers complained of their privations.
The senate, terrified at their menaces, at first thought of appropri
ating the treasures of John Sobieski to the relief of the state; but
Horodenski, deputy from Czernikow, protested against this spolia
tion, and quitted the assembly. An act was now passed for a con
federation of the whole nobility, in defence of religion, liberty,
property, and the freedom of election; the diet of election was
fixed for the 26th of May ensuing; and it was resolved to exclude
all natives from the throne.
As if to enhance the confusion which prevailed in the kingdom,
the army of Lithuania formed a confederation under Oginski, stand
ard-bearer of the grand-duchy, in defence of the bishop of Wilna
against prince Sapieha. Horodenski, whose protest had saved the
property of the royal family, retreated to Bogislaus, and offered his
366 HISTORY OF POLAND.

assistance in joining the Lithuanians to his cause; but the military

leader, jealous of a rival in command, received him coldly. Mean
while, Oginski's confederacy, which had been joined by the nobility
of Samogitia, Novogrod, Brezcia, and Witepsk, plundered the estates
of Sapieha and his associates. A letter from the palatine of Witepsk
to the queen was intercepted by Sapieha, from whence it appeared
that she had fomented the insurrection, and it was inferred that she
had also countenanced that of the Polish troops. Sapieha attacked
Oginski at first without success; but, in a second engagement, the
loss on both sides was so considerable, that they readily agreed to
the terms of accommodation proposed by the abbe' Polignac, the
French ambassador. That talented politician, who was desirous of
raising to the throne a prince of the house of Bourbon, had at first
fomented the dispute; but, fearing that it might lead to the over
throw of the state, he used his good offices with both parties on
condition that they should support the candidate whom he intended
to propose. The credit of the queen was so shaken by the publica
tion of the letter above alluded to, that her party made no further
attempts in public.
While the Polish army were ravaging Red Russia with all the
fury of barbarians, the Tartars, to the number 50,000, laid waste
Volhynia, and carried away a great number of slaves and other
booty. The few troops who remained faithful to the government
attacked the Tartars in their retreat, and took some prisoners, who
declared that they had entered Poland at the instigation of some of
the nobility, who intended thereby to accelerate measures for an
election. Meanwhile, Bogislaus raised contributions in Leopold
and Zolkiew, the inhabitants of which places he threatened with
military execution in case of refusal. Commissioners were appoint
ed to treat with the army; but Bogislaus, fearing an accommodation
would put an end to his power, made such exorbitant demands as
totally to preclude all hopes of agreement. He then sent twelve
companies to exact contributions in Polish Prussia, and even threat
ened to carry terror to the gates of Warsaw. The greatest depre
dations were committed on the estates belonging to the Sobieski
family. The nobility, however, now gave the rebel leader to un
derstand that if he did not recall his detachments, they would unite
and give him battle. He consequently thought it more prudent to
confine his ravages to the frontiers of the kingdom, than to run the
hazard of a defeat by driving the people to despair. Some of his
deputies concluded a treaty at Leopold; but this he disowned, and
 HISTORY OF POI.A.N.D. 367

sentenced the principal to lose his head. So tyrannical an act na

turally estranged the hearts of many of his adherents, who were be
ginning to resent the overbearing manners of a man whom they had
raised to power. At this juncture, the commissioners of the republic
assembled at Leopold, and decreed that the marshal of the confeder
ation, as Bogislaus was styled, and his soldiers, were enemies to their
country. This bold measure encouraged forty companies of soldiers
to divide from the rest of the army, which was preparing to follow
the example, when Bogislaus, feeling the decline of his power at
hand, hastened to submit to the diet before he should be totally at
their mercy. Through the interposition of Jablonowski, he was
included in the pardon granted to the other confederates; and the
haughty Bogislaus Baronowski now behaved in the most abject
manner, kissing the hands and feet of his judge, and, by his servi
lity, shewing how little he deserved the mercy extended to him.
During these transactions, the dissensions between the queen and
prince James, which were secretly fomented by Polignac, weakened
both parties so much that the abbe' began to open to the nobility
his own views, with regard to the succession. The French court
had joined in his schemes, through a confidence in his capacity.
To ingratiate himself with the Poles, he promised to purchase peace
from the Turks during the election; and he gratified those who
disliked the queen by declaring against all the children of Sobieski.
After pointing out the dangers resulting to the republic from the
number of native candidates, he took a review of the states of Eu
rope, and eloquently descanted on the unfitness of each to furnish
a king to Poland. He concluded by mentioning the prince of Conti
as a person whose birth and virtues rendered him worthy of the
crown; while the alliance of France would be highly advantageous
to the republic. The imperial minister did his utmost to circum
vent the efforts of Polignac, by displaying the ambitious views of
France, in thus attempting to give kings at once to Spain and Po
land, and thereby acquiring a disproportionate share of influence in
Europe. A correspondence was carried on between the bishop of
Cujavia and the French minister, in which the subject was debated
with considerable ability on both sides. An expression in one of
Polignac's letters was construed into an affront on the queen, who
had hitherto reckoned on the support of that minister; and she was
further incensed against him on discovering that she had been duped
by his persuasions to invest the treasures of her late husband in the
French loans. By this measure, she had deprived herself of the
368 HISTORY OF POLAND.

means of prosecuting her schemes; while the French court was

strengthened by her money. She now determined to attempt the
election of her eldest son; and prince James, to sound in person the
affections of the Polish nobility, went in disguise to the dietine of
Cerzko in Masovia. His project, however, nearly cost him his life;
he was discovered, closely pursued by several gentlemen, sword in
hand, and escaped only by the fleetness of his horse. Incensed at a
practice which was considered a violation of their rights, the nobility
became more determined than ever to exclude the children of So
bieski; and the queen was ordered to quit Warsaw.
The imperial ambassador found means to render the integrity of
Polignac suspected at the court of Versailles; upon which the abbe'
Chateauneuf was sent to Poland with the powers of envoy extraor
dinary. Having discovered that Polignac had been falsely accused,
and that his party was as strong as had been represented, the pow
ers of that minister were confirmed, and his instructions extended.
While the cause of the prince of Conti thus appeared to prosper, a
small party proposed the duke of Newburg; but, without money,
his chance of success was hopeless. The palatines of Cracow, Sira
dia, and Leopold, proposed Livio Odeschalchi, nephew of pope In
nocent XI., whose wealth and generosity were highly extolled.
The most munificent promises were made in his name; but the
Poles, naturally inclined to raillery, repaid these offers by pasqui
nading the Italian and his consistorial advocate, Monte Catini, who
was ridiculed as the solicitor of a hopeless cause. It was sportively
asserted that Odeschalchi intended to pay the army with paintings,
sculpture, and ancient coins; that he had sent a medal of Otho in
brass as a proof of his liberality; and that, as soon as he should be
crowned, he would engage to grace Poland with the statues of Pas
quin and Morforio.
The young duke of Lorrain was nominated as a candidate; but,
though his mother had been the consort of king Michael, his poverty
and the assistance of the imperial court operated to his disadvantage.
The duke of Bavaria was mentioned ; but he made no efforts to
wards forming a party. The prince of Baden, one of the greatest
generals of the age, also appeared as a competitor. He was rich;
and his successes over the Turks at Salamkemen, by which he se
cured the throne of the empire, were well calculated to make a fa
vourable impression upon the Poles. The elector of Brandenburgh
gave him his support, on his promise to cede the sovereignty of
Royal Prussia to that prince, who was also to be discharged from
 HISTORY OF POLAND. 369
the fealty and homage paid to Poland for Ducal Prussia. The na
tive aspirants to the crown were, the grand-marshal, Opalinus
starost of Nowemicyski, and the grand-general Jablonowski.
The brave and polite prince of Conti appeared to possess greater
qualifications, and of course to have a superior chance of success
than all the other competitors; and the abbe' Polignac calculated
upon his elevation to the Polish throne as morally certain. An un
expected opponent, however, appeared in Frederick Augustus,
elector of Saxony, whose attention was turned in that direction by
John Przebendowski, castellan of Culm. That bold intriguing
nobleman had at first espoused the cause of the French prince; but,
fearing that his influence in the state would be superseded by that
of other more powerful nobles, he determined on bringing forward
some person who should owe his elevation to himself. He had mar
ried the daughter of general Fleming, first minister of Augustus;
and, through that nobleman, he communicated the project to the
elector. Having repaired privately to Dresden, he assured Augustus
that the funds of the French ambassador at Warsaw, which had
consisted of 600,000 livres, were exhausted; that no further supply
could be expected from France, both on account of the necessities
of the state and the difficulty of transporting money to Poland in a
time of war; that the Polish nobility would be more influenced by
the hope of future emoluments than by the remembrance of former
benefits; and that the elector need but declare himself to obtain the
crown. In consequence of these representations, Augustus laid up
the necessary funds; and, having taken measures with the court of
Rome towards removing the obstacles presented by his religion, he
despatched Fleming to Warsaw. This minister presented a letter
from the elector to Polignac, and insinuated that an understanding
existed between his master and the court of France, by asking the
abbe' if he had received no instructions respecting such an agree
ment. The French minister, though somewhat staggered by this
finesse, replied that he had received no such instructions, the affairs
of the prince of Conti being in a highly prosperous state; that the
whole was perhaps a fabrication of the queen's; and that he could
be abundantly supplied with money for the furtherance of his de
signs. '
The diet of election was fixed for the 15th of May, 1698, on
which day the primate opened the business with the usual cere
monies, and the bishop of Plotsko made a speech, in which he ex
3 A
370 HISTORY OF POLAND.

horted the Poles to lay aside their cabals, and confer the crown upon
the most deserving candidate. A month, however, was spent be
fore the election of a marshal, who, at this time, was to be supplied
by the nobility of Great Poland. Each party was desirous of the
elevation of some person in its own peculiar interest; but, after many
difficulties, it was agreed to take the votes of the pospolite on the
subject. Humieniski, marshal of the preliminary diet, collected
the votes, the majority of which inclined to count Bielinski, a noble
man devoted to the French interest. -

The crown was now actually put up to the highest bidder, and
the competitors were prodigal in their offers. To prevent a double
election, it was proposed that the marshal should not deliver the
diploma to either party without the consent of the republic. Fle
ming, by liberal presents, and contrasting the deeds of the elector
with the promises of France, drew over several proselytes to his
master's cause; while the adherents of Conti complained heavily of
the delays they experienced, and despatched letters to invite the
prince to enter Poland. On the 20th of June, Davia, the pope's
nuntio, was heard at the diet; and, on the following day, the bishop
of Passau, ambassador from the emperor, was admitted. Much of.
fence was taken at the omission, in the imperial letters, of the usual
title of Serene, which was always claimed by the republic, and at
the ambassador making use of the word Vos in addressing the diet.
Some of his retinue were also considered to have behaved in an un
becoming manner; and he was consequently violently abused. Not
withstanding the uproar, however, he continued his discourse with
apparent unconcern, until his stifled passion caused the blood to
start from his nose, and he was obliged to retire. The enemies of
the French prince determined to revenge themselves by treating
Polignac with similar disrespect; but that politician saved himself
from the humiliation of personal insults, by causing his intended
speech to be printed and distributed amongst the electors.
Many of the nobility now began to waver in their resolutions;
and to confirm them, the abbe' repaired to the senate, whom he ha
rangued on the dangers of electing a German candidate, and thereby
introducing slavery and Lutheranism. He also threatened, in
case the prince of Conti were not elected, to assist in the elevation
of James Sobieski to the throne; and this induced the whole of the
council, except two, to renew their promises to the French prince.
Had Polignac been supplied with money, he might now have carried
his point; but the agents of the elector continued to purchase
 HISTORY OF POLAND. 371

adherents, amongst whom were Potoski, palatine of Cracow, and

Jablonowski, grand-general of the crown.
As the time fixed for the election drew nigh, the nobles, to the
amount of 100,000, entered the field of election on the 25th of
June. They were divided into companies of 250 each; the principal
part being on horseback, and armed in the most magnificent man
ner. The poorer sort, however, were on foot, and armed with rusty
scythes; but, conscious of possessing an equal voice in the disposal
of the crown with their more splendid brethren, their countenances
were expressive of a fierce independence. On the opening of the
proceedings, the cry of Long live Conti! flew though the pala
times of Plotsko, Siradia, Rava, and Prussia. Przebendowski ven
tured to say to the Prussians that Saxony was as good as Conti,
when the chamberlain of Marienburgh fired a pistol at him, which
was only prevented from taking effect by a priest striking it with
his cane. The friends of Augustus, however, procured the pro
rogation of the business till the next day; and the interval was em
ployed by the respective agents in making the most strenuous efforts.
The French party asserted that the elector had not in reality em
braced the Catholic religion; while the opposite faction strenuously
urged the pope's nuntio to confirm the certificate on that subject,
given by the bishop of Raab, a relative of the elector.
On the 26th, after saying mass, the primate and senators repair
ed to the kola. There he enumerated the names and pretensions of
each of the candidates, purposely abstaining from mentioning the
elector of Saxony till the last, and imputing to him a zeal for Lu
theranism which excluded him from the choice of the nobility. The
assembly left him speaking; and on repairing to the open field, the
palatinate of Cracow cried out, Long live James the king's son
which was feebly echoed by the palatinate of Posnania. The name
of Conti now resounded throughout the multitude, but was at
length interrupted by the word Saxony, pronounced by the Sa
mogitians, who affirmed that the elector had abjured his errors at
Rome two years before. At this juncture, a gentleman of the pa
latinate of Plotsko ventured to nominate prince James, but was
immediately shot through the head by a pistol bullet; and though
the whole body of the nobility witnessed the fact, not a single
avenger of the murder appeared.
As the French party seemed to triumph, Przebendowski pro
cured a formal certificate of the elector's conversion from the pope's
nuntio, which he exhibited to the assembly. This drew great num
3 A 2
372 HISTORY OF POLAND.

bers to the part of Saxony, which was soon superior to those of

Newburg, Lorrain, and Baden, The cardinal primate, unable in
the confusion to ascertain the majority, desired the friends of Conti
to range themselves on one side, and those of the other candidates
on the other; when, out of 250 companies, only 36 declared for the
rivals of the French prince. Notwithstanding this disproportion,
and the flight of the bishops of Cujavia, Posnania, and Livonia,
friends of the elector of Saxony, the primate still feared to press
the election to a conclusion. His apprehensions of an effusion of
human blood were not unfounded; for the castellan of Kalisch,
clothed in armour and mounted on his war-horse, fiercely exhorted
the Contistes to cut in pieces the small number of the dissentients.
Fearful of such an extremity, the archbishop postponed the election
to the following day.
The adherents of the elector of Saxony employed the interval in
strengthening their party, in which they'were assisted by the mi
nisters of the other candidates, all eager to make common cause
against Conti. Money to the amount of 18,000 livres was raised,
which induced eleven companies to desert the cause of the French
prince. Still, others attached themselves to his party, which con
tinued to be the most numerous. On the following day, Sapieha,
palatine of Wielun, separated from the Contistes, and, at the head
of the palatinate of Volhynia, the district of Wilna, and some Li
thuanian companies, placed himself in the open space between the
opposite bodies; but he shortly after as capriciously returned to the
ranks he had deserted. Each faction now attempted to gain time,
by seeming to give up their own candidate on condition of their op
ponents doing the same; but the great body of the nobility, pro
voked at these petty delays, loudly called on the primate to end
the election. He was on the point of giving the benediction, when
a letter from the bishop of Cujavia, threatening a further secession
of 40 companies in favour of Saxony, once more rendered him irre
solute. The nobles furiously insisted that he should proceed; and
accordingly, on the 27th of June, he declared that Francis Louis de
Bourbon, prince of Conti, was chosen king of Poland and grand
duke of Lithuania. He afterwards repaired to the church of St.
John at Warsaw, where he sung Te Deum, but neglected to offer
up the mass as usual upon such occasions.
The cardinal primate was on his way to his palace, when he was
informed that the bishop of Cujavia, with 40 companies of adherents,
had remained on the field till the great body of the nobility had
 HISTORY OF POLAN ID. 373

departed ; when they nominated Frederick Augustus, elector of

Saxony, king of Poland and grand-duke of Lithuania, and sung Te
Deum. The latter ceremony was afterwards repeated in the church
of St. John; and, as the formality of nominating Augustus in the
electoral camp had not been observed, the bishop of Cujavia repeated
that essential act in the proper place on the following morning. Fle
ming, who assumed the character of envoy extraordinary, took the
oath for observing the Pacta Conventa before the bishop. The pri
mate, though advised to have recourse to rigorous measures for sup
pressing these proceedings, declined interfering by force; and the
only proposition made to the Saxon party was, that, in accordance
with the constitution, neither candidate should enter the kingdom
till after the diet of confirmation. Confident in the proximity of
the elector, and the distance of his rival, the friends of the former
rejected this arrangement. Indeed, both parties seemed determined
to stick at nothing, however improper, which might affect the
success of their designs.
After vainly proposing the decision of existing differences to ano
ther diet, the primate wrote to the elector of Saxony, requesting
him to relinquish his claim, as the diet had elected the prince of
Conti; but Augustus refused to receive the letter, because he had
not been saluted by the title of majesty. The archbishop next
solicited the mediation of the emperor and the elector of Branden
burgh, but without success; and the diet broke up on the 11th of
July. The different provinces of the kingdom now acknowledged
different sovereigns; and counter-diets were summoned by the pri
mate and the bishop of Cujavia. In the midst of the confusion, the
elector of Brandenburgh tendered his mediation, which the French
party hailed with joy, as an opportunity of gaining time; but the
denunciations of the primate against the supposed Protestantism of
the elector, and the undoubted religious opinions of his consort,
were disregarded by a prince who had an army of Saxons on the
frontiers of the republic. The dietine of Siradia, however, declared
war against the elector, appointing the castellan of Kalisch as their
general; and the palatinates of Lencicia and Rava acceded to the
confederacy.
During these transactions, and while the elector's liberality was
daily increasing the number of his friends, the abbe' Polignac de
spatched successive letters to Paris, urging the departure of the prince
and the remittance of the necessary funds to secnre the nobility in
his favour. By a coincidence of circumstances, trivial in themselves,
374, HISTORY OF POLAND.

some of these letters were delayed; while the Polish nobles pressed
the abbe' to discharge four quarters of the army before they would
consent to deliver the instrument of election into his hands. At
length, however, the prince embarked at Dunkirk, on board a little
squadron commanded by chevalier Bart, and attended by chevaliers
dAngouleme, Sillary, Lauzun, and twenty other gentlemen. He
had with him specie and bonds to the amount of 200,000 louis d'ors,
besides a number of jewels. On the 28th of September, he anchored
before Oliva, where he was saluted with three discharges of cannon.
But the people of Dantzick were attached to the elector of Saxony,
and they insulted the officers of the French squadron: in revenge,
the latter seized on five merchant vessels in the road : and the
townsmen made reprisals on the effects of the French, selling by
auction even the horses of the ambassador.
When the elector of Saxony received the embassy, announcing
his election, from the bishop of Cujavia and his adherents, he ad
vanced from Tarnowitz to Pickari in Silesia, where he repeated the
abjuration of the Protestant faith before Crispin bishop of Samogitia,
swore to observe the Pacta Conventa, and received the fulsome com
pliments of the nobility. He next proceeded to Cracow, the castle
of which was held for the republic by count Wielopolski; but that
nobleman, won by a present of 5000 crowns to himself and a neck
lace to his lady, delivered up his charge to Augustus. Meanwhile,
the cardinal primate held a diet of confirmation in the kola, with
the French party. Some of the friends of Augustus attended for
the purpose of exciting tumults; and Donowski, deputy of Wilski,
ventured to ask the marshal for what purpose this diet was called,
when the nation had already proclaimed the elector of Saxony. Six
thousand sabres were immediately drawn against this presumptuous
nobleman, who was wounded and carried out of the field for dead.
A confederation was resolved upon; and the bishop of Kiow offered
to carry to Augustus an expostulatory letter on his violation of the
constitution. He was on his journey to Cracow, when it was inti
mated to him that, should he persevere, he might expect similar
treatment to that experienced by Donowski at the diet. On this
hint, he returned to the confederates, who had gained possession of
the castle of Warsaw. Notwithstanding the threats and remon
strances of the confederation, however, Augustus was crowned on
the 15th of September, and proceeded to fill the several vacant of.
fices. The diet in consequence was quickly dissolved; but the pri
mate convoked meetings for the 10th of October at three different
 HISTORY OF POLAND. 375

places, in order to divide the forces of his opponents, should they

attempt a disturbance.
As the regalia were secured in an apartment of the castle, the
keys of which were kept by noblemen in the French interest, it was
resolved, by the friends of Augustus, to avoid the unconstitutional
violence of breaking open the doors, to remove a part of the walls.
This ridiculous subterfuge was succeeded by another. The body of
the late king was still at Warsaw, and it was necessary that it
should be interred at Cracow before Augustus could constitutionally
be crowned. A mock funeral was therefore got up to obviate the
difficulty ; and, in the absence of the primate, the elector's little
council declared the archbishopric vaeant. The bishop of Cujavia
and two other prelates officiated at the coronation, which was cele
brated with great pomp in the church of St. Stanislaus. During
the performance of the mass, Augustus fainted; a circumstance which
some turned into raillery, whilst others regarded it as ominous of
ill. At the coronation diet, some demanded that the original
draught of the Pacta Conventa should be produced, as the electress's
conversion should have preceded the coronation. Augustus, how
ever, declared that this document was lost, and appeared to consider
all the proceedings of the diet as unworthy of his notice. Fontaine
has preserved a specimen of the jocular manner in which the Poles
have ever been accustomed to treat political events. As soon as
the elector was crowned, a pasquinade was sent abroad under the
title of The Comedy of Cracon, in five acts, with the argument
of each act. The first was a king without a diploma; the second,
a funeral solemnity without a corpse; the third, a coronation with
out a primate; the fourth, a diet without deputies; and the fifth,
protestations without effect.
While Augustus was thus, as it were in spite of the majority of
the nobles, exercising the functions of royalty, the prince of Conti,
whose election had been carried by the greatest number of votes,
remained on board his fleet, vainly endeavouring to induce those
who had declared themselves his friends to assist him in gaining
possession of the throne. For the sum of 400,000 livres, the family
of Sapieha engaged to send a guard of twelve companies to receive
him on his landing. The abbe' Polignac and his friends advised
him to land at Marienburgh or Lowitz; but he preferred waiting
the arrival of his promised escort, which was represented as being
close at hand. In the mean while, Augustus despatched Galecki,
palatine of Inowloclaw, with 3000 men, into Prussia, where they
376 HISTORY OF POLAND.

occupied Oliva and Marienburgh. This measure induced the princes

Sapieha to decline fulfilling their engagements to Conti, under the
plea that by so doing they would only expose their troops to slaugh
ter. Wearied and disgusted with the cupidity, delays, and tergi
versations of the Poles, the French prince at length weighed anchor,
to return to his own country, on the 9th of November; after having
had the mortification of seeing the abbey of Oliva plundered, and
40 of his domestics residing there taken prisoners by the Saxons.
Before his departure, he wrote a letter to the republic, in which he
accused the nobility of breach of faith, in having earnestly invited
him to enter Poland on purpose to affront him. In a letter to the
primate, he thanked that prelate for his assistance, and regretted
that he and others should have suffered for their attachment to his
cause. Though he attributed his failure to the breach of promises
made to him, and regretted the preference of his rival, yet, he ob
served, as a prince of the blood of France, he did not need the
splendour of a crown.
Augustus, being thus freed from the immediate presence of the
prince, turned his attention to the confirmation of his authority; and
the king of Sweden and the czar of Muscovy sent him proposals of
assistance. The introduction of Saxon troops into Poland, however,
tended to perpetuate the opposition he experienced ; and numerous
quarrels ensued between the Polish and Saxon soldiers. At length,
the former were sent to guard the frontiers against the Turks and
Tartars, and the latter were removed towards the sea-coast. Au
gustus made a public entry into Warsaw on the 13th of January,
1699; but as the confederation against him still continued in force,
he endeavoured to gain over the cardinal primate, who had convoked
the rokosz at Lowitz on the 18th of February. This meeting was
numerously attended; and its members refused to receive the de
puties of Augustus, because they were designated in his letters as
commissioners. After some delay, twenty articles were drawn up
and submitted for ratification to his ministers; but, as they contained
such restrictions upon his authority as they could not recognize,
much time was spent in temporizing. Meanwhile, Davia the pope's
nuntio, offered his mediation between the king and the primate;
but the latter replied that though he was subject to the pope in
spiritual matters, yet he considered his duty to the republic as pa
ramount to all authority in political affairs.
To put an end to the suspense in which he was kept by the rokosz,
Augustus called a diet of pacification on the 16th of April, endea
 HISTORY OF POLAND. 377

vouring, by the most specious arguments and promises, to induce

the Poles to acknowledge his authority. Notwithstanding his
efforts, however, instead of the 200 who ought to have assembled
at this diet, only 30 deputies appeared; and, immediately on the
commencement of business, the greater part of these rose up, de
manded the convocation of a general assembly in the open field,
and threatened to retire in case of refusal. This they eventually
did; and by no means could they be re-assembled. Still Augustus
kept up the appearance of royalty; and, in particular, he forbade
prince Sapieha and Oginski to decide their quarrel by force of arms,
advising them rather to conclude their differences amicably. Not
withstanding this, however, Oginski continued in the field; and Sa
pieha, who had espoused the cause of Augustus, was once more
compelled to have recourse to arms for the defence of his property.
In Poland, frequent mutinies took place in the army, who seemed
ambitious of obtaining a share in the legislative government.
At length the court of Rome declared in favour of the elector;
and Paulucci was despatched as nuntio in the place of Davia. This
dignitary was received at a public audience by Augustus, who en
gaged him to intercede with the primate, and dispose him to peace.
The latter, naturally timid and averse to violence, exerted his in
fluence towards that object in the assembly of confederates at Lo
witz, which met on the 5th of May. By his means, a treaty was
concluded, by which Augustus engaged to give authentic proofs of
his Catholicism, to dismiss the Lutheran ministers, and to restore
by a solemn act the liberty of votes in all future elections. He
further promised never to demand back from the republic the sums
he had bestowed upon his party, to pay what was due to the army,
and to recover the places conquered from Poland. This treaty like
wise, amongst other articles to the advantage of Poland, compelled
him to send his Saxon troops to their own country, and to repair
the damages they had done. One single deputy, from the palatinate
of Sandomir, withdrew from the assembly, thereby intimating his
dissent; but as this was a free rokosz, and not a diet, no notice was
taken of the circumstance. The court of France had advised the
cardinal primate to come to this accommodation; but in the situa
tion in which the republic was then placed, no other course could
have been pursued.

3 B
878 HISTORY OF POLAND.

FREDERIck AUGUSTUs I.1699-1704.

Augustus, by the important treaty above described, which was

concluded on the 16th of May, 1699, acquired all that was wanting
to constitute him in reality king of the republic. His former nomi
nation by the bishop of Cujavia, and all the subsequent measures,
had been contrary to the laws of the kingdom; and his recognition
by the primate and nobility was essential to his title. One of his
first measures was the restoration of peace in Lithuania, for which
purpose he summoned Sapieha and Oginski to appear at Warsaw.
The former nobleman obeyed the order; but the latter sent his bro
ther. He was, however, attacked by the young prince Sapieha,
who, acting without the knowledge of his father, defeated Oginski,
and drove him with great loss into Ducal Prussia. The king, not
withstanding this affair, contented himself with ordering all parties
to lay down their arms until his troops should march for the recovery
of Kaminieck; and Sapieha immediately caused his forces to ad
vance towards Leopold, in order to assist in that undertaking.
Besides the popularity which Augustus hoped to acquire by the
conquest of Kaminieck, he was further incited to the enterprize by
the opportunity which it would afford him of retaining the Saxon
troops in Poland. Without their presence he felt that his sovereign
ty could not be secure. On the 10th of August, he set out for
Rava, where he held a conference, during three days, with Peter
czar of Muscovy. The province of Livonia, which had been ceded
to Sweden by the treaty of Oliva, was still regretted by the Poles
and Russians; and the two monarchs now resolved to wrest it by
force from the hands of the young king of Sweden, Charles XII.,
who was at that time regarded with contempt by all the courts of
Europe.
Augustus proceeded to Leopold, and, on the 18th of August,
held a grand council of the Polish senators and generals, and the
chief Saxon officers. The conflicting opinions, as to whether the
season was too far advanced for proceeding, induced the king, at
the same time that he made hostile preparations, to nominate an
extraordinary embassy to conclude a peace with the Turks. Having
* Generally styled Augustus II. ; but as Sigismund Augustus, the only one
who had previously borne the name, has been properly designated Sigismund
II., that being his first appellation, it is surely equally proper to commence
the Augusti with the Saxon monarch.
 HISTORY OF POLAND. 379

received intelligence that a body of Tartars had ravaged Volhynia,

he advanced with the Saxons; but a Polish army of about 8000
men, in its march to join him at Podhais, was attacked by 40,000
Tartars, who broke their lines on all sides, and penetrated to the
baggage. While they were employed in plundering, the Poles rallied,
and, after an obstinate engagement of eight hours, during which
the artillery did prodigious execution, compelled the enemy to re
tire with a part of their booty.
The king, though joined by the Lithuanians, was compelled, by
the jealousies and tumults between the Poles and Saxons, to put
his troops in winter quarters, and repair to Poland. Meanwhile,
the troubles in Lithuania broke out anew, and divers outrages were
perpetrated. The elector of Brandenburgh also seized on the city
of Elbing, as an equivalent for a debt of 300,000 rix-dollars due to
him by the crown of Poland since the reign of John Casimir. The
king was extremely indignant at this proceeding; but the senate
declined taking effective measures for the recovery of the city; and,
after a series of angry, but fruitless negotiations, Augustus and the
elector accepted the proffered mediation of the imperial court. As,
however, the elector insisted upon the reimbursement of the money
due, as a preliminary article, the treaty was protracted for above a
year. During the negotiations, Augustus laboured to put an end
to the unhappy state of affairs in the grand-duchy; but he perse
vered in marching his Saxon troops thither. The prudence of this
measure may be inferred from the result. Sapieha, at the head of
an army of 8000 men, was threatened by Oginski with an attack by
a body of gentry and nobility amounting to twice that number. The
bishop of Wilna in vain endeavonred to prevent hostilities; and the
king, as a last resource, ordered count Fleming to advance with
the Saxons between the two armies, and to enjoin Sapieha to dis
band his troops. That prince, aware of the danger of his situation,
immediately obeyed, and consented to refer the dispute to commission
ers. An agreement was accordingly made that the army should be
broken up, upon their receiving one year's arrears of pay instead of
eight, as they had demanded; retaining only 2600 foot, including the
regiment of the republic, and 1100 dragoons, as a standing force;
that proper quarters should be assigned to the troops, and the can
non deposited in the arsenal at Wilna;and that the Tartars of the
grand-duchy should be protected by both parties, on condition of
immediately taking an oath of fidelity to the king and republic.
3 B 2
380 HISTORY OF POLAND.

While the king, after his return to Warsaw, was endeavouring to

reconcile the primate and the bishop of Cujavia, the former of whom
still continued to insist on the confirmation of the election by a ge
neral diet, a congress which had been held at Carlowitz was termi
nated in the most satisfactory manner. A peace was signed by
Stanislaus Malakowski, plenipotentiary from Poland, on behalf of
the king and republic; and by Mahomet Effendi and Alexander
Mama Candato, ambassadors from the Porte. By this treaty, the
ancient amity between the states was renewed; the republic restored
all her conquests on the frontiers of Moldavia; Kaminieck, Podolia,
and the Ukraine were restored to Poland; the incursions of the
Tartars were prohibited; the exercise of the Catholic religion in the
Turkish empire was allowed; and the merchants of each nation
were permitted to trade without molestation. The public rejoicings
which took place at Warsaw, in consequence of this event, were on
a more splendid scale than any thing of the kind ever seen in Po
land; but they were alloyed by intelligence that the remote Tartars,
either through ignorance of the treaty or taking advantage of the
security of the Poles, had advanced as far as Leopold, and were on
their return with prodigious booty and 12,000 captives. A Polish
detachment, however, fell upon their rear, and retook great part of
the prisoners.
The graceful person and manners of the king contributed much
to gain him the affections of the Poles; but as he persevered, on
the plea of retrieving Elbing from the hands of the elector of Bran
denburgh, in retaining his Saxon troops, much discontent was ex
cited. In opposition to the wishes of the primate and several of the
nobility, these forces were sent into Polish Prussia, and preparations
were made for regaining the city by force. The elector therefore
strengthened the garrison which he had thrown into the place; but
the hopes he entertained from the discords in the Polish diet were
dissipated by the eloquence and address of the king, who gained
permission from that body to retain 6000 Saxons as a guard, and
six ministers of state for the affairs of the electorate. Besides, 1200
cavalry were to be retained in Poland, and a similar number in Li
thuania, all of whom were to be maintained at the expense of the
republic; while the king was allowed to put the national forces on
a better footing. In consequence of these measures, the elector of
Brandenburgh relaxed so much in his demands, that a treaty was
concluded, whereby he engaged to evacuate Elbing on the 1st of
February following, on condition that the king and republic should
 HISTORY OF POLAND. 381

repay him 300,000 dollars within three months afterwards; as a

pledge for which the crown-jewels were to be placed in the hands
of commissaries. On regaining possession of the city, the Polish
officers reproached the citizens with their cowardice and perfidy;
and, though the latter defended themselves by pleading the neces
sity of the case, they were fined 50,000 crowns towards the redemp
tion of the jewels, and compelled to support an additional force in
defence of the place.
The restitution of Kaminieck, which had been delayed by the
reluctance of the grand seignior, was at length accomplished; and
the king now proposed to visit his hereditary dominions. This was
opposed by many of the nobility, though the necessity was urged of
recruiting his health by drinking the waters at Toplitz. After ap
pointing a regency, and agreeing to various articles prescribed by
the senate, he was at length allowed to depart; and, during his so
journ at Dresden, applied himself to the raising of funds for the
invasion of Livonia, as agreed upon by him and the czar of Muscovy.
To this he was further incited by the representations of Patkul, a
Livonian nobleman, who had been in the service of the king of
Sweden. Having obtained a subsidy, Augustus caused his troops,
under Fleming, to invade Livonia, where they took Kober by storm,
and laid siege to Riga.
This unexpected aggression was attempted to be justified by the
plea that the king of Sweden designed to attack the Saxon army,
as soon as the war in which he was engaged in Holstein should be
terminated. Though this subterfuge was easily seen through, yet
none of the powers of Europe offered to assist the Swedish monarch;
and Fleming endeavoured to draw over the Livonian nobility to his
interest. In this, however, he was disappointed; and he next tried
to persuade the citizens of Riga to revolt from the Swedish cause.
Instead of doing so, the governor strengthened the fort of Dunna
munde, and burnt the suburbs of the city, in order to be ready for
defending the place. Fleming prepared to cannonade Riga, when
he received an order from Augustus not to destroy that city; and
he consequently turned his arms against Dunnamunde, which com
manded the passage of the river. During six days, the cannonading
was continued; and a breach being effected, an assault was made;
but the Saxons were repulsed with loss. They were about to renew
the attack, when the commandant, perceiving that his garrison was
worn out, and that he had no hopes of assistance, capitulated upon
382 HISTORY OF POLAND.

honourable terms; and Fleming proceeded to blockade the city more

closely.
During the residence of Augustus at Dresden, the utmost dissa
tisfaction prevailed in Poland. Frequent rencounters took place
between the people and the Saxon soldiery; and the Livonian war
was exceedingly unpopular. On the king's return to Warsaw, he
assembled the senate, and endeavoured to gain their support to his
belligerent operations, by representing that hostilities had been com
menced in consequence of the affronts offered to the Saxon soldiery,
while they were fortifying the gate of Polanga for the republic.
The senators, however, were generally averse to a rupture with
Sweden; and the king declared his intention of adhering to the
engagements he had formed with the czar and the king of Den
mark, without further consulting men who disregarded the national
honour. In this resolution he was unexpectedly supported by the
primate; but the bishop of Cujavia, his former adherent, denounced,
in terms almost prophetic, the wrath of heaven against so gross a
violation of the rights of nations and of equity.
Augustus now repaired in person into Livonia, where he pro
ceeded to besiege Riga with vigour. Welling, a Swedish general,
who was advancing to the relief of the place, was defeated and
driven back; and the king summoned Dalberg, the governor, to
surrender. That brave officer replied, That he hoped his defence
would merit the esteem of so great a monarch; and his example
seemed to inspire the citizens with similar courage. Preparations
were making for bombarding the city, when the Dutch ambassador
interposed, and threatened the king with the vengeance of the
states-general, should he persevere in destroying a place which con
tained so much of their property. Either this menace, or the ad
vance of the Swedish army, induced Augustus to break up the
siege; and the Saxon army was placed in winter-quarters.
It was not without reason that the king of Poland now began to
dread the effects of the storm which he himself had raised. The
czar had ravaged Ingria with an army of 100,000 men; and, on the
1st of October, he laid siege to Narva, in the midst of the ice and
snow then prevalent in the climate. Happily for his reputation, he
was not present when his army was attacked before that place by
the Swedish monarch in person, at the head of a detachment of no
more than 8000 men, with whom he forced the Russian intrench
ments, and defeated, with prodigious slaughter, an army of ten
times their number. To add to the chagrin experienced by Au
 HISTORY OF POLAND. 383

gustus on this event, the Sapieha and Oginski factions still continued
their sanguinary conflicts in Lithuania; and the Poles persevered
in their dislike to a war which rendered necessary the presence of
the Saxons.
To concert measures for stopping the progress of the king of
Sweden, the sudden display of whose talents and success had asto
nished Europe, an interview took place, early in 1701, between
Augustus and the czar at Birzen in Lithuania. Though, during
fifteen days, the two sovereigns were in an almost constant state of
inebriation, yet they managed to conclude a treaty, whereby the
czar stipulated to bring 200,000 men into the field by the month of
June, 50,000 of whom were to be sent into Poland to be instructed
in the military art by an equal number of Germans provided by
Augustus. The Muscovite also agreed to pay 3,000,000 rix-dollars
to the king, who, on his part, engaged to maintain 28,000 foot and
8000 horse on the frontiers. This treaty, which was concluded
without the consent of the republic, was highly disapproved by the
Polish nobility. The general diet, opened on the 30th of May at
Warsaw, desired Augustus to send back the Saxon troops and make
peace with Sweden; to remove the Saxons from the council board,
and appease the troubles of Lithuania. The king evasively an
swered that he would dismiss the Saxon troops if the republic
would provide for his security against the Swedish monarch, or as
soon as peace should be concluded. He, however, fixed the convo
cation of a new diet for the 22d of December.
Charles XII. had been informed by a spy of all that had taken
place at Birzen; and he resolved to anticipate the designs of his
enemies. With this view, he determined on attacking the Saxon
army on the banks of the Dwina before their expected Russian and
Cossack reinforcements could arrive. He transported his troops
across the river in boats of his own invention, the sides of which
were so contrived as to let down, and thus to facilitate the opera
tion of landing. A thick smoke from a heap of wet straw, which
he caused to be set on fire, so blinded his opponents, that they
could not discern the passage of his troops. The duke of Courland
and marshal Stenau, who commanded the Saxons, at first drove the
Swedish battalions back into the river; but, being rallied by the
king, they renewed the attack, and, after an obstinate battle, com
pelled the Saxons to retreat. Mittau, the capital of Courland, was
taken by the conquerors; the rest of the towns opened their gates to
them; Lithuania was overrun by their troops; and it was at Birzen,
384 HISTORY OF POLAND.

where the inauspicious alliance between Augustus and the czar had
been concluded, that Charles laid his plans for dethroning the king
of Poland.
The republican party in that nation did not conceal their satis
faction at the successes of Charles, which they expected would tend
to the establishment of peace, and the expulsion of the Saxon ar
mies from their territory. Charles was addressed by the primate
and a deputation from Lithuania; but their submissions only tended
to inspire the conqueror with greater confidence. To secure the
attachment of his subjects, Augustus was compelled, in the diet
assembled on the 22nd of December, to agree to the dismission of
the Saxons; and he thereby threw himself entirely on the support
of the Poles. This proof of confidence gained him many friends;
and the primate ranged himself amongst the number of his sup
porters. On the other hand, the Sapieha family, who had been
protected from the Oginskis by the Saxons, were compelled, in self
preservation, to solicit the assistance of Charles, who was not un
willing to receive allies in his enemy's country. The rival family
consequently espoused the cause of Augustus, and attacked a small
party of Swedish cavalry; but, though greatly superior in numbers,
they were repulsed. Oginski now assembled an army of 15,000
men, with whom he might have made a powerful diversion in fa
vour of the republic; but he weakened himself by detaching a strong
party to desolate the lands of the chancellor Radzivil, and was at
tacked and defeated by Charles. About this period, Dunnamunde
fort was surrendered to the Swedish general Dalberg.
The most conflicting opinions and propositions were started in
the diet; and, amongst other insulting insinuations, deputations
were sent to the king, to ask whether it was in fact agreeable to
him that the differences of the grand-duchy should be accommo
dated; and whether he would punish the authors of the Livonian
expedition, and dismiss the Saxon troops quartered in Masovia.
An accommodation was at length signed between the contending
parties in Lithuania; and a proposition was made to send an em
bassy to the king of Sweden; but, instead of deliberating on this
measure, the diet tumultuously dissolved on the 7th of February,
1702. A general council now transacted the public business, to
whom Augustus promised that he would advance to the army two
years' arrears of pay, if they would allow him to recall 12,000
Saxons till the Polish forces were strong enough to oppose the ene
my. He was referred to the primate for an answer, by whom he
 HISTORY OF POLAND. 385

was informed that he need not put himself to the proposed unne
cessary expense, as the troops could not act without the consent of
the republic; and that the return of the Saxons would give umbrage
to the whole nation. The council now determined on sending the
embassy projected by the diet; and Augustus, who knew that his
interests would not be considered, determined on anticipating the
design. He had been captivated by the wit and beauty of the
countess of Konigsmark, a Swedish young lady of great family; and,
as he concluded the young conqueror would not be able to resist her
charms, he made choice of her as a mediator with Charles. She
accordingly repaired to the Swedish camp in Lithuania, but was
decidedly refused admittance. Augustus next despatched his cham
berlain Wiczdum with fresh instructions to the king of Sweden;
but, on his approaching the camp, he was seized, being without a
passport, and this second attempt also proved abortive.
The embassy from the council were received with great apparent
respect; but Charles informed them that he would give the senate
his opinion of their proposals when he came to Warsaw. On the
same day, he set forward towards that city, preceded by a manifesto,
in which he declared himself the friend and protector of the repub
lic, and announced his intention of driving Augustus from the
throne. The latter, on the approach of Charles, hastily summoned
a council, who granted him permission to call out the pospolite in
the month of May, and to join it near Leopold with the 6000 Sax
ons allowed him by the Pacta Conventa. He then quitted Warsaw,
which was entered, four days afterwards, by the Swedish troops.
The primate and the grand-treasurer held a private conference with
Charles, in which, it is said, the deposition of the king was resolved
upon; but the palatines of Cracow, Siradia, Great Poland, Vol
hynia, and Sandomir, took up arms in defence of Augustus, who
was now also joined by his Saxons. At the head of 22,000 men,
he advanced to meet the king of Sweden, who, though inferior in
numbers, was equally eager to engage. Near Glissow, between
Warsaw and Cracow, the two armies met, and a bloody battle was
fought; but Augustus, after displaying valour and military skill
worthy of a crown, was defeated, and fled to Cracow, pursued by
the victors, to whom the castle surrendered at discretion.
The successes of Charles were suspended for some time after this
event, by his horse accidentally falling under him, by which his
thigh was broken. A report prevailed throughout Europe that he
had been trampled to death by the horse; and Augustus employed
17 ~ 3 c
386 HISTORY OF POLAND.

the interval in re-assembling and recruiting his scattered army at

Sandomir. He was also joined by part of the pospolite of Little
Poland, who protested against the manifesto issued by Charles. In
Great Poland the dissensions still continued; and Augustus found it
necessary to assemble the senate, from whom an embassy was sent to
offer the mediation of the republic between him and the king of Swe
den. Charles, however, refused them an audience, because the
republic had become a party in the contest, by engaging in the bat
tle at Glissow. A second embassy met with a similar reception; and
Charles, being now recovered from the effects of his fall, advanced
towards Warsaw, where Augustus then was. The latter immedi
ately repaired to the Saxon army in Prussia, and summoned a coun
cil to meet him at Thorn, on his return from Dresden. The few
who attended on this occasion were too much embarrassed and di
vided in their opinions to come to any other conclusion than to
propose to the king of Sweden the mediation of the emperor, to
whom Augustus had applied for that purpose ; but Charles was
determined upon receiving no other conditions than a formal abdi
cation of the crown of Poland, signed by Augustus himself. The
latter, indeed, had further offended him, as well as the court of
Versailles, by seizing the French envoys on their way to Warsaw,
with embassies to the king of Sweden and the republic.
The primate now ventured, on his own authority, to summon a
council of the senators at Warsaw, on the 15th of February, 1703;
but the small number of the members who attended, and their al
legations that they did not enjoy the freedom of debate while a
Swedish garrison occupied the citadel, compelled him to adjourn
the meeting to a more convenient season. Augustus, encouraged
by this failure, and by assurances of loyalty from several of the pro
vinces, summoned a council to meet at Marienburgh, which was
numerously attended. The king of Sweden was declared to be an
enemy of the republic; an open diet was resolved upon ; all meet
ings called by the primate were declared illegal; the army was di
rected to oppose the Swedes; and an agreement was made to stand
by and support the king. A motion for a confederacy to secure the
regal dignity was opposed by some friends of the primate, who per
severed in asserting his supposed rights by appointing another
meeting at Warsaw on the 16th of April. In the mean time, Au
gustus had an army of 35,000 Lithuanians under Oginski, and
15,000 Saxons, at his disposal; and the czar promised to send
100,000 men into Lithuania. The activity of Charles, however,
 HISTORY OF POLAND. 387

was unabated. After much recrimination in the manifestoes of the

opposite parties, he attacked the Saxons encamped at Pultusk, and
obtained an easy victory, after an engagement in which Augustus
lost near 2000 men, in killed, drowned, and prisoners; together
with all the cannon and baggage. Count Stennau, who command
ed on the occasion, escaped with difficulty. Charles pursued his
advantage, penetrated into Prussia, and, having blockaded Thorn
on the 16th of May with 8000 Swedes, he put garrisons into the
towns of Graudentz and Strasburgh. -

Augustus now found it necessary to convene a diet at Lublin on

the 25th of June, at which the primate had the assurance to attend.
He had previously addressed a letter to the king of Sweden, re
proaching him with infringing the privileges of the republic, and
insisting upon his withdrawing from Poland; but he took care that
his letter should be intercepted, and laid before the diet, who were
thus deceived by the apparent patriotism of his conduct, and re
ceived him more favourably than might otherwise have been expected.
The assembly, after several protracted debates, agreed to augment the
crown-army to 36,000 men, and that of the Lithuanians and Saxons
to 12,000; to lay a poll-tax upon the Jews, and a duty upon all
made liquors, for the support of the army; to allow the king of
Sweden six weeks to give his final resolution as to peace or war,
and the same space of time for the Sapiehas to return to their alle
giance; to permit the king to form such foreign alliances as might
be necessary; and to lay a tax upon all water-mills, to satisfy the
king of Prussia's claims upon Elbing. An attempt was made to
unite the members of the republic, under the title of the Mutual
Protest and Agreement of the several Orders of the Kingdom; but
the machinations of Charles, who now styled Augustus merely the
elector of Saxony induced the nobles of Great Poland to form a con
federacy, and thereby frustrated the design.
The confederates now made overtures for a peace to Charles; but
he repeated his declaration that the deposition of Augustus must be
the preliminary condition of his compliance. The Polish king, en
raged at the conduct of the confederates in treating without his
consent, pronounced them traitors; but this severity only tended to
increase their numbers. His army also was weak and dispirited,
and the proceedings of the primate caused him considerable uneasi
ness. In the mean while, Charles indulged the ardour of his troops
by turning the blockade of Thorn into a siege. So effectual was
the cannonade, that, after a few days resistance, the governor sur
3 c 2
388 HISTORY OF POLAND,

rendered at discretion on the 14th of October; and the inhabitants

were compelled to redeem their walls from destruction at the price
of 40,000 crowns. Dantzick and Elbing were visited with the dis
pleasure of the conqueror; while Augustus had no other means of
resistance than another application to the czar for assistance, to
which he was further incited by Patkul. Some of his council, how
ever, protested against the measure, and declared the regal autho
rity subordinate to the power of the diet, upon which the king
broke up the assembly in disgust, and retired first to Cracow, and
afterwards to his hereditary dominions. This step furnished the
primate with a favourable opportunity for the execution of his de
signs. He summoned an assembly at Warsaw on the 14th of Janu
ary, 1704, to which the Swedish commissaries were invited, and
where a resolution was passed declaring Augustus to have forfeited
the crown. An interregnum was proclaimed; and the veneration
in which the king of Sweden held the memory of John Sobieski
induced him to recommend his son, prince James, as a proper per
son to succeed the deposed monarch.
The prince was then at Breslaw, where he impatiently awaited
his nomination to the throne so worthily filled by his father, and of
which he had been deprived by the unprecedented malice of a mo
ther. But the usual singularity of his ill-fortune still pursued him :
as he was hunting with his brother Constantine, a small detachment
of Saxon horsemen surprised and carried him off; and, instead of
receiving a crown, he was confined in the castle of Pleissenburgh,
near Leipsic. Constantine might have escaped; but, from an im
pulse of fraternal affection, he voluntarily accompanied his brother into
confinement, and administered consolation under this grievous reverse
of fortune. This event happened on the 28th of February, 1704.
The king of Sweden now offered the crown to Alexander, second
son of John Sobieski; but that prince, with a disinterestedness
which reflects the highest honour upon his memory, refused it with
this generous declaration, that no interest should tempt him to
avail himself of his brother's misfortunes.
Augustus, during his residence in Saxony, despatched the pala
time of Culm as ambassador to the czar; and that nobleman signed
an offensive and defensive treaty, whereby Russia engaged to sup
port 12,000 men, and to pay a subsidy of 2,000,000 florins annually,
to the service of Poland, and that, after the enemy were driven out
of that country, the war should be carried into Sweden. By a
secret agreement, however, Augustus was to repay the czar's expenses
 HISTORY OF POLAND. 389

as soon as he was reinstated on the throne, and Riga and some other
places in Livonia were to be ceded to Russia. Hoping that he had
acquired some popularity by the apparent advantages conferred on
Poland by this treaty, Augustus returned to Warsaw in February,
and summoned a council of the senators, by whom the confederates
were declared traitors, and a remonstrance was sent to the diet of the
empire at Ratisbon. Some of the primate's letters were also dis
covered about this time, whereby the duplicity of his conduct was
exposed. Not disconcerted at this event, the archbishop took the
merit to himself of having acted for his country's good, sent a depu
tation to the king of Sweden, and summoned a diet for the election
of a new king on the 19th of June following. Augustus opposed
these measures by his universalia, requiring a diet to meet on the
8th of the same month ; and the pope's nuntio, after having in vain
expostulated with the primate on his supporting a heretic, came to
reside with the king. Notwithstanding these seeming accessions of
strength, however, Augustus was under the necessity of quitting
his capital on the approach of the Swedish general Renschild, who
pursued him along the banks of the Vistula to Petrowina. Having
received a reinforcement of Saxons, the king ventured to cross the
river on a bridge of boats; but, perceiving that the enemy were
thrice as numerous as had been represented to him, he immediately
retired back to the opposite side. So precipitate was the retreat,
that the Swedes attacked the rear before his troops could pass; and
the bridge being cut away, some hundreds perished or were made
prisoners. After cannonading each other across the river, the two
armies separated; that of the Swedes towards Warsaw, and that of
Augustus to Sandomir. At this place the diet met, and passed
several strong, but fruitless resolutions against the opposite party.
Amongst the deputies who had been sent from the diet at War
saw to the king of Sweden was Stanislaus Lesczynski, palatine of
Posnania, a young nobleman of high extraction, brave, liberal, inde
fatigable, and highly prepossessing in his personal appearance.
Charles no sooner saw him, than he inwardly determined to make
him king of Poland. In order to sound the primate, however, he
asked his opinion as to the most eligible persons amongst the nobi
lity for the sovereignty. The prelate, who was desirous of preserv
ing the privileges of interrex in his own hands, mentioned three,
but with such qualifying circumstances to each as he thought would
secure their rejection. Prince Sapieha, he said, was too haughty
for so free a people as the Poles; the great age of the grand
390 HISTORY OF POLAND.

marshal Lubomirski might incline him to avarice; and the palatine

of Posnania was too young. What do you call youth P answered
the king (himself only then in his twenty-second year); are we
not both about the same age? Count Horn was accordingly de
puted to the diet at Warsaw, to signify the king's pleasure that
they should elect a king within six days, and that it would be a
gratification to Charles should their choice fall upon Lesczynski.
Though the confederates at Warsaw were divided in their opi
nions upon several subjects, and complained much of the oppres
sions inflicted on the country by the Swedish troops, yet the day of
election was fixed for the 12th of July. The candidates mentioned
were, prince Ragotski of Transylvania, the elector of Bavaria, the
duke of Mantua, Lubomirski, Sapieha, Radzivil, and Lesczynski.
The primate secretly retained his attachment to the prince of Conti;
but, as few supporters could be found for his opinion, he was com
pelled to remain silent. As, however, he did not approve of any of
the other candidates, and felt some disgust at the dictatorial manner
of the king of Sweden, he refused to attend, and requested a delay
of two days. But count Horn had received instructions to bring
matters to a conclusion; and he accordingly repaired to the szopa,
declaring that the election must be concluded that day, if he re
mained till midnight. The place was surrounded by Swedish sol
diers, in order to intimidate the electors; and the bishop of Posnania
endeavoured to persuade the assembly to proceed to business. The
Podlachians remonstrated strongly against this unconstitutional
haste and violence; and Icrozalski, one of their deputies, pro
nounced a speech worthy the cause of freedom. In reply to the
storming and threatening of count Horn, the Podlachians exclaim
ed, Here let us sacrifice our lives to the freedom of our country:
we prefer death to the loss of liberty " At length the bishop of
Posnania, in the name of the republic, proclaimed Stanislaus Les
czynski king of Poland and grand-duke of Lithuania. Immediately
after, a voice was heard from the midst of the multitude (said by
some writers to have proceeded from no less a personage than the
king of Sweden himself, who was present in disguise), exclaiming,
Long live Stanislaus, king of Poland " A vast number of the
Swedish officers and soldiers, and a few of the Polish nobility, re
peated the words; and the acclamations were so great as to drown
the voices of the Podlachians, who entered their protest in form,
and retired. Such was the election of Stanislaus, who was raised
to the throne by the influence of a foreign power, without swearing
 HISTORY OF POLAND. 891

to the Pacta Conventa, or passing through any of the forms which

constitute a legitimate election in Poland. In extenuation of the
conduct of Charles, however, it may be observed that the glory of
giving a king to Poland was all he aimed at ; and that he did not
attempt, like the more unprincipled despots of modern times, to ap
propriate any part of the Polish territory to himself.

STANISLAUs LEsczYNSKI.1704-1709.

As the power of the Swedish monarch now seemed irresistible,

the primate and those palatines who had seceded from the late diet
at Warsaw hastened to tender their submission to an order of things
which could not be avoided. Charles invited the new king to his
camp, and received him with all the splendour due to royalty;
while preparations were made for maintaining his claims against the
efforts of his opponent. Augustus now began to regret the defe
rence he had paid to the opinions of the Poles, in not pushing for
ward his alliance with the czar. He had, however, gained possession
of Leopold, the garrison and cannon in which proved of much ser
vice in strengthening his shattered army. In Lithuania, prince
Wiesnowiski united his endeavours with those of Oginski to reduce
the duchy to obedience; and several battles were fought with va
rious success. General Schulenberg, with 7000 Saxons, attempted
to surprise 3000 Swedes, under general Mayerfeldt, near Posnania;
but his designs were betrayed by a deserter. A severe contest en
sued, in which Schulenberg displayed the most consummate pru
dence and valour; but his troops at length gave way, and were
defeated. Augustus now, in order to avoid a general engagement,
divided his forces into small bodies, and placed his baggage in Leo
pold. The king of Sweden marched against that city, and besieged
it; but Augustus, taking advantage of this opportunity, advanced
to Warsaw, where he nearly surprised his rival Stanislaus and the
primate. The garrison, consisting of 1500 Swedes under count
Horn, threw themselves into the citadel, but were so vigorously
attacked by Augustus that they were compelled to surrender as
prisoners of war. The city was put under contribution; and the
bishop of Posnania, who had been prevented from escaping by the
gout, was taken prisoner. The house of the primate, and those of
several of the nobility favourable to Stanislaus, were pillaged. In
392 HISTORY OF POI, AND.

that of the archbishop, the wine in the cellars alone was valued at
150,000 crowns.
Stanislaus escaped, with an escort of 6000 men, and hastened to
join the king of Sweden. That monarch stormed the city of Leo
pold sword in hand, and raised prodigious contributions and booty
from the impoverished inhabitants. His return to Warsaw compel
led Augustus to quit that city, as the reinforcements of raw troops
who had joined the latter were unfit to cope with the Swedes.
Having divided his force into three corps, that under general
Schulenberg was pursued and attacked, at Punitz on the frontiers
of Silesia, by Charles and Stanislaus. The battle continued till
night; and as the Swedes had received a considerable reinforce
ment, Schulenberg, who was wounded in five places, retreated to
wards the Oder. As he had neither pontoons nor boats, Charles
hoped to compel him to surrender at discretion; but, by placing
small bodies of his men in the surrounding houses, mills, passes, and
eminences, he gained time to construct floats, upon which his sol
diers passed the river, at the expense of no more than 50 men, who,
after a desperate action, suffered themselves to be taken prisoners
for the safety of the whole army. Charles expressed his admiration
of this retreat in strong terms.
The affairs of Augustus continued to languish, notwithstanding
the capture of one of his enemies, the palatine of Lencicia, and his
reconciliation with Lubomirski, the latter of whom strengthened his
party with 1000 men. During the subsequent sojourn of Augustus
at Dresden, a fruitless negotiation was entered into for the enlarge
ment of the princes Sobieski; and the distant prospect of a peace
with Charles induced Augustus to delay concluding the treaty with
the czar. But notwithstanding this temporizing conduct, the over
tures of the emperor, and the denunciations of the pope, the king
of Sweden was too positive in his designs to be diverted from them.
The primate indeed, though he disobeyed the mandate to appear
before the pontifical tribunal, refused to assist at the coronation of
Stanislaus, in consequence of a brief from the pope having been
stuck upon the gates of his palace during the night; and Charles
revenged himself by quartering a number of troops upon the lands
of the prelate. The most efficient services to Augustus were those
rendered by Smielgiski, who, at the head of a large body of free
booters, roamed from place to place, beating up the quarters of his
opponents, carrying off their cattle, and preventing their meetings.
 HISTORY OF POLAND. 393

A new party, called the Indifferents, formed by the palatine of

Potoski, soon went over to Stanislaus. The cardinal also, who
had not before positively declared himself, embraced his cause; and,
as a proof of his sincerity, he called a general diet to meet at War
saw on the 11th July, 1705, to confirm the late election, and fix the
day for the coronation. A proposal, made in the mean while by the
king of Prussia, that matters might be compromised by allotting
Poland to Augustus and Lithuania to Stanislaus, was rejected by
all parties. A Russian army of 20,000 men, under Czeremetof,
encountered, near Mittau, a corps of 8000 Swedes, whom they had
hoped to surprise; but the commander of the latter, General Lewen
haupt, having received intelligence of this design, made such an
excellent disposition of his little force, that, after a whole day's
hard fighting, victory declared in his favour. General Schulenberg
also, who had advanced near Warsaw with 9000 men to prevent the
sitting of the diet of confirmation, was attacked and defeated, on
the 31st of July, by a small body of Swedes.
As there was now no impediment to the assemblage of the diet,
they proceeded to business on the 6th of August; Charles and Sta
nislaus assisting in person. The first measure was a declaration
that Augustus had forfeited the regal dignity; but a proposed
treaty with Sweden was not concluded. On the 30th of September
they again met; when the archbishop of Leopold supplied the place
of the primate, then on his death-bed. The Pacta Conventa was
drawn up, and sworn to by Stanislaus; and, on the 3d day of Octo
ber, the ceremony of coronation was performed in the church of
St. John with great solemnity. Charles was present incognito, and
had the pleasure of seeing a king confirmed who owed his crown to
him. On the death of the primate, which occurred on the 13th,
Stanislaus nominated the archbishop of Leopold as his successor;
but Augustus named Sczembeck, bishop of Cujavia, and shortly
after found means to have the archbishop carried off by the Russian
general Ronne.
Augustus repaired to Grodno in the month of November, where
he constituted a new order, called the White Eagle, as a reward
for those who had been faithful to him. In a conference afterwards
held with the czar, the treaty was renewed. Peter had conquered
nearly the whole of the duchy of Courland; and Smielgiski took
and plundered the city of Marienburgh, after having put the Swe
dish garrison to the sword. On the other hand, the palatine of
Kiow defeated a body of Saxons, of whom 400 prisoners enlisted
3 D
394 HISTORY OF POLAND.

into the army of Stanislaus; and Mazeppa, hetman of the Cossacks,

took the fortress of Zamosc for the Russians. Augustus held a
council at Grodno, at which the treaty with the czar was ratified,
on the condition that the Ukraine should be restored to Poland ;
and a variety of excellent arrangements for the government of the
republic were drawn up, but which the circumstances of the country
rendered impracticable.
During these proceedings, the opposite party held a council at
Warsaw, where the chief article of discussion was a treaty with
Sweden, and an amnesty of three months was offered to those who
chose to accept the pardon of king Stanislaus. These measures
elicited the animadversions of Augustus's party, who attached to
Stanislaus the odium of the terms imposed by the victorious and
imperious king of Sweden. The pope also expressed his displea
sure; and the winter was consumed in recriminations. In January,
1706, the troops on both sides were in motion. Charles moved
with his usual celerity against the Russians, after having detached
general Renschild to oppose the Saxons on the side of Silesia. He
drove the Russians from a bridge and post on the river Bog ; and,
amidst the rigours of a severe frost, penetrated to Pultowska, where
he defeated another body of the czar's troops. He afterwards di
rected his march into Lithuania ; but Augustus, suspecting his de
signs, sent his baggage and military chest to a strong fortress in
Prussia, and retired with the greater part of his forces towards
Warsaw. The convoy, however, was intercepted and plundered by
a straggling party of Swedes; and the town of Wittau, with 150
pieces of heavy cannon, was taken by the troops of Charles.
The object of Augustus was to fall upon general Renschild, at
the same time that he should be attacked on the other side by the
Saxons advancing under Schulenberg. The latter general, however,
advanced more rapidly than Augustus had anticipated, and conse
quently came to an action with Renschild, near Frauenstadt, before
that monarch thought it necessary to advance to his support. Though
the Swedish force amounted to 10,000 men, and their opponents to
16,000, yet as not more than one-third of the latter were disciplined
soldiers, they broke their ranks at the first onset and fled. It was
in vain that their general made the most masterly dispositions:
after fruitlessly endeavouring, by the most vigorous efforts, to re
store them to order, he applied his whole attention to a few brave
regiments who stood their ground. These he modelled into all the
forms necessary to withstand the attacks of the enemy. The disci
 HISTORY OF POLAND. 395

pline of this handful of men, and the talents of their general, ex

cited the admiration of the Swedes; but at length, after a vain
attempt to cut through their enemies, they sunk under the pressure
of mumbers and fatigue. No less than 7000 were killed in this
engagement, and an equal number were taken prisoners.
Augustus, inured as he was to misfortune, could scarcely support
this stroke. At first, he proposed to advance himself, and attack
Renschild, but was dissuaded from this imprudent measure by
Schulenberg. He retired to Cracow, where he had the further
mortification of hearing that the Russians had been driven from
Grodno by Charles. To complete the measure of misfortune, that
conqueror now determined to put an end to the war at once, by
seizing on Saxony itself. The resolution was no sooner formed
than executed. Having entered the electorate with his army, he
enjoined the strictest discipline, and published a declaration of ge
neral safeguard. After the first alarm had subsided, the people
returned to their avocations; and the fair at Leipsic was held as
usual. In the mean time, however, Charles did not lose sight of
his design of withdrawing from Augustus all the succour he could
hope for from Saxony, which he did by imposing immense contribu
tions upon the towns.
Augustus, seeing himself beaten in Poland and on the point of
being deprived of his hereditary dominions, yielded at last to his
fate, and despatched the barons d'Imhoff and Finsten to the king of
Sweden, with full powers and a blank signed for an accommodation.
These two ministers came to the Swedish camp at Alt-Ranstadt
privately, lest the Russians should know that their master was in
clined to treat with Charles. The king received the letter they
brought him from Augustus, opened, and read it. He bade them
wait one moment, and he would give them an answer; and, going
into his closet, he presently returned with a paper which he had
written, and which he gave to baron dImhoff to read. The con
tents were as follow :-
I consent to give peace upon the following conditions, in which
it must not be expected that I shall make the least alteration.
1. That king Augustus renounce for ever the crown of Poland;
that he acknowledge Stanislaus as lawful king; and that he promise
never to remount the throne, even after the death of Stanislaus.
2. That he renounce all other treaties, and particularly that he
has made with Muscovy.
3 D 2
396 HISTORY OF POLAND.

3. That he send back with honour the princes Sobieski into my

camp, and all the prisoners he has taken.
4. That he deliver into my hands all the deserters which have
entered into his service, particularly John Patkul; and that all pro
ceedings be stopped against such persons as have passed from his
service into mine.
The plenipotentiaries of Augustus could never obtain from Charles
the least abatement of the rigour of these conditions, and were there
fore forced to comply with his inflexibility. He also demanded from
the estates a contribution of 625,000 crowns a month, which he
afterwards reduced to 500,000. In the meanwhile, Augustus, with
his little army of 6000 Poles and Saxons, was joined by prince
Menzikoff, the czar's generalissimo, at the head of 30,000 men.
This event threw him into the utmost perplexity. He was under
the most dreadful apprehensions from them in case his negotiation
with Charles should be discovered; but his consternation was at its
height when 10,000 Swedes appeared, commanded by general
Meyerfeldt. He would have gladly declined an engagement, for
fear of further irritating the Swedish conqueror, whose displeasure
he wished to deprecate. A secret notice which he sent to Meyer
feldt respecting the negotiation with Charles, was considered by
that general as a mere pretence to avoid giving battle, and of course
rendered the Swedes more eager to engage. Compelled at last to
yield to the remonstrances of Menzikoff, and provoked at the confi
dence of Meyerfeldt, Augustus consented to a battle, which, whe
ther lost or won, was to be equally fatal to him. Fortune, which
had hitherto persecuted him, now declared in his favour only to en
hance his difficulties. The Swedes were conquered at Kalisch ; but
Augustus was obliged to apologize, in the most abject manner, to
Charles. After having entered Warsaw in triumph, and celebrating
Te Deum for his victory, he was compelled to repair to Saxony, re
sign his diadem, and sign the conditions imposed by the king of
Sweden.
The two kings met at Guntersdorf, where Augustus was received
with seeming respect; but Charles, to revenge himself for the battle
of Kalisch, compelled him to send the jewels and archives of the
crown to his successor Stanislaus. But the greatest degradation to
which the unfortunate monarch submitted was his sending a congra
tulatory letter, at the instance of Charles, in reply to one from his
rival. Patkul, though Augustus connived at his attempted escape,
 HISTORY OF POLAND. 397

was taken by the Swedes, and broken on the wheel as a traitor.

The princes Sobieski, who had been removed in the preceding Sep
tember to the fortress of Konigstein, were liberated. From this
period James led a private and retired life, and seems to have en
tirely renounced all his views upon the crown of Poland. He died
in 1737, at Zolkiew, in Red Russia; and in him, as the last male
of his family, the name of Sobieski became extinct. -

The resentment which the czar at first felt against Augustus on

hearing of the treaty of Alt-Ranstadt, was turned into pity when
he saw the conditions which had been imposed upon that unfortu
nate monarch; and he determined to punish Charles as the author
of the infidelity of his ally, and also for the execution of Patkul,
whose office, as Russian envoy, ought to have rendered his person
sacred. Menzikoff, who commanded the Russian army in Poland,
exerted his influence to retain a considerable Polish force on foot;
and the primate, late bishop of Cujavia, who had been raised to the
see of Gnesna by Augustus, published his universalia for a general
diet at Lublin in the month of May, 1707, in which the throne was
declared vacant. The czar would gladly have seen the Poles betake
themselves to more decisive measures than mere futile deliberations;
but he lost several of his friends amongst them through the pride
and haughtiness of Menzikoff. In particular, Smielgiski, one of
the most active partizans of Augustus, having taken the palatine of
Kiow and his family, was ordered by the Russian general to deliver
up his prisoners to him ; an instance of arrogance which so disgusted
the starost, that he immediately set the palatine at liberty, seized
all the Russians in his little corps, and acknowledged Stanislaus.
Prince Wiesnowiski also, piqued at the subordinate station in which
he was placed, entered into an agreement with the Swedes, on
condition of being raised to the dignity of grand-general of Lithu
ania after Sapieha. Indeed, the domineering spirit of the Russian
army rendered them extremely unpopular in Poland; and even the
presence of the czar at the diet could not produce the unanimity
necessary for carrying effective measures.
Poland was at this period treated like a conquered country, both
by the Russians and the Swedes; and the former, after exhausting
the means of the citizens of Lissa with repeated contributions, set
the place on fire. To complete the misfortunes under which the
country groaned, the plague broke out in many places. In War
saw, 15,000 souls were carried off, and in Dantzick 24,000. At
length, Stanislaus returned from Saxony, with general Reinschild,
 |
398 HISTORY OF POLAND.

at the head of sixteen Swedish regiments; and, in the month of

November, Charles himself followed. Upon his approach, the czar
retired hastily into his own country; but neither the ice, nor the
difficulty of the way, could impede his enemy, who marched in
cessantly in pursuit of him. Indeed, there is no doubt that Charles
intended to penetrate to Moscow, and there to dictate terms to the
a
czar, as he had done to Augustus. The Swedish army, however,
was beginning to feel the want of clothing and other necessaries, which
general Lewenhaupt was expected to bring up, when they entered
Mohilow, and there found a temporary supply. A battle after
wards took place at Holowitz, near the Boristhenes, in which the
Swedes gained the advantage at the price of much bloodshed.
Charles meanwhile had entered into a treaty with Mazeppa, het
man of the Cossacks, who had quarrelled with the czar, because the
latter, on being opposed in his designs of subjugating that warlike
people, had threatened to impale their leader. Mazeppa promised
the assistance of 30,000 men; but the czar, on discovering his in
tentions, cut his troops to pieces, and compelled him to fly for shel
ter to the king of Sweden with only 6000. Lewenhaupt also, as
he advanced with the expected supplies, was intercepted near Smo
lensko by the czar at the head of a superior force, and, after three
days' severe fighting, was compelled to retreat with the loss of
10,000 men, leaving the ammunition and provisions in the hands of

the Russians, after vainly endeavouring to set them on fire. The

decisive battle of Pultowa completed the fall of the Swedish mo
narch, who was compelled to take refuge in Turkey.
Stanislaus, though he had been acknowledged by many of the
courts of Europe, was in no condition to assist his benefactor du
ring these reverses. Siniowiski, who had taken up his quarters at
Sandomir, declined all the overtures of the French minister, M.
Bonac, for an accommodation. He foresaw that the very successes
which Charles at first obtained, would teach the Russians the art of
war, and render a change of fortune probable. The defeat of
Charles at Pultowa, while it filled Europe with astonishment, veri
fied the predictions of Siniowiski; and Augustus, who had always
regarded the treaty of Alt-Ranstadt as a compulsory act, and no
longer binding than while Charles could enforce its observance, was
further instigated to attempt the recovery of his crown by the en
voys whom the czar sent to Dresden. He accordingly issued a
manifesto, in which he charged the envoys, d'Imhoff and Finsten,
with exceeding their instructions, designated the adherents of Sta
 HISTORY OF POLAND. 399

nislaus as traitors, and declared his intention of re-establishing him

self upon the throne of Poland.
After the publication of this document, Augustus set out for
Lusatia, and reviewed a body of 13,000 men, chiefly cavalry, of the
troops of the electorate. Several of the Polish nobility now joined
him; and, on the 20th of August, 1709, he began his march through
Silesia. Stanislaus, unsupported by the fallen conqueror of the
north, was quickly deserted by many of his seeming friends; and
he published his universalia, declaring, that as he had accepted the
diadem with a view to the preservation of liberty, so he was now
equally willing to renounce it, if that sacrifice could in any way
promote the peace and happiness of his country. All his dependence
was upon general Krassaw, who had with him an army of 10,000
Swedish veterans; but that commander was hemmed in by Poles,
Russians, and Saxons; and he therefore requested a passage for
himself and troops through Prussia. This was refused; but, as the
case was pressing, he took the proposed route without leave, observ
ing such strict discipline that his Prussian majesty had no cause of
complaint. Stanislaus accompanied Krassaw in his retreat; and
the Swedes carried off from Poland vast quantities of church-plate,
to supply the deficiency in the exorbitant contributions they had
imposed. Krassaw agreed to a treaty which guaranteed the neu
trality of the German dominions of both parties; but this was re
jected by Charles, then an exile in Turkey, with as much contempt
as if he had still been at the head of a victorious army. That mo
narch also, on being informed that Stanislaus had intentions of
resigning, replied, If he will not be king, I will bestow the crown
elsewhere. Stanislaus retired at first to Stettin; but afterwards,
on Pomerania being threatened with a war, he repaired into Swe
den, where he was honourably received by the states.

FREDERIck AUGUSTU's I. RESTORED,-1709-1733.

After the battle of Pultowa, the czar visited Poland, and had an
interview with Augustus at Thorn, where measures were concerted
for securing the restoration of the latter. Peter, however, declined
to withdraw the Russian forces from Poland, where their presence
was a great burthen to the people; and he also refused to give up
the Polish prisoners he had taken, amongst whom were Wiesnowiski
and Smielgiski. A great number of senators flocked to Thorn, and
400 HISTORY OF POLAND.

tendered their real or affected submissions; and a council was held,

after which writs were issued for holding a grand meeting on the
4th of February, 1710. The pope, by his nuntio, absolved Augus
tus from his oath to observe the treaty of Alt-Ranstadt; and thus
every impediment seemed cleared away between him and the crown.
At the meeting of the general council, Augustus strongly urged
the ratification, by the republic, of the treaty he had entered into
with the czar. The senators coincided in opinion with the king;
but several of the nobility dissented; violent contentions ensued,
blood was spilt, and some proposed that the throne should be de
clared vacant. At length, after various disputes, the treaty was
ratified to the king's satisfaction. The city of Dantzick having
rendered itself obnoxious to the ruling powers, by an adherence to
the opposite party, commissioners were appointed to settle their
differences. Augustus demanded 500,000 crowns to indemnify
himself for the effects which the citizens had surrendered to the
Swedes. The burghers offered 400,000; but the king was inexora
ble, and recourse was about to be had to arms, when the interference
of some of the neighbouring powers prevented so disastrous an oc
currence. An act of indemnity was held out by Augustus to all
his other subjects; and his affability continued to add to the num
ber of his friends.
War was now declared against Sweden by the king of Denmark,
with whom the czar entered into an alliance, and thereby gained
possession of Riga and Wiburg, places of importance in the execu
tion of his gigantic plans. Augustus also laboured to exasperate
the Porte against Charles, whose haughty and imprudent conduct
was generating a strong feeling of dislike in the grand seignior's
court. Still the Swedish monarch persisted in his design of raising
a Turkish army of 100,000 men, to depose Augustus and reinstate
Stanislaus, and to avenge the injuries inflicted on his own country
by the surrounding nations. Potocki, palatine of Kiow, on the
strength of this hope, overrun several provinces of Poland with an
army of 6000 men; but being defeated by the Russian general
Goltz, he retreated first into Hungary, and afterwards to Charles at
Bender. In 1711, Pomerania was invaded by 25,000 Danes,
10,000 Saxons, and 6000 Russians, who, after some conquests of
minor importance, attacked Stralsund and Wismar; but, in their
eagerness, the allies had forgotten to provide themselves with bat
tering cannon and other essentials, and were consequently forced to
retreat in disgrace. In the beginning of the following year, the
 HISTORY OF POLAND. 401

czar was surrounded by the Turks on the banks of the Pruth, and
was compelled to purchase a peace from the vizier with large sums
of money, and a promise to withdraw his troops from Poland, in the
internal affairs of which country he engaged never more to interfere.
These promises, it appears, were not intended to be fulfilled; for
Poland still continued to be oppressed by the numerous bodies of
Russian soldiers which were quartered upon its inhabitants. In
1713, a diet assembled at Warsaw, the deputies of which demanded
to know the substance of an embassy which had been sent to the
Porte, and why Saxon soldiers had been incorporated with the
Polish regiments. Augustus answered that it would be highly im
prudent to publish to the world the subject of a secret embassy,
and that he would give them satisfaction on the other point when
the deputies united with the senate. Though there was at that
time a probability of the Turks assembling an army on the frontiers
of Poland, yet the nobility could not be brought to acknowledge the
prudence of the king's measures. It was even said that a conspi
racy was formed to assassinate him, of which the palatine Jablo
nowski was the head. This, however, is improbable; for the
opposition now experienced by Augustus does not appear to have
been directed against his person, or his title to the crown; and he
pardoned those said to have been implicated in the plots against
him. -

During a visit which Augustus paid to Dresden, the murmurs of

the nation were renewed, in consequence of the Saxon and Russian
troops, which had been employed in Pomerania, taking up their
quarters in Poland and Lithuania; and many of the nobility were
desirous of holding a diet on horseback. They insisted on the
king's return; and some of those of Sandomir, Lublin, and Volhy
nia had actually begun to mount before his arrival. Augustus had
reduced the taxes one-third; he had withdrawn thirteen regiments
of his hereditary forces out of the republic; and he had affected to
disbelieve all the accounts of conspiracies against him. Such con
cessions, he thought, might have secured him the confidence of his
subjects; and he now boldly declared that he would treat as rebels
and traitors all those who appeared in arms without the authority
sanctioned by the constitution. To enforce this declaration, he re
called the Saxon troops which had been withdrawn.
Charles XII., finding all his hopes of returning at the head of a
Turkish army were likely to prove futile, now determined to take
up his abode in the Ottoman territory, whether the Porte should
3 E
402 HISTORY OF POLAND.

approve it or not. The lords who had attended him in his flight
strongly urged him to submit to circumstances; but he refused,
asserting that an order for sending him away, which the pacha of
Beuder produced, was a forgery. Determined on resisting it, he
barricaded and intrenched his house, where, with 300 men, he pre
pared to receive the attack of an army of 25,000 Turks and Tar
tars. These easily overpowered the handful of their opponents;
and the king, after fighting desperately, was taken by the janissa
ries. Ignorant of this event, Stanislaus was on his way to Bender,
in order to gain the consent of Charles for his abdication. He
assumed the title and dress of a Swedish colonel, and, as such,
found himself unexpectedly a prisoner. When Charles heard of
his arrival, he exclaimed to his attendant, Run, and tell him to
make no treaty with Augustus, for we shall soon have a change of
affairs. This prediction, however, was not verified. The king of
Sweden, after years of obstinacy, was compelled to return without
an army to his own dominions; previously to which, he bestowed
the duchy of Deux-Ponts upon Stanislaus. The latter set out for
that place on the 4th of July, 1714, determined to live in a private
capacity upon the revenues of his newly-acquired territories, which
amounted to 70,000 crowns per annum. The only persons who
adhered to him in all the vicissitudes he had endured were count
Poniatowski, Urbanowitz, and Crispick.
The preparations made by Charles, on his return to his own
kingdom, for carrying on the war against all his enemies, furnished
Augustus with a favourable pretext for retaining his Saxon troops
in Poland; and he received the assent of the senate for taking
measures to prevent the kingdom from being again invaded by the
Swedes. Thus strengthened, he hoped to enjoy more tranquillity
than it had hitherto been his lot to obtain; but the spirit of free
dom, which continually impelled the nobles to restrict the regal
power, gave him some uneasiness. A confederacy was planned by
the palatines of Cracow, Siradia, and Sandomir; and many of the
Lithuanian nobility assembled tumultuonsly at Wilna, to oppose
the levying of contributions. The approach of a body of Russians
at first kept them in awe; but, during the absence of the king in
Saxony, a new confederacy was formed, which was joined by the
crown-army. Several battles were fought between the confederates
and the Saxons, generally to the disadvantage of the former. The
Saxon general Bauditz endeavoured, without effect, to procure a
suspension of arms; the confederates were obstinate; they attacked
 HISTORY OF POLAND. 403

Warsaw, and, being repulsed, committed such horrible atrocities on

several villages and all the Saxons who fell in their way, as were
disgraceful to a people acknowledging the doctrines of Christianity.
Fortunately, they were at length induced to solicit an armistice,
previously to which their marshal, the palatine of Sandomir, was
surprised and taken prisoner at Zamosc.
Two years were consumed in these violent proceedings, during
which Lithuania was comparatively quiet. In 1715, however, a
meeting was held at Wilna, where an unanimous intention was ex
pressed of joining the Polish confederates, for the purpose of com
pelling the expulsion of the Saxons, and satisfaction for the
damages they had occasioned. The czar interposed; a conference
was held at Lublin; and matters appeared in a fair way for adjust
ment, when the confederates wantonly surprised Posnania, took it
by storm, and cruelly massacred in cold blood a great number of the
inhabitants. This outrage provoked the king again to have recourse
to the czar, who sent a body of Muscovites into the heart of Poland.
These troops obtained several trivial advantages, which so harassed
the confederates, that they consented to the renewal of the negotia
tions they had so imprudently broken. After various disputes,
during which the king endeavoured to procrastinate the departure
of the Saxon troops, and the confederates were equally resolute to
remain in arms till the assembling of the diet, a compromise was at
last effected, by which it was agreed that all confederacies should
be annulled, a diet of pacification held, a certain number of forces
kept for the king's protection and to prevent the necessity of em
ploying foreign troops, and that all persons bearing arms without
the king's permission should be deemed enemies to the state. This
agreement, however, was only effected by the interference of the
Russian ambassador, and the fatal example of surrounding the diet
by Muscovite troops.
While Charles XII. was prosecuting the war in Norway, the in
activity of the czar surprised all Europe. In fact, from being the
friend and ally of Augustus, he had now become one of his most
decided enemies. Baron Gortz, the confidential minister of the
king of Sweden, had proposed a league to the czar, the objects of
which were to give to the latter all the Swedish provinces he had
conquered, and to prevail upon the duke of Holstein to sell him his
dominions, upon condition that he should be previously reinstated
in them; that Stanislaus should be restored to the throne of Po
land; and that the crown of England should be taken from the
3 E 2
404 HISTORY OF POLAND.

elector of Hanover, and given to the Stuarts. The plan transpired;

and Gortz was arrested at the Hague, as was the Swedish ambassa :
dor Gyllembourg at London. They were, however, liberated; and
the czar, apparently for his own instruction, but really by the ad
vice of Gortz, took a journey into France, where he proposed that
the duke of Orleans should be the mediator of a peace between
Sweden and Muscovy, and to form an offensive and defensive alli
ance between those two crowns and Spain. The regent of France,
however, declined entering into this scheme; and, while Gortz was
labouring to produce an almost universal change in the affairs of
Europe, the death of his master put a stop to his machinations.
Charles was slain by a cannon-ball at the siege of Frederickshall
in October, 1718; and Augustus was thus released from a danger,
which his minister, Fleming, had had penetration enough to foresee.
Poland might, at this period, be considered as secure from foreign
attacks; but the king was still kept in uneasiness by commotions at
home. He was still an object of suspicion to his subjects, who did
not scruple to give an unreserved expression to their opinions in the
diets held from time to time. Amongst other subjects of excitement,
the dukedom of Courland being vacant, the people of that province
evinced a disposition to raise to the dignity count Maurice of Sax
ony, the natural son of king Augustus by the countess of Konings
mark. The jealousy of the Poles, however, prompted them to accuse
the king of favouring the election of his son; and the odium attach
ed to him on this account was so great, that he endeavoured to
cause the count to lay aside all thoughts of his advancement. The
consequence of these dissensions was that Russia laid claim to the
sovereignty of Courland, in virtue of its pecuniary obligations to the
grand-duchess Anne, a niece of the czar Peter; and the troops of
that country expelled Maurice, who had ventured to remain. Anne
was soon after raised to the imperial throne, and immediately in
vested her favourite Biron with the fief.
The conflicting claims for vacant offices by the powerful nobles
were a source of continual disquiet to the king, whose latter years
were also annoyed by the demands of Russia and other powers for
the payment of what had been so long due to them. Religious bi
gotry added to the other causes of contention during this reign. In
a diet held at Grodno, in 1718, a deputy of the Calvinistic faith
was refused a seat; and the Dissidents were even excluded from ju
dicial offices. In no part of the Polish territory were these en
croachments more keenly felt, or more warmly resented, than in
 HISTORY OF POLAND. 405

Polish Prussia and Pomerania, where the majority of the population

were Protestants. An incident which occurred at Thorn strongly
marks the bitterness with which the opposite parties viewed each
other. A procession of the host was proceeding to the church be
longing to the Benedictine nuns; and, as usual, a number of children,
most of them Lutherans, assembled to view the spectacle. They
were ordered by a Jesuit student to kneel, and such as refused
received a box on the ear. A riot consequently took place between
their parents and the colleagues of the student, which ended in the
offender being taken to prison by a guard of soldiers. On the next
day, a body of students demanded the liberation of their brother,
and insulted the citizens as they passed along; but their leader was
seized and confined, though the original prisoner was liberated.
Again the students assembled, seized a Lutheran German scholar
in the streets, dragged him to their college, and confined him, by
way of reprisal. The crowd, who had assembled on the occasion,
were next assaulted; and the chief magistrate in vain sent an of
ficer to pacify the parties, and procure the liberation of the German.
Provoked at such a breach of the laws, the populace attacked the
college, armed with such weapons as came to hand; while the Je
suits defended themselves with musquetry. At length the college
was forced; and the books, furniture, &c., found in it, were burnt
in the streets. The catastrophe, however, remains to be told.
Commissioners were sent by the government to enquire into the
charges exhibited against the burghers by the fraternity of Jesus;
and the proceedings were conducted with a degree of severity which
astonished Europe. Sixty-six Lutherans were committed to prison;
and, after a trial before an extraordinary tribunal convened for the
purpose at Warsaw, the following sentences were passed, and after
wards confirmed by the diet. The president and vice-president of
the municipality were ordered to be beheaded, because their mea
sures for suppressing the tumult had not been sufficiently vigorous;
and the property of the first-named magistrate was confiscated in
favour of the Jesuits; two other magistrates were to be imprisoned
for a short period; seven of the popular ringleaders were to lose
their heads; four others, convicted of dishonouring the images of
the saints, were to lose their right hands before decapitation; and
about 40 more were sentenced to various periods of imprisonment.
Catholics and Protestants united in deprecating this iniquitous
sentence; and the pope and the emperor, as well as the czar and
the king of Prussia, prepared remonstrances on the subject. But
406 HISTORY OF POLAND.

the punishments awarded, with one or two trifling exceptions, were

executed with a haste and barbarity which precluded all interposi
tion, and form a striking contrast to the tolerance for which the
Polish nation has been extolled.
Augustus died at Warsaw on the 1st of February, 1733, aged 63.
This monarch, who had experienced so many different extremes of
fortune, was the son of John George III. elector of Saxony, of the
Albertine branch, and Anne Sophia, daughter of Frederick III.
king of Denmark. He married Christina Everhardina of Branden
burgh-Bareith, and succeeded, in 1697, his brother, John George
IV., who died without issue. His elevation to the throne of Poland,
in 1699, was the commencement of a series of vicissitudes, which
can only be paralleled by those experienced by his rival Stanislaus.
This prince, says Fontaine, speaking of the Saxon monarch,
dreaded in Poland, and adored in Saxony, was, like the Roman
emperor whose name he bore, polite, affable, and obliging; he loved
and protected arts and sciences. But, like Augustus, he was better
qualified to make his people taste the pleasures of peace, than to
procure them glory by the success of his arms. Cautious, and even
fearful in prosperity, he bore the greatest shocks of adversity with
resolution. Full of clemency and moderation, he regained the throne
only to pardon his most mortal enemies. Instructed by misfortunes,
after his second coming to the crown, he so far complied with the
temper of a jealous republic, as to remove his dearest friends from
the preferments he had given them. He deserved the love of the
Poles, and had only their indifference or hatred.

STANISLAUs LEsczynski RESTORED.1733.

Stanislaus had continued to reside at Deux-Ponts till the death

of Charles XII., where, though he was generally beloved, a plot
was laid for his assassination. After its discovery, Augustus pub
licly protested his ignorance of the villainy; and suspicion could
only be directed against his minister, Fleming, as its instigator.
The assassins were Saxon officers, who were tried and condemned
to death, but afterwards pardoned by Stanislaus. On the death of
his great ally, he removed to Weissemburg, a town of Lower Alsace;
and here was detected another conspiracy for his destruction by
means of poisoned tobacco. In 1725, fortune smiled upon him in
the marriage of his daughter Mary with Louis XV., king of France;
 HISTORY OF POLAND. 407

but the mediation of his powerful son-in-law could not procure for
him the restoration of his confiscated estates in Poland, where it
was even proposed that he should send a congratulatory letter to
Augustus, similar to that which the latter had been compelled by
Charles XII. to write to him; a demand which was, of course,
treated with contempt.
On the 11th of February, 1733, Stanislaus received the news of
the death of Augustus; and, after a struggle between the inclina
tion for repose natural to his age, and the love of glory backed by
the proffered assistance of the French court, he resolved on attempt
ing to regain a diadem which he had before felt so burthensome.
This determination was the cause of a dreadful war throughout
Europe; Louis XV. naturally supporting the pretensions of his
father-in-law; and the emperor, the czarina, and the king of Prus
sia, espousing the cause of the elector of Saxony, son of the last
monarch. Theodore Potocki, archbishop of Gnesna, who favoured
Stanislaus, insinuated to the nobility that as all Piastes had been
excluded from the crown during the former interregnum, the sys
tem should now be reversed, and all foreigners declared ineligible.
This alarmed the three neighbouring powers, who, while they de
nounced the measure as an infringement of the liberties of the re
public, gave the senate to understand that they insisted on the
election of the candidate of their choice. It was in vain that the
primate claimed the right to the nation itself of chusing its own
sovereign: the emperor caused his troops in Silesia to advance nearer
the frontiers of Poland, and the czarina sent orders to 30,000 men
to march towards Lithuania. This movement was attempted to be
justified by pretending that the czar had guaranteed the constitution
of Poland in 1717, and that Russia was therefore a party in the
transaction; but, it may be observed, a guarantee of the institutions
of a people against themselves, is but another name for dependence
on the foreign power which enforces it. On the other hand, the
French monarch directed the duke of Berwick to advance to the
Rhine with a numerous army, and to take measures for entering
Germany, in case the imperialists should attempt to penetrate into
Poland.
The 25th of August was appointed for the meeting of the diet;
and the foreign ministers were desired to quit Warsaw during the
election. This they refused to do, daring the Poles to use any
means for their expulsion; and so great was the ascendancy which
Russia, Austria, and Prussia had at this time acquired over the re
408 HISTORY OF POLAND.

public, that the point was conceded to their ambassadors. During

three days, nothing was heard in the field of election but reproaches
and menaces against those who called or suffered the Russian army
to enter Lithuania. A law was, however, passed, depriving the
Dissidents of many of their civil rights, but, at the same time, for
bidding them to leave the country. The French minister, Monti,
published a declaration, in which he promised large contributions
from his court in case of the election of Stanislaus; while the elector
of Saxony did not fail, on his part, to make similar offers. He en
gaged to pay 3,000,000 Polish florins to the use of the republic; to
found an academy of knights; to give 100,000 florins for defraying
the expenses of ambassadors; to repair, at his own charge, the fron
tier places; to furnish the arsenals with all necessaries; to fortify
the fort of the Trinity; to build an hospital for invalids; to put the
mines in good condition; and to remedy the existing abuses in the
current coin of the kingdom.
During the sitting of the diet, Stanislaus quitted France, and
contrived to enter Warsaw privately on the 7th of September. On
the 10th, he appeared in public; but he quickly discovered that his
affairs were not in so prosperous a train as his agents had led him
to expect. Wiesnowiski and Lubomirski each aspired to the crown
for themselves, and retired with a number of deputies to Praga.
Malachowski, starost of Opezno, who remained on the field, furi
ously flinging his mantle on the ground, in order that he might be
better recognized, exclaimed, I hear that whosoever shall oppose
the election of Stanislaus is threatened to be hacked in pieces. Here
am I. I shew myself openly, and solemnly protest against his
election. Let me see who will be so bold as to cut me to pieces.
On the 12th, some deputies arrived from Praga with a protest;
and, as the party there persevered in their dissent, the primate at
length suffered himself to be persuaded, by the entreaties and cla
mours of those who remained with him, to proclaim Stanislaus king
of Poland and grand-duke of Lithuania.
As the new king was going in procession towards the castle, he
observed a large body of men on the opposite side of the river, and
enquired of the primate whether they had opposed his election.
Potocki answered that they were only a parcel of rebels, who would
easily be reduced to duty; but Stanislaus was too well aware of the
character of the Poles to trust this assurance, and sent a deputation
to make such advantageous offers to the malcontents as he thought
would induce them to submit. His offers, however, were refused
 HISTORY OF POLAND. 409

with scorn, and a confederacy was formed against him. Count Ponia
towski was now sent with a party of troops to reduce them by force;
but, after a sharp battle, he returned without effecting his object.
This nobleman, at the earnest entreaty of the primate, was deprived
of the office of grand-general, which was given to Potocki, the pre
late's brother.
While Stanislaus was thus distracted between the threats of his
enemies, and the dissensions of his friends, general Lascy, with the
Russian army, advanced into the territory of the republic; and the
vanguard arrived near Warsaw on the 29th of September. In this
emergency, the king, aware of his inability to withstand such pow
erful enemies, retired with the primate, the French ambassador,
and Count Poniatowski, to Dantzick, where he was received with
every demonstration of joy and loyalty. The confederates had, in
in the mean time, joined the Russians; while the few troops in
Warsaw, unable to make head against these opponents, injured the
cause of Stanislaus by committing the most violent excesses, plun
dering the palaces of the late king Augustus and such of the nobi
lity as had adhered to him, and ransacking the house of the Russian
ambassador, who was compelled to take refuge in the Franciscan
convent. But the greatest error committed by the primate and his
party was leaving the kola immediately on the nomination of Sta
nislaus, and before the usual term of six weeks had expired. Gene
ral Lascy and Wiesnowiski took advantage of this oversight, and
wrote to the grand-general Potocki, requesting that the senators
might meet at the usual place. Two days were still to elapse of
the prescribed time, and Potocki artfully required that period to
consider of his answer; but the confederates, aware that the 6th of
October was the last day legally allowed, met on the 5th in a
wretched inn, in the midst of a forest near Kamien ; and, being
protected by the Russian and Lithuanian troops, the assembly, some
of the members of which had been forcibly brought in chains to as
sist in a ceremony they disliked, were compelled unanimously to elect
his royal highness Frederick Augustus, elector of Saxony, who was
proclaimed by Stanislaus Joseph Hocius, bishop of Posnania. The
secret aspirants to the throne, Wiesnowiski and Lubomirski, were
compelled to succumb to the power of Russia, which they had them
selves been the principal means of introducing,

18 3 F
410 HISTORY OF POIAND.

FREDERICK AUGUSTUs IL-1733-1763.

Poland has been compared, at this period, to a field, where two
suns should rise above the horizon, and burn it up with scorching
heat. The Russian and Lithuanian armies, notwithstanding the
resistance of Potocki, crossed the Vistula on the 10th of October,
entered Warsaw, and in their turn burnt and plundered the houses
of the opposite party. Potocki, with 8000 men, retreated towards
Cracow. The Pacta Conventa was sworn to by the Saxon plenipo
tentiaries on the 1st of November; and Warsaw was put into a
state of defence. Stanislaus, on being informed of these events,
observed, I pity very much the good prince of Saxony: he will
experience, sooner or later, the unfaithfulness of those who have
elected him.
Potocki, though aided by the palatine of Sandomir, grew weaker
daily; and the Saxon troops made themselves masters of Cracow.
The new king and queen made their entry into that city on the
14th of January, 1734; and the coronation took place on the 17th.
Meanwhile the Russians marched into Prussia. On January 17,
Thorn was surrendered to General Lascy; and in the following
month he entered the territory of Dantzick. That city was soon
put in a state of defence; and to hinder the enemy from approach
ing the lower part of the town, the docks and park were laid under
water. The arrival of count Munich to take the command of the
Russian army was the signal for prosecuting the siege with vigour.
The most desperate efforts were made by the besiegers, who were,
for a considerable time, bravely repulsed by the citizens and garri
son ; but as their expected succours from Poland were intercepted,
and the French fleet promised by the ambassador Monti did not ap
pear, serious thoughts began to be entertained of a capitulation.
The basis of the negotiation proposed by count Munich was, that
Stanislaus and his adherents should be delivered up to the besiegers;
and, to prevent such a misfortune, it became necessary that the ex
king should provide for his own safety. The particulars of his
escape, which may justly be placed in comparison with some of the
adventures of Charles II. of England and the chevalier Charles Ed
ward, are detailed by himself, in a letter to a friend, as follows:

* Frequently styled Augustus III.-See note, page 378.

 HISTORY OF POLAND. 4.1.1

'Twas on this occasion I experienced the zeal of those who are

sincerely attached to my interest, by the different projects which
were formed to facilitate my escape, insomuch that a lady, confiding
in a peasant of that country whom she knew, was so much a he
roine, as to offer to disguise herself as a peasant, and pass for my
wife.

Another expedient was proposed to me, and this was, to put

myself at the head of an hundred intrepid men, and force a way
through the enemy; but I judged it impracticable, because of the
inundation, which extended three leagues one way, and of the lines
of circumvallation on the other, which it would be impossible to
pass on horseback. The method I concluded the safest, was that
which the ambassador proposed; and accordingly I went to his
house, in order to put it in execution, on the evening of the 27th of
June, being Sunday, upon pretence of spending a quiet night there,
by removing out of danger of the bombs, which began to fall in that
part where I resided. -

At ten in the evening, having disguised myself as a peasant,

with only a course shirt on, and accompanied by general Steinflicht,
I left the ambassador's house to go and meet an officer who waited
for me on the rampart, where being arrived, we crossed the ditch
in two little boats. The officer leaving us behind, rode forward to
secure a post held by a subaltern officer and a few soldiers. Imme
diately a quarrel arose, and in a moment I saw the subaltern officer
present his piece to the other, refusing to let either himself or his
company pass. His over-great vigilance obliged the officer to tell
him that it was I; but the subaltern officer, suspecting his veracity,
came to the boat, looked me in the face, and knowing me, though
it was the dusk of the evening, made me a very low bow, and wish
ed me a good journey. As the subaltern officer knew me, I was
assured that my escape would be no longer a secret, and conse
quently that my safety was very precarious. After taking leave of
the officer, we rowed through the inundations, in hopes of reaching
the Vistula to cross it the same night, and to arrive by day-break
beyond such posts of the enemy as lay nearest to the city. But
how great was my surprise, to see the peasants, after they had row
ed about a quarter of a league, carry us to a poor hut which stood
in the middle of the water, and tell us, that we must pass all that
night and the next day in it, the night being already too far ad
vanced for us to get to the Vistula before day-break' We were
forced to obey, and accordingly landed, but with heavy hearts,
3 F 2
412 HISTORY OF POLAND.

because of the little haste we made, and the evident hazard we

ran. -

The king here describes his conductors. His chief guide, he ob

serves, was a very silly fellow, ignorant of the enemy's posts, but
assuming an air of authority and consequence. Another was a bro
ken Polish merchant; and the remaining two were schnaphans
(peasants who ramble about in parties and rob passengers), and
seemed by their air and manner complete villains. After passing
a sleepless night on a bench, Stanislaus had the mortification of
hearing the rejoicing fires of the Russians on the taking of Weich
selmunde. He was further alarmed by the appearance of a schna
phan with a present for general Steinflicht, which proved that his
flight was known. I was very impatient, says he, all the re
mainder of that day till night came, in the beginning of which we
embarked, rowing perpetually through reeds and impracticable
places, being obliged every moment, when there was no depth of
water, to draw the boat over the marshes into the ditches where
there was some. About midnight we arrived, as we thought, near
the bank of the Vistula, where our conductors obliged us to land;
and these, after holding council together, without communicating
the particulars of it to us, ordered general Steinflicht to walk on
foot along the bank with our chief conductor and the bankruptmer
chant, who spoke Polish; after which the two schnaphans went
again into the boat with me, assuring me that we should meet with
our companions at about a league's distance from the place where
we then were. I was no way pleased with this separation, fearing
that I should not meet again with general Steinflicht.
I supposed, that being now arrived at the Vistula, we were to
cross it at this place; but I was mistaken, for it was the farther side
of the Nering, whence there would have been no possibility of our
getting away. After we had rowed on very painfully during two
hours, I enquiring after my comrades, was answered, that they
were before, and that we should soon be up with them. As day
began to peep, and all the houses thereabouts were frequented by
Muscovites or Cossacks, it would not be possible for us to reach,
before the gloom was dispelled, the place where we were to cross
the Vistula. We therefore were forced to stop once more at a
house belonging to a peasant, with whom my conductors were ac
quainted. As we were going in, the peasant was asked whether any
Muscovites lodged in his house: he answered there did not, but
said that several came to it in the day-time. Notwithstanding this,
 HISTORY OF POLAND. 413

we were forced to stay with him; a moment after which, my two

schnaphans took me into the garret, threw me a bundle of straw,
and bid me lie still, saying that they in the mean time would be
upon the watch, and go in quest of my companions.
After being kept awake two nights, I wanted a little sleep, but
that was impossible; and finding my bed very hard, I rose up and
looked through a little window, whence I saw, about twenty paces
from me, two Muscovites, who were looking after their horses which
fed in the meadow: an officer was walking up and down there
abouts, and a party of Cossacks (six in number) passed within half
a dozen paces of me. This unpleasing sight obliged me to retire
immediately to my bundle of straw, to reflect on the means how to
extricate myself from this blockade, not knowing that it was still
closer than I imagined; for the landlady came and whispered me
not to make a noise, saying that there were five Cossacks at break
fast in her house. Upon receiving these orders, I did not stir once;
and, during the two hours they staid there, I overheard from my
garret all their discourse, which related to the siege of Dantzick.
After they were gone, the landlady, having probably reflected, by
the apartment I had been thrust into, that there was some mystery
in all this, came again to me, asked me simply whence I came, and
who I was, saying that she knew very well, by the German I spoke,
that I was not of that country, and saw by my face that I was not
a peasant. I made her believe whatever she pleased: but it was
much worse when she told me that her house was in danger, and
that the Muscovites would burn her alive in case they found me in
it. I trembled at these words, being afraid she would turn me out
of doors; but used all the arguments possible to remove her fears,
and desired her not to disturb me.
Fortunately, Stanislaus had retained 100 ducats upon his own
person, which he had intended to entrust to general Steinflicht, so
that he was easy on the score of money. As the wind blew hard,
his conductors thought it would not be safe to cross the Vistula;
but he determined to proceed at all hazards. This resolution be
ing taken, the moment it began to grow dark, we stepped into the
boat, and left it a quarter of a league farther, at the extremity of
the floods. We then walked a large league to the Vistula. It being
a marsh, we walked the greatest part of the way up to the knees in
mud. Being got to the bank, one of my schnaphans bid me stay
there with his comrade, saying that he, in the mean time, would go
a quarter of a league farther, and see whether the boat was at the
414 HISTORY OF POLAND.

place he had appointed. There we waited a full hour for him;

when he at last returned, to tell us that he had not found the boat,
and that the Muscovites must have carried it off. What could we
do? Only return from whence we came. Accordingly, we walked
another league back, and at last got to a house, the landlord of
which appeared a rational, active, resolute man. He engaged to
procure me a passage over the Vistula, and was as good as his word;
and hiding me in his garret, he went to look for a boat, and to en
quire whether it would be safe for us to cross over.
Stanislaus was here rejoined by his chief guide, who informed
him that, having been surprised by a party of Cossacks, he himself
had rnn off; but he could give no account of general Steinflicht.
Distressing as this intelligence was, it was found necessary to re
main in the same place during the following night and day, on ac
count of the numerous parties of Cossacks scattered between them
and the river. On Thursday the 1st of July, continues Stanis
laus, I again summoned our council, to enquire whether there was
no other passage, where we might cross with safety. I am to inform
you, that our consultations were regulated by a great bottle of
brandy, which the ambassador had caused to be put into a hamper,
that served as a bottle-case, with a bottle of Hungarian wine, to
which, I may justly affirm, I owed my subsistence during the seven
days of my vagrant life. To return to the brandy: it was necessary
to proportion the quantity of it; for when my peasants took but a
sup, they would be faint-hearted, and declare they could not see
how it would be possible for us to go forward, and that they were
afraid of being taken and hanged; but when they drank more, they
would have conducted me through the enemy's camp. By this
means I was ever fluctuating between two very dubious extremes:
add to this, that I spoke so little German, that I could scarce ex
plain myself, or understand their jargon.
About six in the evening, the landlord of the house came, with
an air of joy, and assured me that all the Cossacks who had been in
the neighbourhood the night before, were gone; that the passage
was open, and that the boat waited for me on the shore of the Vis
tula, at a league's distance from the place where we then were. I
waited very impatiently for the dusk, which being come, I mounted
a horse, and set out with my landlord, who got upon another.
The order of our march was thus: the landlord was to ride before,
I was to follow him at fifty paces distance, and the three peasants
were to walk on foot, and form the rear-guard.

 HISTORY OF POLAND. 415

In this manner we passed through dreadful sloughs, in which

my horse, who could scarce stand upon his legs, fell upon his nose
at every step he took. We could perceive the enemy's fires every
where round us, and were forced to pass, upon account of the
ditches, very near the village of Heysmark, where there was a very
considerable post. It was here that the enemy embarked their ar
tillery and ammunition, in proportion as they arrived.
Having rode happily half a league without meeting with a sin
gle person, my landlord desired me to halt here, saying that he, in
the mean time, would go once more, and see whether the passage
was open, the place being most difficult of access. I had not waited
long before he returned in the utmost surprise, and told us that all
the neighbourhood thereabouts was full of other Cossacks; that he
had even been examined, but had got clear by declaring, that as he
was carrying provisions to the army, he had lost his horses in the
meadows, and was then looking for them. At this news all my
companions were in the utmost consternation, and declared unani
mously that we must return to the place from whence we came.
As we should have run a manifest hazard in so doing, I assured
them that I would never agree to it; and that all we had to do was
to arm ourselves with great clubs, and knock down the Cossacks, in
case we were superior in number, and could overpower them; or
otherwise to use the same expedient in which our landlord had suc
ceeded, viz., to say that we were looking for our horses, which were
strayed in the meadows. However, this proposal was not relished,
upon which my landlord bid us halt, saying he would go once more
upon the look-out, and see whether he could not find a passage
either to the right or left.
Whilst this was doing (we all lying upon our bellies) my three
miscreant peasants were going to abandon me, declaring continually
that they would not be hanged. Hearing this, the only favour I
requested was, that they would stay till my landlord came back.
Accordingly, I prevailed with them; and the landlord returned soon
after, to tell us that the Cossacks were gone, and that the passage
was open that instant. Immediately I mounted my horse, and my
three peasants followed me at a great distance, firmly resolved to
run away in case any unlucky thing befel me or my landlord. We
walked for half a league, till we came to the bank, when we saw
coming towards us a little Muscovite waggon, with three men in it;
upon which we ran behind a tree, and stood there unperceived. We
left our horses at a hundred paces from hence, and walked on foot
416 HISTORY OF POLAND.

a quarter of a league. My landlord, making me lie down among

the flags on the shore of the Vistula, went in quest of the boat.
However, he did not leave me long in this posture, and I soon saw
him return with the boat, at the very time that my three peasants
came up with us. We then embarked, and, by the manifest assist
ance of God, reached the other side of the Vistula.
There we very fortunately found a large village, where we ar
rived on Friday the 2d of July, at day-break. I was no sooner got
into it, but I asked for horses, in order to proceed on my journey ;
but this was not possible. My peasants, who now thought them
selves out of danger, went into a house, laid down, in spite of all
the arguments I could use, and fell into a deep sleep. I was forced
to let them sleep on, and walk about the house as centinel: but
grown quite weary of this post, I returned into the room, when
waking very gently, and with the utmost caution, one of my pea
sants, I intreated him, in the softest words, to go and hire horses
for us. Accordingly he rose, went out, and returned in about two
hours, but so drunk that he could scarce stand upon his legs, bring
ing with him a man who offered to hire us two horses and a calash,
but upon condition that we should leave the value of them with one
of the townsmen, to prevent their losing any thing by us, in case we
should be plundered by the Cossacks. As it was not our business
to haggle, and we wanted to be gone, I made short work of it, by
purchasing the equipage for the price demanded, viz., 25 ducats.
While this was doing, a crowd got round us, before whom my
drunken peasant began to expatiate on his great merit, saying that
he would not be bubbled, but would know what reward was to be
given him, he having ventured his neck to conduct me. Upon this
our chief guide, fired with the spirit of generosity, began to squabble
with him, saying that he was a rascal, that this was not a time to
debate on such matters, and that he had exerted himself as much as
any body, and yet had not made any demand. This quarrel, which
rose to a great height, proved to the crowd that I was a person of
consequence, insomuch that every one began to distinguish me from
my companions. I reconciled matters as well as I could; and would
very willingly have left my drunken peasant, who now was of no
use to me, had I not been afraid that, intoxicated as he was, he
would have quite discovered me. I therefore was obliged to pack
him up in the calash, and support, or rather carry him on my back,
to keep him from breaking his neck. My chief guide rode before,
to conduct the calash ; and I left the third, whom I believed had
 HISTORY OF POLAND. 417

most sense, with orders to go and acquaint the ambassador of my

having happily crosed the Vistula.
On their way towards the Nogat, our travellers passed several
villages, occupied by Muscovites or Saxons, without being inter
rupted. At noon, they rested in a lone empty house at a short dis
tance from the road; and, in the evening, arrived on the bank of a
river, which they took for the Nogat, and were about to cross it,
when they discovered that it was the Vistula, and that they were
on the point of precipitating themselves again into the power of the
enemy. We therefore told the landlord, continues Stanislaus,
that we were butchers belonging to Marienburgh, and intended
to cross the Nogat to buy cattle. He told us that this would be
impossible, all the boats, to the very smallest, having been taken
away and carried to Marienburgh, upon account of the Polish troops
that were roaming in parties up and down the country on the other
side of the Nogat. Hearing this, I could not see a possibility of my
escaping, and we were forced to spend the night in the barn, our
horses being quite spent. Just as day began to break, my peasants
came to this resolution, to go over the bridge to Marienburgh, and
that they could not think of any other method. I observed to them,
but to no purpose, that there was a garrison in this city, and that
we should certainly be seized by it: they were deaf to my argu
ments, and even threatened to leave me in case I did not comply.
However, I at last prevailed so far, that we should proceed to the
shore of the Nogat, and that in case we had not an opportunity of
crossing it, we then should go by Marienburgh: accordingly we
went all along the bank, through woods and most execrable ways,
till we arrived at a little village.
I said to them that it would be proper for us to stop; but my
two peasants, who were always for domineering, refused, declaring
that it was to no purpose, and even dangerous for us to make any
enquiry, since we were sure that we could not pass the river any
where but at Marienburgh. Nevertheless, I at last was so far
master, that one of my peasants went into the house to make some
enquiry ; but, very luckily for me, the inhabitants could not
speak any tongue but the Polish, as he came and informed me,
adding that he could not make them understand him.
Upon this I alighted from the calash, with design to speak to
them; but this my peasants opposed, they being afraid that my
speech would betray me. After disputing some time, they came
from the calash, and told me plainly that they would leave me, be
3 G -
418 HISTORY OF POLAND.

ing determined to save their necks. I willingly consented, being

no longer able to bear with their insolence and stupidity. I then
went into the house, and told the landlady, very courteously, that I
wanted to cross the Nogat, in order to go and buy cattle; but she
told me that there was not one boat upon the river, and that she
herself had a few cattle to dispose of. I answered that I would
also purchase some of her at my return, but that I should think
myself obliged to her if she could find means for me to cross the
river. The good woman replied, I see you are an honest man, so
will let my son conduct you: a quarter of a league from hence is a
friend of ours, a fisherman, who lives on the other side the water,
and keeps a little vedelin in his house; upon my son's making a
signal to him, he will come to this side, and take you into his boat.'
I thanked the good woman, and stepped into the calash with her
son. My rascally peasants, who were still there, observing me not
to be so much dejected as before, and that I had a guide, suspected
I had now got what I wanted; so came up to me, with a design of
getting into the calash; and this not being a proper season for re
proaches, I did not say a word to them. I therefore set out, and,
after riding a quarter of a league, came to the banks of the Nogat,
where indeed the landlady's son, at his first signal, made his friend
the fisherman come out of his hut, and drag his little vedelin after
him into the river. The moment he was come over to us, I stepped
into his vedelin with one of my peasants, and left the other with
our equipage, it not being possible for us to convey it across the river,
and ordered him to wait there till his comrade, whom I intended to
send back the same day, was returned to him.
In this manner, praise be to Almighty God, I crossed the No
gat, and, very luckily for me, found in the little village called Bia
bagora, situated on the river's side, a small waggon and two horses,
which brought me happily to Marienwerder, on Saturday the 3rd
of July, after having sent away my peasant with a short letter to
the ambassador. Finding myself alone in the public house, I took
a little rest, after sustaining incredible bodily fatigues, without be
ing able to give any ease to my mind, which was in great agitation
The next
upon account of my uncertainty what course to take.
day after my arrival at Marienwerder, I was so fortunate as to meet
again with my faithful companion, general Steinlicht, which is a
great consolation to me.
As the citizens of Dantzick were suspected to have connived at
the escape of Stanislaus, count Munich continued to bombard the
 HISTORY OF POLAND. 419

place, and insisted, amongst other articles, that the city should pay
1,000,000 rix-dollars in case they should not find Stanislaus; and
that the marquis de Monti, the primate, and the other adherents of
that prince, should be delivered up. Several of the latter made
submission to the conqueror; and the primate and ambassador were
made prisoners of war. The capitulation was concluded on the 9th
of July; and the Russians seized and sold by auction whatever they
thought had belonged to Stanislaus. The Dantzickers shortly after
took the oaths to the new king.
Stanislaus was joined at Koningsberg by several adherents from
Poland, and, on the 24th of August, published his universalia ;
but the feeble efforts made by his friends in Poland were all unsuc
cessful. Louis XV., incensed at the part which the emperor had
taken against his father-in-law, entered into a treaty with the
courts of Madrid and Turin, by which they jointly agreed to de
clare war against the emperor. The contest that ensued does not
come within the limits of our plan; as Poland was not involved in
any foreign war during this reign, though few periods of its annals
were more disastrous to its liberties. After various negotiations, it
was agreed by the emperor that the ex-king should be put in pos
session of the duchies of Bar and Lorrain as soon as they should
become vacant; and the latter quitted Koningsberg for his new
possessions in May, 1736. He expired at Luneville on February
23, 1766, in the 89th year of his age. His death was occasioned
by fire accidentally catching his dressing-gown at a time when none
of his attendants were near. Though speedily extricated, the
wounds left by the fire mortified, and carried him off. His consort
was Catherine, daughter of Opalinski, castellan of Posnania, by
whom he had two daughters; Anne, who died young, and Mary,
afterwards queen of France.
To return to the affairs of Poland. The diet of pacification, held
on the accession of Augustus, was the only one in his time which
was not dissolved by the veto. The king, after attending this first
assemblage of his new subjects, committed the charge of governing
both his Polish and Saxon dominions to his minister, count Bruhl,
and contented himself with enjoying his favourite amusements,
smoking and hunting. Too indolent, or too imbecile, to learn the
Polish language, he spent the most part of his time in Saxony,
where the forests presented greater facilities for enjoying his sports
than the plains of Poland. Under the domination of the count,
3 G 2
420 HISTORY OF POLAND.

who had acquired the unlimited confidence of his master, both coun
tries were exposed to the most onerous exactions. The royal esta
blishment was conducted on an expensive scale, but was more than
rivalled by that of Bruhl. While that favourite, by a courtly ac
quiescence in the king's expensive whims, ingratiated himself more
deeply in the monarch's good graces, his own expenditure was im
mense;" and the silly pride of the sovereign was flattered by the
service of so pompous a minister. Indeed, the latter observed, that,
were it not for his profusion, the king would leave him destitute
of necessaries. The queen, Maria Josephina, daughter of the em
peror Joseph, was a woman of considerable spirit, and imagined
that she possessed the greatest influence in the government; though
she was herself, in reality, only an instrument in the hands of the
crafty Bruhl. But it was in his intercourse with the king that the
minister exerted his obsequiousness to most advantage. While the
monarch, in a sort'of half lethargy, slowly paced his apartments or
gardens with his indispensable tobacco-pipe, Bruhl never ventured
to interrupt the royal meditations by a word, until by chance the
half-opened eyes of his master fell upon him, and some brief ques
tion was asked, as, Have I any money, Bruhl P when, Yes,
sire, was the laconic answer. Such was the sovereign, and such
* The reckless profusion of this man, and its consequent effect in the king's
hereditary dominions, are thus described by the traveller Hanway:---" The
distressed condition of the electorate of Saxony is occasioned not more by war
and invasion, and the general depravity of the inhabitants, than by the ini
quity of a few.In wealth and power count Bruhl is incomparably the great
est man in Saxony. He is said to have boughtestates in Poland to the amount
of twenty millions of florins, thus laying up a store out of the reach of the
Saxons, whilst they have no other satisfaction than making lampoons on him
and his patroness the queen. He has also several estates in Saxony, and
moveables to the value of six millions of dollars; withal he owes large sums.-
Count Bruhl is said to be allowed half a million of dollars annually: He has
no less than three or four hundred suits of rich cloaths, with boots and shoes
in proportion: He has collected all the finest colours of all the finest cloths,
velvets, and silks of all manufactures, besides laces and embroideries. He calls
for his books of patterns, which are all numbered, and chuses that which
pleases his fancy for the day: His library is two hundred and twenty feet long;
and his gallery of pictures is incomparably more magnificent than the king's,
and an hundred and fifty-six ells long, which is eighteen more than that of
Versailles. Saxony is said to owe forty millions of dollars, the interest of
which, since the late king's death, has not been regularly paid; the govern
ment securities are now at a large discount. The revenue of the elector of
Saxony is computed at eight millions of dollars.
 HISTORY OF POI, A NID. 421

the minister, whom the Poles, under Russian influence, had chosen
to govern them.
Nothing could be more favourable to the designs of the successive
Russian sovereigns than the imbecility of the king of Poland, around
which devoted nation the folds of Muscovite despotism were gra
dually closing, in order to its being eventually swallowed by its
Jmighty enemy. The states of Courland ventured to elect for their
sovereign Charles, third son of Frederick Augustus; but the latter
durst not permit him to accept the dignity without the consent of
the czarina Elizabeth. Her successor, Peter III., refused to ac

* During the life of Frederick Augustus I., the Saxons had formed the most
exalted hopes from the supposed talents and patriotism of his son, the electoral
prince, who was said to travel about the country in various disguises, in order
to inform himself personally of the desires or grievances of his future subjects.
About the year 1717, the daughter of a clothier in Wolckenstein, named Eli
zabeth, actuated either by a spirit of adventure, or disgusted with labour,
eloped from her father's house, disguised in a suit of his clothes. After tra
velling about for some time, in the character of an ejected schoolmaster, she
arrived at Augustusburg-house, where Mr. Gunther, surveyor of the king's
fisheries, resided. This gentleman, from some real or imaginary resemblance,
fancied he saw in the young suppliant no less a personage than the heir-appa
rent to the electoral throne; and the confusion displayed by the girl, on his
insinuating that she was not what she seemed, confirmed him in his opinion.
Such an opportunity of ingratiating himself into the favour of royalty was not
to be lost; and he accordingly treated the supposed prince with the utmost
respect. The girl, finding herself in good quarters, humoured the whim of the
old gentleman, who supplied her with money and rich dresses, and suggested
that while she remained in his house she should assume the title of count.
Many of the gentry in the neighbourhood were invited to visit the young no
bleman; and as Gunther, in the pride of his heart, whispered to every one the
secret of his guest being the electoral prince, his vanity and ambition were
flattered by the notice procured him through his distinguished visitor, and he
had no doubt that his fortune was made. At length, the king was informed
that his son, whom he supposed to be at Vienna, was at Augustusburg-house;
and he despatched an officer of his court to ascertain the truth. The result
was that a party of horse was sent to bring the young count and Mr. Gunther
to court, where, without hesitation, prince Betty, as she was afterwards
called, gave a full account of the whole affair. As she had never stated her
self to be the electoral prince, the king sentenced Gunther to forfeit to her
every thing which he had presented her with, besides allowing her a rix-dollar
per day as long as she lived; but his majesty also, with a severity which does
him little credit, ordered her to be confined for life, though without any labour,
in Waldheim bridewell. She appears, however, to have enjoyed the compe
tence and idleness of her new situation cheerfully, and generally wore a gen
teel kind of Amazonian habit when visited by such of the gentry as were
curious to see prince Betty.Memoirs of Count Bruhl, p. 85.
422 HISTORY OF POLAND,

knowledge duke Charles, who fled from Courland to avoid the con
sequences of the czar's displeasure. So little respect, indeed, did
Peter evince for the republic, that he never officially announced his
accession to the king ; while, in a treaty with his Prussian ma
jesty, certain measures were dictated, with regard to Poland, which
rather resembled laws given to a dependent state than terms for the
consideration of a free nation. These were, that, on the death of,
Augustus, a Piast should be elected to the throne; that the Dissi
dents, against the declared will of the diet, should be protected in
their religion; and that Courland should be considered as a fief of
the imperial crown.
In 1745, the king of Poland having formed an alliance with Aus
tria, then at war with Prussia, the sovereign of the latter state,
upon the plea that his dominions were about to be invaded, burst
into Lusatia, entered Leipsic, and laid Saxony under contribution.
The king of Poland fled from Dresden; and, as his troops and those
of Austria were defeated at Pirna on the 15th of December, the
Prussian monarch entered the capital of Saxony as a conqueror, and
dictated his own terms to Augustus, who was now obliged to take
refuge in Poland. That country was not made to participate in the
war; but Dresden continued to be occupied by the Prussians, where
the consort of Augustus remained, and endeavoured personally to
protect some important documents relative to the alliance between
Saxony and Austria. These were, however, forcibly seized by or
der of his Prussian majesty, who, by publishing them to the world,
endeavoured to justify his invasion of the electorate. The insults
inflicted on the queen, on this occasion, are said to have hastened
her end; and Augustus remained an exile from his hereditary do
minions till the peace of Hubertsburg, February 15, 1763.
In the mean while, the influence of Russia continued to be un
interruptedly exerted in Poland; and as the court of St. Peters
burgh seemed to be the source of all future favours in the state, many
of the nobility did not fail to favour its ascendancy by their homage.
Amongst these, count Stanislaus Poniatowski was one of the most
conspicuous. This young gentleman, the son of the count who had
remained so long attached to the cause of Stanislaus Leczynski,
carried on a criminal intrigue with the grand-duchess Catherine
during the reign of Elizabeth ; and that talented but dissolute
princess had given her paramour reason to regard the Polish crown
as his own. In a letter to the old count, she said, Charles XII.
knew how to distinguish your merit: I also can distinguish that of
 HISTORY OF POLAN ID. 423

your son, whom I may one day raise, perhaps, higher than even
Charles himself. The family of Czartorinski, who were related
to Poniatowski, formed a large party in Poland favourable to the
expected claims of the young count, in support of which the Rus
sian armies traversed the whole kingdom, extorting whatever they
pleased from the wretched inhabitants. The nobles were unable to
protect the peasantry, who, in many cases, either expired of hun
ger, or resorted to desperate means for obtaining subsistence. Thus
the country became infested with bands of robbers, who were only
distinguished from the military marauders by being less numerous.
The object of the Czartorinskis was to establish a hereditary
monarchy, commencing in their kinsman, count Poniatowski. On
the other hand, the king's party was supported by the Radzivils
and Potockis, who strenuously advocated the maintenance of the
existing constitution, of course with all its defects and abuses.
There were, however, many truly patriotic Poles, who lamented the
degradation of their country, and endeavoured to rouse their fellows
from the factions or the apathy which pervaded them. At the head
of these was Branicki, grand-general of the crown. Keeping aloof
from all the parties of the day, all his efforts were directed towards
the regeneration of his country, and its deliverance from foreign
domination. But in such an era, the virtues of individuals, how
ever bright they may appear amidst the surrounding gloom, could
not contend with the general torrent of selfishness and corruption;
and the accession of Catherine II. to the Russian throne was de
cisive of the fate of the republic. The duchy of Courland was im
mediately occupied by 15,000 of her troops, for the purpose of
restoring Biron, who had been exiled by Peter. At a meeting of
the Polish senate, over which the king presided in person, the na
tional spirit was briefly displayed. It was resolved to insist on the
rights of duke Charles, in opposition to those of Biron; and to
summon the Russian governor before the tribunal of the king. But
this flash of courage vanished before a movement of the czarina's
troops and a thundering declaration from Catherine herself. The
king and count Bruhl, now at liberty to return to Saxony, fled to
Dresden; and the nobility retired to their estates.
The hopes of Poniatowski and his friends were now at the high
est pitch. Nothing less than the deposition of Frederick Augustus
was anticipated; but Catherine was too prudent to hurry matters.
She did not wish to excite the opposition of the lesser nobility, nor
to give such just grounds of jealousy to Austria and Prussia as a
424 HISTORY OF POLAND.

direct violation of the rights of the republic would afford. Though

her ultimate purposes were unaltered, she caused her forces to rest
in Lithuania, and resolved to wait till the king's death before she
declared the throne vacant. This delay was extremely unpalatea
ble to her former lover, who raved like a madman at the postpone
ment of his expectations; but the paroxysm subsided on his learn
ing that the king was indisposed. Augustus expired at Dresde
on the 5th of October, 1763. -

INTERREGNUM.1763-1764.

The Austrian court now endeavoured to promote the election of

the son of the late king; and, as the support of the empire appeared
likely to afford means for rescuing the country from the Russians,
a great number of nobles, amongst whom the house of Radzivil took
a conspicuous part, espoused the cause of the young elector. That
a war would have been the consequence of their perseverance, there
can be little doubt; but the death of their candidate destroyed the
hopes of the party. In the mean time, Catherine repeated her
promises of defending the integrity of the republic, but intimated,
at the same time, that the election of a Piast alone would be accept
able to her. Much difficulty, however, was experienced in the at
tempt to render the choice of Poniatowski popular. The nobles,
proud of their ancestry, could not bring themselves to look with
respect on one whose grandfather had been a steward on a small
estate of the Sapiehas. When this was hinted to Catherine, it is
said that she blushed for a moment to think that one so base should
have been her lover; but, recovering her self-possession, she ex
claimed, Were he a steward himself, I wish him to become a king,
and a king he shall be " -

In the dietines, many propositions were discussed for reforming

the constitution. Some advocated the establishment of a hereditary
monarchy, and the abolition of the veto; others contended for a
purely aristocratical government; while a third party were for sup
porting the constitution in its original principle, with only such
slight improvements as the advances of the age might require. The
Russian and Prussian courts, however, had now formed an under
standing with each other respecting Poland, the bases of which were
that they should oppose every attempt to make the crown heredi
tary, or to strengthen the royal authority; that they should unite

 HISTORY OF POLAND. 425

in securing the election of Stanislaus; and that they should protect , , , , ,

the Dissidents. Accordingly, their respective ambassadors declared 4.t ,
that their sovereigns would not allow any change in the existing . . . . .
system. The Poles, it has been observed, now felt that they
were slaves. +%*.*. -->
f
**
e x
- sa. * *

Previous to the assembling of the diet of convocation, 10,000 *

Russian troops advanced to the neighbourhood of Warsaw; while
40,000 Prussians were stationed on the Silesian frontier. In ad
dition to this shameless attempt at intimidation, the friends of Po
niatowski distributed money profusely, and liberally promised places,
benefices, and pensions to such as would support him. In opposi
tion to these exertions, sixty-seven of the electors, with the aged
grand-marshal and a patriot named Mokronowski at their head,
signed an instrument declaring that the diet could not be held whilst
foreign troops continued in its neighbourhood. The scene which
occurred on the 7th of May, 1764, the day appointed for the meet
ing, though humiliating to the nation in its result, was highly ho
nourable to the virtuous patriotism of some of the actors. The
streets and squares leading to the place of meeting were lined with
Russian troops; while armed thousands of the native adherents of
Poniatowski thronged the avenues and the very halls of the senators
and deputies. Though fifty members of the senate were in War
saw, only eight attended the diet. The time arrived for opening
the business, and all eyes were turned towards Malachowski, the
grand-marshal, waiting the usual signal of his raising the staff of
office; but, to the astonishment and chagrin of the Russian party,
the intrepid veteran persisted in holding it down. Mokronowski
also, while he entered his veto, in the most emphatic manner be
sought him not to elevate it whilst the deliberations of the diet
were controlled by Russian troops. Multitudes of armed men,
with naked sabres, rushed towards the speaker; but their progress
was arrested by a motion of the marshal. He persisted in his in
tention of departing with his staff of office; and the cries of Raise
your staff" from his opponents, were mingled with the louder ex
hortations of Mokronowski to persevere in his determination. In
vain the latter, menaced by his enemies, was besought by his friends
to retract his veto, which exposed him to certain death. Folding
his arms with the most ineffable contempt of his furious assailants,
Be it so, said he ; I will die free " His firmness intimidated
the assassins, who now turned their attention to the marshal, calling
upon him to resign his staff into other hands. Never! replied
3 H
426 HISTORY OF POLAND.

he, you may cut off my hand,-you may take my life; but by a
free people was I elected marshal, and by a free people only will I
be deposed. I wish to quit the place Crowds surrounded him,
and attempted to prevent his departure; but Mokronowski, placing
himself before the hoary patriot, exclaimed, Gentlemen, if a victim
is wanted, behold me; but respect age and virtue! Forcing a
passage through his assailants, who began to shrink before the firm
ness he exhited, he conducted the marshal to the gate; but the
streets were also crowded with their enemies; and Mokronowski
would undoubtedly have perished, had not an unknown person de
ceived the multitude by following him closely, and requesting them
to make way for general Gadomski!
Two hundred members of the diet, disgusted with the coercive
measures adopted by Russia, quitted Warsaw, and retired to their
homes; but though scarcely eighty remained, another marshal was
chosen, and the business commenced. By this illegal junto, it was
declared high treason in the Dissidents to seek the restoration of
their immunities by the intercession of foreign powers; although
many of those powers were guarantees to the treaty of Oliva, in
which it was stipulated that the rights of the Dissidents should be
maintained in their full latitude. Another impolitic measure was
forbidding the inhabitants of Polish Prussia to attend future diets,
except by deputies; though the privilege had been originally gua
ranteed to that country of sending as many nobles as might be wil
ling to attend. This diet recognized the sovereign of Muscovy as
empress of all the Russias, thereby supporting the claims of the
czarina to the dominion over Red Russia, and the other Russian
provinces possessed by Poland; and the elector of Brandenburgh
was also acknowledged as king of Prussia. But the most important
measure was the abolition of the veto, by which the will of a majo
rity was made final. The diet of eleetion was fixed for the 27th of
August; and, on the 7th of the following month, Stanislaus Au
gustus Poniatowski was declared king of Poland and grand-duke of
Lithuania.

STANISLAUS AUGUSTUs.17641795.

Stanislaus was in the 32nd year of his age when he ascended the
throne. His first acts were calculated, by their wisdom and bene
ficial effects, to efface, in a great measure, the recollection of his
 HISTORY OF POLAND. 427

forced elevation. The abolition of the veto was confirmed, and the
arbitrary powers of the grand marshals and hetmans greatly re
strained. During the 70 years which had elapsed since the death
of John Sobieski, the Polish nation had been so little in the habit
of paying an uninfluenced attention to its own affairs, that, at the
period at which we have now arrived, scarcely any person could be
found qualified for the functions of a statesman and politician, and
foreigners were employed to conduct the diplomatic intercourse
with other nations. The science of war was also nearly unknown;
and, to remedy this defect, a corps of cadets was established, to the
support of which the king contributed 120,000 ducats during the
first two years of his reign. Regulations were also introduced into
the commerce of the country and the finances of the state.
As these excellent measures, by introducing order and regularity,
tended to increase the power and importance of Poland, and conse
quently to rescue it from its abject dependence on other countries,
they were naturally viewed with jealousy by the czarina, whose
attachment to Stanislaus had been weakened by other favourites.
Several of the Polish nobles also regretted the loss of the power of
paralyzing, by their individual will, the proceedings of their more
numerous opponents; and the discontent of the Dissidents presented
another impediment to the wished-for tranquillity. Though the
king was inclined to tolerance, yet the general sense of the diet of
1766 was so strongly opposed to him, that even the representations
of the Russian, Prussian, Danish, and English ambassadors were
for some time unattended to. At this period, the representatives
of the czarina in Poland were Keyserling, a crafty and smooth Ger
man jurist; Saldern, a desperate adventurer, banished from Hol
stein for forgery; and Repnin, a haughty and brutal Muscovite.
Their style was in the same tone of authority which has since cha
racterized the Russian diplomacy with regard to Poland.
After a stormy debate, the bench of bishops drew up nine articles
in favour of the Dissidents; but as this document left the excep
tionable laws unrepealed, confederacies began to be formed by the
Protestants in various parts of the country. They were soon joined
by many discontented Catholics, and assisted by a body of 40,000
Russian troops, who entered Thorn, where the first and principal
confederacy took its rise. Great Britain, Denmark, Prussia, and
Sweden, as parties to the treaty of Oliva, testified their approbation
of these confederacies, which, however, soon began to assume a po
litical, as well as a religious character. Prince Radzivil, who had
3 H 2
428 HISTORY OF POLAND.

opposed the election of the king, was appointed marshal of the

united Catholic and Dissident confederacies. Meanwhile, the king,
to appease the czarina, whose troops were advanced within a few
miles of Warsaw, convoked an extraordinary diet. Still the Catho
lic party, of whom the bishops of Cracow and Kiow were the most
active, bitterly inveighed both against the claims of the Dissidents
and the interference of foreign powers in the internal affairs of the
state. Liberty of discussion, however, had long been forbidden by
Catherine; and, in the night of the 15th of October, 1767, the two
prelates and a few others of their party were arrested by a corps of
Russian troops, and sent, without trial, to that country, where they
experienced a rigorous imprisonment of more than five years.
This outrage produced a temporary submission to the Russian
authority; and the obnoxious laws against the Dissidents were re
pealed in the diet of 1768, which also submitted, probably through
dread of the Muscovite forces stationed near them, to abolish seve
ral of the improvements which had been effected in the constitution,
and to restore the ancient usages. But the spirit of the Catholic
malcontents was inflamed by these concessions; and several confe
deracies were formed, towards the Turkish frontiers, in defence of
the ancient faith. They carried standards before them highly cal
culated to inflame the zeal of the populace: upon some of these,
images of the Virgin Mary and the infant Jesus were delineated ;
upon others, the spread eagle of Poland, with the mottos, Con
quest or Death !For religion and liberly 1 Some banners
bore as a device a red cross, under which was inscribed, The sym
bol of victory. The private soldiers of the confederacy, like the
crusaders of old, wore a cross interwoven in their garments. One
party of these insurgents seized on Bar, in Podolia, and another
took possession of Cracow; while their avowed object was to free
the country from foreign influence, and to dethrone the man whom
they considered but a puppet in the hands of their enemies. The
national troops, who marched against them, were either routed or
prevailed upon to join them. In this crisis, notwithstanding the
opposition of the Czartoryskis, the senate petitioned the Russian
ambassador not to withdraw the czarina's troops from the kingdom,
as they afforded the only protection against the confederates; and
this request was readily complied with. The confusion, devastation,
and civil war, which prevaded Poland during the years 1769, 1770,
and 1771, changed the whole face of the country; many of the
principal Catholic families retired into foreign states with their ef
 HISTORY OF POLAND. - 429

fects; and it was only by means of the body of Russians, which

acted as the king's guard, that the city of Warsaw itself was pre
served from plunder and massacre. To these complicated evils were
added, in 1770, the scourge of pestilence, which spread from the
frontiers of Turkey to the adjoining provinces of Podolia, Volhynia,
and the Ukraine; and in these districts it is said to have swept off
250,000 of the people. Meanwhile the intercessions of some of the
Polish confederates prevailed on the grand seignior to commence a
war with the Russians on behalf of Poland; a measure which coil
trasts strongly with the conduct of its Christian neighbours.
One of the most remarkable events which occurred during this
sanguinary struggle, was the attempted assassination of the king.
The details of this romantic adventure, as given by Mr. Wraxall
and Mr. Coxe, are as follow:
A Polish nobleman named Pulaski, a general in the army of the
confederates, was the person who planned the enterprise; and the
conspirators who carried it into execution were about forty in num
ber, headed by three chiefs, named Lukawski, Strawenski, and
Kosinski. These three were engaged by Pulaski, who, in the town
of Czetschokow in Great Poland, bound them by oath to deliver
the king alive into his hands, or, in case that should be found im
possible, to put him to death. Before the miraculous image of the
Holy Virgin, they swore to the following effect:-"We, being ex
cited by a holy and religious zeal, have taken a firm and unshaken
resolution to revenge the cause of the Divinity, religion, and our
country, which has been injured by the tyrant Stanislaus Augustus,
despiser of laws divine and human, usurper of the throne of Poland,
promoter of atheists and heretics, traitor to his country, oppressor
of the nation, and a vile instrument of foreign ambition and injus
tice; and we do swear and promise, before the sacred and miracu
lous image of the mother of God, to sacrifice our fortunes, lives, and
families, in order to extirpate from the earth one who dishonours it,
by trampling under foot the respect due to the Divinity, religion,
and the privileges of the nation. So help us God.
About a month after this fearful solemnity, the conspirators en
tered Warsaw disguised as peasants, and having their arms, clothes,
and saddles concealed in some waggons loaded with hay, which they
pretended to be selling. On Sunday night, the 3rd of September,
1771, a few of them remained in the skirts of the town; and the
others repaired to the place of rendezvous, the street of the capu
chins, where his majesty was expected to pass about his usual hour
430 a lo 1 URY OF POLAND.

of returning to the palace. He had been to visit his uncle, prince

Czartoryski, grand-chancellor of Lithuania, and was returning, be
tween nine and ten o'clock, in a coach, accompanied by at least
fifteen or sixteen attendants, besides an aid-de-camp in the carriage.
Scarcely was he at the distance of 200 paces from prince Czarto
ryski's palace, when he was attacked by the conspirators, who com
manded the coachman to stop on pain of instant death. They fired
several shots into the carriage, some of which perforated the fur
pelisse worn by the king, but without injuring his person; and one
of them passed through the body of a heyduc, who endeavoured to
defend his master from the violence of the assassins. Almost all
the other persons who preceded and accompanied his majesty were
dispersed; and even the aid-de-camp abandoned him, and attempted
to conceal himself by flight. Meanwhile the king had opened the
door of his carriage, with the design of effecting his escape under
shelter of the night, which was extremely dark, and Warsaw had
then no lamps. He had even alighted, when the assassins seized
him by the hair, exclaiming, with horrid execrations, We have
thee now! thy hour is come ! One of them discharged a pistol at
him, so very near that he felt the heat of the flash ; while another
cut him across the head with his sabre, which penetrated to the
bone. They then laid hold of him by the collar, and, mounting on
horseback, dragged him along the ground between their horses, at
full gallop, for near 500 paces through the streets of Warsaw. The
only notice taken of them was by a Russian centinel, who hailed
them; but, as they answered in Russian, he allowed them to pass,
imagining them to be a patrol of his countrymen.
During this time, all was confusion and disorder at the palace,
where the attendants who had deserted their master spread the
alarm. The foot-guards ran immediately to the spot from whence
the king had been conveyed; but they found only his hat, stained
with blood, and his bag. This increased their apprehensions for his
life. The whole city was in an uproar; and the assassins took the
advantage of the universal confusion, terror, and consternation, by
bearing away their prize. Finding, however, that he was incapable
of following them on foot, and that he had already almost lost his
respiration from the violence with which they had dragged him,
they set him on horseback, and then redoubled their speed for fear
of being overtaken. When they came to the ditch which surrounds
Warsaw, they compelled him to leap his horse over. In the at
tempt the horse fell twice, and at the second fall broke its leg.
 HISTORY OF POLAND. - 431

They then mounted his majesty upon another, all covered as he

was with dirt. Having crossed the ditch, they began to rifle the
king. Lukawski tore off the Order of the Black Eagle of Prussia,
which he wore round his neck, and the diamond cross hanging at it.
His majesty requested them to leave his handkerchief, which they
consented to ; and his tablets escaped their rapacity. A great
number of the assassins retired after having thus plundered him,
probably with the intention of notifying to their respective leaders
the success of their enterprise, which the display of their booty
would confirm. Only seven remained with the king, of whom Ko
sinski was the chief. The night was exceedingly dark ; they were
utterly ignorant of the way; and, as the horses could not keep their
legs, they forced his majesty to follow them on foot, with only one
shoe, the other being lost in the dirt. -

They continued for some time to wander through the open mea
dows, without following any certain path, or getting to any
considerable distance from Warsaw. At length, they again mount
ed the king on horseback, two of them holding him on each side by
the hand, and a third leading his horse by the bridle. In this man
ner they were proceeding, when his majesty, finding they had taken
the road which led to a village called Burakow, where some Russians
were stationed, became apprehensive that the conspirators, at the
sight of this guard, would instantly put him to death with their
sabres, and fly. He therefore, with wonderful policy and self
command, informed them of the danger they were incurring; and,
by this apparent confidence, led them to believe that he did not
wish to escape from them. The cold air had by this time greatly
affected the wound in his head; and his foot, which was covered
with blood, gave him inexpressible torture. Feeling himself, there
for, incapable of accompanying the assassins in the painful posture
in which they kept him down on the saddle, he took advantage of
the favourable impression his conduct had made upon them, to re
quest, since they were determined on compelling him to proceed, at
least to give him another horse, a cap, and a boot. Kosinski pre
vailed on them to grant these requests; and, continuing their pro
gress through almost impassable lands, without any road, and
ignorant of their way, they at length found themselves in the wood
of Bielany, only a league distant from Warsaw. From the time
they had passed the ditch, they repeatedly demanded of Kosinski if
it was not yet time to put the king to death; and these demands
432 HISTORY OF POLAND.

were reiterated in proportion to the obstacles and difficulties they

encountered.
Meanwhile the confusion and consternation increased at Warsaw.
The guards were afraid to pursue the conspirators, lest the fear of
being overtaken should prompt them in the darkness to massacre
the king ; and, on the other hand, they dreaded that by not pursu
ing they might give them time to escape with their prize beyond
the possibility of assistance. Several of the chief nobility at length
mounted on horseback, and, following the track of the assassins,
arrived at the place where his majesty had passed the ditch. There
they found his pelisse, which he had lost in the precipitation with
which he was hurried away: it was bloody, and pierced with holes
made by the balls or sabres. This convinced them that he was no
more.

The king was still in the hands of the seven remaining assassins,
who advanced with him into the wood of Bielany, when they were
suddenly alarmed by a Russian patrol or detachment. Instantly
holding council, four of them disappeared, leaving him with the
other three, who compelled him to walk on. Scarcely a quarter of
an hour had elapsed, when a second Russian guard challenged them
anew. Two of the assassins then fled, and the king remained alone
with Kosinski, their chief, both on foot. His majesty, exhausted
with the fatigue which he had undergone, implored his conductor
to stop, and suffer him to take a moment's repose. Kosinski refused
it, menacing him with his naked sword; and at the same time in
formed him, that beyond the wood they should find a carriage.
They continued their walk, till they came to the door of the con
vent of Bielany. Kosinski appeared lost in thought, and so much
agitated by his reflections, that the king perceiving his disorder, and
being aware that he wandered without knowing the road, said to
him, I see you are at a loss which way to proceed. Let me enter
the convent of Bielany, and do you provide for your own safety.
No, replied Kosinski, I have sworn 1"
They proceeded till they came to Mariemont, a small palace
belonging to the house of Saxony, not above half a league from
Warsaw. Here Kosinski betrayed some satisfaction at finding
where he was ; and the king still demanding an instant's repose,
he consented at length. They sat down together on the ground;
and the king employed these moments in endeavouring to soften
his conductor, and induce him to favour or permit his escape. His
 HISTORY OF POLAND. 433

majesty represented the atrocity of the crime he had committed in

attempting to murder his sovereign, and the invalidity of an oath
taken to perpetrate so heinous an action. Kosinski lent attention
to this discourse, and began to betray some symptoms of remorse.
But, said he, if I should consent and reconduct you to Warsaw,
what will be the consequence P I shall be taken and executed.
This reflection plunged him into new uncertainty and embarrass
ment. I give you my word, answered the king, that you shall
suffer no harm ; but if you doubt my promise, escape while there is
yet time. I can find my way to some place of security; and I will
certainly direct your pursuers to take the contrary road to that which
you have chosen. Kosinski could no longer contain himself, but
throwing himself at the king's feet, he implored forgiveness for the
crime he had committed, and swore to protect him against every
enemy, relying totally on his generosity for pardon and preservation.
His majesty reiterated to him his assurances of safety. Judging,
however, that it was prudent to gain some asylum without delay,
and recollecting that there was a little mill at some distance, he im
mediately made towards it. Kosinski knocked, but in vain; no an
swer was given. He then broke a pane of glass in the window, and
entreated for shelter to a nobleman who had been plundered by
robbers. The miller refused, supposing them to be banditti, and
continued for more than half an hour to persist in his denial. At
length the king approached, and speaking through the broken pane,
endeavoured to persuade him to admit them under his roof; adding,
If we were robbers, as you suppose, it would be very easy for us to
break the whole window, instead of one pane of glass. This ar
gument prevailed; the door was opened, and the visitors were ad
mitted. The king immediately wrote the following note to general
Coccei, colonel of the foot-guards:
By a kind of miracle I am escaped from the hands of assassins.
I am now at the mill of Mariemont. Come as soon as possible, and
take me from hence. I am wounded, but not dangerously.
It was with some difficulty that the people of the mill could be
prevailed upon to carry this note to Warsaw; as they were afraid of
falling in with the robbers who, they supposed, had plundered their
guests. Kosinski then offered to restore every thing he had taken
from the king; but his majesty allowed him to retain the whole ex
cept the blue ribbon of the White Eagle. In the mean time, the
arrival at Warsaw of the messenger with the note produced a burst
of astonishment and joy, Coccei instantly rode to the mill, followed
19 3 I
434 HISTORY OF POLAND.

by a detachment of the guards. He met Kosinski at the door with

his sabre drawn, who admitted him as soon as he knew him. The
king had sunk into a sleep caused by his fatigue, and was stretched
on the ground, covered with the miller's cloak. Coccei immediately
threw himself at his majesty's feet, calling him his sovereign, and
kissing his hand. The miller and his family were astonished at
this discovery of the rank of their visitor; and they instantly imi
tated Coccei's example, by throwing themselves on their knees.
The king returned in general Coccei's carriage to Warsaw, which
he reached about five o'clock in the morning. The streets were il
luminated by torches, and crowded by an immense concourse of
people, who followed him to the palace, crying out incessantly,
The king is alive The doors of the palace were thrown open,
and a multitude of persons of all ranks admitted. Many struggled
to get near him to kiss his hand, or to touch his clothes; and even
Kosinski, as the saviour of the king, was loaded with caresses. For
getting the dangers he had escaped, and the wounds he had received,
the king gratified the impatient curiosity of the people by relating
the extraordinary adventures of the night. Being at length left
alone, he permitted the surgeons to examine the wound in his head.
Upon cutting away the skin, it appeared that the bone was hurt,
but not dangerously; and from the quantity of clotted blood, the
operation of dressing was tedious and painful. The surgeons pro
posed to bleed him in the foot; but they laid aside this intention,
upon finding both his feet swollen considerably, and covered with
blisters and bruises. In a few days, however, he was considered
out of danger. His first care was to provide for the family of the
heyduc, who had sacrificed his life in his defence; and to whose
memory he caused a handsome monument to be erected. He also
rewarded the miller of Mariemont to the extent of his wishes, by
building him a mill upon the Vistula in lieu of the miserable hovel
he before occupied, and allowing him a small pension.
Lukawski and Strawenski were both taken, as were several of
the other assassins. At the king's particular request and entreaty,
the diet remitted the capital punishment of the inferior conspirators,
and condemned them to work for life on the fortifications of Kami
nieck. By his intercession likewise with the diet, the horrible
punishment and various modes of torture, which the laws of Poland
awarded to regicides, were mitigated ; and both Lukawski and
Strawenski were simply beheaded. Kosinski was detained under
a very strict confinement, and obliged to give evidence against his
 HISTORY OF POLAND. 435

two companions. The conduct of Lukawski, previous to his death,

has been described as highly noble and manly. When he was car
ried to the place of execution, though his body was attenuated by
the severity of his confinement, diet, and treatment, his spirit, still
unsubdued, elevated him above the terrors of an infamous and pub
lic execution. He had not been permitted to shave his beard while
in prison, and his dress was squalid to the last degree; yet none of
these humiliations could depress his mind. With a grandeur of
soul which it was impossible not to admire, he refused to see or
embrace the traitor Kosinski. When conducted to the scene of ex
ecution, which was about a mile from Warsaw, he betrayed no
emotions of terror or unmanly fear. He made a short harangue to
the multitude assembled upon the occasion, in which he by no means
expressed any sorrow for his past conduct, or contrition for his at
tempt on the king, which he no doubt still regarded as meritorious
and patriotic. His head was severed from his body. Strawenski suf
fered at the same time; but he neither harangued the people, nor
shewed any signs of contrition. Pulaski, who commanded one of
the many corps of confederate Poles then in arms, and who was the
great agent and promoter of the assassination, escaped to America,
and distinguished himself in the service of the States. He was
killed in the attempt to force the British lines at the siege of Sa
vannah in 1779. John Kutsma, or Kosinski, was a person of mean
extraction, but assumed the latter name, which was that of a noble
family, to give himself credit. About a week after the execution
of his comrades, the king sent him out of Poland, and he retired to
Semigallia, in the papal territories, where he enjoyed an annual
pension from his majesty.
As soon as Stanislaus was sufficiently recovered, he wrote an ac
count of his danger and wonderful escape to the empress of Rus
sia and to the king of Prussia. In the answer of the latter, after
expatiating on the atrocity and seditious nature of the horrid
attempt, in which, he says, all sovereigns are concerned, he con
gratulates the king of Poland sincerely on his deliverance, and
assures him of the high esteem and friendship with which he remains
his good brother. Yet it is now well known that the fraternal
Frederick had, at that time, planned and communicated to the czar
ina the infamous scheme of seizing on a great portion of the territories
of his brother l
The council of the confederation had established themselves at
Eperies, within the frontier of Hungary, with the connivance and
3 I 2
 436 HISTORY OF POLAND.

secret favour of Austria. Some French officers, and aid in money

from Versailles and Constantinople, added something to their strength,
and more to their credit. Repnin entered into a negotiation with
them, and proposed an armistice, till he could procure reinforcements.
Old Pauluski, the first leader of the confederation, objected. There
is no word, said he, in the Russian language for honour. The
event speedily shewed that the word would have been altogether
superfluous. Repnin, as soon as he was reinforced, laughed at the
armistice, fell upon the confederates, and laid waste their lands with
fire and sword. The Cossacks brought to his house, at Warsaw, Po
.. ** | lish gentlemen tied to the tails of their horses, and dragged in this
**
-

wmanner along the ground. A Russian colonel, named Drewitz,

* seems to have surpassedall his comrades inferocity. Not content with
s massacring the gentlemen to whom quarter had been given, he in
*

a ...?'
** * : *."
*
flicted on them the punishments invented in Russia for slaves; some
! J times tying them to trees as a mark for his soldiers to fire at ;
sometimes scorching certain parts of their skin, so as to represent
the national dress of Poland; sometimes dispersing them over the
provinces, after he had cut off their hands, arms, noses, or ears, as
living examples of the punishment suffered by those who loved their
country. It was in this war with the confederates that the famous
Russian general Suwarrow first distinguished himself, and obtained
the approbation of his sovereign; and, on the side of the confede
rates, the no less celebrated French general Dumourier made his first
military essay. -

* Amongst the many extraordinary characters engaged in these wars, Mau

rice Augustus, count de Benyowski, is deserving of particular notice. He was
a magnate of the kingdoms of Poland and Hungary, and was born in the lat
ter country in 1741. He received a military education; and, having acted
altogether violently and lawlessly in the recovery of some family property, he
was deprived of all his estates by the chancery of Vienna, and fled into Poland.
Here he joined the war of the confederates, and was taken prisoner by the
Russians, ransomed, and again captured and sent exile to Kamtschatka, where
the governor entrusted to his care the education of his son and three daughters.
The youngest of these having fallen in love with him, her fond parents con
sented to the match; but the sole object of Benyowski, who was secretly form
ing a confederacy among the exiles with a view to escape, was simply to take
advantage of his talents of ingratiation to effect that purpose. He finally suc
ceeded, but not without killing the governor; on which event, by contriving
to get their wives and children into his power, he imposed terms on the mili
tary, and was enabled to seize a vessel and sail from Kamtschatka, accom
panied by 96 persons. Of these nine were women, including Aphranasia
Nilow, the governor's daughter, of whom nothing more is beard, in the very
 HISTORY OF POLAN ID. 437

We have now arrived at a period of Polish history, to which that

of no other civilized nation presents a parallel. During many cen
turies, a kind of tacit international agreement, with regard to the
territorial integrity of the states of Europe, seems to have gradually
acquired strength. It is true that, in periods of war, the right of con
quest had frequently justified the appropriation of a part, or the whole,
of a vanquished nation's dominions; but it was reserved for the close
of the eighteenth century, when the principles of policy were more
widely diffused and more generally understood than they had pre

romantic and suspicious narrative of the count, than that she died in the fol
lowing September at Macao. At the latter port the count and his companions
arrived, after crossing the Northern Pacific Ocean, and touching at Japan
and Formosa. At Macao he formed an engagement with the French East
India company, and proceeded with most of his companions to the Isle of
France, whence he finally sailed for Europe in 1772, and, touching at Mada
gascar, arrived in France in the July of that year. He was well received by
the French ministry, who listened to his plan for a settlement in the island of
Madagascar. He accordingly embarked once more for the Isle of France,
whence he sent a detachment to Madagascar; but being inadequately sup
ported, great confusion ensued, which induced the French ministry to send
out commissioners to enquire into the state of the settlement. Here Ben
yowski again degenerated into the mere adventurer, quitted the French ser
vice, and inducing the natives to believe that he was a descendant of one of
the native kings formerly carried away to Europe, was actually elected their
chief. Thus constituted a sovereign, he sailed to Europe in a brig which he
had freighted for the Cape of Good Hope, in order to submit proposals for
acquiring the aid and protection of Great Britain, or any other power who
might deem certain trading advantages an equivalent. He, however, failed
in all these endeavours, but induced some private morchants to supply him
with a vessel and merchandize to the value of 4000. After touching at the
Cape of Good Hope and at Sofala, he anchored at the bay of Atanagara in
Madagascar, in July, 1785, where he unloaded his cargo, on which those on
board sailed away with the vessel and deserted him. Notwithstanding this
disaster, he departed for his settlement of Angoneti, leaving his party to fol
low, and soon had a body of natives under his command, with whom he at
tacked the French factory at Foulpoint. In consequence of these proceedings,
the government of the Isle of France sent a ship with 60 regulars on board,
who landed in May, 1786. The count had constructed a small redoubt, which
he attempted to defend with two cannon, as many Europeans, and 30 natives.
The latter fled on the first fire; and Benyowski, receiving a musket-ball in
the breast, fell behind the parapet, whence he was dragged by the hair, and
in a few minutes afterwards expired. Thus fell this brave and eccentric ad
venturer, who, had he moved in a wider sphere, might have formed a conspicu
ous subject for history, but whose memoir merely supplies another example of
that daring and fearless class of character which passes meteor-like through
life, without leaving either traces or consequences.Biog. Dict.
 !,
4.38 HISTORY OF POLAND.

viously been, to exhibit the monstrous spectacle of a nation, in a

time of profound peace with its neighbours, dismembered and par
celled out by them without scruple or compunction, and without
assistance from other states whose interest it was, as well as their
duty, to have prevented the unprincipled violation.
The principal security of Poland had long been derived from its
- "" peculiar situation between three great powers, each equally in
| -\ terested to prevent the others from acquiring any increase of strength
~~~ or territory. The union of these rival states was never considered
possible; or, if it had been, it was thought incredible that the other
nations of Europe would have passively submitted to so material an
alteration in the balance of power as a dismemberment of Polish
territory. The idea that that nation should be sunk so low as to
fall an easy prey to neighbours, who, however powerful in modern
times, had all formerly owned its superiority, seemed too extravagant
to merit a serious consideratson. Prussia, as we have seen, was for
r
merly in a state of vassalage to the republic, from which it was not
released till the reign of John Casimir ; nor was it till the accession
-

of Stanislaus Augustus in 1764 that the Poles acknowledged it as

a kingdom. Russia had seen its capital and throne possessed by the
Poles in the reign of Sigismund III., whose troops occupied Mus
covy, and whose son Uladislaus was chosen czar by a party of Russian
nobles; and Austria, not quite a century before, was indebted to a
sovereign of this country, the great Sobieski, for the preservation of
Vienna, and deliverance from the greatest dangers that had ever
threatened the empire.
f v In addition to ancient authority and established right, numberless
treaties and negotiations had guaranteed the inviolability of the Po
f t c lish territory. On the accession of Stanislaus Augustus in 1764,
*A-' the empress of Russia transmitted to the court of Warsaw an act of
w renunciation, signed with her own hand, and sealed with the seal
of the empire, wherein she declared, that she did by no means ar
rogate either to herself, her heirs and successors, or to her empire,
any right or claim to the districts or territories which were actually
in possession, or subject to the authority of the kingdom of Poland,
or great-duchy of Lithuania; but that, on the contrary, her said
majesty would guarantee to the said kingdom of Poland and duchy
of Lithuania all the immunities, lands, territories, and districts,
which the said kingdom and duchy ought by right to possess, or did
then actually possess; and would at all times, and for ever, maintain
them in the full and free enjoyment thereof, against the attempts
 HISTORY OF POLAND. 439

of all and every one who should at any time, or on any pretext, en
deavour to dispossess them of the same. In the same year did the
king of Prussia sign, with his own hand, an act, wherein he de
clared, that he had no claims, and formed no pretensions on Poland,
or any part thereof: that he renounced all claims on that kingdom,
either as king of Prussia, elector of Brandenburgh, or duke of Po
merania. In the same instrument, he guaranteed, in the most
solemn manner, the territories and rights of Poland against every
power whatever. In the summer of 1770, indeed, the empress
queen, Maria Theresa, had caused her troops to take possession of
the county of Zipps, a district anciently pertaining to Hungary, but
which had been held by Poland for about 360 years, under a mort
gage made by Sigismund, king of Hungary, on the strange condition
that, if it was not redeemed by a fixed time, it could only be so by
payment of as many times the original sum as there had years elapsed
since the appointed term. This movement produced a remonstrance
even from the timid Stanislaus ; but, in the month of January, 1771,
she wrote a letter to him with her own hand, in which she gave him
the strongest assurances, that her friendship for him and the repub
lic was firm and unalterable; that the motion of her troops ought
not to alarm him; and that she had never entertained a thought of
seizing any part of his dominions, nor would even suffer any other
power to do it. Could it have been supposed that these direct pro
mises to guarantee the rights, liberties, territories, and revenues of
a state, concealed a design to annihilate those liberties, seize upon
those rights, and appropriate those territories and revenues to the
use of the unprincipled despots who thus pledged their words for
their preservation ?
But prescriptive rights, and even treaties, form but a feeble bar
rier against the designs of ambition backed with power. The czars
had for centuries endeavoured to gain a footing in the milder regions
of Europe. Their desperate struggles to obtain possession of Livo
nia, and thereby locate themselves on the shores of the Baltic, have
already been noticed in this work. An accession of territory was
gained from John Sobieski, who, while he purchased an opportu
nity of prosecuting the Turkish war at the price of Severia, Smo
lensko, Kiow, and other possessions, did not perceive that he was
strengthening a power which would one day prove a more deadly
enemy to his own dominions, as well as to the liberties of Europe
generally, than the Ottoman Porte had ever been. The disastrous
treaty between Frederick Augustus I. and the czar, and the conse
 440 HISTORY OF POLAND.

quent war with Sweden, were the means of introducing swarms of

barbarians from the frozen regions of the north into the fertile plains
of Poland. There they remained, under various pretexts, during
that and the following reign ; and having given a king to the re
public in the paramour of their empress, it was necessary that they
should continue to guard him against the seditious designs of his
subjects. Prussia had also been increasing in military importance
since the time of Frederick William, the great elector; and that
power having agreed with Russia to share in the spoils of Poland,
all that remained necessary was to buy off the opposition of Austria,
by making that state a participator in their unholy gains.
The defective government of Poland, the uncontrolled power of
its nobles, their turbulence and jealousies, and their frequent recur
rence to neighbourimg powers for assistance, had naturally excited
the cupidity and ambition which at length swallowed up the state
itself. The natural resources of the nation might have been suffi
cient, but for these causes, for its defence against its most gigantic
enemies. Enthusiastie in their love of liberty, and the bravest of
the brave in the field, the Poles, but for the vicious nature of their
constitution, might still have held a proud place amongst the na
tions of Europe. The courage which animated the followers of the
Boleslauses, the Uladislauses, and of the great Sobieski, was not
extinct at the period at which we have arrivednor is it yet ; but
years of misrule and confusion had thrown their paralyzing influence
over the republic, and prepared it for the designs of its enemies.
l"There is now no doubt that the project of the dismemberment of
Poland originated with Frederick king of Prussia. Polish or
Western Prussia had long been an object of his ambition. Exclu
sive of its fertility, commerce, and population, its local situation
rendered it highly valuable to that monarch ; as it lay between his
German dominions and Eastern Prussia, and, while possessed by
the Poles, cut off, at their will, all communication between them.
During the course of the preceding general war, he had experienced
the most disastrous effects from this disjointed state of his territories.
By the acquisition of Western Prussia, his dominions would be
rendered compact, and his troops in time of war be able to march
from Berlin to Koningsburgh without obstruction. The period was
now arrived when the situation of Poland seemed to promise the at
tainment of this favourite object. He pursued it, however, with all
the caution of an able politician. On the commencement of the
troubles, he shewed no eagerness to interfere in the affairs of the
 HISTORY OF POLAND. 441

republic; and although he had concurred with the empress of Rus

sia in raising Stanislaus Augustus to the throne, yet for some time
he declined taking any active part in his favour against the confede
rates. Afterwards, in 1769, when the whole kingdom became con
vulsed throughout with civil commotions, and desolated likewise with
the plague, he, under pretence of forming lines to prevent the spread
ing of the infection, advanced his troops into Polish Prussia, and
occupied the whole of that district.
In the year 1771, the Prussian troops entered Great Poland,
where the conduct of Frederick was the most tyrannical that can be
conceived. In that year he carried off from the province and its
neighbourhood, at a moderate computation, 12,000 families. On the
29th of October, he published an edict, commanding every person,
under the severest penalties, and even corporal punishment, to take
t ". . . .
in payment for forage, provisions, corn, horses, &c., the money
offered by his troops and commissaries. This money was either j *.
silver bearing the impression of Poland, and exactly worth one
third of its nominal value, or ducats struck in imitation of those of
Holland, seventeen per cent. inferior to the real Dutch ducats.
With this base money he bought up corn and forage enough, not
only to supply his army for two whole years, but to stock magazines
in the country itself, where the inhabitants were forced to come
and re-purchase corn for their daily subsistence at an advanced
price, and with good money; his commissaries refusing to take the
same coin they had paid. At the lowest calculation he gained, by (24
c - .
6
this honest manoeuvre, seven millions of dollars. Having stripped ~ , v J
the country of money and provisions, his next attempt was to thin
it still more of its inhabitants. To people his own dominions, at
the expense of Poland, had been his great aim ; and for this pur
pose he devised a new contribution. Every town and village was
compelled to furnish a certain number of marriageable girls; the
parents to give, as a portion, a feather-bed, four pillows, a cow,
two hogs, and three ducats in gold. Some were bound hand and
foot, and carried off as if they had been criminals. His exactions
from the abbeys, convents, cathedrals, and nobles, were so heavy,
and at last exceeded their abilities so much, that the priests aban
doned their churches, and the nobles their lands. These exactions
continued with unabated rigour, from the year 1771, to the time
the treaty of partition was declared, and possession taken of the
provinces usurped.
3 k
 - 1. /) C, c- T. &
- , -" ". . . . , , , t * t -
9, t
442 HISTORY OF POLAND,

Frederick was now literally master of the district he had coveted,

and had no reason to be apprehensive of any formidable resistance
from the disunited Poles; but, as he was well aware that the per
manence of his possession depended upon the acquiescence of Russia
and Austria, he endeavoured to lead those powers into his designs
respecting a general partition of Poland, which, from the first, he
had arranged in his mind. He forbore, however, from making any
overtures on the subject to the czarina, until she was involved in
the Turkish war. He was aware that though she was too discerning
a politician not to regard with jealousy the introduction of his forces
into Poland, yet as she possessed the real control of the whole coun
try, the formal acquisition of only a part of it was comparatively of
trivial import. On the breaking out of hostilities with the Porte
in 1770, he despatched his brother prince Henry to Petersburgh,
who suggested to the empress that the house of Austria was form
ing an alliance with the Turks, which, if effected, would create a
most formidable combination against her; but that, if she would
consent to the dismemberment of Poland, the emperor might be in
duced, in consideration of obtaining a share of territory, to renounce
his connexion with the grand seignior, and would suffer the Russians
to prosecute the war without interruption. It is very difficult to
know who first spoke out upon this tender subject. Probably the
parties at first used but looks or hints in their conversations. Ca
therine was extremely anxious to push her conquests against the
Turks, and dreaded the interposition of the emperor in their favour.
She likewise perceived that, engaged as she was in hostilities, she
had not the means to prevent Austria and Prussia from seizing on
the Polish dominions, should they determine on doing so. She
therefore acquiesced in the proposition; and dipping her finger in
the inkstand, she drew a line over the map of Poland, and thereby
shewed the not inconsiderable portion of territory she selected for
herself.
On the return of prince Henry to Berlin, the king of Prussia
affected to be very angry at the agreement made with the czarina.
On the following day, however, he embraced his brother as the sa
viour of the monarchy. Still, in his correspondence with Catherine,
he urged, not without reason, his apprehension of general censure;
but that princess replied, I TAKE ALL THE BLAME UPON MYSELF.
More than a year elapsed before the courts of Petersburgh and
Berlin had finished their arrangements: and, so flagrant and unjust
 - * ,, y < * * * * . . . .. ,
8 *** * - *-

** *.
- . ... . "
* *
HISTORY OF POLAND. 443

did these appear, even to their projectors, that Catherine, unscru

pulous and mendacious as she was, declined being the first to ani
nounce them to the court of Vienna. Frederick, however, was
become less fastidious; and indeed it is somewhat probable that he
had previously gained the emperor over to his views, either during
their interview at Niess in Silesia in 1769, or in that of the follow
ing year at Neustadt. According to Ferrand, prince Henry, in a
conversation with the Van Swieten, the Austrian minister at Berlin,
assured him, on the part of Catherine, that if Austria would fa
vour her negotiation with Turkey, she would consent to a consider.
able augmentation of the Austrian territory. Van Swieten asked,
Where? Henry replied, You know as well as I do what your
court might take, and what it is in the power of Russia and Prussia
to cede to her. The cautious minister was silent; but the subject
was soon opened to his court. The young emperor Joseph was
easily gained over; but the tender conscience of the empress-queen,
|(-*A*-
{12 3.

Maria Theresa, seemed to present an insuperable obstacle. The '' t

piety of that princess, however, was not proof against the tempta-G '
tions of the new scheme; though, in the presence of the French | , ". .
ambassador, she shed tears at the fate of the oppressed Poles 1 In'
the mean time, Joseph, who had before secretly encouraged the con
federates, and had actually commenced a negotiation with the Porte
against Russia, suddenly altered his measures, and increased his
army towards the Polish frontiers. The plague presented to him,
as well as to the king of Prussia, a specious motive for stationing
troops in the dominions of the republic ; and he gradually extended
his lines, until, in 1772, they occupied the whole territory which he
afterwards dismembered. . . ;

The treaty of partition was signed at Petersburgh, on the 5th of

August, 1772, by the Russian, Austrian, and Prussian plenipoten
tiaries. So profound was the secresy preserved by the partitioning
powers, that, for some time after the ratification of the treaty, only
vague conjectures were entertained even at Warsaw concerning

* That princess, from a feeling of disgust at the private character of Cathe

rine, never spoke of her in any other terms than as that woman. She had,
since the death of her husband, passed several hours of every day in a fune
real apartment, adorned by crucifixes and death's heads, together with a por
trait of the late emperor, painted when he had breathed his last, and a picture
of herself, as it was supposed she would appear, when the paleness and cold
of death should take from her countenance the remains of that beauty which
made her one of the finest women of her age.--Ruthiercs, iv. 167.
3 K 2
 444 HISTORY OF POLAND.

their real intentions; and the English minister at Petersburgh,

lord Cathcart, could obtain no authentic information of its signature
until two months after the event. In the mean time, the troops of
the three courts, which were already in possession of the greatest
part of Poland, hemmed in the confederates on every side, and
quickly routed and dispersed them; while Europe waited in anxious
expectation the issue of these portentous events.
The first formal announcement of any pretensions to the Polish
territory, was made to the king and senate assembled at Warsaw,
in the month of September, 1772, by the imperial ambassador; and
it was quickly followed by the memorials of the Russian and Prus
sian courts, specifying their respective claims. These usurpations
were not made without some attempts to prove their justice. Aus
, r " tria claimed in virtue of rights said to have been once vested in the
A Hungarian crown; and the pretensions of Prussia were founded on
* the connexion between the electors of Brandenburgh and the dukes
* of Pomerania. Both these assumptions, drawn from the thirteenth
* century, were fallacious; and the manifestoes containing them have
been proved to be a tissue of sophistry, of perverted facts, and of
statements at variance with the evidence of history; while their
authority is further weakened by artful omissions. But had these
claims been as well founded as they were groundless, still they had
been superseded by subsequent treaties. There would be an end
of all order in diplomatic business, if the disputants were permitted
at pleasure to rake out of the dust of antiquity evidences of claims
which had long been annulled, and thereby to invalidate rights
which had from time to time received the sanction of mutual agree
ment. It has been well observed, that England might assert her
right to Normandy with far greater appearance of reason than either
of the powers in question to the countries they usurped. The de
mands of Russia were more shameless still. Unprovided with any
treaties, ancient or modern, in justification of her claims, immense
tracts of country were seized on the plea of sacrifices made and ser
vices rendered to Poland, by preserving that country from foreign
invasion, and preventing the confederates from working its internal
ruin. So monstrous a justification of a cruel act of aggression could
only have been dictated by the impudence of certain impunity.
The answers and remonstrances to the spoilers of their conntry,
put forth by the king and senate, were, as may be supposed, insuff
cient to arrest the sweeping violence of lawless power; and recourse
was had to the other states which had guaranteed the possessions of
 HISTORY OF POLAND. 445

Poland. The courts of London, Paris, Stockholm, and Copenhagen, L., .
remonstrated against the usurpations; but remonstrances without-.,,..., **
assistance could produce no effect. France was too weak to take , , , r
any effective steps; and England was then about to engage in a t "
war against the liberties of her own subjects in America, and could
not spare resources for the assertion of those of Europe. Poland
therefore submitted, though not without a struggle, to the dismem
berment; and the Russians required the inhabitants of their division
of the country to take the following oath:
I do swear to Almighty God, upon the Holy Evangelists, and I
promise by the present oath an inviolable fidelity, and perfect obe
dience, to her imperial majesty the empress Catherine Alexiowna,
autocratrix of all the Russias, and to her beloved son the grand-duke
Paul Petrowitz, presumptive heir of all the Russias. I promise to
be always ready to sacrifice my life, and to shed the last drop of my
blood for their service. I kiss the Holy Scriptures, and the Cross
of my Saviour, to render my oath sacred and inviolable.
As if to add insult to violence, the partitioning powers demanded
that a diet should be assembled, to ratify and sanction the dismem
berment of their country; while the kind language of Catherine to
Stanislaus was, It depends only on me whether the name of Poland
is to be struck out of the map of Europe. The following answer,
dated Febuary 19, 1773, and signed by Miodziejowski, bishop of
Posnania, and grand-chancellor of the crown; Michael prince Czar
toryski, grand-chancellor of Lithuania; and John Brock, grand-chan
cellor of the kingdom ;-was delivered to the ministers of those
powers: -

The principles of condescension, on which the king of Poland

and his senate find themselves obliged to regulate their conduct
towards the three courts, being sufficiently known by a ministerial
note on the 24th of December, 1772, given in answer to the uniform
declarations of the three courts of the 4th of the same month, and
by the facts analogous, which have followed the declarations of these
dispositions, the undersigned refer to it, confining themselves in the
present :
lst, To observe to the ministers of the three courts, that the
harshness and rigour of their proceedings, aggravated still more by
the style of the expressions, and the tone of inculpation and re
proach affected in the above-mentioned declarations, have justly af
flicted the sensibility of the king and the Senate, are equally remote
from the regard due to the dignity of the king and the republic,
446 HISTORY OF POLAND.

and the respect which the circumspect conduct of the king merited
on their part.
2d, The undersigned are to inform the above mentioned minis
ters, that the king, with the advice of the senate, after having taken
into consideration the serious menaces and imminent dangers which
have been announced to him in case of refusal, has yielded to the
desire of the three courts, and has appointed in consequence the
19th of April for the epocha of the diet.
3d, and lastly, The undersigned have orders to address to the
same ministers the solemn requisitions that the king, with the advice
of his senate, makes to the three allied courts, to procure the eva
cuation of their troops out of the domains of the republic before the
holding of the dietines, ante comitiales, in order that the latter and
the diet may proceed with full liberty, and that the sense of the
nation may explain itself without constraint or danger.
After some delay, the diet was convoked by the king in the fol
lowing summons:
Since there are no hopes from any quarter, and any further de
lays will only tend to draw down the most dreadful calamities upon
the remainder of the dominions which are left to the republic, the
diet is convened for the 19th of April, 1773, according to the will
of the three courts. Nevertheless, in order to avoid all cause of
reproach, the king, with the advice of the senate, again appeals to
the guarantees of the treaty of Oliva.
When the appointed time arrived, the great body of the depu
ties refused to attend the diet; and, notwithstanding the deplorable
situation of their country, and the threats and bribes of the three
powers, the few who were present could scarcely be prevailed upon
to sanction the partition. The most intrepid in defence of his
country's rights was Thaddeus Reyten, deputy of Novogrodek, who,
in consequence of his daring and incorruptible integrity, has been
styled The Polish Cato; and the patriotic party endeavoured to
procure his election as marshal of the diet. Poninski, a creature of
Russia, was attempted to be forced on the meeting by the influence
of the ambassadors of the three powers, who, finding that they had
no chance of success whilst a single patriot retained the power of
the veto, endeavoured to change the diet to a confederation, and
thereby carry their measures by a corrupted majority. As neither
party would give way, the rival marshals adjourned the diet to the
following day; and, during the night, foreign gold was profusely
lavished in purchasing more votes. When the two marshals again
 HISTORY OF POI, AND. 447

repaired to the hall of assembly, the same scene of opposition and

confusion was re-acted; and the diet was again adjourned, Ponin
ski, as a last resource, drew up an act of confederation at his own
hotel, and sent it to the king for his signature; but Stanislaus re
plied that he could not legally sign it without the consent of his
ministers and senators. The ambassadors now used the most alarm
ing menaces, and threatened the king with deposition and imprison
ment; while it was given out by their emissaries, that in case the
diet continued refractory, Warsaw should be given up to pillage.
This report was industriously circulated, and made a sensible im
pression upon the inhabitants. The king was thus induced to ac
cede to the confederation; and the partizans of corruption repaired
to the hall of assembly. Reyten, however, with only four associates,
denied this illegal body admittance into what he considered the
sanctuary of constitutional legislation, and persisted in keeping
possession of the place, until he saw the confederation was about to
be held in the open air. All further opposition being fruitless, he
retired to his own house, deeply affected with the dishonour of his
country. It is melancholy to add, that this truly great man, from
the intensity of his feelings, became insane; and, during one of the
paroxysms of his disorder, he broke a wine glass with his teeth, and
swallowed the pieces, which caused his death.
Notwithstanding the bribes, promises, and threats of the ambas
sadors, and the presence of a Russian guard around Poninski, there
was only a majority of six in favour of the partition treaty in the
senate; and in the assembly of deputies, there was but a majority
of one, the members being 54 against 53. An act was passed to
limit the sitting of the confederation to a few days; and delegates
were appointed, with full powers to adjust, in concert with the am
bassadors, all the terms of the dismemberment. On the breaking
up of the confederation in May, these commissioners entered upon
their office; and, in the month of September, they finally concluded
the treaty of partition, in conformity to the dictates of the three
courts. Still, several of the nobility, in various parts of the king
dom, had the courage to issue manifestoes and remonstrances against
the cession of the devoted provinces, and in reprobation of the con
duct of Russia, Austria, and Prussia; but these ebullitions were
totally disregarded, and the spoliation was carried into full effect.
The territory which had been seized by Russia comprised Polish
Livonia, that part of the palatinate of Polotsk which lies to the east
of the Duna, the palatinate of Vitepsk and Miscislaw, and two small
448 HISTORY OF POI, AND.

portions to the north-east and south-east of the palatinate of Minsk.

This tract of land (Polish Livonia excepted) is situated in White
Russia, and includes at least one third of Lithuania: its population
was then estimated at 1,600,000 souls. Austria had Red Russia,
or Galicia, with a part of Podolia, Sandomir, and Cracow, contain
ing 2,500,000 inhabitants. Prussia acquired the palatinates of
Malborg, Pomerania, and Warmia, Culm, except Dantzick and
Thorn, and a part of Great Poland, with 860,000 inhabitants.
Hence it appears that the Russian province was the largest, the
Austrian the most populous, and that of Prussia the most commer
cial. Indeed, the latter appears to have been the greatest loss to
Poland, as, by its dismemberment, the navigation of the Vistula

entirely depended upon the king of Prussia. A fatal blow was

thus given to the trade of the republic; for his Prussian majesty
laid such heavy duties upon the merchandise passing to Dantzick
as greatly to diminish the commerce of that town, and to transfer a
considerable portion of it to Memel and Koningsberg.
The baneful example of might over right, thus held up before the
civilized world, was, at the time, denounced by Mr. Burke as the
first very great breach in the modern political system of Europe.
It was not, he added, sapping by degrees the constitution of our
great western republic; it was laying the axe at once to the root, in
such a manner as threatened the overthrow of the whole. He also
foretold that its perpetrators would be the first to repent, and to
suffer by it. That they have had ample reason to repent there can
be no doubt, the partition of Poland having been retorted by the em
peror of France in justification of all his encroachments upon their
dominions; whilst he ever found in the Poles the most ardent sup
porters of all his designs for humbling his and their enemies.
The three great depredators, like their meaner brethren in the
trade of plunder, were not without their jealousies of each other;
but, unfortunately, the only sufferer was the party against whom
their former aggressions had been directed. Though the limits of
Poland were fixed by the treaty of partition, yet both the Prussians
and Austrians continued gradually to extend their frontiers; and
the latter, who actually took possession of Casimir, did not hesitate
to declare their intentions of seizing upon Kaminieck and Cracow.
Frederick, on the other hand, alleged these encroachments as a jus
tification for similar acquisitions on his side; urging that he could
not, consistently with his own security, see the emperor increasing
his dominions without following his example, and assuming an equi
 HISTORY OF POLAND. 449

valent. Russia was still engaged in the Turkish war, and there
fore remained for some time a quiet spectator of these proceedings;
but no sooner was peace restored, and the rebellion of Pugatcheff
suppressed, than Catherine immediately turned her whole attention
to Poland; and it was in consequence of her spirited remonstrances
that both Austria and Prussia relinquished their usurpations, and
confined themselves to the limits marked by the treaty of partition.
It was not yet, however, too late for the spirited intervention of

England or France to have realized the well-known proverb re

specting the quarrels of thieves.
The injuries inflicted on the republic by its tyrannical neighbours"
did not consist only in the dismemberment of some of its fairest
provinces, but, by an overbearing interference in the internal go
vernment of the nation, they perpetuated all those vicious parts of
the constitution to which, more than any other cause, Poland owed
its degradation. Under pretence of confirming its misnamed liber
ties, they threw the most effectual obstacles in the way of its politi
cal regeneration. The delegates, who ratified the treaty of partition,
had been also empowered by the diet to concert with the three
courts any alterations in the constitution which might appear bene
ficial to the kingdom. They therefore continued their sittings
from May, 1773, to March, 1775, during which period the convo
cation of the ordinary diet was postponed until the members of the
delegation had agreed to all the innovations proposed by the am
bassadors, and until every part of the government was finally ar
ranged. The following note,delivered by the three ambassadors to the
delegates on the 13th of September, 1773, will give an idea of the
spirit of the contemplated improvements in the constitution:
The courts are so interested in the pacification of Poland, that,
while the treaties are preparing for signature and ratification, the
ministers cannot lose any of that valuable time, so necessary for the
re-establishment of order, and the tranquillity of this kingdom.
We now, therefore, deliver to the delegation a part of those cardi
nal laws, to the ratification of which our courts mill not suffer any
contradiction.
The crown of Poland shall be for ever elective, and all order of
succession proscribed. Any person who shall endeavour to break
this law shall be declared an enemy to his country, and liable to be
punished accordingly.
Foreign candidates to the throne, being the frequent cause of
troubles and divisions, shall be excluded; and it shall be enacted,
3 L
450 HISTORY OF POLAND.

that, for the future, no person can be chosen king of Poland and
grand-duke of Lithuania, excepting a native Pole, of noble origin,
and possessing land within the kingdom. The son, or grandson, of
a king of Poland, cannot be elected immediately on the death of his
father or grandfather; nor shall he be eligible till after an interval
of two reigns.
The government of Poland shall be for ever free, independent,
and of a republican form.
The true principle of the said government consisting in the
strict execution of its laws, and the equilibrium of the three estates,
namely, the king, the senate, and the equestrian order; a perma
nent council shall be established, in which the executive power shall
be vested. In this council the equestrian order, hitherto excluded
from the administration of affairs in the intervals of the diets, shall
be admitted; as shall be more clearly laid down in the future ar
rangements.
The first of the above regulations precluded the house of Saxony,
or any other foreign princes whose alliance might have given new
weight to Poland in the scale of nations, from filling the throne of
that kingdom. The second effectually prevented all hopes of a
hereditary sovereignty, and thereby rendered easy the election of
some creature of the three powers. The third perpetuated the
Liberum Veto, and all its train of abuses; and the fourth still fur
ther abridged the regal power, which, in the depressed state of the
nation, rather needed to have its authority amplified.
Notwithstanding the wretched condition of Poland, and the re
sistless power of the three courtsa power which they seemed de
termined to exercise in the most reckless manner, yet the king and
the majority of the delegates long withheld their consent to the
proposed alterations. This is the more remarkable, because the
delegation had been appointed expressly for the purpose of concert
ing with the ambassadors the measures necessary to be adopted.
The spirit which animated them may be estimated from the follow
ing account of the meeting in which the above propositions were
introduced. Previous to the appearance of the three ambassadors
in the assembly, much was said, and with great vehemence, against
the projected innovations; and many reproaches were thrown out
against the authors and supporters of the plan, for sacrificing the
public advantage to their private ambition, interests, and resentment.
On the entrance of the ambassadors, a profound silence ensued for
some minutes, until the secretary of the Russian embassy began to
 HISTORY OF POLAND. 451

read the plan for new-modelling the constitution; upon which a

general murmur spread through the whole assembly, increasing, as
he proceeded, to such a degree as almost to drown his voice; nor
was it without frequent interruptions that he was permitted to
finish his recital. He had scarcely concluded, when the whole body
of delegates loudly demanded the treaties of partition and alliance;
and, as the ambassadors answered, that many points could not be
adjusted without further instructions from their respective courts,
it was replied that in the mean time they might introduce the treaty
of commerce, which they were authorised to conclude. At all events,
it was urged, the proposal concerning the change of government was
premature, as a revolution of such extreme importance demanded
the most deliberate examination, and ought not to be hurried
through as though it were a matter of indifference to the nation.
One of the delegates, who was most violent in his opposition, deli
vered his sentiments with a freedom which astonished the assembly;
and when the ambassadors, who did not understand the Polish
tongue, applied to a castellan for an explanation of what was said,
the latter excused himself, under pretence of not being qualified for
the office of interpreter, and having but an imperfect knowledge of
the French language. When, at last, one of the palatines, who was
of the ambassadors' party, acquainted them with the purport of the
speech, the orator who had uttered it boldly thanked him for the
able manner in which he had explained his harangue; while he
ironically affected to praise the palatine for his readiness to oblige,
as well as for his independent spirit. This severe satire excited
the mirth of the assembly; and the undisguised approbation bestowed
by the greatest part of the members upon the speaker, convinced
the ambassadors that this was an unseasonable time for obtruding
their resolutions upon the delegates. They accordingly broke up
the meeting, and postponed the business to a future opportunity.
The next session, however, was not more propitious to their wishes;
nor did the patriotic zeal of the delegates seem to abate. Indeed,
their opposition to the measure continued so violent, that more than
a year elapsed before the ambassadors were able, by the influence
of threats, bribery, and promises, to obtain a majority; and before
the delegates, terrified or seduced into compliance, formally acceded
to the change of government. This important point being at length
obtained, the delegation was dissolved on the 13th of April, 1775;
and all the articles were confirmed by the general diet.
3 L 2
 452 HISTORY OF POLAND.

One of the acts of the last sitting of the delegates was the settle
ment of the question respecting the Dissidents, which had been
made the ostensible cause of the interference of Russia and Prussia
at the commencement of the reign, and to which, in fact, many of
the disasters of the nation are to be ascribed. It was now deter
mined by the delegates, with the consent of the foreign courts, that
the Dissidents should continue excluded from the diet, the senate,
and the permanent council: but, in return, they were to enjoy the
free exercise of their religion; to be permitted to have churches
without bells, and schools and seminaries of their own; to be capa
ble of sitting in the inferior courts of justice; and, in the tribunal
appointed to receive appeals in matters of religion, three of their
communion were admitted as assessors.
After the completion of the first partition of Poland in 1776, that
country was suffered for sixteen years to enjoy an interval of more
undisturbed tranquillity than it had done for a century. Plans for
further encroachments were indeed agitated; and the unprincipled
Potemkin observed to the Prussian ambassador at Petersburgh, that
the first partition was only child's play; and that if they had taken
all, the outcry mould not have been greater. Frederick, however,
resisted the temptation; and the courts of Vienna and Petersburgh
having formed plans for extending their empires towards the east,
his Prussian majesty entered into a treaty with the Porte. On the
breaking out of hostilities between Russia and Turkey, the Poles
ventured to refuse an alliance offered by Catherine, to allow her to
raise a body of 30,000 noble cavalry in the territories of the republic,
, or to grant permission to the Austrian troops to march through
*. 3 their country. Eventually, an alliance was effected with Prussia;
** and an accession of strength was thereby gained, both by that power
~" and by Poland, as far as regarded the machinations of Russia and
Austria; though the cession of Thorn and Dantzick was demanded
in 1790 by Frederick. Jealous, however, at that time of the czar
ina and the emperor, his Prussian majesty made it a part of the
compact that the Polish government should be re-organized, and
the army increased.
During these events, the Polish nation began to hope that the
time was approaching when they might be suffered to reform those
* It is a very remarkable fact, that the laws against Protestants had their
beginning in Poland not long after the commencement of the statutes against
Catholics in Ireland, and at a period when all other enlightened nations were
about to adopt the principle of religious liberty.
 HISTORY OF POLAND. 453

institutions, the defective nature of which had caused all the mis
fortunes of the country. A general advance in liberal and enlight
ened principles and opinions was taking place; and the diet which
assembled at Warsaw in October, 1788, was expected to effect the
restoration of the republic. They applied themselves with the
utmost diligence and caution to reform the state. They watched
the progress of popular opinion, and proposed no reformation till the
public seemed ripe for its reception. When the spirit of the French
Revolution was prevalent, they had the courageous prudence to
avoid whatever was visionary in its principles, or violent in their
execution. They repudiated the enthusiasm which led to violence,
and were content rather to be reproached with slowness than to incur
the hazard of disorganizing society by hasty changes. After having
taken measures for the re-establishment of the finances and the
army, they employed the greater part of the year 1789 in the dis
cussion of constitutional reforms, which, besides their own evident
necessity, the diet was called on to adopt by the king of Prussia,
whose alliance was offered on condition of an increase of the army
to 60,000 men, and of the establishment of a new constitution.
A committee for the reform of the constitution had been appointed
in September, 1789, who, before the conclusion of that year, made
a report which contained an outline of the most necesary alterations
in the government. Count Potocki, early in 1790, drew up a plan
for reforming the constitution, by which it was proposed that the
throne should continue to be elective, but that measures should be
taken to prevent the peace of the nation, or of Europe, from being
disturbed by any future election. His speech upon the sale of the
starosties has been preserved, and exhibits as sober and sagacious a
disposition of mind as might be expected in assemblies meeting in
the quietest times. He warned his brethren of the diet against
- following the example of the French Revolution in its exceptionable
parts; for he was aware of these, although it was not until some time
afterwards that public opinion in Europe turned against the revolu
tionary proceedings, The faults which France has committed,
said he, originate in a single error: she has only considered men
in the mass; she has lost sight of the individual. Eager to do jus
tice towards the whole, she has injured the parts; she has dealt with
the members of civil society as if they were ideal beings, or geometri
cal figures, on which she might reason abstractly and systematically,
without ever regarding them as in fact they exist. Such were the
454 HISTORY OF POLAND.

moderate and practical views which the patriotic Poles took of ques
tions that then excited all Europe.
The bishop of Kaminieck presented eight articles on the subject
of constitutional reforms; and several towns, boroughs, and pro
vinces, presented reclamations to the diet in favour of equal rights
and liberties to all classes. These ran as follows:
l. That all the rights and privileges enjoyed by the commons
before the diet of union shall be restored, in their primitive vigour,
by the decision of the present diet. -

2. That security of person shall be guaranteed, both to all na

tives of the order of the commons, and to strangers residing with
their property and effects in Poland. -

3. That the commons shall be free to possess landed property

in Poland, in the same manner as they already enjoy this right in
Lithuania.
4. That the order of the nobility shall no longer regard that of
the commons with contempt; that a noble shall not derogate from
the rights of his birth, when, either to obtain an honest subsistence,
or for the sake of being usefully employed, he shall embrace any
profession hitherto considered as fit only to be exercised by a com
moner; but that these rights shall avail him in all respects as before;
and that he may also enjoy the advantages of succeeding to the
families of commoners, as they in return may inherit of nobles, when
any portion of inheritance shall belong to them by contract of mar
riage.
5. That the invidious constitutions, which exclude the commons
from all ecclesiastical and military employments, shall be annulled;
and that not only the ancient privileges, in virtue of which the
commons were admissible to all ecclesiastical benefices without ex
ception, shall be renewed; but that they shall moreover be capable
of rising in civil and military employments.
6. That all cities shall be not only enfranchised from the Juris
dictions des Starosties, but also from all others; and that the citizens
shall be subject only to the jurisdiction of their own magistrates, as
the magistrates to the assessorial courts of the king.
7. That the commons shall be at liberty to communicate their
ideas respecting commerce, and the magazines in the cities, to the
commissioners of the treasury, and the chambers for foreign affairs;
and that what these declare just and reasonable shall be made law.
8. That not only some cities, but all, each in its respective
palatinate, shall have the right of sending deputies to the diet, and
 HISTORY OF POLAND. 455

of charging them with proper instructions: that the ancient privi

leges of the cities, which secure to them a certain influence in the
government, when they shall be renewed, shall be no more im
peached or diminished; but that, on the contrary, they shall be
increased, particularly in all respects that may tend to render the
form of government still more perfect.
9. That in all commissions of treasury and palatinates, where
objects of commerce, requiring mercantile knowledge, shall present
themselves, commoners shall be elected as well as nobles.
10. That supposing the assessorial tribunals to be the supreme
courts for the cities, the assessors shall consist of nobles and com
moners, chosen in equal numbers.
Whilst liberal views on the extension of general liberty were thus
rapidly gaining ground, the opportunity was taken of punishing a
man who had been eminently active in effecting his country's degra
dation and partition. This was prince Poninski, grand-treasurer of
the crown, whose conduct as marshal of the diet of delegation in
1773 had never been forgotten or forgiven. After a lapse of six
teen years, M. Zaleski, nuntio of Troki, on the 8th of June, 1789,
preferred a criminal accusation against him before the diet, for high
crimes and misdemeanors, in having, at the memorable period above
alluded to, betrayed, from personal views, the dearest interests of
the state. A commission for his trial, consisting of fourteen senators
and ministers of state and twenty-four deputies from different towns,
was chosen by ballot; the names, to prevent partiality, being drawn
by a child. The parties thus selected, however, happened to be by
no means favourably disposed towards the prisoner, who, foreseeing
the result of their investigation, contrived to make his escape.
Though he was retaken shortly afterwards, the affair seemed likely
to be abandoned, until, on the 10th of August, 1790, it was sud
denly resumed in the diet, and many of the members expressed
themselves in terms of strong reprobation on the conduct of the
grand-treasurer. Poninski had been released on security and pro
mise that he would not steal away clandestinely: but, alarmed at
the violence of his accusers, he privately quitted Warsaw, on Sun
day the 29th of August. He had travelled undiscovered fifteen
leagues from the capital, when, unhappily for him, he was met on
the road by the very captain from whose custody he had escaped on
the former occasion, and who now, glad of an opportunity to redeem
himself from the charge of remissness, conveyed him back to the
diet. The culprit was brought before the tribunal of that assembly
456 HISTORY OF POLAND.

on the 1st of September, and was declared a traitor to his country,

decreed to lose his rank, honours, functions, and employments, con
demned to be stripped of the order with which he was invested, and
ordered to leave Warsaw, in twenty-four hours, and the country in
four weeks; after which time, all judges or jurisdictions who should
find him within the territories of the republic were to arrest him and
punish him with death. The degradation of this sentence was en
hanced by the publicity of its execution, which was carried into
effect in the presence of the people assembled in the Hotel de Ville,
where the insignia of the order was torn off from the person of the
criminal, and who was led from thence through the principal streets,
accompanied by the common cryer, proclaiming, It is thus we
punish traitors to their country. From a combined principle of
humanity and justice, however, the punishment was declared to be
personal, and not to affect his wife, children, brother, or any of his
family or posterity.
That a nation so firmly attached to liberty as the Poles had ever
been, should retain a strong predilection for an elective monarchy,
is not to be wondered at ; sanctified, as the system was, by a long
course of years. To preserve this system therefore, and at the same
time to prevent a recurrence of the calamitous interregna which had
so often paralysed the best energies of the nation, a design was en
tertained of altering, or setting aside, that part of the constitution
which forbade the nomination of a successor during the life of the
reigning monarch. In the act called The Universal, passed on
August 30, 1790, the elector of Saxony was, for the first time,
named as successor to the throne of Poland. On this project re
ceiving the sanction of the diet, the king observed, It never en
tered into my thoughts to bring forward any one as successor to the
throne during my life-time, nor will I countenance such a proposal,
unless I find that it is made with the general concurrence of the
nation. He also proposed to the diet that, in order to gain a
proper knowledge of the feelings and desires of the citizens and
people on the subject, the dietines should be convoked, and their
opinions elicited.
Many members of the diet, as well as other inhabitants of the
provinces, now tendered their services to the king, in bringing for
ward, not the elector of Saxony, but one of his own nephews as succes
sor to the throne; but the uniform reply of Stanislaus was, You
know, gentlemen, that I had no share in the design of nominating
my successor during my life; and yet, if the nomination should fall
 HISTORY OF POLAND. 457

on a prince of my own blood, it would give rise to a strong suspicion

that I had been clandestinely the author of the project. Moreover,
my opinion is, that in choosing a king whose riches, rank, and con
nexions would give a lustre to the choice, added to the virtues and
political talents which distinguish the elector of Saxony, a successor
would be nominated who would greatly contribute to the dignity,
power, and advantage of the republic. To this disinterested and
magnanimous resolution the king firmly adhered; thus declining
the prospect of family aggrandizement in favour of a prince who
was not even personally known to him. In consequence of his
decided opinion, all the dietines, with the exception of that of Vol
hynia, demanded the nomination of the elector of Saxony as suc
cessor to the throne; and even the palatinate just mentioned, though
less decided in its resolutions than the rest, professed the highest
esteem for the person and qualities of the elector. During these
discussions, however, an opinion was strongly expressed of the ne
cessity of rendering the crown hereditary, and thereby providing
for the peace and welfare of future ages, as well as for an approach
ing contingency. Speeches were uttered, and writings disseminated,
expressive of the general wish for such a decision; and a majority
of the members of the diet boldly declared, that the dearest interests,
and even the salvation of their country, depended on his majesty's
concurrence with a desire which had been so generally manifested.
At length the friends of their country determined on putting in
to execution their designs for a reform in the state. During the
early part of 1791, several meetings were held, with a view of ma
turing the proposed plans; and on the 3rd of May, a number of
patriotic individuals, having decided on the immediate accomplish
ment of the great objects in view, assembled in the king's chamber.
There, in the presence of the king, they engaged to effect the re
volution on that day; and they pledged themselves to each other,
by a solemn compact, not to separate until they had accomplished .
their ends. The diet was opened at the usual hour. Foreign gold
is said to have been employed on this occasion to frustrate the de
signs of the patriots; but it now failed of its wonted power. The
utmost interest had been excited ; the galleries were crowded
with spectators; and thousands, who could not gain admittance,
surrounded the hall and thronged the avenues leading to it. To
give greater solemnity to the proceedings, the king himself, instead
of the grand-marshal, opened the session. In conformity to the
will of the states, he signed an act, by which the free diet changed
20 3 M
458 HISTORY OF POLAND.

itself into a confederation, which was thereby empowered to decide

all questions by a majority of voices. In his address, his majesty
said, that notwithstanding all the assurances which the three neigh
bouring powers had given to the contrary, there was an alarming
rumour, confirmed by the advice daily received, that they intended
to terminate all their divisions and jealousies at the expense of the
possessions of the republic; that the only method of securing to
Poland the integrity of its possessions, and of preserving it from
the ruin which foreign politics were preparing for it, was to establish
a constitution which should secure its internal independence; that,
with this view, the plan of a constitution had been prepared, founded
principally on those of England and the United States of America;
but avoiding the faults and errors of both, and adopting it, as much
as possible, to the local and particular circumstances of the coun
try. In support of his expressed suspicions with regard to the
three powers, he communicated to the diet some despatches re
ceived from the ministers of the republic at foreign courts, stating
the eagerness of those powers to oppose the settlement of the Polish
constitution, and that every circumstance appeared to confirm the
opinion of their hostile designs towards the nation. He concluded
by desiring that the plan of reform which he submitted to them
might be read, and if approved, forthwith passed into a law.
On the reading of the plan, a long and important debate ensued,
which was conducted with a degree of decorum suitable to the mo
mentous occasion. One of the members, who seemed to court an
application of personal violence to himself, was industriously pro
tected from it. Several voices were raised to prevent him from
speaking; but the king insisted on his being allowed that privi
lege, and he was eventually listened to without molestation; nor
was the smallest insult offered to those who appeared to support
his opinions. Every facility for free discussion was given by the
king, who was called upon by many of the members to accept and
swear to the new form of government which had been read. This,
however, he declined doing till it had undergone a satisfactory dis
cussion. After a considerable time had elapsed, he observed There
is an obstacle to my acceptance of the proposed plan, which, as far
as depends on myself exclusively, I consider to be insurmountable.
I have sworn to maintain and abide by the Pacta Conventa ; and
this oath I have hitherto religiously observed... I demand now, then,
if, by the general will of the states assembled, I am freed from the
obligation of that article which regulates the succession to the
 HISTORY OF POLAND. 459

throne? The advocates of the constitution immediately exclaimed,

Yes, we free you from the observance of it; and we likewise bind
ourselves not to break up the sitting till the decision has been
finally adopted. -

To obtain at once the sense of the nation on the important sub

jects under consideration, the king directed the grand-marshal to
collect the votes of the assembled diet; and that officer, to remove
all doubts as to which side possessed a majority, required the silence
of those favourable to the new plans, whilst those who advised their
rejection should give in their votes. On the latter side appeared
all the representatives from the provinces of Volhynia and Podolia.
One of the most popular members of this opposition was M. Su
chorzewski, who, decidedly opposed to hereditary monarchy, ad
vanced, threw himself at the foot of the throne, and conjured his
majesty to abandon the idea of such a law, which he declared would
be the tomb of the liberty of Poland. Other members alleged the
instructions of their provinces, which prevented them from agreeing
to make the throne hereditary; and they insisted that this plan
should, like every other new law, be, at least, taken ad deliberan
dum. A majority of voices, however, opposed this proposition, and
exclaimed, The whole must be passed this day ! We will not de
part from this place until the whole work is accomplished " . The
opposition responded, We will not depart until it is renounced "
During this altercation, the king remained silent. At length,
Zabiello, one of the nuntios, advanced and intreated him no longer
to oppose the wishes of the great majority before him, which ex
ceeded their opponents in the proportion of ten to one. Multitudes
of the deputies, senators, and ministers, now rose from their seats,
advanced into the middle of the hall, surrounded the king, and
loudly demanded that he should swear to the observance of the new
constitution. Stanislaus at length called towards him the bishop of
Cracow, at whose hands he took the required oath. To render the
act more conspicuous to the assembly, he mounted on the seat, and
pronounced the words aloud. Holding up their right hands, a great
majority of the diet repeated the oath after the king. Let every
man who loves his country, exclaimed his majesty, follow me to
the church, and there, before the altar, return thanks to the Al
mighty, and repeat the oath we have taken. All the bishops and
secular senators, with a great body of the deputies, accompanied
him to the holy edifice, where they again solemnly engaged, before
God and their country, to maintain a constitution which, combining
3 M 2
460 HISTORY OF POLAND.

liberty with subordination, and subjecting the highest citizen as

well as the lowest to the laws, secured to all the means of happi
ness, and gave to each member of the community the true enjoy
ment of his rights. Te Deum was sung, and the happy event was
announced to the people by the discharge of 300 pieces of cannon.
It was now evening; and the king, with his suite, returned to.
the hall of assembly, where 30 or 40 deputies, the opponents of the
constitution, had remained. His majesty now directed the marshals
to administer the oath to all the departments; and he then adjourned
the diet to the 5th. Finding that all resistance to the popular will
was useless, the opposition resolved on protesting against the new
constitution by a manifesto; after which they retired to their re
spective homes. Though the public enthusiasm was at the highest
pitch, and shouts of joy filled the streets, neither injury nor insult
was offered to the persons of those inimical to the new order of
things. The whole population appeared to be actuated by the pur
est patriotism, and their satisfaction and joy were too great to admit
of any feelings of a vindictive nature mingling in their expression.
At eleven o'clock the streets were so perfectly calm, that no stranger
could have supposed that day had been the epoch of a new order of
things and the regeneration of the republic.
On the 4th of May, the post, which had been stopped on the pre
ceding day, was permitted to proceed; and the expresses of the fo
reign ministers were allowed to be sent in all directions. Eighteen
of the opposing nuntios published their manifesto against the pro
ceedings of the diet, and M. Suchorzewski returned the cordon-bleu
with which his majesty, a fortnight before, had invested him. In
the sitting of the diet on the 5th of May, the new form of constitu
tion was again proposed, and the articles of which it was composed
were formally passed, sentence by sentence; after which it was
unanimously signed by the members present. The following are
the provisions of this celebrated charter:-
NEw CoNSTITUTION of THE Gover NMENT of Poland, As Es
TABLISHED BY THE REvolution, MAY 3, 1791.
In the Name of God, one in the Holy Trinity
Stanislaus Augustus, by the grace of God, and the mill of the
nation, king of Poland, &c., &c., together mith the Confederate
States assembled in double number, to represent the Polish nation.
Convinced, by a long train of experience, of many defects in
eur government, and willing to profit by the favourable moment
 HISTORY OF POLAND. 461

which has restored us to ourselves, free from the disgraceful shackles

of foreign influence; prizing more than life the external indepen
dence and internal liberty of the nation; in order to exert our
natural rights with zeal and firmness, we do solemnly establish the
present constitution, which we declare wholly inviolable in every
part, till such period as shall be prescribed by law ; when the na
tion, if it should think fit, may alter, by its express will, such ar
ticles therein as may be found inadequate.
Art. I. THE DOMINANT NATIONAL RELIGION.The holy
Roman Catholic faith, with all its privileges and immunities, shall
be the dominant national religion; but, as the same holy religion
commands us to love our neighbours, we therefore owe to all people,
of whatever persuasion, peace in matters of faith, and the protection
of government; consequently we assure to all persuasions and re
ligions freedom and liberty, according to the laws of the country,
and in all dominions of the republic.
Art. II. NoBILITY, or THE EQUESTRIAN ORDER.Revering
the memory of our ancestors with gratitude, as the first founders of
our liberties, it is but just to acknowledge, in a most solemn manner,
that all the pre-eminence and prerogatives of liberty granted to this
order by Casimir the Great, &c., &c., &c., are by the present act
renewed, confirmed, and declared to be inviolable. We acknow
ledge the rank of the noble equestrian order in Poland to be equal to
all degrees of nobilityall persons of that order to be equal among
themselves, not only in the eligibility to all posts of honour, trust,
or emolument, but in the enjoyment of all privileges and preroga
tives, personal liberty, and security of territorial and moveable pro
perty; nor shall me even suffer the least encroachment on either by
the supreme national poner (on which the present form of govern
ment is established), under any pretext whatsoever; consequently,
we regard the preservation of personal security and property, as by
law ascertained, to be a tie of society, and the very essence of civil
liberty, which ought to be considered and respected for ever.
Art. III. Towns AND CITIZENS.The law made by the pre
sent diet, intitled, Our royal free Towns with the Dominions of
the Republic, we mean to consider as a part of the present consti
tution, and promise to maintain it as a new, additional, true, and
effectual support of our common liberties and our mutual defence.
Art. IV. PEASANTS AND WILLAGERs.-This agricultural class
of people, the most numerous in the nation, consequently forming
 462 HISTORY OF POLAND.

the most considerable part of its force, ne receive under the protec
tion of national lan, and government ; enacting, that whatever liber
ties, grants, and conventions, between the proprietors and villagers,
either individually or collectively, may be entered authentically into
in future, such agreements shall import mutual and reciprocal obliga
tions, binding not only the present contracting parties, but even their
successors by inheritance or acquisition. Thus having insured to
the proprietors every advantage they have a right to from their vil
lages, and willing to encourage most effectually the population of
our country, ne publish and proclaim a perfect and entire liberty to
all people, either who may be newly coming to settle, or those who,
having emigrated, would return to their native country; and we
declare most solemnly, that any person coming into Poland, from
whatever part of the world, or returning from abroad, as soon as
he sets his foot on the territory of the republic, becomes free, and at
liberty to exercise his industry wherever and in whatever manner
he pleases, to settle either in towns or villages, to farm and rent
lands and houses, on tenures and contracts, for as long a term as
may be agreed on ; with liberty to remain, or to remove, after
having fulfilled the obligations he may have voluntarily entered into.
Art. V. ForM of Gover NMENT-All pomer in civil society
should be derived from the mill of the people, its end and object being
the preservation and integrity of the state, the civil liberty, and the
good order of society, on an equal scale, and on a lasting foundation.
Three distinct powers shall compose the government of the Polish
nation, according to the present constitution:
l. Legislative power in the states assembled.
2. Executive power in the king and the council of inspection.
And, -

3. Judicial power in jurisdictions existing, or to be established.

Art. VI. THE DIET, or THE LEGISLATIvE Power.The
diet, or the assembly of states, shall be divided into two houses;
the house of nuntios, or deputies; and the house of senate, where
the king is to preside. The former, being the representative and
central point of supreme national authority, shall possess the pre
eminence in the legislature; therefore all bills are to be decided
first in this house.
1. All general lan's, constitutional, civil, criminal, and perpe
tual taxes; concerning which matters, the king is to issue his pro
positions by the circular letters sent before the dietines to every
 HISTORY OF POLAND. 463

palatinate and to every district for deliberation, which coming

before the house with the opinion expressed in the instructions
given to their representatives, shall be taken the first for decision.
2. Particular lan's : temporal taxes; regulations of the mint ;
contracting public debts; creating nobles, and other casual recom
pences; reparation of public expenses, both ordinary and extraor
dinary; concerning war; peace; ratification of treaties, political
and commercial; all diplomatic acts and conventions relative to the
laws of nations; examining and acquitting different executive de
partments, and similar subjects arising from the accidental exigen
cies and circumstances of the state ; in which the propositions, com
ing directly from the throne into the house of nuntios, are to have
preference of discussion before private bills.
In regard to the house of senate, it is to consist of bishops, pa
latines, castellans, aud ministers, under the presidency of the king,
who shall have but one vote, and the casting vote in case of parity,
which he may give either personally or by a message to the house.
Its power and duty shall be,
l. Every general law, that passes formally through the house of
nuntios, is to be sent immediately to this, which is either accepted,
or suspended till further national deliberation. If accepted, it be
comes a law in all its force; if suspended, it shall be resumed at
the next diet; and if it is then agreed to again by the house of
nuntios, the senate must submit to it.
2. Every particular lan', as soon as it has been determined by
the house of nuntios, and sent up to the senate, the votes of both
houses shall be jointly computed, and the majority, as described by
law, shall be considered as a decree and the will of the nation.
Those senators and ministers who, from their share in executive
power, are accountable to the republic, cannot have an active voice
in the diet, but may be present in order to give necessary explana
tions to the states.

These ordinary legislative diets shall have their uninterrupted

existence, and be always ready to meet; renewable every two years.
The length of sessions shall be determined by the law concerning
diets. If convened out of ordinary session, upon some urgent occa
sion, they shall only deliberate on the subject which occasioned such
a call, or on circumstances which may arise out of it.
The law concerning the dietines, or primary elections, as esta
blished by the present diet, shall be regarded as a most essential
foundation of civil liberty.
464 HISTORY OF POLAND.

The majority of votes shall decide every thing, and every where;
therefore we abolish and utterly annihilate all sorts of confederacies,
and confederate diets, as ruinous to society. -

Willing to prevent, on one hand, violent and frequent changes

in the national constitution, yet considering, on the other, the ne
cessity of perfecting it, after experiencing its effects on public pros
perity, we determine the period of every twenty-five years for an
extraordinary constitutional diet, to be held purposely for the
revision and such alterations of the constitution as may be found
requisite.
Art. VII. THE KING, or ExEcutive Power.The most per
fect government cannot exist without an effectual executive power. .
Experience has taught us that the neglecting this essential part of
government has overwhelmed Poland with disasters.
Having, therefore, secured to the free Polish nation the right of
enacting laws for themselves, the supreme inspection over the exe
cutive power, and the choice of their magistrates, ne intrust to the
king and his council the highest ponyer of erecuting the larvs.
This council shall be called straz, or the council of inspection.
The duty of such executive pomer shall be to watch over the
laws, and to see them strictly executed according to their import,
even by the means of public force, should it be necessary.
The executive power cannot assume the right of making laws,
or of their interpretation. It is expressly forbidden to contract
public debts; to alter the repartition of the national income, as
fixed by the diet; to declare war; to conclude definitively any
treaty, or any diplomatic act : it is only allowed to carry on nego
tiations with foreign courts, and facilitate temporary occurrences,
always with reference to the diet.
The crown of Poland we declare to be elective, in regard to fa
milies, and it is settled so for ever.
Having experienced the fatal effects of interregna, periodically
subverting government, and being desirous of preventing for ever
all foreign influence, as well as of insuring to every citizen a per
fect tranquillity, we have, from prudent motives, resolved to adopt
hereditary succession to our throne: therefore we enact and declare,
that, after the expiration of our life, according to the gracious will
of the Almighty, the present elector of Saxony shall reign over Po
land.
The dynasty of future kings of Poland shall begin in the person
of Frederick Augustus, elector of Saxony, with the right of inheri
 HISTORY OF POLAND. 465

tance to the crown to his male descendants. The eldest son of the
reigning king is to succeed his father; and, in case the present
elector of Saxony has no male issue, a husband chosen by him (with
the consent and approbation of the republic) for his daughter, shall
begin the said dynasty. Hence we declare the Princess Mary Au
gusta Nepomucena, only daughter of the elector of Saxony, to be
infanta of Poland.
We reserve to the nation, however, the right of electing to the
throne any other house or family, after the extinction of the first.
Every king, on his succession to the throne, shall take a so
lemn oath to God and the nation, to support the present constitu
tion, to fulfil the Pacta Conventa, which will be settled with the
present elector of Saxony, as appointed to the crown, and which
shall bind him in the same manner as former ones.
The king's person is sacred and inviolable; as no act can pro
ceed immediately from him, he cannot be in any manner responsible
to the nation: he is not an absolute monarch, but the father and
the head of the people; his revenues, as fixed by the Pacta Con
venta, shall be saredly preserved. All public acts, the acts of
magistracies, and the coin of the kingdom, shall bear his name.
The king, who ought to possess every power of doing good,
shall have the right of pardoning those that are condemned to
death, except the crimes be against the state.
In time of war, he shall have the supreme command of the na
tional forces: he may appoint the commanders of the army, how
ever, by the will of the states. It shall be his province to patentee
officers in the army, and other dignitaries, consonant to the regula
tions hereafter to be expressed, to appoint bishops, senators, and
ministers, as members of the executive power.
The king's council of inspection is to consist,
1. Of the primate, as the head of the clergy, and the president
of the commission of education, or the first bishop in ordine.
2. Of five ministers: the minister of police, the minister of
justice, the minister of war, the minister of finances, and the mi
nister for foreign affairs.
3. Of two secretaries, to keep the protocols.
The hereditary prince coming of age may assist at, but shall
have no vote therein.
The marshal of the diet, being chosen for two years, has also a
right to sit ; for the end only of calling together the diet, always
existing, if absolutely necessary, and the king refusing to do it.
3 N
466 History of Poi..AND.

The cases demanding such convocation of the diet are the fol
lowing:
1. In a pressing necessity concerning the law of nations, and
particularly in case of a neighbouring war.
2. In case of an internal commotion.
3. In an evident danger of general famine.
4. In the orphan state of the country, or in case of the king's
dangerous illness.
All resolutions of the council of inspection are to be examined
by the rules above-mentioned.
The king's opinion, after that of every member of the council
has been heard, shall decisively prevail.
Every resolution of this council shall be issued under the king's
signature, countersigned by one of the ministers sitting therein.
Should all the members refuse their countersign, the king is ob
liged to forego his opinion.
Ministers composing this council cannot be employed at the
same time in any other department.
If it should happen that two-thirds of secret votes in both
houses demand the changing of any person, either in the council or
any executive department, the king is bound to nominate another,
Willing that the council of inspection should be responsible to
the nation for their actions, we decree that, when accused of any
transgression of positive law, they are answerable with their persons
and fortunes.
Such impeachments shall be tried immediately by the comitial
tribunal, and receive final judgement.
In order to form a necessary organization of the executive power,
we establish hereby separate commissions, connected with the above
councils, and subjected to obey its ordinations.
These commissions are1st, of education2nd, of police3rd,
of war4th, of treasury.
Art. VIII. Judicial Power.As judicial power is incompa
tible with the legislative, nor can be administered by the king,
therefore tribunals and magistratures ought to be established and
elected. It ought to have local existence, that every citizen should
know where to seek justice, and every transgressor can discern the
hand of national government. We establish, therefore, *

1. Primary courts for each palatinate and district, composed

of judges chosen at the dietine, which are always ready to administer
justice. From these courts appeals are allowed to the high tribu
-
 HISTORY OF POLAND. 467

nals, erected one for each of three provinces into which the king
dom is divided. Those courts, both primary and final, shall be for
the equestrian order, and all proprietors of landed property.
2. We determine separate courts for the free royal towns.
3. Each province shall have a court of referendaries for the
trial of causes relating to the peasantry, who are all hereby declared
free.
4. Courts, curial and assessorial, tribunals for Courland, and
relational, are hereby confirmed.
5. Executive commissions shall have judicial power in matters
relative to their administration.
6. Besides all these, there shall be one supreme general tribu
nal for all classes, called a comitial tribunal or court, composed of
persons chosen at the opening of every diet. This tribunal is to
try all the persons accused of crimes against the state.
Lastly, we shall appoint a committee for the forming a civil
and criminal code of laws, by persons whom the diet shall elect for
that purpose.
Art. IX. REGENCY.The same council of inspection is to com
pose the regency, with the queen at their head, or, in her absence,
with the primate of the kingdom. The regency may take place only,
1. During the king's minority.
2. In case of the king's settled alienation of reason.
3. In case of the king's being made a prisoner of war.
Minority is to be considered till eighteen years are completed;
and the malady must be declared in the existing diet by the plu
rality of three-fourths of the votes of both combined houses.
When the king comes of age, or recovers his health, or returns
from captivity, the regency shall cease, and shall be accountable to
him, and responsible to the nation in their persons and fortunes,
for their actions during their office.
Art. X. EDUCATION of KING's CHILDREN.The king's sons,
being designed successors to the crown, are the first children of the
country. Thence the care of their proper education, without en
croaching, however, on the right of their parents, devolves natu
rally upon the nation.
During the king's life, the king himself, with the council, and
a tutor appointed by the states, shall superintend the education of
the princes.
In time of a regency, it shall be intrusted with this direction
jointly with the above-mentioned tutor.
3 N 2
468 HISTORY OF POLAND.

In both cases, this tutor, named by the states, is to make his

report before each ordinary diet of the education and progress of
the princes.
Art. XI. NATIONAL Force, on THE ARMY-The nation is
bound to preserve its possessions against invasion; therefore, all
inhabitants are natural defenders of their country and its liberties.
The army is only an extract of defensive regular force from the
general mass of national strength.
The nation owes to the army reward and respect, because of its
devoting itself wholly for the defence of the country.
The army owes to the nation to guard the frontiers against ene
mies, and to maintain public tranquillity within. This national
force, therefore, shall be employed for garrisoning fortresses, and
assisting the civil power in the execution of the law against those
that are refractory.

Declaration of the States assembled.

All laws and statutes, old and new, contrary to the present
constitution, or to any part thereof, are hereby abolished; and every
paragraph in the foregoing articles to be a competent part of the
present constitution, is acknowledged. We recommend to the exe
cutive power to see the council of inspection immediately begin its
office under the eye of the diet, and continue its duties without the
least interruption.
We swear, before God and the country, to maintain and defend,
with all possible human power, the present constitution; and con
sidering this oath as a proof of real love of our country, we com
mand all magistrates and troops here present to take it immediately.
The commission of war shall issue orders to the rest of the army
quartered in the kingdom, and in the grand-duchy of Lithuania, to
do the same within one month at farthest from the date of the pre
sent law,
We recommend to our bishops to appoint one and the same day
of public thanksgiving to God Almighty in all churches over the
kingdom; also, we appoint a day, N. N., for the solemn celebrating,
by us and our posterity, of a commemorative anniversary for the
mercies of the Supreme Being shewn to us after so many public
calamities.
And that future ages may know and feel that it is by the as
sistance of the Supreme Disposer of nations we have surmounted
the greatest difficulties and obstacles, and effected this happy revo
 HISTORY OF POLAND. 469

lution, we decree, that a church shall be erected and consecrated to

Divine Providence, in memory of this event, and at the expense of
the states.
Having thus satisfied our general feelings on the event, we turn
our attention towards securing the same constitution, by declaring
and enacting, that whoever shall dare to oppose it, or to disturb the
public tranquillity, either by exciting mistrust, or by perverse in
terpretation of this constitution, and much more, by forming insur
rections and confederacies, either openly or secretly, such person or
persons are declared to be enemies and traitors to their country, and
shall be punished with the utmost rigour by the comitial tribunal.
For this purpose, we order this tribunal to sit uninterruptedly at
Warsaw, proroguing their session from day to day, and to try all
persons so accused by any citizen of property, with the assistance of
the attornies general of Poland and Lithuania, seizing all indicted
persons with the aid of the national troops, which shall be ready to
act on the first order from the executive power, as they shall be di
rected and occasion may require.

Such was the constitution which the eloquent Burke denominated

the perfection of human wisdon. Happy people, he exclaims,
if they knew how to proceed as they have begun Happy prince,
worthy to begin with splendour, or to close with glory, a race of pa
triots and of kings' To finish allthis great good, as in the instant
it is, contains in it the seeds of all future improvement, and may be
considered as in a regular progress, because founded on similar
principles, towards the stable excellence of the British constitution.
It is unnecessary here to dwell on the many traits of pure patriotism,
and good sense which embellish the act of the 3rd of May, 1791;
but we may be permitted to observe, that these are enhanced by t * .

their contrast with all the vices inherent in the ancient constitution; t
-**
** {
and that its wisdom was equally shewn in the modest anticipation
of its defects, the remedy of which was provided for in the appoint
ment of stated periods for revision and correction. Yet this excel
lent system has been denounced as similar to the wild theories which
burst forth in France, on the disenthralment of that nation from the
despotism of centuries; as if there were any resemblance between
a state cautiously removing the defects of a feudal oligarchy, and
adopting a legitimate monarchy founded on the will of the nation at
largeand another, where all the distinctions of society were being
levelled before democratic vengeance! Besides in the one country,
470 HISTORY OF POLAND.

the religion of the nation was fixed with all due respect and solem
nity; while in the other, religion was utterly abolished; thus pre
senting an indelible distinction between the two cases. Their
pretended similarity, however, was the pretext of the tyrants of
that day for further spoliations; and this is still the plea of those
who now covertly (for the wrong is too glaring for public apology)
seek to exculpate those tyrants from the full meed of detestation
which their actions deserve.

The establishment of public liberty diffused a general joy through

the nation. Even may those who, on the 3rd, had resolved to
enter a protest, and publish a manifesto, withdrew their opposition,
declaring, that by their instructions they deemed themselves ob
ligated to it; but that the revolution having been consummated
with the apparent applause of nearly the whole nation; fully per
suaded of the patriotic intentions of the king, and those who were
the chief agents in bringing about this great change; in fine, per
ceiving, by the form in which the king, the whole senate, and
nearly all the chamber of nuntios had already taken the oath, that
it did not extend the royal power beyond its just bounds, but on
the contrary guaranteed the full aud entire liberty of every indivi
dual, by maintaining the sovereignty of the nation assembled in the
diet; they would no longer impede or retard by a vain resistance
the effect of a revolution commenced, conducted, and accomplished
with so much good fortune; that they should heartily concur therein;
that they should congratulate their country on the occasion; and
should return their most sincere and unfeigned thanks to those who
had contributed to the happy change, especially to the king, who
had been the chief author and promoter of it.
All the dietines, or provincial assemblies, without one exception,
acepted the new constitution with joy; and the nobility composing
. meetings, in sanctioning by their approval the articles favour
ing the burgers and peasantry, evinced their conviction of the bene
ficial results of ameliorating the condition of those classes of society.
To support the new order of things, the army was immediately
raised from 20,000 to 100,000 men, by the unanimous voice of the
diet, and with the loudest acclamations of the people; contributions
of money were poured in from all quarters; and when the zeal of
the contributors outstripped the circulating powers of the currency,
the more cumbrous wealth of the nobles might be seen moving to
wards the treasury, while their domains presented an armed pea
santry ready to secure its expenditure.
 HISTORY OF POI, A N D. 471

On the 29th March (a few weeks before the promulgation of the

constitution) a treaty between Poland and Prussia had been con
cluded, the 6th article of which ran as follows: If any foreign
power whatever shall, by virtue of any preceding acts or stipulations,
or any interpretation of them, assume the right of interfering in the
internal affairs of the republic of Poland, or its dependencies, at
any time, or in any manner, his majesty the king of Prussia will
first employ his most efficacious good offices to prevent hostilities
arising out of such a pretension;but if all his good offices should
fail of effect, and hostilities against Poland should be the conse
quence, his majesty the king of Prussia, considering this as a case
falling within the meaning of the alliance, will assist the republic
according to the tenor of the 4th article of the present treaty. In
the same apparently friendly spirit, the royal Frederick now com
manded Count Goltz, his Charg des affaires at Warsaw, to tes
tify, in the most expressive manner, his most sincere felicitations
to the king, to the marshals of the diet, and to all those who had
contributed to the great mork of the constitution ; applauding the
decisive step which the nation had just taken, which he regarded as
infinitely suited to the consolidation of its happiness; and express
ing his opinion that the choice of the republic would confirm
for ever the happy and close intelligence subsisting between himself -

and Poland. In a letter to Stanislaus, dated May 23, his Prus

sian majesty, after eulogising the choice of the elector of Saxony,
adds, The eagerness I have shewn to declare my sentiments on
this subject, will convince your majesty, and the whole Polish na
tion, of the interest I take in this measure. In am happy to have
been able to contribute to the support of the liberty and independence
of Poland, and one of my most pleasing cares shall be to maintain
and strengthen the ties which unite us. Could the Polish nation,
while a delirium of joy prevaded all ranks, have foreseen that the
sacred word of majesty, thus decisively and repeatedly pledged,
would have been so speedily and so shamefully violated P
The empress Catherine now began to display her anxiety for the
happiness of the republic, which was announced in a declaration of
the Russian ambassador at Warsaw, M. Bulgakow, on the 18th of
May, 1792. In this document, after expatiating on the continual
and generous endeavours of her majesty to preserve the liberty
and independence of the illustrious republic of Poland, her love
of justice and order, and her affection and good wishes towards
the nation, the writer proceeds to denounce all the recent improve
472 HISTORY OF POLAND.

ments, and the act of the 3rd of May in particular, as the works of
a faction, and as having been carried by violence. Complaint is
made of the request of the diet to withdraw the Russian troops from
the Polish territories, and of the difficulties thrown in the way of
collecting provisions for them, as contrary to the reciprocal equity
which two neighbouring, friendly, and allied states owe one ano
ther. The oppressions inflicted on individuals of the Russian
empire residing in Poland are expatiated upon; the correspondence
of the Poles with Turkey is noticed; and the want of the respect
due to the person and the exalted rank of the empress, which had
appeared in the speeches delivered in the diet, seems to have given
no small share of offence. While, however, with ostensible magna
nimity, the empress effects to refuse to listen to the voice of her
own resentment, she announces that a great number of noble and
illustrious Poles having united for the purpose of forming a law
ful confederation, and applied to her for assistance, she has or
dered part of her troops to enter the territory of the republic, for
the purpose of co-operating in the re-establishment of its rights and
prerogatives.
Thus threatened with the forcible restoration of that system of anar
chy and confusion of which the empress of Russia was the guarantee,
the king, on the 21st of May, laid this declaration before the diet.
As, he observed, it was evidently the design of the empress to an
nihilate the diet and overturn the constitution, the necessity was
imperative of employing means for the defence of the country. He
exhorted them, in the first place, to exercise all the courage and
resolution which the occasion demanded, and pledged himself to
support, through every danger, whatever the diet should determine
for that purpose. He also recommended applications for assistance
to the king of Prussia, the king of Hungary, and the elector of
Saxony. With regard to the former, he described him as from
the beginning of the present diet concurring in our deliberations,
especially in those which tended to liberate us from the guarantee
of Russia, in removing the Russian magazines and troops from our
territories, and in our embassy to the Ottoman Porte; but, above
all, in our forming a government on whose basis he could build an
alliance with us, whereby he solemnly engaged himself to use, first,
his own good offices, and, in case of their failing, to assist us ef
fectually with sufficient forces to maintain our independence and
possessions. Both these objects are essentially attacked by the de
claration before you, which treats as crimes and transgressions
 t HISTORY OF POLAND. 473

those very acts which passed in perfect understanding with, and with
the unanimous concurrence of, the king of Prussia. In their
address to the king on the following day, the diet thanked him
for his paternal and patriotic speech, and invested him with the
chief command of the armies of the republic. They further de
clared, that every devastation, damage, or diminution of property,
occasioned to individuals by the march or invasion of foreign troops,
should be indemnified by a fraternal contribution of the whole na
tion. Having thus made such dispositions as were deemed essential
in the existing crisis, the diet was prorogued on the 31st of May.
During these preparations, a large body of Russian troops, under
the command of general Rochowski, entered the territory of the
republic near Mohilow, in Podolia; and other corps, at the same
time, passed the eastern frontier at various places. To oppose this
formidable invasion, prince Poniatowski hastily collected a small
body of forces, marched towards the enemy, and encamped at
Tynrew on the 24th of May. On the next day, the king issued
the following address to the army:-
By virtue of the constitution enacted 24th March, 1792, the
supreme and general command of all the forces of the republic is
entrusted to us. Thus the defence of our dear country is confided
to Us and to You. The enemy that invades it is well known to
every Polander. So many injuries, misfortunes, and humiliations,
heaped upon us by Russia, call on God and your courage for ven
geance. The war is no sooner declared than begun, without the
least justifiable motive. Some degenerate Poles, rebels to their
country, have lent a pretext for it. They wish, with foreign aid,
to restore the ancient anarchy, subjection, and insignificance, which
your king, at the head of a virtuous diet, has happily banished from
the Polish territories. Brave countrymen we are now called upon
to maintain our possessions, our honour, and our liberties, to defend
our brethren, to revenge so many wrongs, which we and our fore
fathers have suffered, and to protect the honour of your king, who
consecrates, with pleasure and sincerity, the remnant of his old age
to his country. The nation longed to have a respectable army; but
anarchy and foreign influence always opposed it. At length, by
cheerful offers, it is raised to have in you its defenders, whose con
dition was not forgotten by the present government. It was proper
to add regularity and discipline, common and necessary in all
armies, to the courage of Poles, which ,though they may seem new
to you, are not the less requisite for the strength, order, and glory
3 o
 *

474 HISTORY OF POLAND.

of the army. To execute those regulations shall be the duty of your

commander, and to obey them ought to be your ambition ; we all
must obey the laws, and you those who execute them. The army
we have opposed to us owes its strength to a blind obedience and
submission to orders. Endeavour to surpass it even in this, and
then neither its numbers nor its bravery will be able to intimidate
the Poles. It is true, Russian troops have been accustomed to de
spise the Polish soldiers; but you have now an open field to deserve
a more honourable opinion in future. Your country, for whose in
dependence we are going to fight, your king, whose steps are di
rected by justice, shall value and reward your merit and valour.
You may be sure of being amply repaid for the hazard of your lives,
by the gratitude of your countrymen, by the acquisition of glory,
and by the hands of your king.
Therefore, as your king and commander, we recommend to you
most earnestly to unite good conduct to obedience, fortitude to
courage, and love of your country to loyalty.
We recommand to the commanding officers vigilance and atten
tion, exemplary temperance and courage, vigour and justice, on
every occasion.
The army of a free nation thus qualified, with a good cause on
their side, cannot fail to find their support in the powerful arm of
the Omnipotent. You serve for honourlet it be your guide: the
honour of a Polish soldier is of the highest importance, because it
is a pledge of his allegiance to his country, to which he owes all.
Do not suffer a traitor among you (should any unfortunately
be found), and the safety of your country will be your own work.
In every danger remember and think of your dear country; our life
is the least thing we can offer her. Your common father, your
king, and your commander, gives you for ever this word of com
mand:Children I let us either live free and respected, or die with
honour ! -

On the 26th of May, hostilities between the Polish and Russian

armies were commenced by a skirmish which occurred near Winica,
where prince Poniatowski was encamped. Lieutenant Golejowski,
who occupied a post with a piquet of 300 men, perceiving the ap
proach of an advanced party of the Russian army, attacked them
with vigour, and drove them into a wood. Here, however, this
handful of brave Poles found that they had been drawn into an am
buscade, being immediately surrounded by a body of 2000 horse,
two battalions of chasseurs, and fourteen pieces of cannon. Dis
 HISTORY OF POLAND. 475

daining to surrender. Golejowski and his intrepid followers deter

termined on cutting their way through the hosts of their antagonists;
and in this they at length succeeded, with the loss of 100 men, and
after having killed a much greater number of the enemy.
While the Polish nation, inspired by the justice of its cause and
the hope of assistance from its professed allies, was endeavouring
to resist its mighty enemy, the king, by an official note, communi
cated to the marquis de Lucchesini, the Prussian ambassador at his
court, the denunciations of the empress, contained in M. Bulga
kow's declaration; and, at the same time, in the most pressing
manner, called on his majesty of Prussia to fulfil the promises con
tained in the 6th article of the treaty of alliance. The answer of
Frederick, which exhibits one of the most unprincipled examples
of royal falsehood and turpitude on record, and the unscrupulous
wickedness of which can be only equalled by the unblushing men
dacity with which it contradicts his recent assurances of kindness
and support to the king and constitution, was dated at Berlin, June
8, 1792, and ran as follows:
Sir, my brother, The grand-marshal of Lithuania, the comte
de Potocki, has delivered to me your majesty's letter, dated the 31st
of May. I there see with regret the embarrassment in which Po
land finds itself now involved. But I will acknowledge, with equal
frankness, that, after all that has passed for the last twelve months,
these embarrassments were to be foreseen. Your majesty will re
collect that, on more than one occasion, the marquis de Lucchesini
was charged to manifest, not only to you, but to the preponderating
members of your government, my just apprehensions on this sub-li f
, ,,
ject. From the moment that the general re-establishment of tran- a
quillity in Europe permitted me to explain myself, and that the em- s \
press of Russia had shewn a decided opposition to the order of -

things established on the 3rd of May, 1791, my way of thinking

and the language of my ministers have never varied ; and in ob
serving with a tranquil eye the new constitution which the repub
lic has given to itself witHouT MY PRIvity on concURRENCE, (!!)
I have never had the idea either of supporting or protecting it. I
have predicted, on the contrary, that the threatening measures and
the warlike preparations which the diet unceasingly deliberated
upon, one after another, would infallibly provoke the empress of
Russia, and draw upon Poland the evils which they were under
taken to avoid. The event fully verified these appearances, and it
cannot be dissembled at the present moment, that, without the new
3 O 2
476 HISTORY OF POIAND.

form of government for the republic, and without the efforts which
they have announced for supporting it, the court of Russia would
not have determined on the vigorous proceedings she has now em
braced.

Whatever be the friendship I have sworn to your majesty, and

the interest I take in every thing that concerns you, you will your
self believe that the state of things being entirely changed since the
alliance that I contracted with the republic; and the present con
juncture, brought on by the constitution of the 3rd of May, 1791, .
posterior to my treaty, not being applicable to the engagements
therein stipulated, it does not belong to me to resist the attack made
on your majesty, if the intentions of the patriotic party are still the
same, and if they persist in the desire of maintaining their own
work; but if, retracing their steps, they shall consider the difficul
ties that are arising on all sides, I shall be ready to concert measures
with her majesty, the empress of Russia, and to explain myself, at
the same time, with the court of Vienna, to strive to reconcile the
different interests, and to agree on measures capable of restoring to
Poland its tranquillity.
I flatter myself that your majesty will find, in these disposi
tions and in these assurances, the sentiments of sincere friendship,
and the consideration with which I am your majesty's good brother,
FREDERICK WILLIAM.
It is unnecessary in this place to weaken, by any commentary,
the effect which the naked turpitude of this document must excite
in the mind of the reader. Its publication in Poland produced a
general gloom, mingled with the bitterest indignation at the man
who could thus unblushingly disavow the most solemn treaties and
the most positive assurances. Disappointed in their expecta
tions of succour from Prussia, the Poles made to the emperor of
Germany a similar application with that addressed to Frederick, and
received an answer equally unfavourable. They were thus reduced
to the extremity of contending alone against one of the greatest
powers in the world, which, in addition to its own mighty strength,
received the connivance, if not the open assistance, of all the sur
rounding Christian nations. The Ottoman Porte, alone, of all the
| neighbouring powers, beheld with a jealous eye the encroachments
of Russia; thus forming a singular contrast with those who styled
them infidels.
The Polish army at this period, though imbued with all that en
thusiastic love of their country and of liberty which has latterly
 HISTORY OF POLAND. 477

characterised the nation, was too inexperienced and ill-appointed,

even had their numbers been greater, to make a successful stand
against the hordes of their invaders. A series of skirmishes, with
various success, continued to take place until the 17th of June;
when prince Poniatowski, finding himself no longer able to maintain
his post at Volonna, and an enormous disproportion in strength be
tween his own and the Russia army, retreated towards Zielime,
closely pursued by the enemy. At this place he received a small
reinforcement of troops from Zaslaw, and, though still far inferior
to his opponents, he determined on hazarding an engagement. The |
Russian force in the field amounted to 9000 infantry and 8000 ca
valry ; and a most desperate action, which lasted from seven o'clock
|

*

in the morning till five in the evening, ensued. At length the

Russians gave way, leaving 4000 men dead on the field; while the
loss of the Poles was only estimated at 800 infantry and 300 ca
valry.
This remarkable display of conduct and valour did not, however,
produce any decisive result. Fresh bodies of Russian troops con
tinued to pour into the kingdom at different points, against which
the Poles found it impossible to make head. The city of Wilna and
several other places of importance were taken. Still both the army
and the people of Poland evinced all the bravery and patriotism
that might have been expected under more fortunate circumstances.
National contributions were made in many places: and even the
peasantry furnished horses, forage, and whatever else their means
would allow for the support of the troops. The latter, inspired
with a similar spirit, endeavoured to compensate by their courage
the want of numbers and skill. In every action the most astonish
ing efforts were made; and, during the retreat from Volonna, 500
men, with a patriotism which has been justly compared to that of
the Greeks at Thermopylae, placed themselves as an obstruction to
the whole Russian army, disputed the passage with them, and fell,
fighting to the last, on the ground they occupied. -

The courage of king Stanislaus was not equal to the awful na

ture of the crisis in which he was now involved. Disappointed in
his hopes of assistance from the king of Prussia, and perceiving that
that monarch was in fact leagued with the empress in all her views
of ambition and tyranny; perceiving that the other powers of Eu
rope looked with apathy on the momentous contest; without re
sources or credit, and only defended by the desperate efforts of an
inadaquate army, he called a meeting of the nuntios of the different
478 HISTORY OF POLAND.

provinces, on the 23rd of July, to deliberate on the best measures

to be pursued for the welfare of the country. On the one hand,
their country was about to be overrun by hosts of invaders, and its
very existence as a state in danger of being annihilated; while on
the other, they were called upon to submit to the arrogant terms
proposed by their enemies. The alternative was dreadful ; but
Stanislaus, as the lesser evil, chose the latter. Many of the nobles,
however, disclaimed all submission to the Russians, or, in other
words, to the handful of confederates, who, assembled at Targowitz,
had proclaimed the old constitution, and thereby given a pretext to
the ambitious Catherine for her aggressions, The king at last pre
vailed: he agreed, as a peace-offering to Russia, to annul the con
stitution of the 3rd of May, 1791, to re-establish that which existed
before the revolution under the friendly guarantee of Catherine, and
even to order the army under prince Poniatowski to be delivered
up to the Russian general Brinichi. The latter disgraceful clause
was, by the agreement, to take place on the 29th of the month.
These concessions, however necessary they might be deemed by
Stanislaus and many of the diet, were indignantly protested against
by several of the nobility; and Malachowski, Potocki, Sapieha,
Solticki, and others, refused to sign the re-confederation. Upwards
of 4000 persons, many of whom were of the equestrian order, as
sembled tumultuously, calling out, The constitution nithout the
king t The four nobles above named were sought out, and carried
about in procession. Malachowski, marshal of the diet, published
a manifesto or declaration, wherein he deplored the adhesion of his
majesty to the confederation of Targowitz, which he styled an act
of open despotism, contrary to the wishes as well as the interests of
the nation, and infringing the sacred rights of all classes of citizens;
an audacious enterprise, which has been preceded by murders and
disasters, and which will infallibly be followed by anarchy, servi
tude, and the total ruin of the republic. Prince Casimir Sapieha,
marshal of the confederation of the grand-duchy of Lithuania,
issued a similar protest, which was registered in the acts of the
territorial chancery of the duchy, at the palace of the king at War
saw. Indeed, a spirit of resistance was manifested, which, in Li
thuania in particular, was of a very decided character; and it is
probable that a little assistance, or but even the countenance of
some friendly power, might at this period have averted the subse
quent extinction of the nation.
 HISTORY OF POLAND. 479

The submission of the king, however, was too decisive a measure

to be resisted with any chance of success; and many of the leading
patriots of the day left the country. The system of espionage, ba
nishment, and confiscation, under which Poland has since so often
groaned, and which will be described in a future page, was resorted
to by her oppressors; but there was one financial arrangement at
this period, which, as it has been scarcely paralleled, deserves parti
cular notice here. This was the measure of ruining public credit,
by reducing all the banks to a state of insolvency, and then wasting
their funds by a special commission. The business of the country
had, from time immemorial, been transacted at two stated meetings !, t
in the year; one at Warsaw, and the other at Lemberg. At these, | v &
all contracts, whether respecting land or money, were made; and , - .
all settlements of accounts adjusted. The meetings were thence.
denominated the Contracts. They were attended by bankers of *.*. .

good credit, through whom balances were transferred, and who re

ceived new deposits, for which they paid interest. Of these great
houses there were six or seven known and esteemed over all Poland.
The chief, at this time, was Tepper's, which had been founded by
one Ferguson, a Scotchman. The Russian court cajoled this banker
with honours, and the promise of a large estate, until he was per
suaded to lend them an enormous sum, which was punctually to be
paid at the next Contracts. Instead of that, before the time, a
Russian army was marched into the country; the proprietors brought
little money to the meeting; and, hearing of the loan, made a run
upon the house, which, thus disappointed of new deposits and drained
of the old, became bankrupt; and the others all followed. A com
mission to distribute the effects amongst the creditors was soon
assembled ; it consisted of ten agents from Russia, Prussia, and
Austria, the Russian being five in number. After sitting ten
years, dividing somewhat more than eighteen pence in the pound
amongst the creditors; and after subsisting, as such functionaries
love to do, out of the funds at their disposal, they separated, and
returned to their respective homes. Several of them were greatly
enriched; and one of them, speaking of his gains, was pleased to
observe, upon this touching subject, In this pocket I have got
100,000 ducats (50,000); and what I have in the other I won't
tell you. The unfortunate Tepper, it is needless to observe, never

An Appeal to the Allies, and the English Nation, in behalf of Poland.

1814.
 480 HISTORY OF POLAND.

received his promised estate; but a Russian officer had the mercy
to assassinate him, after he had been reduced from the highest
wealth to the most extreme misery.
On the 6th January, 1793, the king of Prussia issued a mani
festo, in which he repeated his nauseous declarations of admiration
at the czarina's conduct, affected to deplore the spread of French
principles in Poland, and announced his intention of sending a body
of troops into that country. In vain did the confederation at Grod
no protest against this further aggression on their territory; in vain
did they assure his Prussian majesty that no jacobinical clubs exist
ed in Poland; in vain did they appeal to their submission to Russia.
The Prussian troops marched, and a party of them appeared before
Thorn. There were no soldiers in the city, and the inhabitants
themselves made a shew of resistance; but cannon were planted
against the place, the gates were broken open, the municipal guard
were dislodged from their posts, and this defenceless city exhibited
the appearance of a place taken by storm. Dantzick soon after
shared the same fate, and became in fact a Prussian town, though
nominally under its old municipal government. Frederick publish
ed an address to the inhabitants, in which he repeated the pretext
of the necessity of making sure of Dantzick on account of the
machinations of republicans. Lieutenant-general M. de Raumez,
with a garrison of 2700 men, were quartered upon the people; and
a commissary was appointed to regulate the imposts, duties, excise,
&c., of the place. Several of the principal citizens, not relishing a
military government, retired to Hamburgh and other places; but it
must not be concealed, that the condition of the poorer classes was,
in some degree, ameliorated by an increase of trade, which had for
many years been depressed by the distracted state of the neighbour
ing nations. So much, indeed, had this been felt, that the popula
tion of Dantzick, during the ten preceding years, had diminished
_one-fifth.
\- Preparations were now rapidly maturing for a further partition of
-
t
v Poland; and the emperor, in order to pave the way for its quiet
*
accomplishment, on the 14th of February, issued an address to his
Gallician subjects, cautioning them from interfering in the internal
affairs of Poland, or, in other words, not to assist their late country
men against their spoilers. Catherine published an ukase, in which,
the alleged approval by the Poles of the government of the un
godly rebels in the kingdom of France, is declared to be the cause
of her taking under her sway, and uniting for ever to her empire,
 HISTORY OF POLAND. 481

the following tracts of land, with all their inhabitants, namely, a

line beginning at the village of Druy, on the left bank of the river
Dwina, at the corner of the border of Semigallia; from thence ex
tending to Neroch and Dubrova, and following the border of the
voivodeship of Wilna to Stolpsa, to Nesvij, and then to Pinsk;
from thence passing Kunish, between Viskero and Novogreble, near
the frontier of Gallicia; from thence to the river Dneister; and, last
ly, running along the river till it enters the old border of Russia and
Poland at Jegertic; in such manner, that all the cities, lands, and
countries, lying within this line of demarkation, the new border of
Russia and Poland, shall from henceforward for ever come under
the sceptre of the Russian empire, and the inhabitants and pos
sessors, of all ranks whatever, be subjects thereof. The free ex
ercise of religion, both to Catholics and Jews, and full security of
property, were promised; and the oath of allegiance to the empress
was ordered to be taken within a month.
The king of Prussia, in a declaration to the respective states,
bishops, abbots, prelates, voivodes, castle-keepers, starosts, cham
berlains, and country judges; the knighthood, vassals, and nobles,
the magistrates and inhabitants of the cities, the countrymen, and
all the remainder of the spiritual and secular inhabitants of the
voivodeships of Posen, Gnesen, Kalisch, Siradia, the city and mo
nastry of Czentochowa, the province of Wielum, the voivodeship of
Lentschitz, the province of Cujavia, the province of Dobrzyn, the
voivodeships of Rava and Plotzk, &c., in the circle of the bounda
ries, as likewise the cities of Dantzick and Thorn, hitherto in the
possession of the crown of Poland, made known his gracious will,
royal grace, and all sorts of good, and gave them notice, that, in
consequence of the turbulent disposition which had ever been mani
fested by Poland, he had been induced, in conjunction with Russia,
to rescue the republic from ruin by confining her within narrower
bounds, and taking from her the provinces above named. Thus,
while the czarina objected to the Poles that they had abolished their
ancient republican government, and erected a hereditary monarchy
in its stead, Frederick chose the opposite pretext of their propagat-,
ing anarchical principles. To prevent the danger which, he alleged,
threatened his own dominions, he, with the acquiescence of the two
imperial courts, had ordered general Mollendorf to occupy Great
Poland. Even the criminal confederates of Targowicz were indig
nant at these falsehoods, and remonstrated, at Berlin and Peters
burgh, against the entry of the Prussian troops; but the complaints
21 3 P
482 HISTORY OF POLAND.

of such apostates against the natural results of their own crimes,

were heard with contempt.
A declaration from the Russian ambassador, Jacob de Sievers, dated
at Grodno, March 29 (April 9), 1793, after accusing the Poles of
attempting to subvert the tranquillity of the neighbouring states,
by resisting the efforts made for their good, orders a diet to be
assembled for the confirmation of the objects avowed by Catherine
and Frederick. These documents were, of course, replied to, as
usual, by unavailing remonstrances. Convinced of the perfidy of
Frederick, the Poles endeavoured to conciliate the czarina; and a
violent altercation was produced by the delivery of the notes from
the ministers of St. Petersburgh and Berlin. In the sitting of the
26th of June, held at Grodno, it was resolved, on the motion of
M. Jankowski, and by the decision of a considerable majority of
votes, to claim the mediation of all foreign courts in order to induce
the czarina and the king of Prussia to withdraw their troops from
the territory of the republic, and to renounce their unfounded pre
tensions. By a majority (in which the king was included) of 107
votes against 24, it was determined to treat with the court of Rus
sia only; and instructions were given to the ambassadors of the re
public to act up to this resolution. Upon an amendment to the ef
fect that the Austrian minister, as guarantee to the treaty of 1775,
should be called to the negotiations, an opportunity was taken, on
the plea of considering the subject, to adjourn the debate to the 1st,
and afterwards to the 15th of July.
During these debates, some of the deputies were arrested in their
houses, by order of the Russian authorities. The provisions des
tined for the use of his Polish majesty were also intercepted; and
the estates of the marshal of the grand duchy of Lithuania, M. de
Tyskiewiecz, were sequestered by the same powers. These acts of
violence were remonstrated against by the diet; but the Russian
ambassador refused to forward their note to the czarina. He also
insisted on the ratification of the proposed treaty of alliance and
commerce between Poland and Russia, the prescribed basis of which
was the complete and full acknowledgment of the treaty of parti
tion between the courts of Berlin and St. Petersburgh, as required
on the 9th of April preceding. In the sitting of the 15th, the diet
refused to comply with these demands, and prepared to prorogue
their session till the 30th ; but, on the 16th, M. de Sievers declared,
in a note to the diet, that, should the deputies not be immediately
invested with the powers necessary for compliance, their estates,
 HISTORY OF POLAND. 483

possessions, and habitations should be laid under a military execu

tion; and that even the royal domains would not be spared if the
king adhered to the opposite party. This menace, equivalent to a
declaration of war, was followed up by a succession of threats, the
climax of which was contained in the ambassador's ultimatum, dated
September 2nd, and which concluded as follows:
The underwritten must besides inform the states of the republic
assembled in the confederated diet, that he thought it of absolute
nescessity, for preventing tumults, to order Two BATTALIONs of
GRENADIERs, WITH FOUR PIECES OF CANNON, TO SURROUND THE

CASTLE, under the command of major-general Rautenfeld, who is to

concert measures with the grand marshal of Lithuania for securing
the tranquillity of their deliberations. The underwritten expects
that the sitting will not terminate until the demanded signature of
the treaty is decided.
The above-named general accordingly enclosed the castle so closely
with his troops, and the cannon were placed so effectually, that no
person was suffered to have egress. Under pretence of guarding
the person of the king from conspirators, the general with his officers
posted themselves in the senate. Stanislaus, unconscious of any
sinister designs from his subjects, sent a message to the ambassador,
explaining that he could not, by the constitution, open the session in
the presence of foreign troops. All that could be obtained, however,
was the removal of the officers; the general still remaining, and de
claring that he would not retire, or suffer any senator to do so, until
the treaty was accepted. A violent debate ensued, which did not
terminate till three o'clock in the morning, when a decree was
passed, describing the coercion under which the senate was placed,
and declaring that they were forced to commission and authorise
the deputation to sign the treaty, such as it was planned and
amended under the mediation of the Russian ambassador.
The violence exercised on this occasion was repeated, with cir
cumstances of aggravation, on the 23rd of the month, when the
negotiation with Prussia took place. Early in the morning of that
day, four members of the diet, namely, Krasnodmeski of Liva,
Szydlouski of Plotsk, Mikerski of Wesogrod, and Sharzynski of
Lomza, were arrested, and sent off under guards to their respective
places of abode. Two battalions of guards and three pieces of can
non were next ordered to surround the castle and block up its ave
nues and gates. On the opening of the diet, several of the members
refused to commence the business, on account of the violence exer
3 P 2
484 HISTORY OF POLAND.

cised against them; and two deputations were successively sent to

the ambassador, requesting the liberation of those who had been ar
rested. To these messages he sent a peremptory negative; and the
assembly, considering themselves under the influence of violence,
for five hours declined entering on any deliberation. During this
time, though the king was on the throne, the Russian general con
tinued to walk back and forward in the midst of the senate, alter
nately persuading and threatening, for the purpose of inducing the
members to give an unconditional assent to the demands of the king
of Prussia. At length, count Ankwicz, nuntio of Cracow, moved
that a solemn declaration or protest should be made against the pro
ceedings of the 2nd of September and that day; and that, to prove
the total passiveness of the diet, instead of expressing themselves in
the usual manner, by voting or acclamation, a mournful silence
should be preserved whilst the marshal proposed the project in
question. This was agreed to; and the touching appeal adopted
by the meeting was afterwards transmitted to all the foreign minis
ters.

As if they felt that all further resistance to the power of Russia

was superfluous, the diet of Grodno now proceeded to place the na
tion under the protection, and courted the benevolence of the czarina.
The new constitution, prepared by their oppressors, was adopted as
a whole, without any attention to the requests of those who wished
to discuss its several provisions; and it was specified that no change
should be made without consulting her majesty the empress of all
the Russias, or her successors. As a reward for this docility, M.
de Sievers lent his assistance in adjusting the commercial treaty
between Poland and Prussia; taking care, at the same time, that
it should contain nothing displeasing to the latter power. The trea
ties concluded on this occasion contained a repetition of the same
insulting mockery which had closed every former act of rapinea
guarantee of the remaining possessions of the republic. The diet,
however, had the consolation of being allowed to perform one act of
justice; that of depriving the leaders of the confederation of Tar
gowicz, Felix Potoski, Rzewuski, and Branecki, of the great offices
which they had dishonoured.
The revenues of the republic, now reduced to a small territory,
were fixed at sixteen millions of Polish florins a year; ten millions
of which were to be contributed by the remaining fragment of
Poland, and six millions by the remnant of Lithuania. Of this
sum, two millions were declared for the future to be the maximum
 HISTORY OF POLAND. 485

allowed for the support of the king. Two loans were to be raised
under the guarantee of the czarina: one of twenty-seven millions
for the discharge of the king's private debts, to which the royal do
mains were appropriated; and another of ten millions for the use
of the republic. The degradation of the king, by these measures,
was regarded by many as a just reward of his meanness, in having
suffered the Russian and Prussian ambassadors to remain in Warsaw
during the struggle of 1792. At that period, also, he made a vain
attempt to disarm the anger of the czarina, by proposing to her that
her grandson Constantine should be the stock of the new constitu
tional dynasty; but she haughtily replied, that he must re-establish
the old constitution, and accede to the confederation of Targowicz.
A burst of feeling occurred before the close of the diet of Grodno,
which was highly displeasing to the Russian court. A military
order had been commenced to reward the Polish army, but which
was subsequently abolished by the command of the empress. Now,
however, its re-establishment was unexpectedly demanded by some
of the diet ; and Stanislaus, unthinkingly, passed a decree to
that effect. An officer appeared amongst the spectators in the
hall, decorated with the insignia of this order, and thanked the king
for restoring it to his brave soldiers. Its appearance produced an
electric effect upon the members, who rising tumultuously, pro
ceeded to kiss the hand of the king, and to express their gratitude.
Stanislaus, however, felt that this ebullition must be offensive to the
Russian ambassador. In his reply to the nuntios, he alluded to the
re-establishment of the order as having been granted by surprise,
and blamed the disorderly conduct of the members. After the
breaking up of the diet, a report was spread that the Russian am
bassador was about to quit the place without taking leave, in conse
quence of the displeasure which had been thus given to Catherine;
and the permanent council agreed, as a peace-offering, to suppress
the obnoxious order, and to send count Tyskiewiecz to Petersburgh
to beg pardon of the empress.
As a contrast to the constitution of 1791, we subjoin the substance
of that agreed to in the diet of Grodno :
Art. I. The kingdom of Poland and grand duchy of Lithuania,
with the remainder of the duchies, voivodeships, countries, and dis
tricts, of which they now consist, being, according to their rights
* Ferrand, vol. iii., p. 230-234. Perhaps, says that writer, she rejected the
king's proposal, because a throne acquired without guilt or perfidy might
have few attractions for her.
486. HISTORY OF POLAND.

and privileges, an individual whole, shall constitute forthwith an

indivisible, free, and independent republic, whose supreme power
shall be vested in the diet. The latter, having constantly the king
at its head, shall consist of the senators and the representatives of
the nobility ; and if thus assembled in this lawful manner, it shall
have the sole power of making laws, and the nation shall only be
bound to obey such laws as the diet hath enacted. The diet alone
can impose taxes, and support therewith an army which must be
faithful; it can alone declare war, make peace, and conclude all
kinds of treaties, establish and direct colleges or offices of state, fix
their duration, chuse their members, send ambassadors, &c, &c.
In short, no ordinances shall be executed in the territories of the
republic, which have not been derived from the states in diet assem
bled. The legislative power shall for ever remain separate from
the executive power: the diet can, therefore, accomplish the execu
tion of all its decrees by the magistrates only. No part of the exe
cutive power shall order any thing or act beyond what has been
ordained by the laws.
Art. II. The property of the feudal right shall never be anni
hilated, and the sovereignty of the republic over the feoffee shall
constantly continue.
Art. III. The Roman Catholic religion of both rituals shall be
the constant predominant one in Poland.
Art. IV. The secession from the Roman Catholic religion to
some other religion, shall ever be a crime in Poland; and he that
shall be convicted thereof is to be banished the kingdom: at the
same time, the constitution of 1775, with regard to Protestants,
shall be observed.
Art. V. The king and queen of Poland must be Roman Ca
tholics. Should the queen be of a different persuasion, and not ab
jure the same, she cannot be crowned.
Art. VI. The grand duchy of Lithuania shall remain for ever
united with Poland, in which respect the rights of the union, and
other particular rights of that province, shall be preserved.
Art. VII. The incorporation of Courland with Crown Poland
and the grand duchy of Lithuania, made in 1569, besides all other
constitutions with regard to that dukedom, as likewise of the dis
trict of Pilten, shall be preserved inviolate.
Art. VIII. It shall be permitted to no branch of the public
power, not even to the legislative branch, to exchange, or cede any
possession of the republic. Treaties of that kind are not only de
 e

HISTORY OF POLAND. 487 &
*
clared void, but every one who shall propose them is to be declared *
- Ts.
and punished as a traitor to his country.
N. B. The succession to the throne, according to the new con
stitution, is henceforth to be accomplished by the choice of the
states.
Early in the year 1794, baron DIngelstrohm, who had succeeded
the count de Sievers as ambassador from Russia, demanded the
public annulment of all the acts of the diets of 1788 and 1791, to
gether with the unconditional surrender into his hands of all public
and private papers relating to these transactions. This demand was
complied with by the spirit-broken Stanislaus, who declared that
the measures in question had been forced on him by the diet then
assembled, and that they had been the sole cause of all the mischiefs
which had subsequently befallen the country. But the native cou
rage of the Polish nation, notwithstanding the obsequiousness of
their king, was not extinguished by the reverses and injuries they
had endured; and a spark thrown into the combustible materials
which appeared to be dormant, aroused the energies of the nation,
and nearly rendered nugatory all that their oppressors had been
years in effecting.
The Russian court having issued an order for the reduction of
the Polish army to 12,000 men, many regiments opposed the mea
sure, and refused to lay down their arms, and disturbances occur
red in several places. Near Southern Prussia, in particular, the
spirit of resistance was peculiarly manifested. A young Polish no
bleman, named Madelinski, holding the rank of brigadier, kept
together 80 gentlemen, and gradually increased his adherents, till
they amounted to a little army of about 4000 men, who began to
harass the Russian posts. The flame spread rapidly through the
provinces, and even reached the capital, where the ferment began
to assume a most portentous appearance. To intimidate the insur
gents, as the patriotic troops were styled, 15,000 Russians were
marched into Poland; and DIngelstrohm delivered an official note
to the permanent council at Warsaw, requesting the commissioners
of the war department to avert the danger which threatened the
king, by sending a body of the national troops to oppose Madelin
ski and his refractory followers. He also requested the council to
take into custody every suspected person; but they evaded this
order by stating, that, according to the Polish constitution, no
nobleman could be arrested without being judicially convicted.
Meanwhile the number of patriots increased on every side; and
488 HISTORY OF POLAND.

the gathering storm quickly called forth the energies of one of the
greatest men whose names adorn the page of Polish history.
Thaddeus Kosciusko, at this time in the 40th year of his age, was
born of a noble family; but their circumstances not being affluent,
he was sent to be educated for the army at the school of cadets es
tablished by Stanislaus Augustus in the early part of his reign. It
was customary for the king of Poland to send annually four or five
youths from this school into foreign countries, to perfect themselves
in the art of war and in military tactics; and Kosciusko had the
good fortune to be one of those selected for this valuable improve
ment. The king honoured him by his patronage, and sent him into
France, with the strongest recommendations. After having studied
upwards of four years in the military academy at Versailles, where
he attained a thorough knowledge of military engineering, he re
turned to Poland, and was appointed to the command of a company
of artillery in one of the crown regiments.
During the time he held this command, his character ranked high
as a man of courage and an able officer; but an unfortunate amour
prevented him from pushing his fortune in his native country. The
object of his affection was a young lady of high rank and fortune;
and, as his passion was returned, the lovers contrived several stolen
interviews. Being assured of her regard, and actuated only by the
most lofty sentiments of virtue and honour, Kosciusko at length
determined on soliciting the sanction of the lady's friends to their
union. From them, however, he experienced a most decided re
pulse. Their family was of great dignity and influence amongst
the nobility; and they would not consent to an alliance with a man,
who, however he might be distinguished for public honour and pri
vate virtue, was little better than a soldier of fortune. An insu
perable obstacle appeared to be thus placed between the lovers and
the happiness they had anticipated; but Kosciusko at length, con
scious of the rectitude of his intentions, and secure in the affections
of his mistress, determined on setting at nought the commands of
those whose false pride thus opposed itself to the wishes of two
hearts worthy of each other. With all the eloquence inspired by
the most ardent but honourable love, he besought her to fly with
him to France; and as his persuasions found a ready echo in her
own breast, she eventually consented. The journey was com
menced, and the rapidity of their flight seemed to set pursuit at
defiance, when their carriage unfortunately broke down. This dis
aster occurred on a part of the road where there were no means
 HISTORY OF POLAND. " . . 489

either of replacing the vehicle or of having it repaired with sufficient

speed; and, in consequence, the enraged father of the lady, with a
strong party of relatives, came up, and attacked the fugitives. Kos
ciusko, with all the courage of his character, defended himself and
the beloved being who had thrown herself upon his honourable
protection; and a fierce rencounter ensued. Surrounded by foes,
however, and pressed in particular by the father, he at length
found himself under the painful alternative of either giving up the
lady, or of putting to death the man to whom she owed her exist
ence. The struggle was terrible; but he could not bring himself
to imbrue his hands in the blood of the parent of her whom he
loved. He returned his sword to its sheath, and consented to the
sacrifice of his own passion, rather than inflict an injury on one
whom he considered so dear to its object.
It may be naturally concluded that this victory of reason and
humanity over passion was not gained without leaving a painful
sensation in the breast of Kosciusko ; and as the affair soon became
a subject of public notoriety and conversation in the circles in which
he moved, this feeling became too strong for endurance. Deter
mined on quitting his native country, he obtained leave of absence
from the king, and embarked for America. Here the war of inde
pendence was then raging ; and Kosciusko, imbued with the spirit
of freedom, offered himself as a volunteer to General Washington,
and was accepted. He was speedily entrusted with an important
command in the army; and, on the attainment of peace, he returned
to France with M. de la Fayette and the other French officers who
had so essentially contributed to the success of the American cause.
By them, as well as by the celebrated Dr. Franklin, he was always
described as possessing no ordinary share of courage, fortitude, and
magnanimity; and their testimony of the services he had rendered
to America was unanimous.
Thus honoured and respected, he returned to Poland about the
time at which the confederation of Targowitz afforded the overbear
ing Catherine a pretext for invading the republic. Having joined
the army under the command of prince Poniatowski, he distin
guished himself in three of the engagements fought at that time
with the Russians. The result of that brief contest has already
been related; but it has been asserted, that if the council tendered
by Kosciusko had been attended to, the turn of affairs would have
been very different. In common with many other patriots, he, after
3 Q
490 HISTORY OF POLAND.

the submission of the king, again retired from Poland, ostensibly to

enter into some foreign service. But the love of his country seems
now to have gained that ascendancy in his breast which was for
merly held by another passion. He at first repaired to Pisa, and
made apparent preparations for proceeding to Geneva; but, in De
cember, 1793, he arrived at Paris, where he was cordially received
by several leading members of the National Convention, who found
in his patriotism a powerful auxiliary to their own political views.
To relieve France from the united pressure of the allies, by draw
ing off the attention of his Prussian majesty, it was proposed to
Kosciusko to rouse his countrymen to insurrection against their
oppressors; and the last measures of the Russians had produced so
strong a feeling of indignation, that a more proper time for the at
tempt could scarcely have been chosen. To assist him in this en
terprise, the French government proposed to grant him ten millions
of livres; and, with this sum, he prepared to effect the deliverance
of his country. His call to arms was nobly responded to by the
Poles; and early in February, 1794, he found himself at the head
of so considerable a body of warriors, that he determined on attack
ing the Prussians without further delay. His efforts were crowned
with success. The Prussians were every where driven before him.
Post after post was gained, until the enemy, after passing the river
at Inowlotz, broke down the wooden bridge behind them. For
about half an hour the pursuit by the Poles was retarded; but a
large party having crossed the river by swimming, again attacked
the retreating foe, and put them to flight.
To record the heroic exertions of the Polish patriots at this period
would require volumes. Their troops, half armed, newly raised,
land scarcely at all disciplined, beat the veteran forces of Russia and
|Prussia, often amounting to thrice their own number, in many fierce
| engagements. Madelinski, with 800 horse, made his way through
the Prussian troops, and traversed the whole of the country oc
cupied by them. At Wraclavicz, Kosciusko, with 4000 men,
principally peasants, defeated 12,000, with the loss of 3000 and 12
pieces of cannon: one battery, in this engagement, was actually
taken by a corps armed with pitchforks. Jasinski took Wilna with
600 men, and drove away the Russians, with the loss of 1500 pri
soners. In the mean while the people of Cracow expelled the Rus
sian garrison of 600 men; and, on the night of the 24th of March,
the heroic Kosciusko, at the head of a small body of adherents,
entered that city, and undertook its government and defence.
 HISTORY OF POLAND. 491

After these successes, Kosciusko issued a proclamation, in which,

after calling on the country for support, he says, The last moment
is arrived, in which despair, in the midst of shame and reproach,
puts arms in your hands. Our hope is in the contempt of death,
which can alone enable us to ameliorate our fate, and that of our
posterity. Far be from us that terror which the enemies, conspired
against us, endeavour to infuse into our minds. The first step to
throw off the yoke is to dare to believe ourselves freeand the first
step to victory is a confidence in our strength. Citizens, the pala
tinate of Cracow affords you a signal example of patriotism. It
offers the flower of its youth, having already granted pecuniary and
other assistance. Their example is worthy of imitation. Do not
hesitate to place credit in your country, which will reward you well.
The ordinances issued by the generals of the palatinate, and the
commanders of the troops, to furnish the necessary provisions, will
be placed to the account of imposts, and will be paid for in the
sequel. It is unnecessary to encourage you before-hand, because
that would appear to doubt your civism: the continued oppression
practised by the Russian soldiers ought sufficiently to convince you,
that it is better to make voluntary sacrifices to your country than
to make sacrifices by force to an enemy. Whoever in these circum
stances dares be insensible to the urgent necessities of his country,
must draw upon himself eternal infamy. Dear fellow citizens, I
expect every thing from your zeal. Your hearts will join that sa
cred union which is neither the work of foreign intrigue, nor of a
desire of domination, but is solely the effect of a love for liberty.
Who does not declare for us is against us. He who refuses to asso
ciate with those who have sworn to shed their last drop of blood
for their country, is either an enemy, or one who is neuter; and, in
such a case, neutrality is a crime against civism.
The publication of this document excited the enthusiasm of the
Poles to the uttermost. Crowds assembled in every part of Cracow,
with loud cries of Long live Kosciusko " The hero was con
ducted to the town-house, where he was presented to the leading
members of the Polish nobility, who had assembled to receive him,
and who now invested him with the title of general and the chief
command of all the forces raised for the liberation of Poland. The
soldiers, at the same time, solemnly took an oath to deliver their
country, or perish in the attempt. Nor were the citizens and
country people wanting in the most unequivocal demonstrations of
their patriotism. They supplied the army with necessaries of every
3 Q 2
492 HISTORY OF POLAND. .

description, in order to enable them to prosecute the approaching

campaign with vigour. The different corporate bodies of Cracow
assembled before the town-house, on the 26th of March, under their
respective banners, and, with the magistrates at their head, passed
in procession to the church of the Holy Virgin, where the glorious
constitution of the 3rd of May, 1791, was publicly read with great
solemnity, accepted, and an oath taken to defend it. In a second
proclamation, general Kosciusko exhorted the inhabitants of the
Polish territory to respect the dominions of the emperor, and to
give no cause of complaint to the subjects of his imperial majesty.
To propitiate the Austrian court, copies of this document were
transmitted to all its commanders and magistrates on the frontiers,
accompanied by a request, that should any violence be committed
on the persons or property of the subjects of the empire, during the
agitated state of Poland, an application might be made to the pro
visional government which had been established, and which would
be followed by an immediate and ample satisfaction and indemnifi
cation for every such outrage. The Austrian resident at Warsaw,
however, disclaimed these marks of friendship, imputing to Kosci
usko and his friends the monstrous principles of the French Con
vention.
During these transactions, the diet at Warsaw had been sur
rounded by the Russian forces under the command of the ambassa
dor, baron DIngelstrohm, who demanded that the arsenal should
be surrendered to him. General Kosciusko, having been apprised
of this, assembled his army of regular and artillery soldiers, which
had received a reinforcement of 4000 peasants, armed with pikes,
scythes, &c., and, on the 6th of April, marched from Cracow for
the relief of the capital. General Romanzow, with a corps of 6000
Russians, attempted to impede his progress, but was defeated with
immense slaughter. The irregular peasantry attached to the Polish
army, being worked up to a frenzy of desperation, refused any
quarter to their detested opponents; and the consequence was, that
about 1000 Russians were killed; their commander being taken
prisoner. Eleven pieces of artillery, and all the ammunition of the
enemy, were captured; while the loss of the Poles only amounted
to 60 slain and 80 wounded.
In the meanwhile, D'Ingelstrohm reiterated his demand for the
cession of the citadel, which was spiritedly refused by the diet. His
demands, however, seemed to advance with the resistance display
ed towards them ; and he now stipulated that the military should
 HISTORY OF POLAND. 493

be disarmed, that twenty persons of note whom he named should be

arrested, and that, if found guilty of the crimes he should lay to
their charge, they should be put to death. The remonstrances of
king Stanislaus and the permanent council were disregarded. As
a final expedient, the chancellor, Sulkowski, was sent to the Rus
sian ambassador to reason with him upon the subject; but this envoy
was received with such a degree of insult and violence as to throw
him into a dangerous sickness, of which he did not recover for a
considerable time. The report of this outrage spread like wildfire
through the city: and both the soldiery and people prepared to re
sist the attack which they anticipated. Early in the morning of
the 17th of April, the Russian troops attempted to take forcible
possession of the arsenal, and to disarm the garrison. A deputation
was immediately despatched to the king, entreating him to resist
and avenge the insult offered to his troops and capital. Go, and
defend your honour! replied Stanislaus ; and, thus sanctioned, the
combined soldiery and citizens immediately took the most energetic
measures. Aware that DIngelstrohm still remained in his palace,
they placed before it a loaded cannon, which usually stood in front
of the castle; and, in the mean while, the people took possession of
the arsenal, armed themselves, and placed the cannon it contained
in front of the buildings. By this time, so great was the accession
of numbers, that the soldiers, citizens, and other inhabitants aSSemi
bled, amounted to 20,000 men. The contest with the Russian
troops speedily commenced; when the latter, though offering a
spirited resistance, and supported by artillery, were driven from
street to street, and from palace to palace belonging to different
nobles. For eighteen hours Warsaw was the scene of this terrible
conflict; but the Russians at length hung out a white flag, as a
token of surrender. Their offer was joyfully accepted by the Poles,
who exulted in having thus gloriously procured a cessation of hos
tilities; but, while thus unaware of the existence of danger, their
treacherous foes suddenly recommenced a murderous fire upon them.
Irritated beyond measure at this nefarious conduct, they again at
tacked the Russians with redoubled fury, and, setting fire to all the
palaces and other buildings in which they had taken shelter, killed
without mercy all who fell into their hands. Before tranquillity
could be restored, several Russian general officers were detained as
hostages; and even the Prussian minister, Buckholz, was subjected
to a similar detention. According to some accounts, the Russians
lost, during the forty-eight hours hard fighting to which the contest
494 HISTORY OF POLAND.

was protracted, 6000 killed, 3000 prisoners, and 50 pieces of can

non. So complete a discomfiture seemed to require an explanation;
and the Russians accounted for it, in a detailed memorial, by as
cribing it chiefly to the pillaging and drunkenness of their troops,
of whom they say 60 were killed in a state of intoxication in one
cellar. D'Ingelstrohm fled in dismay.
The citizens of the capital, the whole body of a proud nobility,
and all the friends of their country throughout Poland, now sub
mitted to the temporary dictatorship of Kosciusko, a private gentle
man only recently known to the public, and without any influence
but his virtue.
The vaccilating conduct of Stanislaus Augustus had been long
viewed with suspicion by his subjects; though it would appear that
the weakness of his character, tried in the ordeal of so troublesome
an epoch as that in which he lived, was rather the cause of the ter
giversations complained of, than any decided treachery of purpose.
Be that as it may, he was now suspected of designs of flying from
Warsaw, and placing himself under the protection of either the Rus
sian or Prussian forces. His walks were watched; and, on the 24th of
April, a deputation of eight members of the regency which had been
established waited upon him, for the purpose of communicating the
wishes of that body and of the people on the subject. The king
assured them that on a particular occasion, to which they alluded,
he had walked out without secresy or mystery, in open day, to the
banks of the Vistula, in order to inspect the rafts which had arrived
with provisions, and also to examine the bridge at that time erect
ing. He likewise pledged his word not to quit Warsaw; and the
deputation professed themselves to be satisfied in their own minds,
but signified that something more must be done to pacify the peo
ple. On the king's testifying his willingness to accede to any rea
sonable propositions, they required that some trust-worthy officer
might be continually in attendance on the royal person, both abroad
and in his private chamber, and that his majesty would appear as
frequently in public as usual. Though the feelings of the king
were wounded by the former part of the demand, he consented for
the sake of conciliating the people; but when the delegates proceed
ed to express the public suspicions with regard to two foreigners
who resided iu the castle, one of whom had been attached to the
person of the king for thirty years, and the other for ten, Stanislaus
indignantly concluded the audience by answering for the fidelity of
all his servants.
 HISTORY OF POLAND. 495

At this time, the authority of the council of regency was su

preme: and the precaution of setting a watch upon the king was
adopted. Fourteen members of the municipal body were appointed
for this service, two of whom relieved each other every twenty-four
hours. These ate at the king's table, and accompanied him when
ever he went abroad. Apparently the greatest harmony seemed to
prevail; the king daily shewed himself to the people by riding
through the streets, and was every where treated with all the exte
riors of respect; but, in reality, he was a mere prisoner of state,
and even his life might have been endangered by any suspicious
circumstances, or by the caprices of the people. However, he
seemed to enter warmly into the national cause; and, as a proof of
his patriotism, he gave up the whole of his plate to the public ser
vice. One half of this, with 1000 ducats in cash, were sent to the
military chest ; and the other half was ordered to be expended in
gratuities to the families of those who had perished in the cause of
their country on the 17th and 18th of April. Thus the united
efforts of the sovereign, the nobility, and the people, were direct
ed to the same results, namely, the recovery of the dismembered
provinces, the disenthralment of their country from foreign domina
tion, and the full and complete re-establishment of the constitution
of the 3rd of May, 1791. That some of the measures adopted by
the revolutionary council of regency were of a nature to excite the
suspicions of other powers, which could not be expected to appre
ciate the excitement then prevalent in Poland, may naturally be
supposed; but the general tendency of those measures was widely
different from the anarchy and hostility to order attributed to them.
Order and tranquillity generally prevailed. Some of the burghers
indeed, perhaps excited by the agents of Russia, complained to
Kosciusko of the inadequacy of their privileges; but this prudent
and disinterested chieftain, instead of courting popularity, repressed
an attempt which might lead to dangerous divisions.
The insurrection in Poland very speedily had the effect intended
by the French Convention. The king of Prussia, alarmed at the
flame excited by the efforts of Kosciusko, was compelled to retire
from the confederacy which threatened France, and attend to af
fairs nearer to his own dominions. He entered Poland at the head
of his army, and, judging of the future by the past, conceived that,
with the assistance of Russia, he came but to conquer. In the lat
ter end of May, he made an application to the Austrian court, re
questing its co-operation against Poland; but though the imperial
 496 HISTORY OF POLAND.

cabinet promised to do every thing in its power to debar the Poles

from succour, all that was really effected was to draw a strong
cordon along their frontier.
Numerous conflicts occurred in different parts of the republic
z
with various success. It did not escape the acute mind of Koscius
ko, that a more free participation by the king in the acts of govern
ment would give a more decided sanction to their proceedings, not
only in Poland, but in the eyes of Europe. He therefore ordered
that the council of regency at Warsaw should cease its functions,
and be succeeded by a national council, whose deliberations should
be submitted to the king. His majesty was also requested to com
municate to them his opinion on all subjects connected with the
\ welfare of the state. In his reply to the letter of the general-in
chief on the subject, Stanislaus says, Under the auspices of Pro
vidence, let us all hope for the common defence of the intentions
and works of all of us, who are born Polonesefully and sincerely
UNITED. I shall employ myself to attain the proposed end by co
operating by my example, and by encouraging others. My vows
and wishes accompany you every where; and it is from the bottom
of the most sincere heart that I give you the assurance of the high
est esteem, and of the affection that I bear you. Though a greater
degree of confidence was apparently restored by these measures,
yet a municipal officer still accompanied the king by day, and slept
in his apartment by night; his influence in the affairs of the nation
was extremely limited; and with regard to the military operations
then in progress, he was not permitted even to ask questions. In
deed, it had been hinted to him, that on his silence on this subject
depended the respect and attention with which he was treated in
other respects.
The prospects of the Poles were clouded by the surrender of
Cracow to the Prussian forces under general Van Elsner, on the
15th June. Though the conditions of capitulation were highly
favourable, the inhabitants of Warsaw were much enraged at the
circumstance, as the garrison of the place consisted of 7000 men in
arms, with 50 pieces of cannon. Signs of violence began to be of.
fered to the persons of the Prussians in the capital; and, at the
same time, the papers of the Russian embassy laid open proofs of
the venality of many of the Poles who had betrayed their country.
The populace of Warsaw, impatient of the slow forms of law, ap
prehensive of the lenient spirit which prevailed among the revo
lutionary leaders, and instigated by the incendiaries who are always
 HISTORY OF POLAND. 497

ready to flatter the passions of a multitude, put to death eight of

these persons, and, by their clamours, extorted from the tribunal a
precipitate trial and execution of a somewhat smaller number. Kos
ciusko, however, did not content himself with reprobating these
atrocities. Though surrounded by danger, attacked by the most
formidable enemies, betrayed by his government, and abandoned by
all Europe, having no doubt of the moral guilt of these prisoners,
mo resource but the irregular energy of the people, he flew from his
camp to the capital, brought the ringleaders of the massacre to jus
tice, and caused them to be immediately executed. It may be in
teresting to mention here, that this excellent man, during all the
perils of his brief administration, exerted his influence with the
nobility to take measures for a more rapid enfranchisement of the
peasantry then the cautious policy of the diet had hazarded.
As a decisive measure, the king of Prussia advanced towards
Warsaw ; but he did not commence any active operations against it
for some time after he had arrived in its vicinity. The capital was
also threatened, at the same time, by the advance of a body of Rus
sian troops. With the most consummate military skill and dexterity,
general Kosciusko advanced with 12,000 men to meet the Prussian
troops, amounting to 40,000, and repulsed them with loss. He
next fell upon the Russians, whom he totally defeated; after which
he entered Warsaw about the middle of July. As the city was not
fortified to withstand a siege, he entrenched his force before that
part of it which was menaced by the Prussians, and thereby protect
ed it from any sudden assault. Frederick, finding that it would be
necessary to storm the intrenched camp of the Poles before he could
enter the city, commenced an attack, on the 31st of July, by a
heavy cannonade. He also caused several hundred bombshells to
be thrown into the city in the course of the day, in order to annoy
its defenders. The latter, however, kept up so dreadful a fire upon
the besiegers, both by day and night, that a fearful destruction of
human life was the consequence in their ranks. Not only was this
felt in the suffering army, but its influence extended even into
Prussia, where the most lively apprehensions were entertained, for
the safety both of the king and of the two eldest princes, all of
whom were exposed to the dangers of this sanguinary contest. In
deed, that these fears were not without foundation was exemplified
in an escape of the prince royal of Prussia from the most imminent
danger. During a cessation of the firing, he had laid himself down
in a barn, with an order that he should be awakened on the first
3 R
498 HISTORY OF POLAND.

shot from the Polish lines. Fortunately for him, his request was
complied with ; as he had scarcely mounted his horse, when a shell
fell upon the barn where he had a few moments before been sleep
ing, and, in its explosion, blew the whole edifice to atoms.
The determined and skilful resistance opposed by Kosciusko to
the king of Prussia, induced the latter to attempt a negotiation with
Stanislaus Augustus for the surrender of Warsaw. With this view,
majesty, dated August 2nd, in which
he wrote a letter to his Polish
he expatiated upon the horrors of an open city being taken by storm,
after a resistance which had provoked the resentment of its con
querors. He also alluded, with affected commiseration, to the du
rance in which his Polish majesty was held by his subjects; and
concluded by expressing his regret at the bloodshed which must
ensue on the rejection of his proposals. The reply of Stanislaus to
his brother king was temperate and dignified, and ran as fol
lows:

The Polish army, commanded by generalissimo Kosciusko, se

parating Warsaw from your majesty's camp, the position of Warsaw
is not that of a city which can decide on its surrender. Under
these circumstances, nothing can justify the extremities of which
your majesty's letter apprizes me; for this city is neither in a state
to accept, nor in that to refuse the summons which has been trans
mitted by lieutenant general de Schwerin to the commandant of
Warsaw. My own existence interests me no more than that of the
inhabitants of this capital; but since Providence has vouchsafed to
elevate me to the rank which allows me to manifest to your majesty
the sentiments of fraternity, I invoke them to move your majesty
to abandon the cruel and revengeful ideas which are so contrary to
the examples kings owe to nations, and (I am persuaded of it) are
altogether opposite to your personal character.
Though the army under general Kosciusko amounted to 40,000
men, and that hero had resolved to defend the city to the last ex
tremity, yet, as several of his redoubts were taken, the Prussians
began to entertain strong hopes of eventually carrying his works,
and gaining possession of the city. The determined resistance of
the Polish chief, however, produced some misgivings in the mind of
Frederick himself; and his perplexity was increased by the intel
ligence that an alarming insurrection had broken out in South
Prussia, which defied all the efforts that had been made for its sup
pression. Conscious that the whole of Silesia was in danger of
being conquered by the insurgents, and perhaps awed in some
 HISTORY OF POLAND. 499

degree by the bravery and perseverance of the Polish general,

Frederick reluctantly determined on raising the siege of Warsaw ;
and accordingly, on the 6th of September, he retired to a favour
able post near Raczin, where he hoped to be able to take advantage
of such circumstances as might occur. His first care had been to
issue a proclamation, addressed to the disturbed districts, in which
he attributed the insurrection to the machinations of insidious in
triguers, desired his subjects to resist the orders of the malcontents,
and promised a general pardon to such as should return to their
duty. Many of the disaffected were thus induced to implore the
king's mercy; and these dispositions being backed by a part of the
army, who were marched thither for the prevention of future at
tempts, tranquillity was at length restored; but Frederick himself,
instead of returning to the siege of Warsaw, retired to Berlin.
The favourable diversion which the insurrection in Southern
Prussia had made in the affairs of Poland, induced Kosciusko to
attempt the instigation of a similar revolt in Western Prussia, and
thus completely to draw off the attention of Frederick from the in
terior of the republic. In fact, it very speedily became visible that
the Polish generalissimo meditated higher schemes then he had at
first avowed. These included not only the recovery of the dismem
bered provinces, but even the capture of districts which for more than
a century had been in the possession of the electors of Brandenburgh.
General Madelinski achieved several successes in Western Prussia.
Having taken Bomberg, not only Dantzick, Thorn, Culm, and
Graudentz appeared on the point of falling into his hands, but ap
prehensions were even entertained that the Poles would penetrate
into Pomerania as far as Stettin. Thus successful in this qmarter,
Kosciusko turned his attention towards Lithuania, which he resolved
to deliver from the encroachments of Russia.
While on his journey to the grand duchy, the Polish general re
ceived intelligence that the Russians continued to advance, notwith
standing the gallant resistance of general count Joseph Sierakowski,
one of the most faithful friends of his country. The defeat of the
corps under his command took place near Brzesc, on the 18th and
19th of September; and general Suwarrow, or Souvoroff, famous for
his talents and his cruelties, advanced to attack Warsaw. To pre
vent the approach of the Russians to the capital, Kosciusko deter
mined on opposing the Russian general with an army of 20,000 men,
and, by coming to a decisive battle, impede his march. Before this
could be effected, however, he learned that general Fersen intended
3 R 2
500 HISTORY OF POLAND.

to form a junction with Suwarrow, and by their united forces over

power any opposition which he might offer. To prevent this,
Kosciusko marched in person to intercept Fersen at the head of
6000 troops, leaving the main body of the army under the command
of prince Poniatowski. To guard the corps under Kosciusko from
surprise, 4000 men under the command of prince Poninski were
posted to defend the passage of the Vistula. On the 10th of Oc
tober, Fersen resolved on attacking Kosciusko, when, either through
ignorance or treachery, Poninski suffered the Russians to cross the
river without opposition. The consequence was that Kosciusko was
attacked on a quarter where he had no reason to expect a surprise.
With even more culpable negligence, Poninski, though very near
the scene of action, never came up to his assistance. Notwithstand
ing these disadvantages, however, the Poles, under their heroic
leader, displaying all their usual valour in the sanguinary engage
ment that ensued. The attack of the Russians was tremendous;
but the firmness of the Poles, after a desperate conflict, compel
led them to retire. Again the assault was renewed, again the
battle raged fiercely, and again the Russians were repulsed.
Victory seemed no longer doubtful; and had the Poles remained
contented with beating the enemy from the field, the favourable
result of the day's contest would have been certain. Animated,
however, by their success, they no longer acted on the defensive,
but, abandoning the favourable position which they occupied, they
pursued the retreating foe, and attempted to attack their rear. The
consequence was, that while their line, in the ardour of pursuit,
was in a slight state of confusion, the Russian troops took advan
tage of the circumstance, and formed themselves afresh. Inferior
in numbers, and no longer posted to advantage, the disorder in the
Polish army became more and more alarming, and at length ended
in a total rout. The cavalry, indeed, retreated in good order; but
the infantry, overpowered and crushed by their foes, yet defending
themselves with fury and desperation, were almost completely an
nihilated. The battle, which commenced at seven o'clock in the
morning, continued until noon; and the loss of the Poles was com
puted at no less than 3000 men in killed, wounded, and prisoners.
Amongst the latter was the brave general Kosciusko. His con
stant habit, since the confederation, had been that of a peasant; and
in this disguise he appeared on this occasion. Previous to the bat
tle, he ordered his soldiers, if he should fall into the hands of the
Russians, to shoot him instantly. During the engagement, he dis
 HISTORY OF POLAND. 501

played prodigies of valour. Wherever the action was hottest, and

the danger most imminent, there he was to be seen, animating and
encouraging his troops. Three horses were killed under him ; and
at length a Cossack, ignorant of his person and rank, wounded him
from behind with a lance. Some of his soldiers, perceiving his situ
ation, attempted to perform his orders, by levelling their pieces at
him; but, in the hurry of the moment, they unconsciously ejaculated
his name. Meanwhile he had recovered a little, and advanced a few V
steps; when a Russian officer again brought him to the ground by
a blow on the head with his sabre. As he lay prostrate, and wel
tering in his blood, a second Cossack attempted to dispatch him ;
but the Russian general Chruozazow, having heard the exclamation
of the Polish soldiers, threw himself before him, and arrested the
arm of the Cossack. At this moment, Kosciusko opened his eyes,
and the full extent of his country's disaster flashed upon his mind.
Addressing his protector, he exclaimed, If you wish to render me Y
a service, suffer him to strike; do not prevent my death ! His
virtues and misfortunes melted the rude nature of the Cossacks;
and it is needless to add that this request was not complied with.
The wife of general Chruozazow had, a few weeks before, been ge
nerously allowed by Kosciusko to depart from Warsaw to join her
husband; and, actuated by gratitude, they both endeavoured, by the
most delicate attentions, to alleviate the miseries of his captivity.
Notwithstanding the victory which the Russians achieved on this
occasion, the check they received was so great, that, instead of im
mediately advancing to Warsaw, they fell back towards Lublin.
To keep up appearances, however, the empress was pleased to tes
tify her satisfaction at the series of successes commenced at Brzesc
by Suwarrow, by appointing him her aid-de-camp, and sending
him a crown of laurels, set in brilliants, of the value of 60,000 rou
bles. She also permitted him to choose a regiment in her army,
which should bear his name for ever. In the Polish capital, the
result of this battle occasioned an universal gloom; and the calamity
was considered as doubly grievous on account of the capture of the
favourite hero of the Poles. The Supreme National Council, how
ever, exhibited neither the listlessness nor the cruelty of despair.
They published an address to the people of the republic, in which,
though they deplored the double misfortune which had occurred,
they exhorted them to beware of despair, and of burying with
Kosciusko's fate the hopes of their country. Promising to defend
liberty, or to perish along with her, they appointed as supreme chief
502 HISTORY OF POLAND.

of the armed force Thomas Wawrzecki, who had hitherto acted as

lieutenant-general. At the same time, October 14, the Council
addressed a letter to Kosciusko, requesting him to make known to
them his wants, and those of the brave companions of his efforts,
who shared in his melancholy situation. So high, they add, is
the value which the Council set upon your person, that they would
willingly restore to the enemy all their prisoners in exchange for
you ; and there is not an individual in the Council who would not
joyfully barter his liberty for yours. It is by an uncommon course
of things, generalissimo, that you receive from your contemporaries
that tribute which the latest posterity will one day render you.
In the reply of Kosciusko, which was brought a few days after
wards by a trumpeter to the Council, he stated that the number of
officers taken prisoners on the 10th amounted to 125, amongst
whom were five generals. He spoke in the highest terms of the
treatment he had received from general Fersen, and the care which
had been taken to heal his wounds.

The first measure taken by general Fersen, after the battle, was
to address a letter to king Stanislaus Augustus, wherein, after al
luding to the glorious effects of her imperial majesty's arms on the
late occasion, he demanded the liberty of the Russian generals,
officers, soldiers, and servants, as well as persons of the diplomatic
body, who, in contempt of the most sacred rights of nations, had
been detained in the prisons of the capital. The king, in his reply
to this insolent demand, announced the intention of his subjects
either to die or to conquer for liberty. He concludes, You need
not wonder, sir, if your demand to us of the liberation of the Rus
sian prisoners and hostages, who serve as pledges for the Poles
seized by the Russians, does not meet with our concurrence. If
you were to propose the exchange of your prisoners for our own, I
would then voluntarily gratify your wishes.
The fate of Warsaw was now fast approaching to a crisis. The
whole Russian army moved forward towards it; and general Fersen
sent a formal summons to surrender inclosed in a letter to the king.
This document was sent by Stanislaus unopened to the council, who,
as might have been expected, answered it by a decided negative.
In the mean while, the Polish generals Madelinski and Dombrowski,
who were prosecuting the war in Prussia, alarmed at the danger of
Warsaw, retreated by forced marches, and eventually succeeded in
throwing themselves into the capital. The concentrated force of
the Russian troops was now directed exclusively against the city.
 -
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 HISTORY OF POLAND. 503

Generals Fersen, Dernfeld, and Denisow effected a junction with

Suwarrow, under whose command their combined forces proceeded
towards the suburb of Praga, and began to make preparations for
an assault on the 4th of November.
At this period, Praga, which is separated from Warsaw by the
Vistula, was defended by more than a hundred pieces of cannon,
arranged in thirty-three batteries. Suwarrow, the fame of whose
military talents was obscured by the cruelty of his disposition, issued
the same orders to his troops on this occasion as he had formerly done
at the storming of Ismail, and enjoined them to give no quarter; an
injunction which the ferocious Russians obeyed but too well, being
incited to the bloody work by the barbarous promise from their
commander of 48 hours pillage. He ordered that not a musket-shot
should be fired; but that his army, 50,000 strong, should advance
rapidly to the assault, and employ only the sabre and the bayonet,
in the use of which latter weapon he had personally instructed them.
In the darkness of the night, the columns moved forward, each pre
ceded by a party of soldiers bearing scaling ladders, fascines for
crossing the ditches, and other implements necessary for the occa
sion. Having arrived within 150 paces of the intrenchments, how
ever, their ardour burst forth in a general shout, and they sprung
forward towards the fortifications; those in front throwing away
their ladders, &c., and joining their comrades in the assault. The
centinels on the walls had scarcely time to give notice of the ap
proaching danger ; and though the whole of the Polish batteries
immediately commenced a furious fire, yet, in consequence of the
darkness of the night, and the nearness of the assailants, the shot
passed harmlessly over the heads of the latter, who were already
climbing the walls. By a fatality unusual on such occasions, all the
six columns of the Russians arrived at the works at the same time;
so that the Polish generals, who had but 10,000 men in the place,
were unable to distribute their troops advantageously. Some corps
who were entrenched on the side of the Vistula, hearing the sudden
cry of the Russians, and apprehensive of being surrounded, attempted
to retreat into Warsaw by means of a bridge, but were intercepted
by some of the Russian columns. A dreadful conflict ensued; the
bridge was broken down; and the garrison, overpowered by their

* In the terrible conflict, which occurred at the taking of this Turkish for
tress, the Russians entered the works by climbing over the dead bodies of
their comrades as well as their enemies.
504 HISTORY OF POLAND.

opponents, were slaughtered in appalling numbers. Prodigies of

valour were performed by the soldiers and citizens, who made stands
in every street, and almost at every house. During eight hours
they maintained the unequal contest; and, two hours after all re
sistance had ceased, the Russians furiously continued the massacre.
Daylight presented a horrid spectacle to the inhabitants of War
saw, who, from their windows, beheld the slaughter of their friends,
and the pillage of their habitations, in Praga. No less than 5000,
or one half of the garrison, were slain in the assault, or perished
either in the flames or the river; and the remainder were taken
prisoners or dispersed. The conclusion of the battle was followed
by a seizure of all the arms in the hands of the citizens, and a
general plunder of their houses. Even this did not satisfy the
sanguinary fury of the Russians. Long after the termination of all
resistance, and about nine o'clock in the evening, they set fire to
the houses, and began to butcher the inhabitants. Not only those
capable of bearing arms, but the aged, females, and children, were
indiscriminately put to the sword. All the horrors of war, which
the most uncivilized armies practise on such occasions, were here
seen with tenfold violence. The murder of children formed a sort of
barbarous sport for the assailants; infants being thrown from bayonet
to bayonet with diabolical ferocity. The most unspeakable outrages
were offered to the living and the dead. The mere infliction of
death was an act of mercy. The streets streamed with blood. This
slaughter did not cease till mid-day of the 5th ; and 18,000 human
carcases were carried away from the streets after the massacre had
ceased. During its continuance the flames of the buildings raged
unchecked; and, with the exception of a few scattered houses, the
whole suburb of Praga was reduced to ashes. The memory of this
execution will entail on the name of Suwarrow, notwithstanding his
courage and military talents, the universal execrations of posterity.
It was now obvious that the city of Warsaw itself must soon
share the fate of Praga; but notwithstanding this melancholy pro
spect, the Polish troops in the capital kept up a constant fire on the
Russians on the other side of the Vistula, who returned it but
feebly. To prevent the further effusion of human blood, however,
count Ignatius Potocki, the leader of the insurrection, proposed that
a treaty should be set on foot with the Russian general; and, with
the sanction of the Council, he proceeded in person to wait on
Suwarrow in the name of the republic. With all the haughtiness
inspired by success, that general refused to hear him, stating that
 HISTORY OF POLAND. 505

the empress, his mistress, was not at war with the republic, but
that the sole object of his mission to Warsaw was to reduce to
obedience those Polish subjects who, by taking up arms, had dis
turbed the repose of the state. He proceeded to insinuate that he
should not treat with any of the leaders of the insurrection, but
only with those who, coming in a legal manner, and in the name
of the king, should be legitimately entitled to that attention. On
the statement of this answer in Warsaw by count Potocki, it was
resolved to send a deputation from the magistracy of the city to the
Russian commander; and Buzakowski, Strazakowski, and Maka
rowcz were appointed for that purpose. These envoys accordingly
repaired to the Russian head-quarters, and were admitted to a con
ference with the general. All their endeavours to procure any
other terms than a surrender of the city at discretion, were una
vailing ; and they were at length compelled to submit to this
arrangement, under the sole condition that security of life and pro
perty should be guaranteed. Suwarrow now assumed an appearance
of magnanimity, consented to their request, and added, that besides
safety to their persons, and the preservation of their property, there
was a third article, which, without doubt, the magistrates had for
gotten to ask, and which he granted,pardon for the past.
The deputies were engaged in this negotiation until noon of the
5th, when they returned into the city, and related the result of
their mission. The magistracy immediately issued a proclamation,
announcing the terms to the citizens, and requesting them to remain
quiet and cease firing till the entire conclusion of the negotiation,
the Russian general having ordered his men not to fire on their
part. It was subsequently announced, that his excellency desired
all the inhabitants to surrender their arms, of every description,
before the signing of the capitulation, and promised that all fowl
ing-pieces and arms of value should be returned to their proprietors
on the re-establishment of tranquillity. It is not to be wondered at
that the citizens, while the smoke was still rising from the ruins of
Praga, should have consented to obey this order; but the soldiers,
though unable to save the city, refused to submit to it. Indeed,
such was the spirit of defiance which still existed, that general
Wawrzecki and several members of the Council refused to partici
pate in the proceedings leading to a capitulation. Further confer
ences and discussions were the result of this perseverance, and the
deliberations were protracted till the 6th. The king, perceiving
the difficulties which presented themselves, requested a week to
22 3 s
506 HISTORY OF POLAND.

adjust the terms of capitulation; but this was peremptorily refused

by Suwarrow, who would not grant more than two or three days
for that purpose. He also ordered the reparation of the bridge to
be proceeded with as quickly as possible. At length, it was agreed
that such of the military in Warsaw as refused to lay down their
arms should have liberty to depart; but the Russian general de
clared that this was the last opportunity of mercy that should be
offered to them, as, when overtaken, no quarter should be granted
them.
On the morning of the 7th of November, after the terms of the
capitulation were signed, general Wawrzecki and the members of
the Supreme Council waited upon Stanislaus Augustus, and re
signed into his hands the authority they had exercised in Warsaw.
On the same day, the magistrates announced to the inhabitants that,
as the Russian troops were about to enter the city, and their gene
ral had promised the observance of the most strict discipline, it was
desirable, the more securely to preserve order, that all houses should
be shut up. On the 9th, the day appointed for the entry of Su
warrow, this order was universally obeyed. He was met on the
bridge of Praga by the chief magistrate, with the keys of the city on
a velvet cushion, and received them with a politeness which even
he could assume. Stanislaus Augustus also sent his compliments;
and, on the 10th, Suwarrow went with great pomp to the castle to
pay his respects to his majesty.
Thus fell the city of Warsaw. The news of the surrender were
carried to St. Petersburgh by major-general D'Islenieff. With a
degree of impiety and hypocrisy which is at once odious and dis
gusting, the 1st of December was set apart as a day of solemn
thanksgiving to God, and Te Deum was sung in honour of this im
portant event
The most edifying tranquillity was soon established and preserved
in Warsaw by the conciliatory reasons presented by the Russians.
These consisted of 9000 soldiers constantly on guard in the city,
18,000 in Praga, where they possessed all the artillery lately be
longing to the patriots, and 10,000 in the same position on the Vis
tula which had been occupied by Kosciusko during the siege by the
Prussians. Batteries were erected around the city, towards which
the cannon were kept pointed to ensure the submission of its in
mates. The Polish troops under Wawrzecki, who had refused to
accede to the capitulation of Warsaw, were on their march towards
Sandomir ; but being totally in want of provisions, and harassed by
 HISTORY OF POLAND. 507

the Russians and Prussians, they were soon compelled to disband,

after spiking eighty pieces of cannon. Twenty-two pieces, 3000
stand of arms, and nineteen waggons of ammunition, fell into the
hands of the Prussian general Kleist; and the rest of the booty
was taken by the Russians. Wawrzecki, with the generals Mada
linski, Dombrowski, and Zajonczek, the chancellor Kallontai, the
president Zakrzewski, and several others of the Supreme Council
and their adherents, retreated into Gallicia.
The noble but unfortunate leader of the war, Kosciusko, remained
during these events at Uszeylack, where every attention was paid
by the Russians to his wounds. Madame Chruozazow, the wife of
the general who had preserved his life, and who owed her own free
dom to his generosity, contributed, by her kind and personal atten
tions, to alleviate the miseries of his situation. As soon as he was
sufficiently recovered, however, he was ordered to proceed to Pe
tersburgh ; and the spectacle of the hero and his companions in
arms being led into captivity was truly affecting and melancholy.
Two pulks of Cossacks, each consisting of 500 men with two cannon,
respectively formed the advanced and rear guard of his carriage, in
which, for greater security, a major and two other officers accom
panied the distinguished prisoner. Between the pulks were also
conducted 3000 Polish prisoners, with their officers. On his arrival
at Petersburgh, this heroic man was thrown into a dungeon, in which
he continued till the death of Catherine. On the accession of the
emperor Paul, he ordered Kosciusko to be released, partly perhaps
from hatred to his mother, and partly from one of those paroxysms
of transient generosity of which that brutal lunatic was not incapa
ble. He even visited the illustrious captive in person, and settled
on him an income equal to his wants.
The promise of amnesty for the past, held out by Suwarrow, was
speedily violated by his unprincipled mistress. On the 20th of
December, count Buxhoerden, governor of Warsaw, received an
order to arrest, and send under a strong escort to Petersburgh, count
Ignatius Potocki, and several other distinguished chiefs. This was
effected, and the unhappy men were sent to languish in distant
prisons. The same messenger who brought this order to the go
vernor was the bearer of a despatch from the empress to the king,
who had hitherto been allowed to amuse himself with the formalities
of royalty, but who was now invited to quit his capital and repair
to Grodno; and he obeyed the summons (equivalent to a command)
on the 7th of January, 1795. On the 25th of November in the
3 s 2
 W

508 HISTORY OF POLAND.

same year (which, being the anniversary of his coronation, aggra

vated the humiliation), he, in obedience to the orders of Catherine,
abdicated the throne. Nothing now remained to retard the final
partition of Poland but the quarrels that arose about the division of
the booty, which were not settled till the beginning of 1796. It is
unnecessary to repeat the pleas under which this final spoliation was
effected. The various shares of the three Ponvers were at length
adjusted ; and Catherine, as she describes herself in her proclama
tion, mith the solicitude of a tender mother, niho only nishes for
the happiness of her children, concluded the scene, by ordering a
solemn thanksgiving to God in all the churches, for the blessings
conferred upon the Poles ; and commanded, that each of them
should snear fidelity and loyalty to her, and to shed in her defence
the last drop of their blood, as they should ansner for it to God, and
his terrible judgment, kissing the holy nord and the cross of their
Saviour.
Stanislaus continued for some time to reside at Grodno, a kind
of state prisoner. His debts, which were very considerable, were
discharged, and he enjoyed an annual revenue of 200,000 ducats.
Early in 1797, he was removed to Petersburgh, and, according to
the will of the sovereign, fixed his residence in the marble palace
on the banks of the Neva; but his death, which occurred on the
12th of February, 1798, terminated the series of Polish sovereigns.
Some circumstances of a suspicious nature led to a belief that un
fair means had been employed to produce his decease; but this was
never ascertained.
The character of Stanislaus Augustus was highly lauded by writ
ers of the time; and, at the commencement of his reign, his efforts
for extending the means of education amongst his subjects, and for
introducing the benefits of manufactures and industry, entitled him
to considerable praise. But it cannot be denied that he was totally
unfit to contend with the political storms which agitated his reign,
and that he vacillated between the extremes of patriotic heroism
and the debasement of servile submission. At one moment we per
ceive him presiding in dignity over the deliberations of a free people,
engaged in the holy task of regenerating their institutions, and plant
ing the seeds of future blessings to posterity; and, at the next, he
is crouching before the mandates of the ambitious czarina, basely
endeavouring to deprecate her wrath by accusing the patriots who

* See page 8.
 HISTORY OF POLAND. 509

had planned and perfected those great measures, and throwing him
self into the scale of the confederation of Targowicz, of whom it is
scarcely too severe to say, that they merited the banishment to Si
beria inflicted on them by the tyranny which took advantage of their
treachery, and afterwards made them the dupes of its grasping am
bition. There can be little doubt, however, that the aberrations
from the stern course of patriotic duty, exhibited by Stanislaus, were
to be mainly attributed to the natural weakness of his character and
the difficulties of his situation. In private life, his urbanity and
amiable manners were such as to surpass all praise; and his literary
acquirements were of the highest order. -

The completion of the partition of Poland forms a climax in poli

tical atrocity, for which we shall in vain seek for a counterpart in
history. It was, indeed, the concluding scene of a drama to which
former spoliations had been but the prologue. The worst conse
quence of the first partition, says an able writer, was not the loss
of territory. Still more destructive was the pretended guarantee of
the new constitution, by which Catherine bound the Polish nation
not to reform, without her consent, those institutions which had
exposed them to anarchy, invasion, and partition. They were
bound, by this compact, to make no attempt to attain quiet at home
or respectability abroad, even within the limits to which their op
pressors had reduced them. This stipulation was as morally bind
ing, as one which should forbid a nation, which had suffered often
by famine and pestilence, to provide against the return of those
evils, by tilling their fields, building lazarettoes, or draining their
fens. The breach of this compact, miscalled a treaty, which it was
criminal to impose, and would have been equally criminal to per
form, was the only wrong complained of by Catherine. She made
war upon the people of Poland, merely because they attempted to
better their condition, by means as innocent as ever were employed
to obtain an honest end.
 510 HISTORY OF POLAND.
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PART V.

Events which have occurred in Poland since the Dissolution of the

Monarchy.

It is not to be supposed that the criminal seizure of Poland,

which has formed an example and a pattern for all the arbitrary
appropriations of states and territories that have since been perpe
trated, did not excite the indignation of every wise and good man.
On the contrary, it was the subject of much and severe animadver
sion throughout Europe. Unfortunately for Poland, however, the
co-operation of all the great powers was at that era thought neces
sary to crush the revolutionary spirit in France; and the mere
claims of justice, and even those of enlightened policy, were disre
garded in the struggle to unite all parties against the common
enemy, as the French nation was then termed. During eleven
years, therefore, the name of Poland was erased from the map of
Europe; and her people were condemned, during that time, to
| groan beneath their bonds in utter hopelessness. Thousands of
expatriated Poles swelled the armies of France, and, by their valour,
contributed materially to the success of Buonaparte's Italian cam
paigns; though, with an ingratitude highly discreditable to that
conqueror, they were scarcely named in his bulletins. There
are few instances, it has been observed, of the affection of men
for their country more touching than that of these gallant Poles,
who, in voluntary exile, amidst every privation, without the hope
of fame, when all the world had become their enemies, daily sacri
ficed themselves in the battles of a foreign nation, in the faint
hope of that nation's one day delivering Poland from bondage.
Napoleon, however, at length found it prudent, for the furtherance
of his designs against the allied powers, to hold out hopes of the
restoration of their independence to the Poles; and the result was
electrical. No sooner had Prussia lost the battle of Jena, than the
Poles compelled the Prussian troops to evacuate the Prussian pro
vinces, as rapidly as possible. The partial prospects of restoration
then held out by Napoleon (who was in alliance with Austria, and
 HISTORY OF POLAND. 511

perhaps unwilling to break with Russia beyond all chance of recon

ciliation) were sufficient to call forth incredible exertions. In a
few days, whole regiments were raised by a few individualssome
brought battalionsor only companiesand all poured in their
wealth of every kind. Nothing probably contributed more than the
ferment in Poland, to keep Austria quiet at that moment; and it
certainly enabled Napoleon to maintain himself during the winter,
after severe losses, and in the following campaign to dictate a peace
upon the Niemen. At this period, the great Kosciusko lived in
retirement in France. He had ever exhorted the Poles to seize
on every opportunity of effecting the deliverance of their country,
and had even issued a proclamation to them, announcing his inten
tion of joining Napoleon, their supposed liberator; but when that
warrior offered him a command in 1807, this perfect hero refused
to quit his humble retreat, unless a pledge were given for the re
storation of Poland.
At the treaty of Tilsit, in 1807, part of that country which had
been seized by Prussia was transferred to Russia, and part was
erected into a separate state, styled THE GRAND-Duchy of WAR
sAw, under the sovereignty of the king of Saxony. Though this
partial restoration, or, as it was styled, mere shadow of independ
ence, fell far short of the expectations of the enthusiastic Poles,
yet they continued to support, with the most devoted loyalty, the
man to whom they were indebted for even this glimpse of deliver
ance from their ancient oppressors. Accordingly, in 1809, they made
similar efforts to those which had before proved so serviceable to
him; and their army overran Austrian Poland with ease, meeting
in those provinces only friends wherever they came. Napoleon was
now in alliance with Russia, and could promise little to the Poles;

* After his liberation by the emperor Paul, having no longer a country in

Europe, he determined on repairing to America. On his way thither, he
visited London, where persons of all ranks were eager to pay their respects to
him, and the house in which he resided was continually surrounded by the
admiring multitude. The Whig Club voted him a sword, and sent a deputa
tion to announce the intelligence. The state of his wounds, and of his health
generally, did not permit him to remain long in America; and he returned to
k * *
France, which he had left a monarchy, but now found a republic, As the cli

mate suited his health, he took up his residence near Paris; but Russia
being then at war with France, he magnanimously resigned the pension of the t ;
emperor. On his first return from America, he had found the high-born fe
male of his early choice the wife of another; but he eventually became her
third husband; and their daughter married and settled in Poland,
512 HISTORY OF POLAND.

but by the treaty of Schoenbrunn, he added half of Gallicia to that

state, at the expense of Austria. The only obstruction experienced
by Napoleon, during all this time, arose from the real or supposed
machinations of an obscure religious fraternity, called Bennonists,
who were accused of fomenting designs hostile to the peace of Po
land and the neighbouring nations. It was alleged, that Great
Britain had offered them an asylum in Canada, that they had spies
in every family, and that they were collecting money. They were,
however, banished across the frontiers of the duchy in June, 1808.
When, in 1812, Napoleon advanced a second time to combat
Russia, he again procured a vast accession of strength by appealing
to the hopes of the Poles. In his proclamation, he styled the cam
paign the second Polish war; and he published a declaration,
addressed to the Poles, in which he announced that Poland would
be greater than she had been under Stanislaus, and that the arch
duke, who then governed Wurtzburg, was to be their sovereign.
In a diet held at Warsaw, all Poland was declared independent,
except that part held by the emperor of Austria, with whom Napo
leon was then in alliance ; but, at the same time, the latter an
nounced his intention of uniting all the Russian provinces on the
Baltic to Poland, which would constitute a power sufficient to op
pose Russia, and protect the west of Europe. A constitution was
also proclaimed, and active measures were adopted for arming the
Poles. Though the exception in favour of Austria was sufficient
to damp the ardour of any but these patriotic people, yet they still
hoped, and surpassed their former exertions. Napoleon obtained
nearly twelve millions sterling within a few months, including the
ordinary revenue, from the duchy alone; and his ranks were filled
from all parts of Poland. Seventy thousand Poles, chiefly under
the command of prince Joseph Poniatowski, the nephew of king
Stanislaus Augustus, fought under his banners. Men, women,
peasants, citizens, gentlemen, all were animated with the same no
ble enthusiasm, and were determined to drive oppression beyond
the Boristhenes.
It is difficult, at present, to conjecture what were Napoleon's real
intentions with regard to Poland. If he was sincere in his pro
mises of re-establishment, there was a dubiousness in his language
which was anything but conclusive. On the 12th of July, Wybi
cki, at the head of a deputation of the diet, told him, at Wilna,
with truth, The interest of your empire requires the re-establish
ment of Poland ; the honour of France is interested in it. In
 HISTORY OF POLAND. 513

reply, he told the deputation, that he had done all that duty to
his subjects allowed to restore their country; that he would second
their exertions; and that he authorized them to take up arms every
where but in the Austrian provinces, of which he had guaranteed
the integrity, and which he should not suffer to be disturbed. In
this cold and guarded answer, it has been observed, he promised
less than he had acquired the power of performing; for, by the se ,
cret articles of his treaty with Austria, concluded in March, 1812, |
provision was made for the exchange of the Illyrian provinces
(which he had retained at his own disposal) for such a part of Aus-,
trian Poland as would be equivalent to them. In his conversations |
at St. Helena, however, the matter is alluded to in the remark,
that the European nations would yet find that he had adopted the
best possible policy at the time he had intended to re-establish the
kingdom of Poland.I see into futurity, said he, farther
than others, and I wanted to establish a barrier against those bar
barians (the Russians) by re-establishing the kingdom of Poland, and
putting Poniatowski at the head of it as king ; but your imbeciles
of ministers would not consent. A hundred years hence, I shall be
praised, and Europe, especially England, will lament that I did
not succeed. When they see the finest countries in Europe over
run, and a prey to those northern barbarians, they will say, Napo
leon was right. The nature of his ultimate designs seems to be
here established; but he committed an error in making Polish in
dependence the consequence only of his anticipated victories, when
it might have contributed so materially to their cause. At this pe
riod of his life, he appears to have relied (like most other emperors
and kings) more upon the mechanism of armies, and the superiority
of his own policy, than on the national feeling, the popular enthusi
asm, and the attachment of nations, to which he owed the victories
of his youth. It is not to be questioned, that if he had fairly of.
fered the restoration of the country, with its own laws, instead of
the Code Napoleon, and had waited for six months in order to avail
himself of its entire co-operation, a very different result would have
attended his advance upon Russia. That Poland would have been
for ever lost to the latter power, there can be no doubt.
The conflagration of Moscow, and the disastrous retreat of Na
poleon, destroyed at once the plans of that hitherto mighty conqueror
and the hopes of the Poles. Yet they still adhered, with devoted
patriotism, to his cause. Even in unparalleled defeats, says an
eloquent writer, how constantly did the Poles cling to France,
3 T
 514 HISTORY OF POLAND.

because she still battled with Russia! Saxons, Bavarians, Dutch,

Rhinlanders, Prussians, and Italiansall by thousands deserted her
standards, quivering with fearful disasters;of the Poles not one
And yet Napoleon deceived their hopes, and had at best promised
but little to gain them over. He was hampered with his alliances
each time he went into Poland, and probably not very willing to
begin the work of restoration.
Poland was the scene of a great portion of the misery endured
by the French army in its retreat; and it was at Smorgoni, eighteen
leagues from Wilna, that Napoleon put in execution his plan of
quitting the army. He passed through Warsaw incognito on the
10th of December. Poland was speedily overrun by the Russians,
and the king of Prussia joined his forces to them. The king of
Sweden (Bernadotte) also declared against his patron and relation,
on the conditions that Great Britain should give him one million
sterling, cede Guadaloupe to Sweden, and assist in the conquest of
Norway should Denmark oppose the Swedish armies. To oppose
this formidable combination, Napoleon made the most gigantic ef
forts. At Lutzen, he gained a victory over the united army of
Russians and Prussians ; he reinstated the king of Saxony in his
capital; and at Bautzen and Dresden he again successively con
quered his opponents. But here his success terminated. Anstria
declared against him ; and a series of reverses ensued which ended
in his total overthrow.

At the battle of Leipzig, when by the premature blowing up of the

bridge, the whole rear-guard, amounting to 30,000 men (including
* According to Sir Robert Wilson, in the hospitals at Wilna there were
left above 17,000 dead and dying, frozen and freezing; the bodies of the former,
broken up, served to stop the cavities in windows, floors, and walls; but in one of
the corridors of the great convent, above f300 bodies were piled up transversely,
like pigs of lead or iron. When these were finally removed, on sledges, to be
burned, the most extraordinary figures were presented by the variety of their
attitudes, for none seemed to have been frozen in a composed state; each was
fired in the last action of his life, in the last direction given to his limbs, even the
eyes retaining the last impression, either of anger, pain, or entreaty. In the
roads, men were collected round the burning ruins of the cottages, which a
mad spirit of destruction had fired, picking and eating the burnt bodies of
fellow men, while thousands of horses were moaning in agony, with their flesh
mangled and hacked to satisfy the cravings of a hunger that knew no pity.
In many of the sheds, men, scarcely alive, had heaped on their frozen bodies
human carcases, which, festering by the communication of animal heat, had min
gled the dying and the dead in one mass of putrefaction / 1 /* The cold was so
intense, that even the Russians, to use Napoleon's expression, died like flies.
 HISTORY OF POLAND. 515

stragglers, wounded, and sick), with 200 pieces of artillery, were cut
off from the main army, the brave prince Joseph Poniatowski was
drowned in the Elster. This gallant prince had long ranked among
the most devoted of the French generals; and when he perceived
that he was in danger of been captured, he drew his sabre, and
turning to the officers by whom he was surrounded, said, Gentle
men, it it better to fall with honour than to live disgraced. He
then rushed, at the head of a few Polish cuirassiers, upon the ad
vancing columns of the allies, and cut his way through their ranks to
the Elster, where he met his fate. Thus fell this heroic nobleman,
who had been devoted from his earliest years to his country; seek
ing her enemies in every field; astonishing the veteran companions of
Pulawski and Zaremba by his romantic valour; the delight of the
young and the gay, whom he outshone in court and camp; the like
ness of a king for dignity of presence, of an ancient cavalier for his
high-bred gallantry; zealous in friendship, to which he would sacrifice
all but honour and love; and an enthusiast for liberty. Asolemn dirge
was performed for him, with a splendid ceremonial, in the metropo
litan church of Warsaw, though the city nas then in possession of the
Russians. In fact, his memory escaped the common licence of abuse;
and not a word was ever whispered against him by the allies.
A noble opportunity was afforded to the European powers, by
the downfall of Napoleon, of wiping off the stigma which had so
long disgraced their policy. The Russian emperor, the magnani
mous Alexander, entered France in 1814, as the avowed patron of
liberal opinions and institutions. Amongst other professions, he
seemed anxious to salute Kosciusko ; he commiserated his misfor
tunes, admired his interpidity, and could not but respect his patriot
ism. He even expressed a wish to restore him to his former rank
and consequence in the country that had given him birth; but, with
a consistency worthy of his character, the hero sternly rejected the
proffered boon. If your majesty means by Poland, replied he,
that Poland, such as it was in 1794, I am both ready and willing
to return to my native land; but I cannot condescend to serve un
der a foreign prince, who wears its crown. Therefore, unless
Poland be governed by a native sovereign, or a republican form of
government is established there, I must decline your majesty's most
gracious offer. He, however, made three requests for his country
men: that the emperor would grant an universal amnesty; a
free constitution, resembling as nearly as possible that of England,
with means of general education; and, after the expiration of ten
3 T 2
516 HISTORY OF POLAND.

years, an emancipation of the peasants. The emperor is reported

to have replied, with his usual policy and circumspection, All you
have uttered, general, is praiseworthy, and merits my esteem; but
I can say nothing at present about the government of Poland, for all
these matters are to be finally discussed and settled at a congress
about to be held at Vienna.
At the congress of Vienna, a few feeble attempts were made on
the part of Great Britain and France, by Lord Castlereagh and M.
de Talleyrand, to obtain some recognition of Polish independence;
but the Muscovite autocrat had been too long inured to the domina
tion of Poland willingly to forego his prey. The duchy of Warsaw,
formed by Napoleon, was, with a few exceptions, by the will of
the congress, granted to the emperor of Russia, who was to assume,
with his other titles, that of czar king of Poland. It should be ob
served that this new KINGDOM is composed solely of the Russian
part of the duchy of Warsaw, and does not comprehend the Polish
provinces acquired by Russia in 1772, 1793, 1794, 1807, and 1809.
Alexander reserved to himself a power of giving it such an interior
extension as he thought fit; a singular expression, by which seems
to have been meant the right of incorporating with it the former
Polish acquisitions of Russia, which are more than double the extent
and population of this new kingdom. That part of the duchy of
Warsaw which was not united to Russia was ceded to Prussia.
The czar, with great apparent liberality, agreed not only to give a
free constitution to his new acquisitions in Poland, but to intercede
with his allies that they might bestow the same blessing on their
Polish provinces; and the king of Prussia, on the 23rd of May,
1815, published a decree, by which he not only promised a popular re
presentation, and a general constitution to his people, but appointed
a commission to prepare a plan for the Provincial Assemblies, the
National Representation, and the frame of a constitution. It is,
perhaps, unnecessary to observe that these plans and constitutions,
both of Russia and Prussia, remain (as they were probably intended
to be) a dead letter. The town of Cracow, with its territory, was
declared to be for ever a free, independent, and strictly neutral city,
under the protection of Austria, Russia, and Prussia."
At the opening of the first diet of the new kingdom of Poland,
Alexander made one of the most modest declarations ever delivered
from a throne:I wish to observe towards Poland the Christian

* See page 31.

 HISTORY OF POLAND. 517

maxim of returning good for evil ' ' " It is but justice to add,
however, that when Kosciusko died, in 1817, after a public and
private life worthy the pupil of Washington, the czar allowed his
Polish subjects to pay due honours to the last of their heroes; and
that prince Jablonowski was sent to attend his remains from Swit
zerland to Cracow, where they were interred in the only spot of
Polish territory not avowedly dishonoured by a foreign master. This
was good; but a more acceptable tribute to his memory would have
been the execution of his pure intentions, and an attention to his
disinterested prayers.
After the preceding brief summary of events, which belong in fact
rather to the history of Europe then to that of any particular coun
try, it may not be improper to recapitulate some of the effects result
ing to the people of Poland themselves, from the various changes of
government they had in the interim undergone, and the description
of which is collected from the best authorities.
If the cruelty inflicted in Poland at the time of each invasion
produced a more acute degree of misery, it was neither so wide-spread
ing nor so lasting in its consequences as the impoverishment by con- -

fiscation. The assertion that Poland was parcelled out, confiscated,

jobbed, turned into money, is most strictly and literally true. Each
time that a Russian army entered Poland, whether for the purpose
of partition, or of driving out an enemy, a Commission of Confisca
tion was assembled as a matter of course. All offences against the **
state were punished with confiscation; and there was consequently A
no lack of such accusations. Every thing becomes a state offence | -

in times of change; and the information of a spy, a private enemy, t S-,

a turned-off lacquey, a swindling Jew, or a conscious malefactor, 4., f :
aware that he had been detected, was quite sufficient to put the
emissaries (whether military or civil) of the extraordinary police in * * **
movement. The false accuser, too, ran no risk; for the first step

was to send away the accused 7 or 800 miles on his road to Siberia,
at which distance, if at all, the examination of the charge was gone
into. In the meantime, his whole property was put in sequestration,
and handed over to interim managers appointed by the police, fre
quently the informers or their friends, or perhaps the agents of
* He had undertaken a journey into Switzerland with his friend, M. Ziltner;
and it was at Soleure that he resigned his breath, in the 65th year of his age,
happy to draw his last sigh within sight of the canton that gave birth to William
Tell, the liberator of Switzerland. Some time before his death, his enemy,
Suwarrow, died in disgrace, amidst the scorn and indignation of mankind.
518 HISTORY OF POLAND.

those who were expected to have the estates finally given to them.
It is easy to picture the change which such a proceeding must have
made in the lot of the whole peasantry on the property: they had lost
their protector and parent ; and, instead of his managers, chosen for
their knowledge of the people and their kind dispositions, there were
to be seen and felt a set of harpies selected for their power of
plundering, or in consideration of their wants. The commission
proceeded against the property, and kept it in sequestration, or
declared it confiscated, according to circumstances. When confis
cated, it was granted out to some favourite, and irrevocably lost to
the proprietor. The favourite was a Russian ; and, in all proba
bility, never intended to come near it, but meant to squander as
much as could be squeezed out of it at Petersburgh. If the ac
cused proprietor, in spite of every disadvantage, as want of money,
distance from his proofs, or prejudice of his judge, was lucky enough
to escape and return, he might very possibly find his estates con
fiscated by the commission, which did not always await the event
of the examination, knowing probably how rarely any such cere
mony was performed ; but should he have been happy enough to
return before decree of confiscation had passed, and obtain a resti
tution of the property, he found it damaged to the amount perhaps
of half its value, in every shape that dilapidation could assume.
If the proprietor happened to be absent from the country at the
time of partition or invasion, confiscation followed of course; he
was presumed to be with the enemy, although he might have gone
abroad with regular passports, for health, business, or pleasure.
Still more certainly were the estates seized and the families ruined
of those who, actually serving with the enemy, had been enabled
to get away; as was the case with subjects of the Austrian and
Prussian parts, whose rulers sent them into the service of Napoleon
one year, and who the next were ruined by the allies for not desert
ing. These measures, however, ought to be considered chiefly as to
their effects on the body of the inhabitants. Many estates had
above 20,000, and some above 100,000; but it was no very rich lord
ship which numbered 4 or 5000. The wretchedness of these, under
such changes, can only be estimated by those who have witnessed
them.
The supposed virtues of the czar had no effect in such a state of
things. Though in January, 1813, he issued his manifestoes, and
confirmed them by ukasesproclaimed peace and restoration upon his
entering the countrypromised amnesty and complete security of per
 HISTORY OF POLAND. 519

son and propertyand pledged himself to shew the difference between

a French and a Russian administration;still the system continued
the same. Confiscations were at least equally numerous as upon
former occasions; and certain refinements were also for the first time
introduced into the scheme. Previously, the debts due upon the
property, the sums for which it was mortgaged, or the claims of
widows and children, were lost as against the estate, which the
crown or its grantee took freed from all incumbrance; and if a
favourite of the government chanced to be the creditor, and, at some
subsequent change, another estate of the same owner came under
the dominion of Russia, it was seized to pay the debt due on the
confiscated estate. Upon the present occasion, a further advance
was made towards the perfection of public justice, the beau-ideal
of imperial conveyancing. All debts due to the estate, or its owner,
were confiscated ; and not only debts but expectancies, as reversions
and remainders; nay, even the portion of a parent's effects which
the child would have at his decease. But the new creditor, rever
sioner, or remainderman, was of an impatient disposition, and could
not await the term of payment, or the determination of the par
ticular estate: accordingly, all debts were to be immediately paid,
and possession forthwith given; and this without regard to the con
tingent nature of the reversionary interest ; for if one of two sons
was confiscated, the parent being alive and likely to have a third
child, the government took immediate possession of the half share,
as if the parent were dead; and where there was but one son, the
parent's whole effects were seized.
The operation of banishment, intimately connected with that of ^_
confiscation, was the constant work of the police and of individuals **
in authority, during every time of change. It affected all ranks,
from the prince-bishop of Cracow, who was carried away to Siberia,
and died deranged in consequence after his return,-down to the
peasantry, who were carried off by thousands to serve in the army,
or be sold in Russia, or people some district in Asia. In Warsaw
itself, above a hundred persons of eminent wealth or rank were
sometimes carried off in a season. The sex exempted not from this
* Pallas, the celebrated traveller, found in the remote wilderness of Siberia
a tribe, the remains of a vast number carried thither on a scheme of the above
description. They were living in wretchedness; and, no longer hoping to see
their country, had only one request to make, that their land might not, as here
tofore, be seized by the government as soon as they had brought it into cul
tivation.
 520 History of Poland.

*

common lot of Poles. Matrons of the highest dignity, and most
f
* fascinating accomplishments, were exposed to the same risk swith
w
* 5.r their husbands and sons. Persons in authority sometimes carried
L off some hundreds of peasants at a sweep, under pretence of recruit
ing, and then sold them in the Russian provinces.
The general ill treatment experienced by the people wherever
Russian troops were stationed, must not be passed over ; for it was
a perpetual misery, and affected those who had escaped exile and
confication. Distinguished by an ardent attachment to their coun
try, the Poles could not but regard the Russians as oppressors;
while the latter, on their part, viewed the Poles as discontented, or
almost rebellious subjects, and hence it became a principle that every
Pole was an object of suspicion. A Polish village, where troops had
been for some days, resembled a place taken by storm.
A circumstance remains to be noticed of the greatest importance.
Each partition, each change of dominion, was of necessity accom
panied by a change of frontier; and this entailed upon the districts
in which it took place, as well as in others more remote, consequences
extremely serious. A proprietor's estate was cut in two ; one
part became Russian, the other Prussian; or he had different estates
lying in two, or in all the three monarchies. This happened to
every one of the great landholders; and the result was most injuri
ous. In the first place, every war between the three powers became
a civil war to them ; and their numerous relatives and connexions

* The following extract of a letter from a mercantile gentleman of respec

tability, is given in the Edinburgh Review for January, 1814:-After having
passed through burned and plundered villages, where contagion and injurious
treatment have left only a few wretched peasants, who, pale, distracted, cause
fear and pity to the traveller, you arrive in a city. The suburbs are usually
burned completely; and so sometimes is a part of the city. The streets are
empty; many houses are shut up and abandoned as during the plague. If
you enter one of those which are inhabited, to ask after persons of your ac
quaintance, you learn that they are in exile, or have concealed themselves to
escape some disaster. People are every where packing up their effects, and
preparing to set out. The whole nation is seized with terror. If you ask the
reason, the answer is, Ertel is to be here in a few days; or, Rosen has ar
rived, or has sent secret orders. None are to be seen in the streets, unless
when wretches are led to punishment, or prisoners conducted to Siberia. These
are often well-known characters; gentlemen, persons in holy orders, who are
seen chained on a cart, surrounded by Cossacks, or Barchkirs, with sabres in
their hands.-I travelled through Poland in the month of March last, and a
second time in returning ; each time I grew sick at the continual spectacle of
death engraven on every countenance.
 HISTORY OF POLAND. 521

were fighting on different sides. Secondly, let their conduct be

what it might, they could not possibly escape offending one or other
of their masters; and their property and relatives were at hand to
answer for the offence. Thirdly, they could not go from one estate
to another, or it might be from one part of the same farm to ano
ther, in time of war; and not without a passport even during peace,
which document must be had from the capital in the Russian parts,
and might require about eight months to procure. Besides, though
a passport were out of the question, a frontier never fails to create
delay, and vexations of every kind; planted, as it ever is, with cus
tom-houses and officers of every description, whose duty is to stop
and examine, but who make this a mere cover for their trade, which
is to annoy and extort. Lastly, frontier provinces are naturally
more dissolute, from the facilities of eluding the police. A writer
before quoted makes the following remarks on this subject:-
First, the partition of 1772 drew four sets of lines in different
directions. Immediately afterwards Austria was dissatisfied, and
mistaking the name of a river, took in a small but convenient ter
ritory by a new line. Prussia said (we have it under Frederick's
hand), that if Austria made mistakes, so could other people; and
he followed her example in the north. In 1793, new lines were
drawn by all the great powers; and, in 1795, they completed their
work, by describing the last great boundaries that have been drawn.
But in 1806, the Prussians were driven out, which was equivalent
to another change of boundary ; and by the peace of Tilsit, the dis
trict of Bialystock was transfered from the new duchy to Russia.
In 1809, Austrian Poland was cut in twain, and half given to the| |
duchy; the district of Tarnopol was also handed over to Russia.
Is it possible to reflect on the situation of a country thus unceas
ingly cut in pieces, without feeling compassion for the vast amount
of individual misery which all those violent operations must have
occasioned?
A most serious calamity resulting from them is the change of
laws which they involve in almost every case. The Russian parts
of Poland have indeed preserved their ancient municipal laws; but
Austria and Prussia have introduced their own codes, and Buona
parte has followed their example. Hence Gallicia has undergone
these revolutions in forty years: at first the government was pro
visional, and in part military; no regular system of jurisprudence

* See page 479.

3 w
522 HISTORY OF POLAND.

was established till 1774, when the Austrian law was introduced ;
and the provinces added in 1793 and 1794, were subjected to the
same system. In 1800, the new code prepared by Martini was
proclaimed. In 1809, Western Gallicia, being incorporated with
the duchy, received the code Napoleon; and Tarnopol, a part of
Eastern Gallicia, being given to Russia, the old Polish law was re
stored to it. Prussian Poland received the Frederician code at each
partition; in 1807, the bulk of it was subjected to the code Napo
leon, and Bialystock was restored to the Polish law. Now all these
systems of jurisprudence are wholly unlike each other in their prin
ciples and forms, both civil and criminal, except that Martini's code
was merely eivil, and, by a strange anomaly, left the old form of
proceedings, while it overturned their principles. We may imagine
how searching the operations are of such changes.
The kingdom of Poland, now established under the paternal care
of the autocrat of all the Russias, was very different from that
which, under Sigismund and Sobieski, gave law to the east of Eu
rope. Russia threw into it none of the extensive territory severed
by the successive partitions. The portions carried off by Austria
and Prussia remained equally detached. It consisted, therefore,
almost solely of the duchy of Warsaw, and did not comprise a fourth
part of the original Poland. However, it presented still a name
and shew of the former kingdom. The viceroy Zayonzeck was a
native Pole, who had been the companion in arms of Kosciusko,
and had even fought under Napoleon. The national representation
was independent of the crown, though on too aristocratic a footing.
The deputies of the nobles amounted to 77, those of the common
alty to 51. The position too, close by their side, of a Russian army
of 40,000 men, could not be very favourable to the freedom of de
liberation.
The following is an abstract of the principal articles of the Con
stitutional Charter granted by Alexander to his Polish subjects:
The kingdom of Poland shall not be united to the Russian empire
except by its charter. The sovereign authority cannot be exercised
in Poland but in conformity to the principles of this Charter. The
coronation of the king of Poland shall take place in the Polish
capital, and he shall there take an oath to observe the charter. Per
sonal liberty and liberty of the press are guaranteed. Every con
demned person shall suffer his punishment in the kingdom. Offices
should be given only to Poles. The Polish nation shall have for
ever a representation, composed of the king and the two chambers,
 HISTORY OF POLAND. 523

forming the diet. The diet has the legislative power, and enacts
laws; it votes supplies, it regulates the raising of recruits, and the
mint. The king nominates, among other officers of the kingdom,
the diplomatic agents. All orders and decrees of the king shall be
countersigned by responsible ministers. This responsibility is gua
ranteed by the privilege of impeachment granted to the chamber of
deputies, and to the upper chamber to judge them. In case of a
minority, the council of the regency shall be chosen by the senate
of Poland. Foreign affairs, in as far as they relate to the kingdom
of Poland, shall be confided to the Polish secretary of state. The
judicial order is constitutionally independent, and the judges are
not removeable. There shall be a Polish army, and it shall retain
its nationality in every respect. The existence of a Polish coinage
is fixed by two articles of the charter. The king shall not enact
any thing by virtue of an ordinance, except in cases not the subject
of the law, or of an organic statute, and in cases which do not inter
fere with the functions of the diet. According to the charter, law
is defined, a decree passing through the two chambers, and sanctioned
by the king. The punishment of confiscation is abolished, and shall
not be revived in any instance. The civil and military Polish orders
shall be maintained.
The emperor arrived at Warsaw on March 13, 1818, and on the
27th opened the diet in person. In his opening speech, he indi
rectly alluded to the hostile attitude in which Poland had placed
herself against Russia, and declared that all this was now sunk in
sincere and complete oblivion. He told them, however, that their
destiny was indissolubly united with that of Russia, and that their
utmost care must be directed to extend this salutary union. Your
restoration, said he, is decreed by solemn treaties; it is sanctioned
by the constitutional charter. The inviolability of these exterior
arrangements, and of this fundamental law, secures henceforth to
Poland an honourable rank among the nations of Europea privi
lege the more precious, as she has long sought it in vain, in the
midst of the most severe trials. He then pointed at the blessings
arising from those liberal institutions which have not ceased to
be the object of my solicitude, and of which I hope, with the bles
sing of God, to extend the salutary influence over all the countries
entrusted by Providence to my care.
When the emperor had concluded, count Mostowski, minister of
the interior, submitted to the assembly a view of the state of the
kingdom. The population, which, in 1810, amounted to 3,300,000,
3 U 2
 524 HISTORY OF POLAND.

had, by the calamities of war, been reduced to about 2,600,000.

Within the two last years, it had greatly revived, in consequence of
the security of person and property, the privileges and exemptions
granted to the industrious, and the numerous foreign colonists who
had been induced to fix their abode in the kingdom. The minister
then stated the arrangements made with regard to the church, by
which special immunities had been granted to the Catholic clergy,
without encroaching on the rights or revenues of other sects. Pub
lic instruction had also been provided for by the opening of the
library and of various museums, while great attention had been
paid to bring the elements of popular instruction to the level of all
classes. At Warsaw and Lublin, schools on the Lancasterian sys
tem had been established, which would be rapidly extended in the
following years. The leading topic of discussion in a representative
assembly, however, namely, the budget, was not brought forward.
At the diet which assembled on the 13th September, 1820, Alex
ander was received with enthusiastic joy by the people; but his
opening address evinced a fear of a more dubious reception from the
nuntios. He reprobated, in the strongest terms, the spirit of inno
vation which had gone abroad, and particularly the mode of forming
new constitutions, adopted by the states in the south of Europe.
He represented the benefits which Poland derived from her union
with Russia, and declared that he could admit no compromise with
his principles, by which it evidently appeared was meant his deter
mination to retain Poland as part of his dominions. The minister
of the interior gave a flattering picture of the state of the kingdom,
the population of which was stated to amount to nearly 3,500,000.
There had been a visible improvement in its agriculture and other
branches of industry; and it now produced cloths, with which the
whole Polish army was clothed. The main object of the session,
\ however, was to receive the project of the criminal code, by which
* { the kingdom was henceforth to be governed. The appearance of
this code confirmed all the prepossessions which had already been
formed against it. It rejected the principle of trial by jury, and
made no sufficient provision against arbitrary imprisonment; while
the absence of any penal laws against the abuses of the press, only
reminded the assembly of the strict censorship which rendered it
impossible that any such could be committed. The voice of the
diet, on the whole, was strongly against the project. The commit
tee, to which it was referred, reported their opinion, that it ought
to be rejected. The debates were warm, and sometimes even tu
 HISTORY OF POLAND. 525

multuous. On one occasion, the clamour rose to such a height,

that the marshal, lowering his baton, abruptly dissolved the meeting.
After a week of this stormy discussion, the proposed law was
rejected by the almost unanimous vote of 120 against 3. This de
cision, so unequivocally expressive of public opinion, appears to
have chagrined the magnanimous Alexander exceedingly.
In the course of the following year, those secret societies which
were spreading terror through the governments of southern Europe,
began to be established in the Russian dominions; and no where,
it may be readily believed, were their emissaries more successful
than in Poland. A severe ukase was issued in 1822, ordaining
that all persons in the employment of the government should take
an oath that they were members of no secret association, either
within or without the empire, or that they should immediately
break off all connection with such institutions, on pain of being
deprived of their employments, and incurring the utmost displeasure
of the government; and declaring that no individual could be capa
ble of holding any office, civil or military, till he had sworn and
signed a declaration to this effect. Of course, this decree was most
rigorously executed in Poland, the youth of which country were for
bidden to proceed to study at any foreign university, without having
first obtained the permission of the emperor; and new and more
severe restrictions were imposed on the periodical press.
After the specimen of its feeling which the Polish diet had ex
hibited, Alexander was in no haste to re-assemble that body. Some
efforts, however, continued to be made to promote the improvement
of the kingdom. An exposition was made at Warsaw of the pro
ducts of its industry, according to a continental fashion. The re
sult marked a decided improvement; and the state of the country
appeared to be flourishing. At length, in February, 1825, the
czar issued a proclamation, convoking the estates of the kingdom
for the third general diet, to open on the 13th of May, and to close
on the 13th of June. Senators and deputies, said he, in this
document, two diets have already been held. That of 1818,
guided by a spirit of concord and harmony, promoted by wise laws
the welfare of the kingdom. That of 1820, which spent its valuable
time in useless disputes, has hardly left a trace of its labours. This
will teach you to avoid the consequences of discord, and the delusion
of mistaken self-love. In another proclamation, he denounced the
publicity of debate as inducing the speakers to think rather of an
ephemeral popularity than of the public good;" and he therefore
\}}- ** * * , ... . . *.*.* *3. r. * *
526 HISTORY OF POLAND.

decreed that the sittings at the opening and close of the diet, and
those in which the royal sanction of projects of law was declared,
should be public as in time past; but that in the elections of com
mittees, and in every discussion and debate, they should always
form themselves into a special committee. This regulation, now
first enforced, was declared to form an inseparable part of the
charter | The diet met and closed their sittings at the times spe
cified; and Alexander declared himself highly satisfied with their
diligence and docility.
On the 1st of December, 1825, died Alexander, emperor of all
the Russias and king of Poland. The grand-duke Constantine, the
eldest of his brothers, then residing at Warsaw, was at first put in
nomination as his successor; but that prince, about the time of his
marriage with a Polish lady, named Grudzinski, of no very elevated
rank, had renounced his right to the czarish throne. Nicholas,
the next in succession, at first declined accepting the vacant dig
nity; but on the reception of letters from Constantine to his mother
and himself, brought by the grand-duke Michael, and announcing
the intention of his elder brother to persevere in his abdication, and
to live as a private individual, he consented to mount the throne.
Having thus assumed the title of Nicholas I., emperor of Russia,
he became, as a matter of course, king of Poland at the same time.
Some of the Russian troops, however, instigated, as it would seem,
by a revolutionary spirit, persisted in proclaiming Constantine I. ;
but they were, after a slight action, eventually compelled to sub
mit. This commotion afforded a pretext for rigorous measures
being adopted against suspected persons in Poland; but the Poles
were lulled with a reiteration of the oath to observe the constitu
tional charter, which was solemnly taken by the emperor Nicholas.
The rude, or, more properly speaking, savage character of the
grand-duke Constantine, continued to display its unmitigated fero
city towards the Poles. In proof of his iniquitous proceedings, it
may be here stated that he employed so many spies, that their sala
ries amounted to 6000 Polish florins, or about 150 sterling, a day.
At length, the fire of popular insurrection, which had, during the
year 1830, been spreading through France, Belgium, Brunswick,
and Switzerland, seized upon Poland. The glorious examples of
heroic patriotism exhibited in Paris and other places were not lost
upon the ardent Polish character. With them, however, this holy
flame could not, by any means, be compared to the conflagration of
civil discord: it was a light to guide and warn a people in attempt
 HISTORY OF POLAND. 527

ing their national redemption from the power of a foreign master.

No doubt, an attachment to constitutional liberty, deeply implanted
in the breast of every Pole, aggravated by repeated violations of the
constitutional charter and the reign of terror perpetuated under the
government of Constantine, tended considerably to fan the seemingly
smothered embers of national feeling ; but, on the whole, abstract
principles of government were lost, on the present occasion, in the
overwhelmingthe sacred cause for which Kosciusko and Poniatow
ski fought and bled. This spirit was further excited by the
preparations which were making to lead the Polish troops against
the French people, then engaged in endeavouring to secure their po
litical regeneration.
In the latter part of the year 1830, some of the young men at
the military school at Warsaw assembled at a social banquet; and,
in the excitement of the moment, they drank several toasts in ho
nour of those whose names had adorned the history of their country.
With all the enthusiasm natural to youth and warm feelings, they
drank with especial honours to the memory of Kosciusko. No
company, however, or even family, was, at this period, exempted
from the surveillance of the grand-duke's spies ; and this ebullition
of youthful spirit was quickly reported to him. So heinous an
offence could not but be highly displeasing to the despotic Constan
tine ; and he appointed a commission to investigate the affair, and
to punish the delinquents. The Russian officers, charged with this
duty, however, finding no criminal intention on the part of the
young men, and sensible perhaps of the ridiculous task imposed on
them, returned so inconclusive a report that Constantine found it
impossible to act upon it, and was extremely dissatisfied because it
did not justify the infliction of punishment. A second enquiry,
conducted by two field-officers, produced the same result; and the
exasperated prince, who had ever regarded the students of the mi
litary schools and the university with a sort of cowardly hatred,
now resolved to punish, though he could not convict. Though both
the reports he had received amounted to an acquittal, he ordered
some of the young men to be flogged, and others of them he sent to
prison.
The bitter cup of national humiliation had been long filled to the
brim; and this flagrant violation of justice caused it at last at over
flow. On the evening of the 29th of November, a day which ought
to be observed with reverence not only by every true Pole but by
every lover of freedom throughout the world, the park of Lazienki
528 HISTORY OF POLAND.

became the rendezvous of some of the students of the military schools

and the university, together with a few private individuals, all of
whom repaired to the place of meeting by different paths. To
avoid observation, they concealed themselves for some time amongst
the clumps of trees near the bridge of Sobieski, where the statue of
that great man, the deliverer of Vienna, of Europe, and of Christ
endom, seemed to hallow the enterprise for which they were assem
bled. In breathless expectation, they awaited the appointed signal
for the commencement of their operations, which, owing to some
accidental cause, was delayed beyond the expected time. At length
the darkness was dispelled by a sudden blaze from a brewery; and
the little band hailed the token with enthusiasm. One of them,
named Peter Wysocki, rushed into the room where the young en
signs of the military school were listening to their evening lecture.
With energy, he exclaimed, Poles | THE Hour of vBNGEANCE
HAs struckThis NIGHT we conquER or DIE * Only seven
of the party were in the secret of the intended insurrection; but
the whole present, 180 in number, 'at once felt the electrical im
pulse ; a cry of To arms burst from every tongue; and their
lecturer, Lieutenant Nyko, placed himself at their head.
The question of procuring weapons for the private individuals
was speedily decided by the Russian school of ensigns consenting to
remain neutral, and the arms deposited there were immediately ap
propriated to the popular use. The insurgents now divided them
selves into two parties. One of these advanced from the bridge of
Sobieski towards the palace of the Belvedere, the residence of the
grand-duke Constantine; while the other proceeded to attack the
Russian barracks in the park of Lazienki, for the purpose of divert
ing the attention of the troops from the proceedings of the first
named little corps. Still further to confuse their enemies, shots
were fired in various directions; and the darkness of the night
added to the doubts which the Russians felt respecting the real
numbers of their assailants or the extent of the insurrection. A
general alarm was the consequence, which was speedily diffused
through the surrrounding district by the rolling sound of the regu
lar volleys fired by the Russians, the more abrupt and frequent
reports of the Polish musketry, and the shouts of excitement or of
triumph sent up from time to time by the youthful heroes of the
night. At length, the Russian troops began to recover from the
first surprise; and, through the gloom, columns of their cavalry
might be distinguished forming themselves in regular and heavy
 HISTORY OF POLAND. 529

masses, while their officers either superintended their musters or

debated on the proper steps to be taken in this unexpected emergency.
Meanwhile, the little party (twelve in number 1) which had ad
vanced towards the Belvedere, arrived at their destination, and en
tered the gates of the palace without opposition. Whether the sen
tinels were terrified by the suddenness of the onset, or were secretly
favourable to the designs of the insurgents, is unknown. Certain
it is, however, that they offered no resistance; and the Poles, hav
ing crossed the court-yard, forced the gates of the palace with the
butt-ends of their muskets, amidst loud cries of Nabielak 1" (the
name of their leader), and Death to the tyrant Their purpose
seemed now to be near its consummationthe enemy of their coun
try was apparently in their power; and all that remained was to
find the retreat where, rousing him from the sleep he usually took
at this hour, they might revenge upon him the innumerable injuries
he had inflicted upon Poland and humanity. Gendre, a Russian
general, vainly endeavoured to arrest the progress of the youthful
warriors, beneath whose bayonets he speedily fell never to rise again.
The vice-president of Warsaw, Lubwidzki, who had joined Gendre,
was severely wounded. There can be little doubt that Constantine
himself would have fallen a victim to the excited passions of the
young men ; but, according to the accounts generally received, a
faithful servant gave him notice of their approach to his apartment
in time to enable him to effect his escape. A recent publication,
however, on the authority of an officer at that time on the grand
duke's staff, gives the following version of this part of the affair:-
It was the grand-duke's custom to sleep with a valet in waiting
at the door of his chamber ; and such was the severity exercised by
him, even towards his domestic attendants, that the person who
filled this post was never permitted, under pain of immediate punish
ment, to enter his sleeping apartment until summoned by an ap
pointed signal. The valet was in attendance when the students
broke into the palace, and heard the tumultuous attack; but the
force of habit and the dread of the knout prevailed over his sense
of duty or supposed affection towards his master. He did not
awake the grand-duke. Yet dreading the danger of the affray
which seemed rapidly approaching, he locked the door of the cham
ber in which his master slept, and hurried down a steep and retired
flight of stairs, which communicated with the duchess's apartments
in the wing of the palace. The impetuous students, in their search
for the grand-duke, passed the door which the valet had just aban
23 3 x
530 HISTORY OF POLAND.

doned, and rushed down the same stairs into the court-yard below;
but ignorant of the interior of the palace, and of the situation of the
room in which the object of their search and of their vengeance lay
concealed, they were foiled in their endeavours to discover him.
Whatever might have been the circumstances which preserved
the obnoxious tyrant from the vengeance of his pursuers, the latter
soon began to feel that their position in the Belvedere was extremely
unsafe, and to maintain it, with their limited number, was utterly
impracticable. Indeed, the intelligence of their expedition had
already reached the Russian quarters, from whence a detachment of
cavalry was sent to intercept their retreat. The young men ac
cordingly hastened to rejoin their comrades at the bridge of Sobieski,
who had, in the interim, invited the school of non-commissioned
officers to join them. This call was promptly responded to ; and
the confederates now found their numbers amounted to 200 men.
The whole immediately attacked the barracks of the Russian lancers
of the guard, and succeeded in throwing that body of troops into
confusion. In a short time, however, a regiment of hussars and
another of cuirassiers came to the assistance of the lancers, who
seized the opportunity of rallying; and the handful of brave confede
rates thus found themselves in the front of three regiments of
cavalry, prepared to attack them, and in the momentary expectation
of further reinforcements.
Notwithstanding the efforts which had been made in the military
school to enervate the minds of the students, these young men
proved, on the present occasion, that they had profited by the in
structions they had received. Aware that their exposed position
was untenable, they retreated further into the park of Lazienki,
which afforded them the means of carrying on the contest with
greater chances of success. This ground, extending from the gar
dens of the Belvedere to the Vistula, was well adapted for the ope
rations of a body of infantry when opposed to the attacks of cavalry.
It is covered with plantations and large trees, and intersected by
several canals and reservoirs of water, which flow into the Vistula,
and, near the borders of that river, render it broken and marshy.
Here they selected the best position which the nature of the ground
and the darkness of the night permitted; and having, with the ut
most rapidity, formed themselves into a hollow square, they daunt

* British and Foreign Review, vol. iii., p. 64. To the luminous articles on
Poland in that work we are indebted for much valuable matter.
-
 HISTORY OF POLAND. 53I.

lessly awaited the approach of their well-armed and highly disci

plined opponents. The interval was brief. A furious charge was
made in columns by the cuirassiers, which the front line of the
Poles received with the most unexpected firmness on the point of
their bayonets. At the same moment, a terrible discharge of mus
ketry from the rear ranks paralyzed the attack of the Russians.
More than fifty steeds, the riders of which had fallen from their
saddles never to rise again, galloped in terror across the park. The
broken nature of the ground and the darkness of the night added to
the perplexity and consternation which pervaded the Russian troops;
while the youthful warriors, animated by their success, reiterated
the long-unheard cry of Niech Zyie Polska 1" (Poland for ever 1)
The shout rose higher than the noise of the battle, and resounded
even within the precincts of the castle. It struck like a spell on
the ears of the soldiers of despotism. They hesitatedwavered
fell into confusionand fled to their barracks.
After this victory, the confederates marched towards the city.
On their road, they were attacked at Uyasdow by the regiment of
lancers; but these, from the darkness and the defeat of their com
rades, being as much perplexed as the latter had been with regard
to the numbers and operations of the insurgents, were speedily
dispersed. In the street called The New World, the lancers
interposed to arrest the march of the patriotic band, who without
hesitation attacked and dispersed them, notwithstanding the great
inequality in point of numbers and of arms. Without venturing to
rally for a further opposition, the soldiers made the best of their
way to the palace of the Belvedere; while their youthful conquerors
pursued their march to Warsaw. Thus were three regiments of
Russian guards defeated by 200 students and sub-officers; and thus,
as has been observed, did the Russians experience a foretaste of
the war which was about to commence, and an earnest of what Polish
valour was capable of performing in the sacred cause of national
liberty.
During these momentous events, the greater part of the people of
Warsaw were ignorant of the contest which was raging so near them.
Some of the citizens indeed, who had either learned the intentions
of the confederates, or were alarmed by the fires in the horizon, the
random shots or rolling volleys of musketry at a distance, and the
more certain tokens of strife and bloodshed as the combat approach
ed nearer, retired in anxiety and dread to their houses, there to
await the result of the approaching storm. But by far the greater
3 x 2
532 HISTORY OF POLAND.

part were engaged in their several avocations; and when the stu
dents arrived in the city, they found the houses of many of the no
bility lighted up for their entertainments, the open theatres crowded,
the tradesmen quietly shutting up their shops, and the poorer classes
still occupied in their daily labours. This contrast to the scenes in
which they had been engaged naturally recalled to the recollection
of the students the awful responsibility they had incurred. All the
circumstances of the late fearful conflict were before their eyes;
their ears still seemed to ring with the volleys of their foes, the
rattling of their armour, the thunder of their horse's hoofs, and the
shouts and firing of their own party. They now perceived at once
all the difficulty and danger of their situation. They had engaged
in a strife with the Russian powers, which seemed to rule the
destinies of Poland, past all hopes of accommodation ; while, on
the other hand, their own countrymen, so far from being prepared
to second their efforts, were ignorant of their being made, and might
possibly hesitate at committing themselves in a contest the results
of which were so fearfully involved in doubt. No time was there
fore to be lost in ascertaining the state of public opinion in Warsaw;
and the result proved that the patriotism of the citizens was worthy
the exertions which the students had made on the national behalf.
Without loss of time, the eonfederates dispersed themselves in
every direction, and by their cries of To arms 1 to arms suc
ceeded in exciting the people to a sense of the important crisis
which had arrived. In the Thtre des Varits, the audience were
quietly and unconsciously enjoying the performance, when one of
the confederates rushed in, exclaiming, Poles ye amuse your
selves while the Russians massacre your brethren (" In a moment
he was followed by another, who cried aloud, MEN 1 to ARMs
To ARMs lWoMEN TO THEIR HOMEs 1 In a few moments the
theatre was emptied, and both injunctions were complied with.
The alarm was given in every direction, and as promptly attended
to. Crowds of people thronged the streets, eagerly enquiring for
arms. The necessarily vague accounts which they must have re
ceived caused no doubt or indecision in their minds: it was enough to
know that they were to fight with the Russians. The arsenal, con
taining upwards of 30,000 stand of arms under a Russian guard, was
speedily attacked and taken, and its contents were distributed
amongst the people. Nothing now seemed impossible to the excited
multitude. Their first attack was on the state prison of the Carme
lites, where many victims of Constantine's cruelty, accused of political
 HISTORY OF POLAND. 533

crimes, were languishing amidst the horrors of imprisonment, priva

tion, and torture. The building was quickly forced, and its inmates
were once more restored to the enjoyment of personal freedom. A
Russian regiment of guards, which attempted to regain possession
of the arsenal, was repulsed with loss.
Nothing now remained, to render the insurrection universal on
the part of the nation, but the declaration of the Polish troops in
favour of the popular cause. With the exception of a few lieu
tenants and other inferior officers, the soldiers were as ignorant of
the movement as the citizens had been ; and the influence of those
in the secret was too limited to be productive of much effect. It
was determined, however, to sound the feelings of these troops; and
the appeal was successful. The first regiment which declared in
favour of the confederates was the 4th. This corps, from its ex
cellent discipline and perfectly military appearance, had often elicit
ed the praises of the grand-duke Constantine; but that prince,
relying merely on the mechanism of their manoeuvres, had over
looked the latent patriotism which glowed in their breasts. A party
of flying artillery, with their field-pieces, soon followed the exam
ple of the 4th; and the impulse spread rapidly amongst the grena
diers and sappers and miners. Some of the officers, hesitating
either through doubt of success or of the permanence of their men's
enthusiasm, were encouraged by the latter, who declared that they
cared not for consequences, and that if their officers declined to lead
them, they would join their countrymen without them. Several
tumults were the consequence; and many officers of distinction, who
had rendered themselves obnoxious by their devotion to the will of
Constantine, lost their lives. General Haake, minister of war, and
General Blomer, were amongst these ; the latter being pierced by
eighteen bullets. Partial but fierce rencounters occurred in several
places, in which the Russian general Sass, chief of the secret police,
and a great number of the detested corps of spies, fell victims to the
popular fury. In the confusion of such proceedings, several inno
cent persons suffered indiscriminately with the guilty. Still, some
of the Polish officers, actuated by a romantic sense of honour, de
clined opposing themselves to a government to which they had sworn
allegiance; though that government had violated every pledge which
had been offered to the Poles. No less a personage than the well
known patriot Potocki adhered inexorably to this chivalrous deter
mination, though the confederates on their knees implored him to
join them. He met the fate of all those who adhered to the Rus
534 HISTORY OF POLAND.

sians; as did the generals Siemiontkowski and Trembicki. It is

painful to record these events; but it has been observed that no
revolution of equal extent and importance was ever accomplished
with so little bloodshed. Not one engaged on the patriotic side
had fallen, though several were wounded; while, on the part of the
Russians, beaten and discomfited as they were, only about 90 had
lost their lives, amongst whom, however, were many officers and
three or four generals.
At length this long and eventful night terminated ; and, on the
dawning of morning, the confederates found themselves in possession
of the city, the Polish flag flying on the ramparts, where, the day
before, the Russian standard had waved. Confidence was restored
to the original actors in the drama, who now found that their fellow
countrymen were equally disposed with themselves to fight to the
death in behalf of their country. Though the Russians, after being
driven from the city, were still drawn up as if ready once more to
attack it, the Poles proceeded to dismiss the unpopular members of
the council of administration, and six of the most influential and
popular of the nobility were placed in their stead, namely, prince
Adam Czartorynski, Michael Radzivil, Michael Rochonowski, count
Louis Pabz, Julian Niemciewicz, secretary of the senate, and gene
ral Joseph Klopicki. These alterations, however, were effected
in the name of the emperor, king of Poland, whose authority was
thus nominally recognized, while his troops were driven from the
city, and his ministers ejected from their offices. The people, how
ever, seemed to care little for the form of government, provided
they had but a military leader on whom they could rely. In anxious
groups, they thronged the streets, eagerly endeavouring to ascertain
this important point, on which, with some justice, they conceived
the fate of Poland to rest. The well-known superior military talents
of general Klopicki rendered him the most eligible person for this
arduous office ; and, until he could be prevailed upon to accept it,
general Pabz, consented to act as commander. The municipality of
Warsaw issued an order for the organization of the National Guard ;
and the students of the university formed themselves into a separate
corps, called the Honorary Guard. This body, of which Dr. Szyrma,
professor of moral philosophy, was elected commander, rendered the
most important services to the public, and to the cause of the con
federates generally, by maintaining order and tranquility during the
first days of the revolution, when the police, hateful from its sub
serviency to Russia, had ceased to oxist. For this purpose, these
 HISTORY OF POLAND. 535

public-spirited youths bivouacked day and night in the open streets,

which were continually perambulated by their patroles. Whenever
the public feeling broke out in excesses, they exerted themselves to
restrain them, aud sometimes disarmed the people when they ap
peared disposed to abuse the liberty they were acquiring. Not
only was the city the scene of their labours, but they extended their
efforts into the country. Detachments were sent out in different
directions, which established the national authority in various pro
vincial towns, removed the Russian eagles wherever they had been
placed, and set up the Polish in their stead. In a short time, they
received considerable acquisitions of strength from the universities
of Cracow and other places, the students of which, with their masters
of arts, enrolled themselves in the Honorary Guard. This noble
corps was quickly swelled to 1200 infantry and 80 cavalry, and be
came a terror both to the tools of despotism and the disciples of
anarchy.
Constantine, with the troops under his command, had early found
it prudent to retire from the immediate vicinity of Warsaw; and
he accordingly placed his head quarters at Wierzbna, about two
leagues from that city. His hopes that the insurrection might die
away, or that the Polish soldiers who still appeared in his service
might be the means of its extinction, were quickly blighted by the
excellent organization and firmness of the confederates. His re
liance on the Polish troops was also shaken by the defection of ge
neral Szembek, who was the first to join the national cause from
the provinces, and whose troops entered Warsaw singing an air
long prohibited by the Russians, Poland is not lost. Meanwhile,
the Russian garrison in the fortress of Modlin surrendered to count
Ladislaus Zamoiski and colonel Kicki, who invested it at the head
of a Polish battalion and 60 cavalry of the Honorary Guard. Not
only the arms of the garrison, but, what was of still greater impor
tance, a well-filled magazine of ammunition, destined for the pro
jected Russian campaign against France, became the booty of the
conquerors.
These events convinced the grand-duke of the necessity of at
tempting to conciliate the patriots, whose success he felt himself
utterly unable at present to retard. He accordingly signified his
willingness to hear their complaints, and to treat with them on the
steps necessary to be taken in this emergency. For this purpose, a
deputation, consisting of princes Czartorynski and Lubecki, count
Ostrowki, and Lelewel, repaired to his head-quarters on the 2nd
528 HISTORY OF Poland.

of December. The interview lasted four hours; and it is stated

that the grand-duke's consort, the princess Lowicz, took a part in
the discussions. The demands of the deputation, none of which, it
ought to be observed, pointed, directly at least, to the dethrone
ment of the emperor, were to the following effect:-That it was
the universal wish of the nation that the constitution, as it was
granted in the year 1815, and afterwards solemnly sworn to by the
emperor, should be completely carried into execution; that the in
violability of the Polish territory should be observed; that the
Russo-Lithuanian corps under the command of the grand-duke, sta
tioned near Bialystock and Brzesc, should not enter the kingdom
of Poland; and, lastly, that it was the most ardent wish of the na
tion, that his majesty would fulfil the promise made by his prede
cessor, to incorporate with the kingdom of Poland the Polish
provinces formerly united with Russia, that they might enjoy with it
the benefits of the constitution. In reply to a question whether any
orders had been sent to Russia for reinforcements, they were answered
that no such orders had been given; but on the mention of the consti
tution, Constantine burst out in one of his wonted paroxysms of rage,
impetuously exclaiming, Who dares interfere between my brother
and the constitution ? The difficulties of his situation, however,
induced him to listen to the representations of the deputies with
some degree of temper. To most of the demands he gave evasive
replies; and he even condescended to agree to an exchange of pri
soners, and to give forty-eight hours notice, should he determine
on attacking Warsaw. Still further to conciliate the Poles, he an
nounced his intention of mediating with his imperial brother in fa
vour of the guilty. The unfortunate word aroused count Os
trowki, as he leaned upon his sabre. There are no guilty amongst
us, said he ; and the deputation departed.
The reduced numbers of the body of men which remained under
the command of the grand-duke not only put the present use of
force out of the question, but rendered their continuance near the
capital irritating and unsafe. On the day following the visit of the
deputation, Constantine commenced his retreat, having previously
issued the following proclamation to a Polish regiment of chasseurs
of the guard, and some detachments of Polish infantry which had
still adhered to him :I grant permission to the Polish troops,
who remained faithful to the last moment, to join their comrades.
I am setting out with the imperial troops to the capital ; and I
hope, from Polish good faith, that they will not be harassed in their
 HISTORY OF POLAND. 537

progress towards the frontiers. I likewise recommend the public

establishments, the security of property and of individuals, to the
protection of the Polish nation; and, by so doing, I place them
under a safeguard the most sacred. (Signed)CoNSTANTINE.
This appeal to the honour of the nation was well adapted to the
romantic feelings by which the Poles are frequently influenced.
There can be little doubt that a people less fastidious in the use of
favourable circumstances would have intercepted the march of their
cunning and barbarous oppressor, and made prisoners of war of him
and his troops, or that at least they would have disarmed them be
fore they were permitted to leave the territory; nor, perhaps, could
any powerful arguments be urged from the law of nations against
such measures. He had, however, professed to rely on their ho
nour; and they consequently permitted him, with 8000 men and
24 pieces of cannon, to cross the Vistula at Pulawy, and the fron
tier at Ulodawa.
The provisional government, that no blame might be attached to
them for neglecting the means of procuring peace, sent an embassy,
consisting of prince Lubecki and count Jezierski, to St. Petersburgh,
with instructions to propose to the emperor terms generally similar
to those submitted to the grand-duke, but particularly to demand
the withdrawal of the Russian troops from the Polish provinces.
In the mean time, as it was very doubtful in what light the emperor
of Russia might regard the proceedings which had been adopted in
his name as king of Poland, the people occupied themselves busily
in preparing for resistance, if he should determine to treat them as
rebels. To procure the interference of the other European powers,
which had been parties to the treaty of Vienna, and were therefore
interested in the maintenance of the Polish constitution, a manifesto
was published, the statements in which were so strong and unanswer
able as to supersede any other detail of the causes which had led to
the revolution.
In this important document, after recapitulating the circum
stances of the first and succeeding partitions, the hopes excited by
Napoleon, a defence of the Polish attachment to him, the accession of
Alexander, and a display of the expectations cherished in consequence
of that event, the diet continue, But these conditions (of the char
ter), so arbitrarily imposed, have not been fulfilled. The Polish people
soon discovered that this national integrity, that this title of Poland,
given to the new kingdom by the emperor of Russia, were nothing
more than lures thrown out to attract our countrymen, subjects of
3 Y
538 HISTORY OF POLAND.

other states, and to be used as weapons of offence against those

states themselves, while they were destined to prove but empty
chimeras to those in whose favour they had been solemnly guaran
teed. It soon became manifest, that, even under such solemn
covenants, there lurked the secret intention of reducing the nation
to servile dependence, and of inflicting upon it all that weight of
misfortune, ever resulting from the pressure of despotism, and the
loss of the moral dignity of man. The measures taken against our
army first unveiled the whole mystery of the plan. The most dis
graceful punishments, persecutions which knew no bounds, every
description of outrage, were pursued by the commander-in-chief,
under the pretext of maintaining discipline, but with the covert
object of destroying that high principle of honour and national
spirit which characterizes our troops. The slighest faults, the mere
suspicion of neglect, were held to be crimes against military disci
pline; and, by the arbitrary influence exercised by the commander
in-chief over the awards of courts-martial, not the life only, but
the honour, of every soldier was at his absolute command. How
often did our country with indignation behold the decrees of these
tribunals reversed, until they reached what might be considered the
requisite degree of severity Many at once retired; others, who
"had been subjected to the degradation of personal insult from the
commander-in-chief, washed the stain from their characters by the
voluntary sacrifice of life, thereby demonstrating, that not a defect
of courage, but the fear of prematurely compromising the prospects
of the country, had arrested their avenging arm.
The next subjects commented upon are the censorship of the
press, and the persecution of the members of the diet for their opi
nions. Finding the Poles not disposed to assist in enforcing des
potism in Russia, the emperor doomed their own kingdom to be
despoiled in succession of all its remaining privileges. This design
was put in execution without delay. Corruption undermined
all the sources of public instruction. Darkness was thrown over
the land, and every means of education withdrawn from the people.
An entire palatinate was made to forfeit the representation in the
senate. The budget was no longer allowed to be a matter of dis
cussion. Heavy taxes were imposed, and monopolies created, to
exhaust every channel of the nation's wealth ; and the treasury,
replenished by such foul means, became the common property of an
organized tribe of the vilest spies and the most infamous political
agents.
 HISTORY OF POLAND. 539

A system of persecuting calumny and espionage penetrated

into the bosoms of private families, and infected with its venom the
liberty of domestic intercourse. Even the famed hospitality of our
s
country became a snare to involve the innocent. Personal liberty,
so solemnly guaranteed, was violated. The prisons were thronged.
Courts-martial were formed, to assume the functions of civil tribu
nals; and they subjected, by their decrees, to the most degrading
punishments, men whose only fault was an ardent desire to rescue
from the trammels of corruption the honour and the character of
our country. These outrages it was stated, received additional
strength from the discretionary power entrusted to Constantine,
which overwhelmed with outrage citizens of every order and con
dition, subjecting them publicly to the most degrading punishments
such as are alone reserved for the lowest scale of crime.Does
there exist a man who would still hold the nation's faith to be bound
to those constituted powers that had borne us down under the yoke
of slavery P"
Our ancient provinces incorporated in the Russian empire were
not, in pursuance of the stipulations of the treaty of Vienna, re
united to our kingdom ; neither were they admitted to the benefit
of liberal institutions. On the contrary, those ardent national as
pirations, excited in our brethren by the most encouraging promises,
and by hope long deferred, were turned upon them as charges of
treason against the state; and the king of Poland persecuted, in
the ancient districts of the kingdom, the men who had dared to as
sume the honoured name of Poles. But the especial object of this
treatment was our youth in progress of education. Children were
torn from the bosom of their families. The scions of our most noble
houses were transported into Siberia, or were compelled to enter
the ranks of the debased soldiery of Russia. The Polish language
was suppressed, as well in the general acts of administration as in
the public instruction. A decree at one blow annihilated our tri
bunals and the ancient civil law of the land. The outrages of the
government reduced some of our first landowners to misery and
want; and, from the moment of Nicholas's accession to the throne,
this state of things continued to grow worse. Intolerance put in
action every engine to extirpate the united Greek and Latin church,
and to subjugate completely the Catholic religion.
In addition to the infringement of the charter, contained in the
suppression of publicity in the debates of the diet, it was at
tempted to prevent the elections of the most undaunted supporters
3 Y 2
 540 HISTORY OF POLAND.

of our liberty. A nuntio was by main force carried off, delivered

over to the police, retained five years in prison, and liberated only
by the late change of events.
The manifesto proceeds to describe the hopes of alleviation enter
tained on the accession of Nicholas, and the extinction of those hopes
by the persecutions commenced after the insurrection of St. Peters
burgh. This was made a pretext for imprisoning, and bringing
to trial, some of the most distinguished members of the senate, of
the chamber of nuntios, and of the army. As it were in a moment,
| <rv the prisons of the capital were thronged: every day, new edifices,
ex
converted to that use, were crowded with victims, transported from
every corner of ancient Poland, from those parts even subjected to
s foreign states. * * * On the native soil of Liberty, systems of

! |A torture were introduced that would make humanity shudder; and

d-ny. self-destructionwas daily diminishing the number of
victims, forgotten frequently in their damp and narrow dungeons.
** * * * * In defiance of every law, an inquisitorial committee,
principally composed of military men, was formed, which, by a
lengthened application of torture, by promises of pardon, by insidi
us questioning, made the most urgent attempts to extract the
avowal of an imaginary crime. After the delay of a year and a
|half, the great national court was at length established; for since,
lin opposition to all law, arbitrary imprisonment had been so long
insisted upon, that numberless victims were sacrificed, it became
necessary that these measures should receive something of a legal
sanction. The magnanimity of the senate, however, frustrated this
measure, by declaring, almost with unanimity, that the accused were
innocent of the crime of treason. This decree involved in one fate
both the prisoners and their judges. The one party, instead of be
ing set at liberty when the sentence had declared their innocence,
were transported to St. Petersburgh, and left to pine away their
existence in the dungeons of fortified places, nor have they yet been
all restored to their families; the other were held in bondage for
one whole year at Warsaw, purely because they had shewn them
selves honourable and independent judges. The publication and
execution of the sentence had been decreed, and submitted to the
examination of the administrating authorities; and it was only
when at last, with the view of retaining some respect in the eyes of
Europe, it was found necessary to make it public, that a minister
had the audacity to offer such an insult to the majesty of our country,
 HISTORY OF POLAND. 541

as to reprimand, in the name of the sovereign, the highest magistracy

of the land for the unbiassed exercise of their functions.
On the coronation of Nicholas, an illegal loan and the aliena
tion of the national domains were determined upon; and thus was
placed at the disposition of the government the immense landed
property of the state.That last consoling hope, which under the
reign of Alexander had enabled the Pole to bear up against every
calamityhis ardent desire to see his brethren united to him va
nished for ever after the accession of Nicholas. From that period,
every link of connexion has been broken ; but the holy fire, so long
forbidden to be kindled on the altars of our country, was smoul
dering in silent strength in the heart of every man of worth. One
common thought pervaded allthat such a system of slavery could
no longer be tolerated. The moment of the explosion was, however,
hastened on by the constituted authorities themselves. Report
after report had been circulated, that a crusade was to be under
taken against the rising civilization of the age; and at last orders
were given to put the Polish army on the complete war establish
ment. A large body of Russian troops were destined to supply the
place of our forces, on an advance being made; and the very con
siderable sums, arising from the loan and the alienation of the na
tional domains, then in deposit in the bank, were assigned to cover
the expense of this unholy attack on the liberties of other nations.
The system of arresting important individuals had again commenced;
every moment was in the highest degree precious; all was at stake
our armyour treasureevery resource of the countryeveh
the national honour, which spurned the notion of carrying to an
ther people the chains held in immeasurable detestation by ourselves,
or of fighting against the cause of liberty, supported by our former
companions in arms. Such was the universal sentiment, when the
very life-blood of our nation, the centre of all enthusiasmthe in
trepid youth of the military schools and of the university, in con
junction with a large portion of the garrison of Warsaw, resolved
to give the signal of a general rising. * * * Here, then, are
the heroic acts of that revolution, pure, and without stain, as the
enthusiasm of the youth in which it had its origin "
The manifesto concludes as follows:We have been influenced
by no national hatred against the Russians, whose race and our own
have a common origin. There was a time when we consoled our
selves for the loss of our independence in the reflection, that though
an union under the same sceptre might be injurious to our particu
542 HISTORY OF POLAND.

lar interests, it would be the means of extending to a population of

forty millions, the enjoyment of free institutions, now become
throughout the civilized world objects of primary necessity for the
well-being both of kings and people.
So far from our ancient liberty and independence having been
prejudicial to our immediate neighbours, we are thoroughly con
vinced, that in all ages they have served as a balance and safeguard
to Europe, and will, in that light, be now of higher import and
utility than ever. Thus circumstanced, we appear at the tribunal
of sovereigns and of nations in the full conviction, that the voice
both of policy and of humanity will be heard in our favour.
Should it still happen, that in this conflict, of which the danger
and difficulties cannot be concealed, we are doomed alone to support
the general interests of civilization, confident in the goodness of our
cause, in our own valour, and in the never-failing aid of the Al
mighty, we shall fight for freedom to our dying breath. And if it
should then appear that Providence has destined this land to eternal
slaveryif, moreover, the liberty of Poland must be buried under
the ruins of our towns and the bodies of our defenders, the enemy
will only rule over a desert, and every good Pole may cheer his
dying moments with this consolatory reflection, that if it has not
been permitted to him by Heaven to save his country, he has at
least in this death-struggle, by his heroic devotion, shielded for a
time the nascent liberties of Europe.
Still further to interest the parties to the treaty of Vienna, en
voys were despatched to Vienna, Berlin, Paris, and London. With
regard to the two first-named courts, as they would naturally fear
that their part of the spoils of Poland would be endangered if that
of Russia was reduced, it might have been expected that they would
unite with the latter in putting down at once the first efforts of
resistance. Still the Poles hoped that their jealousy of the growing
power of the autocrat would render them, in some measure, favour
able to its diminution. This hope, however, was not realized. The
ambition of the czar, says a late writer, and the spears of the
Cossacks, were feared; but the progress of freedom, and the success
of liberal principles, were, in the opinion of the absolutists, fraught
with infinitely greater danger. The Prussian monarch overruled
all the arguments which his ministry offered in behalf of the con
federates. The Austrian court, indeed, betrayed some symptoms
favourable to the Poles; but the prime minister, Metternich, con
trived to stifle these. The Hungarians openly manifested the
 HISTORY OF POLAND. 543

warmest sympathy in favour of the Poles, and offered to arm and

maintain, at their own expense, 100,000 men for their assistance.
Though a plan for the invasion of Hungary by Russia, containing
campaign, had been found
the most minute details of an intended
amongst the papers of the grand-duke Constantine after his flight
from Warsaw, yet the Austrian court rejected the proposal of the
Hungarians.
The French people, by their memorable struggle in the preceding
July, had achieved a revolution which, it was imagined, would com
pletely establish the national freedom. To their apparently regene
rated government, therefore, the Poles appealed with confidence.
Gratitude, it might have been supposed, would have induced a
friendly feeling to those whose efforts had prevented Russian inter
ference in the affairs of France. Unfortunately, however, the new
rulers of that country had even then begun to exhibit signs of a
selfish and narrow policy, both in their internal and foreign affairs;
and all that could be obtained was a sort of profession that the mi
nistry would follow the example of England. To the eternal shame
of both countries, not only was assistance refused, but even a mere
verbal declaration in favour of Poland, which might have superseded
the necessity of stronger measures, was withheld. Nay, to such an
extent was the hostility of the English ministry carried, that the
successive Polish envoys, the Marquis Wielopolski and the venera
ble poet Niemciewicz, were both refused admission to the presence
of Lord Palmerston. In vain did colonel Evans, in the House of
Commons, endeavour to call the public attention to the subject.
The English people were too ardently engaged in the attainment of
their own reform bill to attend to distant subjects; and the efforts
of La Fayette, the friend of Kosciusko, were equally unavailing in
the French chambers.
Thus abandoned by the world, and divided and mutilated as Po
land was, it seemed a hopeless prospect for a portion of it (for the
modern kingdom of Poland is but a portion) to look forward to an
unassisted struggle with the gigantic might of Russia, which, in the
eyes of Europe, had but to move in order to crush. The Poles, how
ever, prepared for the contest with vigour. They had always been
a military people; and the military organization, which the Russians
*- -

* Earl Grey, the head of the government, had, some years before, and when
in the opposition, written a letter of condolence to Kosciusko, assuring that
patriot of the satisfaction with which he regarded his exertions, and regretting
that he himself had not the power to interfere on behalf of Poland
 544 HISTORY OF POLAND.

had kept up, was now a circumstance in their favour. In the mean
while, the emperor, as had been anticipated, refused to negotiate
with rebels, as he termed the Poles; and their envoys were con
sequently refused admission to his presence in their official capacity.
During a private visit by prince Lubecki, that nobleman endea
voured to induce Nicholas to adopt conciliatory measures, as the
best means of gaining the confidence of the Polish nation; but the
czar abruptly replied, I will send the marshal: he will restore
quiet. Here the conference ended, and with it all hopes of ac
commodation.
While the envoys of Poland were thus vainly courting the assist
ance of Europe and the justice of the czar, the diet was assembled
at Warsaw. It is worthy of remark, that no necessity was felt for
a new election of nuntios: those who had been members of the for
mer sittings were considered, as Poles, to be fully worthy the confi
dence of the country; nor was that confidence misplaced. Count
Ostrowki was unanimously elected marshal, and took his place with
the warm approval of the country. A declaration of the national
character of the revolution was the first important act of the assem
bly, and was followed by the establishment of a dictatorship. To
the dignity of dictator they elevated the able general Klopicki,
with power to act as he thought proper for the welfare of the state.
A committee of fifteen, however, chosen jointly by the senate and
the chamber of deputies, was appointed to examine his measures,
with the right to require explanations, and even to depose him in
extreme cases. Having finished these arrangements, the diet was
prorogued.
The greatest activity now prevailed amongst all classes of the
community. The senators, on the breaking up of the diet, went in
a body to labour at the fortifications of Praga: the example spread;
2 and masters and servants, professors and pupils, priests and Jews,
* *
old and young, all might be seen assisting in the important service.
* t* No petty distinction of rank, no minor difference of opinion, was
allowed to interpose in the way of the public good. Even females
* * were imbued with the patriotic spirit of their fathers, their brothers,
22 and their husbands. Dr. Spazier, in his Political and Military
#. History of the Polish Revolution, says, One day, an assembly of
upwards of one hundred women and young girls were seen travers
ing the streets of Warsaw, with spades, singing the national songs
of their country. They were villagers going to labour at the forti
fications of Praga. The cortge was headed by a virgin, dressed in
 HISTORY OF POLAND. 545

white. In her hands she bore a banner, with some patriotic lines
inscribed upon it, and she was followed by the principal matrons of
the village. A respectable Polish lady, the countess Zaleska, and
her grand-daughters, closed the train.
In the midst of these demonstrations of public spirit, and while
the enthusiasm of the moment led the Poles to regard the new dic
tator as the deliverer of their country, that singular man suddenly
resigned his office. For this unexpected act, which, under existing
circumstances, might have been construed into treachery, the only
reasons assigned were, that he had hoped for a favourable termina
tion of the negotiations with the emperor, which having failed,
his high sense of military honour would not permit him to violate
the oath of allegiance he had taken to Nicholas. The diet immedi
ately re-assembled to concert the necessary measures; and they
quickly established a provisional government of five members, of
which prince Adam Czartorynski was elected president, the other
members being Vincent Niemojowski, Morowski, Barzykowski, and
Lelewel. Prince Radzivil was appointed to the command of the
army, in the discharge of which office he was, after some hesitation,
promised the advice and assistance of general Klopicki. Indeed, as
if to complete the catalogue of inconsistencies, the latter afterwards
bravely fought as a volunteer in the patriotic army, and his councils
were conducive in no small degree to the successes which were
obtained.
At length the Russian army took the field, under the command
of marshal Diebitch. The ferocity of the soldiery was inflamed by
reports that they were to be led against the French, towards whom,
since the invasion of their country by Napoleon, the national hatred
had been excessive. Afterwards, when their real destination could
no longer be concealed, they were given to understand that the
Poles were under arms to invade Russia, to abolish the Greek
church, and to establish the Roman Catholic religion in its stead.
Thus was religious hatred, that most vindictive of passions, en
grafted upon the national prejudices of the soldiery. As if to
crush the Poles with the mere weight of its approach, the army
was ostentatiously announced to consist of 200,000 men. The
reverses experienced by the Russians, indeed, afterwards induced
them to make a more moderate statement of their force than had
even been done by the Poles. In Count Soltyk's La Pologne,
army is enumerated and classified in the fol.
however, the Russian
lowing manner:
3 Z
546 HISTORY OF POLAND.

Infantry, 97 battalions, of 750 men each................... 72,750

Cavalry, 157 squadrons, of 150 men each............... ...23,550
Artillery, 396 field-pieces and battering cannon, 20
artillerymen to each gun.................................... 7,920
Cossacks, 11 regiments, of 400 men each.................. 4,400
Reserve, commissariat, waggon train, hospital, staff, &c. 2,000

110,620

In the same work is the following statement of the force raised

by the Poles to resist their numerous invaders:

Infantry, 13 regiments, with 4 battalions, of 800 men,

in each regiment............................................. 41,600
Cavalry, 9 regiments, with 5 squadrons of 200 men in
each regiment, and 2 squadrons of carabiniers ......... 9,400
Artillery, 126 field-pieces, with 20 artillerymen to each
gun . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.520
Reserve, commissariat, waggon train, &c................... 1,000
New levies of infantry......................................... 2,500
Three battalions of riflemen, and light cavalry...... ..... 1,500

58,520

It ought to be observed, however, that men were not wanting to

swell the Polish army to four times the number here specified; but
there were not arms to put into their hands. Besides, above 14,000
men were stationed in the provinces, and as garrisons to the fortresses
of Zamosc and Modlin; so that the effective strength brought against
the Russians did not, at any time, exceed 44,000 men.
Two divisions of the Russian army entered the Polish frontier on
the 5th of February, 1831 ; one in the palatinate of Augustowa
under prince Szachowskoy, and others in Lublin commanded by
general Kreutz. The whole shortly after advanced towards War
saw in eight colums; and as it would have divided the small army
of the Poles to attempt a resistance to each of these divisions, or to
protect the frontiers against them, Radzivil and Klopicki deter
mined to concentrate their force, and to attempt the defence of the
capital, by giving battle in the plains on the opposite side of the
Vistula, or by defending the fortifications which surrounded the
city. Their cavalry, under Weissenhof, formed three divisions; and
 HISTORY OF POLAN ID. 547

their infantry was divided into four, under the commands respec
tively of Krukowiecki, Zymirski, Skrzynecki, and Szembek. The
first named general had 10,000 men under his command, who formed
the left wing of the Polish army. The divisions of Zymirski and
Skrzynecki, consisting of 8000 and 9000 men, formed the centre;
in the rear of which, the fourth division, under Szembek, amounting
to 9000 men, formed a reserve, the head-quarters of which were
not advanced above 15 English miles from Warsaw. General Dwer
nicki, with a corps of 7000 men, constituted the right wing. Op
posed to his front were the divisions of the Russian generals Geismar
and Kreutz. The centre of the Russian army was under the im
mediate command of Marshal Diebitch, supported by generals Rosen,
Pahlan, and Whit. The divisions under prince Szachowskow and
Manderstein formed the right wing of the Russian army, and were
confronted to the Polish division under Krukowiecki. The Russian
reserve of 25,000 men was commanded by the man whose tyranny
had occasioned the war, the grand-duke Constantine himself.
The first collision which occurred between the opposing forces
was at the river Liwiec, where a single Polish battalion, with two
field-pieces, for a whole day disputed the passage of a strong Rus
sian corps, with twelve cannon. The Muscovites, however, now
covered the country like locusts, and appeared almost resistless.
The Vistula was crossed by general Kreutz near Pulawy; and he
afterwards advanced his head-quarters as far as Radom. The con
fidence of the Poles, however, was restored by the result of a sudden
attack made by general Dwernicki on the Russians at Stoczek.
The latter were commanded here by general Geismar, one of the
most distinguished officers who had served in the late Turkish war.
He was, however, on the present occasion, surprised and routed,
with a loss of eleven pieces of cannon, 600 killed, and 230 made
prisoners. Though the Polish commander Radzivil, by the advice
of Klopicki, still kept up the retreat of the army upon Warsaw,
yet several engagements took place, in all of which the Poles
evinced their ancient valour. In the actions at Dobre, Okuniew,
and Wawr, their conduct was such as to merit the highest honour;
and the defence they made, on the 20th of February, of a post they
had taken in an alder wood, a little to the east of Warsaw, deserves
particular commemoration. The possession of this wood was dis
puted by the Poles at the point of the bayonet; and a dreadful car
nage ensued on both sides. Whole regiments of the Russians were
reduced to battalions; and the Poles at length, after a most obsti
3 z 2
548 HISTORY OF POLAND.

nate resistance, remained masters of the wood, which became the

central position of their army.
The people of Warsaw, from the heights on the west bank of the
Vistula, might now see the position of both armies, as they lay pre
pared, the one to attack, the other to defend the city. The Polish
troops were stationed at the distance of about a league, with an ex
tensive plain between them and the capital. The celebrated alder
wood was at once the centre and the most advanced post they occu
pied, and was held by the division under Zymirski. The right
wing consisted of Szembek's division, which extended from the vil
lage of Grochow to the morass Saska Kempa, where the extremity of
its line was protected by a small rivulet which flows into the Vistula.
A corps of cavalry, under the command of Lubienski, acted as a re
serve for this division and that of Skrzynecki; and another, under
Uminski, on the left, maintained a communication between the
main army and Bialolenka, where the corps of Krukowiecki was
posted. Three regiments of recruits, who, for want of muskets,
were armed with scythes, were placed in the rear of this army, and,
with a portion of the National Guard, were employed in carrying
the wounded from the field of battle. Beyond all these, and thickly
scattered over the horizon, might be descried the Russian tents,
sufficient, by the number of them visible, to cause an involuntary
dread at the apparent disproportion in the strength of the opposing
hosts. But this disproportion was even greater in reality than it
appeared to be; for an extensive pine forest concealed a considera
ble part of the Russian force. Along the edge of this wood they
were drawn up in double columns; their right wing being com
manded by count Pahlen, and their left by general Rosen. Their
formidable array of cavalry occupied the hills and plains towards
the village of Zombki, and, in order to facilitate the junction of
prince Szachowskoy's corps with marshal Diebitch, were extended
as far as the position of the former. The imposing appearance of
the Russian army was enhanced by the elevated nature of its posi
tion; but this advantage was, in a great degree, neutralized by the
nature of the ground in their front, which being marshy, uneven,
and obstructed by ditches and brushwood, rendered their advance
somewhat difficult.
Early in the morning of the 25th of February, the corps at Bia
lolenka, under Krukowiecki, attacked the Russian division of prince
Szachowskoy. The latter consisted of 15,000 men, with 50 pieces
of cannon; and though defeated by the Poles, they effected their
 HISTORY OF POLAND. - 549

junction with the main body of the Russians. On receiving intelli

gence of this action, marshal Diebitch immediately gave orders for
a general engagement; and his artillery commenced firing at nine
o'clock in the forenoon. The Poles were not backward in returning
the cannonade; and all their movements being screened by the
alder wood, they made a considerable impression on the enemy's
lines. To dislodge them from this important fastness was, therefore,
the first and principal object of Diebitch; and this he determined
on effecting at all risks. For this purpose, the 24th division, under
the command of general Rosen, charged into the thicket, but quickly
disappeared beneath the bayonets of its Polish defenders. Fresh
reinforcements were sent by Diebitch to overpower the latter; and
the resistance was so desperate, and at length assumed so serious a
character, that no less than twenty-five battalions of Russians were
at once engaged in endeavouring to gain this long-contested point.
Before this overwhelming force, the Poles at length began to give
way; but general Klopicki, who perceived that the fortune of the
day, probably also of the national cause, depended on the mainte
nance of their ground, sent an order to Zymirski on no account to
abandon the post. The latter replied that the fatigue of his men
was such as to render retreat inevitable. The Polish answer of
Klopicki was highly characteristic. Tell him, said he, to hold
it with his teeth ! At this time, the brigade of Czyzewski alone
retained its position, that of Roland having suffered severely. For
the encouragement of Zymirski, however, a corps under Boguslaw
ski, consisting of the 4th and the 8th regiments, was sent to the
assistance of Roland, and, on reaching the wood, rushed at once to
the charge. So desperate and overpowering was this movement,
that the heavy masses of the Russians gave way before it, and the
alder wood was once more fully in possession of the Poles.
The scene of the contest, at this period, has been thus described:
The grape-shot of the Polish artillery had made lamentable havoc,
not only in the ranks of the enemy, but in the wood itself. Scarcely
a tree had escaped injury, and many were entirely cut down. The
wood presented the appearance of a field of corn after a heavy hail
storm; and under its torn and entangled branchesfrom the dying
and the deadoozed the mingled stream of life which flowed from
the freeman and the slave. Still was the same destruction of hu
man life to be repeated. The Russians, from their superior num
bers, were still enabled to bring fresh troops to the contest; and
Diebitch, who had witnessed the annihilation of the 24th and part
550 HISTORY OF POLAND.
/

of the 29th divisions of his force, now commanded the remainder of

the latter, and three fresh regiments of infantry, once more to ad
vance to the attack. This column was led by general Neidhard;
and, being principally composed of fresh men, their charge was
nearly successful, the Poles being exhausted by the continuance of
their efforts. Just as the imperial field-marshal, however, was con
gratulating himself on the prospect of his soldiers once more gaining
a footing in the wood, the veteran Klopicki arrived there at the
head of the grenadiers, and was at the same moment joined by
Skrzynecki with the remainder of his division. Attacking the
Russians both on the right and left, they quickly threw them into
disorder, and their rout became irreparable. Klopicki was wounded,
and had two horses shot under him, during the charge; but, emerg
ing from the wood at the head of his brave followers, he cheered
them on with the cry of Poland!Poland for ever ! The divi
sion of Rosen, then in all the disorder of retreat, was charged by
the victorious Poles; and the panic extended to the main line of
the Russians. Klopicki saw that the critical moment was arrived
for striking a decisive blow, and thereby deciding the action, if not
the campaign. It did not escape his penetrating eye that the Rus
sian cavalry were hurrying into bodies, as if to cover the retreat of
their disheartened infantry. In the greatest haste, therefore, he
despatched an aid-de-camp to Lubienski, requesting him to send
some brigades of cavalry, to pursue the flying foe, while he himself,
with the light brigade of the second division, continued not only to
press upon their rear, but threatened to take a line of artillery in
flank. The victory thus appeared secure, and Poland was about to
achieve its independence, when Lubienski returned for answer that
he could not receive orders from any other person than prince Rad
zivil, the commander-in-chief, and that the ground on which the
Russians were placed was unfit for the manoeuvres of cavalry.
Though Klopicki had some reason to be personally offended at
this message, and was fully aware that every moment now lost
was an irreparable injury to Poland, yet he did not despair. Has
tening from the scene of conflict, he flew to prince Radzivil, and
requested him to give the necessary orders. The commander, ac
cordingly, sent directions to Lubienski to charge in conjunction
with Szembek's division. Elated with the hope of success, Klo
picki once more galloped to the front, and, preparing for the charge,
cried, Now, gentlemen, we will take some Russian cannon. At
this crisis, however, and while he was giving orders to an aid-de
 HISTORY OF POLANI). 551

camp, a shell burst near him, the fragments of which killed his
horse, and threw him senseless to the ground. For some time he
lay motionless and inanimate; and when he at last recovered, it
was found that both his feet were severely wounded. Considerable
confusion was caused by this untoward event. A party of recruits
were called, who spreading a cloak upon their scythes, bore him on
their shoulders to Warsaw. Sitting upright on this homely litter,
he kept his eye for some time fixed on the Russians; but perceiving
that his misfortunes had damped the courage of the Poles, he ex
claimed, Why was I not slain, rather than live to witness what is
now happening !
During six hours the Poles had been engaged without intermission
in this sanguinary conflict; and it was now three o'clock in the af
ternoon. Though deprived of the leader in whose courage and
military skill they had the highest confidence, they continued the
battle with all the characteristic valour of the nation. Indeed, on
this occasion, the ordinary rules of war seemed to be merely se
condary adjuncts; the mechanical manoeuvres of military men were
as nothing compared to the deep-seated and stern determination
felt by all, from the highest to the lowest, to conquer or perish ; and
each seemed imbued with the idea that on the maintenance of the
little spot of native soil occupied by himself depended the fortune
of the day. After the misfortune of Klopicki, the action was con
tinued without order; the various corps exerting themselves only to
maintain their position; and, from this circumstance, the affair was
afterwards emphatically styled The Battle of the Lieutenants.
In the mean while, however, the Russians had time to recover from
their disorder; and as they were joined by the corps under Szackow
skoy, the Poles were no longer able to maintain their position in
the alder wood. Still undismayed, they formed in a fresh line, which
extended from the village of Grochow to Zombki. Meanwhile, the
Russian commander, with the intention of giving the conclusive
impulse on the occasion, gave orders to open a fire from 60 pieces of
cannon on the now exposed line of the Poles, whom he also ordered
to be charged by the whole of his cavalry at the same moment. Not
withstanding this tremendous attack, however, the centre and the
left of the Polish line remained unbroken; though the right of their
line was bent as far back as Praga. Meanwhile, the battalion of
Major Karski, in the centre, effectually checked the advance of the
Russian curassiers, who were in turn bravely charged by the 2nd
and 5th Polish lancers. The conflict was terrible ; and the Russian
 552 HISTORY OF POLAND.

regiment of prince Albert, which had led the attack, was totally cut
to pieces. Eventually, the cuirassiers were entirely routed. Both
parties now for some time kept up a cannonade upon each other;
and as the night closed on the scene of slaughter, the last shots
were fired by the Poles.
Never, perhaps, was there a more noble display of courage than that
Sexhibited by the Poles in the memorable battle of Grochow. Their
terrible defences of the alder wood, on this and a former occasion,
have procured for it the impressive appellation of The Bloody
Forest. Here, on the present occasion, 35,000 men, with 100
pieces of cannon, effectually resisted the most furious and perse
vering attacks of 120,000, with 400 cannon ; and, but for the acci
dental disaster of general Klopicki, would have defeated them.
Krukowiecki's corps had not been engaged, with the exception of
one brigade, which, at a very advanced stage of the conflict, rein
forced Uminski at Zombki, where, during the day, the latter had
held the Russians in check. With such a degree of confidence were
many of the Poles inspired, that, after the close of the engagement,
Szembek and Skrzynecki proposed to prince Radzivil a nocturnal
attack at the point of the bayonet on the enemy's camp. From the
enthusiastic state of feeling which then prevailed in the Polish army,
it is difficult to judge what might have been the result of such an
attack on a still powerful, though somewhat disheartened enemy.
The commander-in-chief, however, declined acceding to the request;
and as the ice on the Vistula had suddenly broken up, by which
the bridge, their only means of communication with Warsaw, was
endangered, he ordered the army to pass over to the west side of
the river.
On the day after this great battle, prince Radzivil resigned the
command of the army. General Klopicki, whose recent conduct
had obliterated any ill feeling which his former resignation of the
dictatorship might have occasioned, was again proposed to the office;
but the wounds which that veteran had received prevented his ac
ceptance of the charge. On his recommendation, however, general
Skrzynecki, who had already distinguished himself in the war, was
appointed commander-in-chief. Both the Polish and Russian armies
now seemed, after the mighty efforts they had made, to require
some time for relaxation and repose. The Poles estimated their
loss, from the commencement of the campaign up to the battle of
Grochow, at 11,000 men ; and that of the Russians was understood
to be no less than 30,000. That this was no exaggerated statement
 HISTORY OF POLAND. 553

was evident from the long inactivity and subsequent reverses expe
rienced by marshal Diebitch.
Excellent hospitals were fitted up in Warsaw for the sick and
wounded, who were attended with a kindness and attention in
which even ladies of the highest rank did not disdain to participate.
Here, too, was afforded a specimen of the different spirit in which
the war was carried on by the opposing armies. The wounded
Russians were accommodated in these hospitals in the same man
ner as the native troops; while, on the other hand, the Russians
had conducted themselves, to those who had fallen into their hands,
with all their accustomed barbarity. The peasantry were wantonly
murdered by them; their Cossacks had cut off the breasts of wo
men; and the women and children of Oszmiana, who sought refuge
in the church from the brutality of the soldiers, were there massa
cred. The mind, on reverting to such atrocities, instinctively asks
why did not the destroying angel descend, as in the days of old, and
sweep the monsters from the face of the earth ! That the Polish
people, smarting with the remembrance of wrongs and oppressions,
and provoked by such abominable cruelties, did not retaliate, is an
instance of national magnanimity scarcely to be paralleled. Such a
course was, indeed, proposed in the diet; but it was rejected as un
worthy the character of the nation; the commander-in-chief being
simply directed to remonstrate with marshal Diebitch against such
barbarous proceedings. It is here worthy of remark, that the
Russian commander spat in the face of the first Polish officer who
had the misfortune to fall into his hands.
The protracted inactivity of the Russian army before Warsaw,
which seemed to have been paralyzed by the resistance they had
experienced in the battle of Grochow, afforded time for the Poles
to make fresh levies; and in about a month they were once more
in a condition to take the field. Assistance was received from all
parts of ancient Poland. Even the Prussian and Austrian provinces,
the inhabitants of which could not openly take a part in the contest,
secretly furnished money to the patriots; and numerous volunteers
flocked from thence to join their army. The provinces under the
domination of Russia, having no appearance of neutrality to support,
openly declared in favour of the national cause. The critical situa
tion of the Russian army was thus enhanced; and, even in the em
pire of the czar, it was found necessary to march troops to various
places of doubtful fidelity. Provoked by these symptoms of grow
ing independence, the czar fulminated an ukase against the Poles,
24 4 A
 HISTORY OF POLAND.

o the barbarity of which has procured for him the appropriate epithet
* The Herod of the North. Its provisions were as follow:
l. All nobles (Szlachta) taking part in the insurrection, and
offering an armed resistance to the legitimate authorities, to be tried
by courts-martial, and the sentence to be carried into execution, on
being confirmed by the respective commanders of detachments.
2. The landed property of such criminals is to be confiscated,
and the revenues to belong to the Treasury of the Invalids.
3. With respect to the male children of nobles punished for the
crimes specified in the first article, our further pleasure is to be
hereafter taken. The children of those who describe themselves as
Szlachta (nobles), without being able to give satisfactory proofs of
their rank. are to be sent as recruits to the military cantonments.
4. Persons of inferior rank taken with arms in their hands, to
whatever province they may belong, are to be enlisted as recruits,
and to be sent to the Siberian battalions of the line.
5. Their male children are to be taken as recruits for the mili
tary cantonments.
& 6. All those guilty of homicide, during the course of the dis
turbances, are to be tried according to martial law.
That the effect of these monstrous regulations must have been
decidedly the reverse of what was intended by the czar, cannot be
doubted. So far from intimidating the Poles, they tended more
than ever to increase the odium in which the imperial tyrant was
already held. The success which attended the re-commencement
of their military operations, also produced a further confidence in
their ultimate triumph. Having completed the organization of his
army, Skrzynecki, on the night of the 30th of March, crossed the
Vistula on a bridge of boats, which was covered with straw to pre
vent the noise made by the troops from being heard. From Praga
two detachments were sent to take the Russian corps at Wawr on
the flank and the rear; and the remainder of the army advanced
towards the unsuspecting foe by the high road which leads to Mi
losna. A thick mist which fell at the time effectually concealed
the advance of the Poles, who were thereby enabled to surprise the
enemy in their camp, where two battalions of infantry were made
prisoners. Panic-struck by the sudden onset, the Russians fled,
leaving two of their cannon and a standard in the hands of the Poles,
who, not content with thus ridding the vicinity of their capital of
the hated presence of its enemies, pursued and attacked the broken
rear of the Muscovites as they retreated towards Dembe Wielke.
 HISTORY OF POLAND. 555

At that place, however, a battle ensued, in which no less than

20,000 Russians were brought into action. An obstinate contest
ensued, at the close of which they were again defeated, with the
loss of eight pieces of cannon and a great number of prisoners,
amongst whom was general Lewandowski. Again the retreat com
menced, and again the pursuit was renewed, until night put a stop
to the advance of the Poles. On the next day, they again followed
up their victorious career, which met with no obstruction until the
Russians had passed the river Kortzym, when, having burnt the
bridges behind them, they at length obtained a respite from the
pursuit of their victorious foes.
During the two days in which the Poles were thus successfully
engaged in driving before them the myrmidons of despotism, they
only lost a few hundred men, while the loss of the Russians amount
ed to 15,000. Indeed, no less than 11,000 of the latter were made
prisoners; and ten pieces of cannon and five standards were taken.
These trophies of victory were exhibited in the streets of Warsaw
to the exulting populace; and at the solemn celebration of the Re
surrection at Easter, the standards were deposited in the cathedral
of St. John. On this occasion, all the members of the government
and the senators attended; and the church was thronged with en
thusiastic multitudes, eager to testify their joy and gratitude to
heaven for the success attending their righteous efforts in the ac
quirement of freedom.
Meanwhile the Polish army did not long allow the Russians time
for repose; but, persevering in their plans, they attacked them at
Iganie near Siedlce. In this action the Lions of Varna were
engaged. This epithet had been bestowed on the 13th and 14th
Russian divisions, on account of the prowess they had displayed in
the Turkish war. Now, however, these veterans were no match
for the volunteers with whom they were engaged. Again the Poles
* Amongst the many instances of individual magnanimity on record is the
following:At the close of one of the battles, the Russian general Lewan
dowski was left on the field wounded and abandoned. He had even been
robbed by his own soldiers. An aid-de-camp of the Polish commander-in
chief, recognizing him as an officer of rank, rode up and said, General, you
are my prisoner, and at the same time offered him his horse. Surprised at
such generous conduct, the Russian hesitated; but the gallant Pole insisted
on his offer being accepted, and conducted his enemy in safety to the Polish
head-quarters. In order to form a just estimate of this act, it must be remem
bered that the Russian general had served under Suwarrow in the time of
Catherine II., and had participated in the massacre of Praga.
4. A 2
556 HISTORY OF POLAND.

gained a complete victory, in which three of the Russian field-officers

were slain, and 2500 prisoners, three pieces of cannon, and three
generals, were taken. Other successes were achieved at Boremel,
Kuflowa, Kock, and on several other points of contest; and indeed
there can be little doubt that had the plan been pursued which was
adopted at the commencement of this campaign, namely, continuing
the attacks on the Russians by the concentrated force of the whole
Polish army, the most favourable results might have been antici
pated; but, about this time, a corps was detached into Volhynia,
and the consequence was that the main army was so weakened as
to be unable to continue its principal and most important operations.
In Volhynia, the Poles under Sierawski and Dwernicki suffered
successive defeats; and the corps of the latter general, having en
tered on the neutral territory of Austria, was disarmed and removed
from the frontier by the authorities. These circumstances enabled
the Russian forces under generals Rudiger and Kreuz to retain
possession of the province, notwithstanding the advance of general
Chrzanowski. Several undecisive actions ensued between the main
armies; and the Russians were so far successful, that, on the 28th
of May, their head quarters were again at Minsk. The Poles,
however, had destroyed or carried off every thing that could be use
ful to their opponents, who could not even procure straw for their
horses, and were consequently again compelled to retreat, pursued
by the patriotic army. Insurrectionary symptoms also began to ap
pear in Lithuania, which induced Skrzynecki to depart still further
from the original plan of the campaign. At the risk of breaking
his communication with Warsaw, he determined on directing his
force against the right wing of the Russians, and thereby attempt
ing a junction with the Lithuanian patriots. After gaining succes
sive victories at Ostrolenka, Lomza, and Tykozyn, Lithuania was
entered by a corps of his army under general Chlapowski. At the
same time, marshal Diebitch, who had hitherto remained, with the
main body of his army, on the south side of the Bug, recrossed that
river, putting himself, by that retrogade movement, in immediate
connection with his right wing. Thus the whole kingdom of Po
land was once more cleared of the enemy.
The apparent reverses sustained by the Russian commander were
the means of enabling him to concentrate his forces for another ef
fort. On the 21st of May, he again crossed the Bug ; and Skrzy
necki, being weakened by the detachments he had sent to aid the
insurrections in Lithuania and other places, was under the necessity
 HISTORY OF POLAND, 557
-

of retreating. On the morning of the 26th, he was attacked at Os

trolenka, where he had just crossed to the right bank of the Narew.
The town was quickly set on fire by the shot of the Russians; and
a long, obstinate, and murderous contest ensued, which was only
terminated by the close of night, when neither party could claim
the victory. The Russians had possession of the bridge, and the
Poles still occupied the position they had held in the morning.
Their loss amounted to 7000 men, and that of the Russians to
15,000. Indeed, so paralyzed was the force of the latter, that, on
the following day, Skrzynecki continued his retreat unmolested to
Pultusk, and from thence to Praga.
The period of inactivity which succeeded was protracted by the
Poles, in the vain hope of receiving assistance from France. In the
interim, marshal Diebitch, mortified at the series of defeats he had
experienced, which were rendered doubly distressing to him by
their contrast with his recent successes in Turkey, died in disgrace
with the czar his master; and he was succeeded in the command of
the Russian army by Paskiewicz. Partial operations continued in
Podolia, Volhynia, and Lithuania. In the latter province, the corps
of generals Chlapowski and Gielgud at first achieved some successes,
and attacked Wilma; but being now cut off from the main body of
the army, they were surrounded and assailed by superior numbers.
The corps under Gielgud, which did not amount to 3000 men, was
attacked on the Prussian frontier by the Russians, when that com
mander was shot by one of his own officers. The troops having
entered the Prussian territory, were disarmed. General Dembien
ski, however, with another body of Poles, by a series of masterly
manoeuvres, made his way through the swarms of foes by whom he
was surrounded, and, on the 2nd of August, brought his corps and
his cannon, amidst the acclamations of the populace, safely into
Warsaw.
General Paskiewicz, having collected his forces, was not slow in
taking advantage of the apathy still exhibited by the Polish com
mander-in-chief. He resolved to cross the Vistula further down
the river, and having thus gained more easily the bank on which
Warsaw stood, to attack the city from the westward, where no
deep and rapid river would intervene. On the 7th of July, his
army broke up from Pultusk and Prassnitz, and moved in three
divisions towards the Vistula. Plock was selected as the principal
point of passage. A bridge was constructed, and the army carried
across without any attempt at opposition. While this force, amount
558 HISTORY OF POLAND.

ing to 60,000 men, was advancing upon Warsaw from the north,
general Rudiger, unopposed by the Polish troops, which had been
recalled for the defence of the capital, advanced from Volhynia,
crossed the Vistula above Warsaw, and thus threatened that city
from the south.

In this crisis, the public discontent and resentment at the unac

countable conduct of Skrzynecki began to be warmly expressed.
The result of all his former successes was now dissipated; and the
capital was in greater danger then it had been at the commencement
of the campaign. These adverse circumstances, as is usually the
case, were ascribed, in the popular mind, to dishonest or unskilful
conduct. The failure of all attempts to raise insurrections in the
neighbouring provinces, the defeats in Volhynia, the annihilation of
all their hopes in Lithuania, so many battles fought and successes
gained, and yet to be cooped up at last, apparently helpless, within
the walls of Warsaw, occasioned doubt and discontent. Even con
spiracies were said to have been discovered among some of the Po
lish generals, and the Russian prisoners of war, to seize the city,
and deliver it to the enemy. In this emergency, a council of war
was held in the Polish camp, consisting not only of generals, but of
officers of all grades, and attended, by special request, by the mem
bers of the provisional government. Considerable confusion pre
vailed in this mixed assembly, and a long and desultory discussion
ensued. Finally, however, Skrzynecki was deprived of his command,
to which Dembienski, whose masterly retreat from Lithuania had
rendered him popular, was appointed.
At this time, several of the heads of the government at Warsaw,
under the conviction that further resistance was hopeless, attempted
negotiation; but the discovery of this only led to confusion and re
volution, while the enemy was at the gates. A Patriotic Club,
joined by some unprincipled officers, excited the populace to throw
off all restraint. Headed by the members of this club, the people
proceeded to the palace of the government, and demanded that
Skrzynecki should be brought to trial. This was promised; but,
with success, their numbers and violence increased. They pro
ceeded to the royal prison, where a guard of 200 men made no re
sistance; the gates were thrown open ; the prisoners, some of them
Poles suspected of political offences, and some of them Russians,
were dragged into the street, and murdered in cold blood. Among
them were generals Jankowsky and Bukowsky, who had commanded
the unsuccessful operations against Rudiger in Volhynia: they had
 HISTORY OF POLAND. 559

been accused of treason to gratify the populace and the clubs; they
had been tried and acquitted, but were now assassinated. The
prisons contained some ladies, whom political jealousy had confined
ou suspician of Russianism: they shared the same fate, and their
mutilated bodies were thrown out to outrage in the public streets.
The same treatment was extended to the inmates of other prisons.
The governor of the city, left without regular troops, was unable
to check these atrocities, even some of the Russian prisoners of war
being put to death. At length, several regiments were sent into
the city from the army, and some degree of order was restored; the
Polish troops being thus employed against their fellow citizens,
when they ought to have been facing the Russians. The govern
ment, feeling its own weakness, resigned its power into the hands
of the diet, which immediately invested general Krukowiecki with
almost dictatorial authority.
The nights of the 15th and 16th of August, says the author
of La Guerre de la Pologne, have left a stain upon our revolution
and national character, by desecrating it with scenes of murder and
cruelty, not only foreign to the Polish character, but such as exer
cised a baneful influence on our affairs at an important crisis. The
events of that horrible night, long in embryo, were at last brought
into activity by a combination of fatal events. The Dictator Klo
picki had sown the first seeds of mischief, by protecting a crowd of
spies and traitors from punishment under the forms of judicial pro
ceedings. It was in vain that the public voice loudly demanded
the condemnation of these criminals. A slight penalty, within the
jurisdiction of the police, was alone inflicted on them. So long as
success attended our efforts, and victory followed our standards,
these men were forgotten ; but when misfortune threatened the
country, the restless eyes of all were again turned on this corrupt
mass, which seemed to wait but the moment of deliverance, to in
flict itself, a second time, on a devoted people. The unfortunate
turn which affairs had taken, increased the anxiety in the public
mind; and the grave fault, committed by the commanders of the
the army, almost justified the suspicion of treason. -

The murderous events, says this writer, of the night of the

15th of August, may be traced to several causes. There was a hid
den Russian spring, adroitly managed, which not only stimulated
the wild enthusiasm of political fanatics, but betrayed many honest
patriots, without sufficient discretion to restrain their passions, into
the plot. There were many ambitious men who thought only of
 560 HISTORY OF POLAND.

their own elevation, and general Krukowiecki was not the only one
who was led into error. The Patriotic Club, of infamous memory,
was the tool employed in these proceedings. This club, composed of
individuals who thought much more of talking then of making any
real sacrifice for tke welfare of their country, was the true gangrene
that poisoned the very life-blood of our revolution. The number
of persons put to death on that disastrous night did not, however,
exceed thirty-five. The more important were generals Jankowski,
Bukowski, Hurtig, and Salacki, one Hankiewicz, an inquisitor un
der the Russian government, a Cossack who had cut off the breasts
of a woman, and several spies of low rank. But the consequences
were of immense and disastrous importance. The hearts of all
honest men were chilled, and the army heard the news of these
murders with the most lively indignation, and saw with horror how
completely the authority of the government was prostrate before an
infuriated populace.
It was then that the helm of his country was reluctantly sur
rendered by the good and virtuous prince Czartoryski; a man whose
whole life was free from stain or reproachwho shone in the hori
zon of our revolution like some beneficent planetand towards
whom the eyes and the hearts of all honest men were turned with
affection and respect. Prince Czartoryski was succeeded by general
Krukowiecki, because violence and indiscretion were mistaken for
energy and decision of character.
These events accelerated the conclusion of the war. The Rus
sian army approached the capital along the left bank of the Vistula;
and the first attack was made on the city from the west on the 6th
day of September. Even now the Poles continued to exhibit traces
of that heroism and contempt of death which had already won them
so much renown. General Sowinski, with three battalions, was en
trusted with the defence of a redoubt; and though assaulted by
overwhelming numbers of the Russians, they disputed to the last
the possession of the fort. Disdaining to ask for quarter, none
was granted them; and Sowinski himself fell pierced with bayonet
wounds beside the cannon he had been defending. The whole
number of survivors out of the three battalions was eleven, amongst
whom was Peter Wysocki, who, by his personal exertions and spi
rited appeal to the Polish ensigns, had so materially contributed to
the early success of the insurrection. Covered with wounds, he fell
into the hands of the Russians.
 HISTORY OF POLAND. 561

The attack on the city now became general; and the fire of no
less than 386 cannon was kept up against it. Though by no means
provided with a sufficiency of artillery to resist such an assault, the
Poles were not backward in returning the fire as warmly as their
means would allow ; and their resistance cost the Russians no less
than 10,000 men, marshal Paskiewicz himself being among the
wounded. The loss of the Poles, however, amounted to 9000 men;
and, on the 8th of September, Warsaw capitulated ; the army
within its walls being allowed forty-eight hours to march out with
their arms and colours flying. On the following day, Paskiewicz,
accompanied by the grand-duke Michael, entered the city. It
would have been very easy, says the writer above quoted, for the
army to defend itself within the walls and from house to house. It
had already performed more difficult feats; and Europe doubtless
would have rung with its heroism, if, after the example of Sarragossa,
it had buried itself under the ruins of Warsaw. But the Poles
could not, for the sake of a mere empty renown, consent to the de
struction of a city which is the hearth-stone of their patriotism, and
the centre of their nationalitya city which in future struggles is
yet destined to play an important partfor the Poles are far from
succumbing under their present misfortunesvery far from aban
doning the hope of again becoming a nation.
The fall of Warsaw must be attributed not only to the apathy
and selfish policy of the cabinets of Europe, which deterred them
from making those efforts on the Polish behalf which would have
* ,
been so essential to the cause of freedom generally, but also to the
direct assistance received by the invading army from Prussia, not , v
withstanding the recognition by that court of the principle of non--:
intervention. In a letter of remonstrance from general Skrzynecki , s *
to the king of Prussia, dated June 19, 1831, the following facts are

stated:1st, The Prussian authorities supply the Russians with

provisions from the store-houses of Thorn and the neighbourhood.
2nd, Prussian artillerymen have been sent to the Russian army to
be employed against us. 3rd, The Russian army receives ammu
nition from the Prussian fortresses. 4th, The uniforms of several
Russian regiments are made in Prussia. 5th, A Prussian engineer
of Marienwerder (Kwidzin) has been employed to construct a bridge
upon the Vistula, near Zlotoria, for the passage of the Russians;
the necessary materials having been furnished by Prussia. The
general concludes by asserting that he could adduce innumerable
other circumstances equivalent to acts of hostility.
4 B


562 HISTORY OF POLAND.

The following is a synopsis of the principal battles fought between

the Poles and Russians during this celebrated war:-
1831. Places. Commanders.
Feb. 14 . Stoczek . . . Dwernicki
Feb. 17 . Dobre . . . Skrzynecki.
Feb. 19 }''. *
OVawles
Dwernicki
Milosna . . Radzivil . . . ji
Wawr . . . Zymirski . . Lubienski
Fi.
s of
| Grochow
Zombki .
.
.
.
.
Klopicki
Krukowiecki
. . Gielgud
. Matachowski
& .
r Bialolenka . . Weyssenhof . Roland
rrochow. Nasielsk . . Szembek . . . Milberg
- Uminski . . . Jankowski
Feb. 26 . Tulawy . . . Lagowski
Mar. 2 . Kurow . . . Dwernicki Prond -

Mar. 31 . Wawr . . . Skrzynecki } .

Dembe - } }.* ; Lubienski
April 10 . Iganie . . . Prondzynski Kicki
April 19 . Boremel . . . Dwernicki
April 26 . Kuflew . . . Dembinski
Skrzynecki . . Pac
May 26 . Ostrolenka . -2 Kamienski . . Kicki
Bem . . . . Lubienski
Dembinski . . Sierakowski
May 29 . Raygrod . . Roland . . . Szymanowski
June 19 . Wilna. . . . Gielgud . . . Chlapowski
Aug. 9 . Ilza . . . . Rozycki
Aug. 29 . Miedzyrzec . Ramorino . . Sierawski
Aug. 29 . Rogoznica - Gawronski
Malachowski . Rybinski
Sept. 6, 7, Dembinski . . Uminski
"nd 8 Warsaw Sowinski . . . Wysocki
Bem - -

The evils of war, in this unhappy country, were accompanied by,

and assisted in propagating a calamity, even more mortal and ex
tensive, which had gradually been moving westward from the inte
rior of the Russian empire. This was the disease called cholera
morbus, which came in contact with the armies of Russia and Po
land, thinned their numbers, and drawing food from the misery
which attended their movements, advanced on one side to Warsaw
and Cracow, from whence it spread itself into Gallicia, whilst, on
the other, it descended the Dwina to Riga and its neighbourhood.
Under existing circumstances, its ravages could not but be dreadful;
and it speedily extended itself from Poland over the greater part of
western Europe. -

On the capitulation of Warsaw, the Polish troops, consisting of

30,000 men, marched out of the city, as has been already stated,
and retreated towards Plock, accompanied by the members of the
 HISTORY OF POLAND. - 563

executive government, by the senate, and by a majority of the cham

ber. The Russian commander, however, subsequently maintained,
that, in consenting to this measure, he considered the troops to have
submitted, and that they were at Plock to await the pleasure of the
emperor; but this was no part of their plan. Being now command
ed by general Rybinski, they stopped short at the fortress of Mod
lin, and began to make preparations for crossing the Vistula, and
falling on the rear of the Russians. The enterprise was desperate.
Paskiewicz at length directed his troops against them. Finding
themselves hemmed in on every side, they, rather than submit to
the Russians, crossed the frontier into Prussia, and laid down their
arms. Pursuant to a stipulation which had been entered into with
the Prussian government, their cannon (95 pieces) were surrendered
to the local authorities. The unfortunate exiles betrayed tokens of
strong feeling on parting with these stern companions in their wars
and their misfortunes; and it was with the deepest indignation that
they afterwards discovered their artillery had been given up to the
Russians. They soon found, however, that they had yet to learn
the full extent of Prussian treachery. Though they had laid down
their arms on the express condition of obtaining protection and safe
sojourn, they were treated as prisoners of war during four months;
and, at the expiration of that period, they were informed that such
of the non-commissioned officers and soldiers as were natives of the
kingdom of Poland must return, as an amnesty had been granted to
them by the emperor of Russia. On the 11th of December, 1831,
a division of the Poles was surrounded by Prussian troops, who gave
them to understand, that if they did not march, they would be fired
upon. Such of them as submitted were immediately forwarded to
the frontiers, while those who remained assembled in groups, pre
ferring death to Russian amnesty. Attempts were then made, un
der pretence of changing their cantonments, to draw them gradually
towards Poland, and place them within the power of the Russian
troops; but the unfortunate refugees, now convinced of the bad
faith of the Prussian authorities, refused to proceed. Scenes of
blood ensued disgraceful to humanity, and to the history of the age.
On more than one occasion the unarmed Poles were charged by the
Prussian troops; but, calling God to witness the barbarous massacre,
they still refused to proceed. Of 20,000 men who had sought a
refuge in Prussia, scarcely 7000 had eventually the good fortune or
the firmness to escape or resist the threats of the Prussians and the
hollow promises of amnesty held out by Russia. The futility of
4 B 2
564 HISTORY OF POLAND.

those promises was quickly experienced by those who returned to

Poland. Numbers were enrolled in the regiments destined for Si
beria and the Caucasus; and those who ventured to remonstrate
were threatened with the knout. This horrid punishment was actu
ally inflicted on seventeen Polish soldiers, who were beaten to death
in the presence of the Russian general Gortschakoff, at Janow, in
the palatinate of Lublin. A similar scene was exhibited at Cron
stadt, where 50 Polish soldiers refused to serve; and twelve of these
were selected for punishment. Three thousand unarmed Poles
were drawn up to witness the disgusting spectacle, and a large body
of Russian troops attended to suppress any attempt to rescue their
unhappy countrymen. Two files of Russian soldiers, consisting of
250 men, stood with hazel sticks in the right hand, and a loaded
musket in the left: the butt-ends of two muskets were then placed
under the arms of the sufferers, to force them through this double
line of their torturers; and in front bayonets were pointed at their
breasts, to prevent their advancing too quickly. In this situation,
several of the Poles received so many blows, that a foreign surgeon
present declared they could not survive the day; but if they sur
vived and recovered, they were to be beaten again until they con
sented to serve. So much for a Russian amnesty
In justice to the people of Prussia, it ought to be observed that
they did not participate in the treachery and cruelty of their govern
ment; and in Germany a considerable degree of sympathy was ex
hibited on behalf of the patriotic exiles. In Saxony, particularly,
was this sensation carried to a degree of enthusiasm. The people
of that country could not forget that they had formerly been united
under the same monarch with those of Poland; and they rendered
the march of the refugees through their country more like a triumph
than a retreat. Processions were formed of the citizens, artillery
were fired, the Polish flag was displayed, and Polish songs were
sung in praise of the unfortunate warriors. At Frankfort, great in
terest was excited by the passage of a corps of Polish females, still
clad in their national uniform. Many of those heroines had been
wounded in the cause of their country's liberty.
Another corps of Polish troops, consisting of 18,000 men, under
the command of general Ramorino, had been stationed in Podlachia.
Having gained some advantages in an action near Miedzyrzec, they

* Polonia, p. 347. Hull Record, pp. 49-56. British and Foreign Review,
vol. i., p. 50.
 HISTORY OF POLAND. 565

pursued the enemy to Brzesc ; but Warsaw having fallen in the

interim, they retreated towards Sandomir, continually harassed by
the Russians. It was their intention to cross the Vistula at this
point; but being unable to effect a passage without a bridge, they
entered the territory of Austrian Gallicia. It was on the evening
of the 16th of November, says an eye-witness, that Ramorino's
corps passed into the Austrian territory. The last rays of the sun
emerging from behind the mountains of Sandomir, fell across a
beautiful landscape on the opposite bank of the Vistula, which rol
led its waters in deep shade below. The contest had just ceased.
The Polish army stood in its ranks on a broken and hilly piece of
ground, safe after the recent battle from the overwhelming and im
placable foe, only because the neutrality of the Austrian territory
was, in this instance, respected. The Russian cannon was still
heard at intervals in the distance, echoing along the ridge of moun
tains; and as it died away, it seemed for the moment to the Polish
patriot, that the last blow for his country had been struck, and that
his efforts had terminated, as the anxieties of man terminate when
the final struggle of life is over. There was, indeed, in their situa
tion, enough to excite the deepest emotion. The patriotic songs,
so often heard in the Polish camp, were hushedhere and there
horses strayed deprived of their ridersthe soldiers leant on their
arms in mute despondencyand when called upon by the Austrian
authorities to surrender those arms, many of the veterans, who had
served in the campaigns of Napoleon, broke their muskets, while
others buried their sabres in secret places, in the hope that they
would soon again be required in the service of their country.
A third corps of Polish troops, consisted of about 6000 men,
mostly recruits or volunteers from Volhynia, Podolia, and even
from Gallicia, under the command of general Rozycki. After a
gallant resistance, they retreated into the neutral republic of Cra
cow; but, being attacked by the Russians even there, they subse
quently retired into Gallicia, accompanied by prince Czartoryski,
Skrzynecki, Ladislaus Ostrowski, the president of the chamber of
deputies, and by many more of the leading men of the revolution,
who had vainly sought an asylum in Cracow. Thus, says a late
writer, Cracow, the ancient capital of Polandthe mausoleum of
her kings and heroesthe place where the ashes of Sobieski and
Kosciusko reposebore testimony to the fidelity with which prince
Czartoryski and his companions redeemed the pledge pronounced
566 HISTORY OF POLAND.

by him in the senate, and adopted by every Pole, to contend for the
last inch of their native country.
The Polish troops who entered Gallicia having laid down their
arms, their officers were allowed to take up their quarters at Sieni
awa, an estate belonging to prince Czartoryski; while the soldiers
were distributed in depts. Both were strictly watched; but the
sympathy of the inhabitants of the country, which formerly consti
tuted a part of Poland itself, could not be restrained; and the
exiles were every where received with hospitality, and their sorrows
soothed by festivity. The Hungarians also remembered their own
deliverance from the insidious designs of Russia, which had been
thwarted by the Polish insurrection; and they were not backward
in expressing their gratitude. The courts of Vienna and Berlin
naturally viewed these demonstrations of popular feeling with jea
lousy; and measures were speedily taken to expel the Poles from
their territories. The minor states of Europe were compelled to
submit to the dictation of those powerful absolutists; and even
Switzerland, the birth-place of Tell, was at length constrained to
refuse an asylum to the Polish champions of freedom. The only
places of refuge that remained for them were England," France,
Belgium, and America.
In the course of a month after the surrender of Warsaw, the
whole of Poland was brought under the unconditional domination
of its former master. But the extent to which emigration had been
carried startled the emperor himeelf; and he issued promises of
pardon to his misguided Polish subjects, if they would return to
their country. Many, impelled by necessity, or the inhospitality of
neighbouring powers, reluctantly accepted these offers ; but the
members of government, and the leaders of the army knew that
their efforts had exposed the real weakness of his giant empire,
that they had thereby incurred his deepest aversion, and they there
fore could not be cajoled by his professions. We have already re
* The greatest number of these unfortunate men in England at any one
time has been about 500. The Literary Association of the Friends of Po
land, was established in 1832, and of which T. W. Beaumont, Esq., M. P.
for Northumberland, was, in the following year, elected president. To this
society was committed the distribution of the parliamentary grant of 10,000,
voted for the Polish refugees in 1834; and the following scale of distribution
was adopted:To every field officer, s per month; to every officer under
that rank, 2; and to private soldiers, 361, 8s. Such of the latter as re
mained at Portsmouth, having the use of a government hospital for barracks,
received only 1, 1s. per month.
 HISTORY OF POLAND. 567

lated some striking proofs of his sincerity. Several superior officers,

on the supposition that they were not included in the classes pro
scribed by the amnesty, found themselves on their return grievously
deceived. Some inconsiderable village or town was assigned for
their residence, where they were soon arrested, and sent into the
interior of Russia. Even generals Krukowiecki and Prondzniki,
who had signed the capitulation of Warsaw, were arrested (the lat
ter in the capital itself), and sent into exile. Hundreds of the no
bility and their children, loaded with chains, and with naked feet,
were marched into Siberia, to be incorporated in the regiments of
that country, Orenburg, and the Caucasus. The ties of nature were
disregarded; the mother, vainly striving to retain her devoted in
fants from their fate, inspired no sympathetic feeling in the rude
breasts of the Russian soldiery; and some of the Polish matrons
preferred the infliction of death upon their offspring and themselves,
to the thought of giving them up to slavery. Riots were not un
common in Warsaw; and, on the first anniversary of the revolution,
the streets were filled with patrols, and cannon planted at intervals,
to prevent an explosion of public feeling.
Soon after the conclusion of the war, the emperor Nicholas issued
an Organic Statute, relative to the future government of Poland.
The provisions of the charter granted by Alexander" had been for
merly evaded or disregarded ; but this statute, disdaining hypocrisy,
expressly cancelled them. It declares Poland to be an inseparable
part of Russia, and virtually abrogates the whole of the charter, in
asmuch as its contents are in contradiction to the statute. It thereby
violates and destroys the fundamental conditions on which the ex
ercise of all rights of Russian sovereignty in Poland was founded.
It abrogates the oath, and fixes the coronation at Moscow. With
regard to the guarantee of personal liberty, the charter subjoins a
corrective which destroys its principles ; for it declares that the
forms of judicial proceedings against persons accused of state offences
shall be determined by a special law, the bases of which shall be in
accordance mith the lan's of the Russian empire. The liberty of |
the press shared a similar fate. The article of the charter, that
every condemned person should suffer his punishment in the king
dom, is abrogated; and the above-mentioned assimilation to the
Russian laws shews that the condemned will not escape the deserts
of Siberia. The statute declares, that places shall be given as well

* See page 522.

 568 HISTORY OF POLAND.

to the inhabitants of the kingdom of Poland as to those of the other

provinces of the empire : thereby declaring Poland a Russian pro
vince. The section of the council of the Russian empire, called the
DEPARTMENT of THE AFFAIRs of Poland, sitting at St. Peters
burgh, and to which all important affairs of administration shall be
referred, shall be composed both of the subjects of the empire and
of the kingdom. The diet is abrogated; and in its place provincial
assemblies are created, with a deliberative voice on the affairs which
may be submitted to them. The budget depends entirely on the
will of the emperor. The statute annuls the stipulation in the char
ter relative to the nomination of diplomatic agents; and it enacts
that orders and decrees of the king shall be countersigned by a
minister secretary of state (who is not a responsible officer), instead
of responsible ministers. It declares that the power of the Russian
regency, male or female, shall be extended over Poland without any
limitation. It abolishes the article in the charter respecting a Polish
secretary of state, and declares that the judges nominated shall re
tain their functions until they are revoked by the emperor. The
principle is established that there shall be no distinct Polish troops;
and the existence of a Polish coinage is disannulled. Instead of
laws passing through the chambers, the statute substitutes that laws
shall be enacted by the emperor HIMSELF, after having in a last re
sort passed through the examination and confirmation of the council
of the Russian empire. It is determined by the statute that confis
cation shall be re-established, and that it shall be applicable to crimes
of state of the first class; and the civil and military Polish orders
are tacitly annulled, inasmuch as, before its publication, the em
peror Nicholas had declared them to be Russian orders, destroying
even in this respect all traces of nationality.
In addition to the effect of the above measure, the Polish soldiery
were incorporated in the Russian regiments of the line; and a vin
dictive ukase was issued, by which 5000 Polish families were ordered
to be transplanted from Podolia to the Steppes, to be there enrolled
in military service. They were to consist of the families of persons
who had taken part in the insurrection, or who, from their mode
of life, are calculated, in the opinion of the local authorities, to ex
cite the distrust of the government. Under the pretext, also, of
providing for poor and orphan children, whose poverty was to be
determined solely by the Russian authorities, a great number of
Polish boys were transplanted to the military colonies in the Asia
tic recesses of the empire. The use of the Polish language was
 HISTORY OF POLAND. 569

prohibited in all the tribunals of Lithuania, Volhynia, Podolia, and

the Ukraine. The university of Warsaw was shut up. The medi
cal, theological, and astronomical works were allowed to remain; the
rest of its library, rich in books and manuscripts, and the collection
of prints and medals, were ordered to be removed to St. Petersburgh
for, said the imperial order, as the Russian troops took Warsaw
by force of arms, all these articles belong to Russia by right of war.
But the debts due by the library and museum were to be paid by
Poland, although she had been deprived of all the collections.
In 1832, a commission, composed chiefly of Russian military
officers, holding their places during pleasure, was appointed for the
trial of political offences alleged to have been committed during the
national contest of 1830-31. General Sulima was appointed presi
dent; and the emperor, when passing through Warsaw, ordered
him to conduct the trials skoro i srogo (promptly and severely).
I spraniedlinie (and with justice), replied the too conscientious
president, who, probably in consequence of the introduction of this
obnoxious word, was shortly after promoted to the governorship of
Irkutsk, the capital of ancient Siberia. General Pankratieff suc
ceeded to the presidency. The details of the commission were kept
secret; but the severity of their measures may be inferred from the
emperor's gracious commutation of the punishment of his victims,
as published in a manifesto, dated the 4th (16th) of September,
1834, and which was as follows: -

Firstto commute the sentence of death, passed on four crimi

nals, to hard labour in the mines of Siberiathe first for twenty
years, the second for eighteen years, the third for fifteen years, and
the fourth for ten years. SecondlyThose condemned to be impri
soned for ten or twelve years, in the fortresses, are to have the pe
riod reduced to eight years. ThirdlyThose condemned to a hard
imprisonment (carcere duro) shall be incorporated in the companies
of prisoners who are employed as labourers on the public works.
FourthlyThose condemned to three years' imprisonment shall be
reduced to two years; and those to two, to one year. Lieutenant
colonel Charles Zielinski is pardoned, in consequence of his good
conduct. As to the criminals and malefactors, who hid themselves
after the revolt was over, as they are accused of crimes which ex
clude them from the amnesty, and have not followed our recom
mendations, to the number of 249, and are condemned to be hanged,
it is our will that they be deprived of all rights, and that the sen
tence of death shall be commuted into perpetual banishment. If
4 c
570 HISTORY OF POLAND.

any of these banished persons should present themselves in any part

of the empire, they are to be subjected to criminal martial law.
Attached to the decree of amnesty are, first, a list of 49 criminals,
who are condemned to be hanged; secondly, a list of nine who are
to be beheaded, among whom are prince Adam Czartoryski, Mo
raski, &c.; thirdly, a list of criminals condemned for 20 years to
confinement in the fortresses; and, fourthly, a list of those con
demned to 10 years' imprisonment. Truly, the tender mercies
of the wicked are cruel.
In the early part of the year 1835, the Russian government con
tracted a loan of 150,000,000 Polish florins, in the name of Poland.
The refugees in France, styling themselves The Polish Emigrants,
organized in democratic Society for the Emancipation of the Nation,
published, in the principal newspapers of Europe, a protest against
this loan, giving warning to the lenders that Poland, when it reco
vered its liberty, not only would not recognize the title of the cre
ditors, but would insist upon recovering such payments as might
have been made to them; proclaiming every Pole aiding in this loan,
whether directly or indirectly, an enemy to his country; and hold
ing up to execration all in general who should contribute to this
augmentation of the burthens of subjugated Poland. The protest
was dated from Poitiers, in the department of the Vienne.
In October of the same year, the emperor visited Warsaw. On
that occasion, it was thought proper to name a deputation of the
municipality to compliment him. The choice of persons which was
made underwent the severest scrutiny, in order that the very pure
might alone form part of it. The inhabitants were not ordered to
illuminate their houses. The merchants were summoned to the
Bank, there to await the arrival of his majesty; and a multitude of
workmen were directed to proceed outside the gate, to welcome the
monarch with shouts of gladness. The emperor passed through
with the rapidity of lightning, and alighted at the Palace de La
zienka. A short time afterwards, Paskiewicz opened the door, and
invited the deputation to enter. His majesty was dressed in a
lancer's uniform, and was visibly agitated. He let his hat fall, and
picked it up again. Marshal Paskiewicz exchanged a few words
with him in a low voice, and announced the president of the muni
cipal deputation. The emperor then raised his voice, and spoke
nearly as follows:
Gentlemen,_I know that you have wished to address me, and
am acquainted with the contents of your intended address ; but, to
 HISTORY OF POLAND. 571

spare you from delivering falsehood, I desire that it may not be pro
nounced. Yes, gentlemen, it is to save you from falsehood; for I
know that your sentiments are not such as you wish to make me
believe them to be. How can I put faith in them, when you held
the same language to me on the eve of the revolution P Are you
not the same persons who talked to me five and eight years ago of
fidelity and devotedness, and made me the finest protestations of
attachment, and yet, in a very few days after, you violated your
oaths, and committed the most violent actions The emperor
Alexander, who did more for you than an emperor of Russia ought
to have done, who heaped benefits upon you, who favoured you
more than his own subjects, and who rendered your nation the most
flourishing and happythe emperor Alexander was treated with
the blackest ingratitude. You never could make yourselves con
tented with your most advantageous position, and in the end became
the destroyers of your own happiness. I thus tell you the truth,
in order to throw a true light upon our relative positions, and that
you may know upon what you have to depend, for I am now seeing
and speaking to you for the first time since the disturbances. Gen
tlemen, we require actions and not mere words; repentance should
come from the heart; I speak to you nithout anger, and you must
perceive that I am perfectly calm ;* I have no rancour, and I mill
do you good even in spite of yourselves. The marshal who stands
before you fulfils my intentions, seconds all my views, and also
watches for your welfare. [At these words the members of the
deputation bowed to the marshal.] Well, gentlemen, but what
signifies these salutations 2 The first duty is to perform one's du
ties, and conduct ourselves like honest men. You have, gentlemen,
to choose between two alternatives; either to persist in your allu
sions, as to an independent kingdom of Poland, or to live tranquilly
as faithful subjects under my government. If you persist in your
dreams of a distinct nationality, of the independence of Poland, and
of all these chimeras, you mill only dran donn upon yourselves still
greater misfortunes. I have raised this citadel; and I declare that,
on the slightest insurrection, I mill cause its cannon to thunder upon
the city. WARSAw shALL BE DESTRoy ED, AND CERTAINLY SHALL
NEvER BE REBUILT IN MY TIME. It is painful to me to speak
thus to youit is always painful to a sovereign to treat his subjects
thus; but I do it for your own good. It is for you, gentlemen, to

* He was violently excited.

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572 HISTORY OF POLAND.

deserve an oblivion of the past; it is only by your obedience to my

government that you can obtain this. I know that there is a cor
respondence nith abroad, and that mischievous nritings are sent
here for the purpose of perverting the minds of the people. The best
police in the norld, with such a frontier as yours, cannot prevent
clandestine relations. It is for you to exercise your own police,
and keep the evil away. It is by bringing up your children pro
perly, by instilling into them the principles of religion and fidelity
to their sovereign, that you can keep in the right path. Among all
the disturbances which agitate Europe, and all those doctrines
which shake the social edifice, Russia alone has remained strong
and intact. Believe me, gentlemen, that it is a real blessing to be
long to this country, and enjoy its protection. If you conduct
yourselves well-if you perform all your duties, my paternal soli
citude will be extended over you, and, notwithstanding what has
passed, my government will always watch over your welfare. Re
member well all that I have now said to you. It will all be well
remembered
It is said that count Paskiewicz did all in his power to prevent
the emperor from continuing ; but he was so excited that all the
efforts of the marshal were in vain.t By an ordinance of the 16th
(4th) of the same month, the emperor apportioned a number of
estates in the kingdom of Poland, the property of Polish patriots,
among sixteen Russian generals, whose tenure of those lands will
be as their hereditary property in perpetuity. Shortly after, he
issued one of his emphatic ukases. Under Catherine II. and the
Emperor Alexander; the nobility in the provinces of Wilna, Grodno,
Minsk, Volhynia, Podolia, and the district of Bialystock, enjoyed the
privilege of electing persons from amongst their own body to various
civil offices. Latterly, such elections, it seems, were found inconve
nient to the imperial government, as well from the characters of the
persons chosen, as from the patriotic spirit which the elections were
* The admission of this fact, by such a personage as the emperor of Russia,
speaks volumes. It is an acknowledgment that despotism cannot altogether
arrest the march of truth.

+ The emperor Nicholas afterwards sent the insignia of one of his orders to
four of the principal members of the mnnicipal body who presented the address
to him at Warsaw, and to whom he made the declarations so adverse to the
mationality of Poland. The emperor informed them that he sent these crosses
to signify that his speech was not intended to wound their own feelings, but
merely to make known his resolutions to Poland and to all Europe.
 HISTORY OF POLAND. 573

beginning to excite in those provincesthe first that were added to

the Russian empire. Nicholas, therefore, found it expedient to take
away the privilege altogether, and to centre in his own hands, or in
those of his agents, all such appointments in future.
The whole of the modern kingdom of Poland, as well as the pro
vinces formerly annexed to the dominions of the three great powers,
appeared to be now for ever deprived of all traces of nationality.
But there was still one little spot where Polish customs existed, the
Polish language was spoken, Polish feelings were entertained, and
where, without an infraction of the treaty of Vienna, no foreign
power had a right to interfere. This was the republic of Cracow,
which, guaranteed in its neutrality by all the great powers of Eu
rope, comprised every thing that remained of what had once been
Poland. Its city had, in ancient times, been the capital of her king
dom. It contained the ashes of her kings and heroes; and it was
associated with every feeling of veneration for her literature and
her institutions. Here the gratitude of the Poles had erected a
monument, unparalleled in modern times, to one of their greatest
and most virtuous patriots. This is an immense hill or mound of
earth, several hundred feet high, raised, between the years 1818
and 1824, to the memory of Kosciusko. The soil for its construc
tion was brought from every part of Poland which had been hallowed
by the patriotism and the glory of her sons; and its builders were
voluntary contributors, of all classes and ranks, each eager to add
his wheel-barrow full of earth to this monument of their hero's fame
a prouder monument than the serf-raised pyramids of antiquity,
or the sycophantic marbles of modern times.
In the republic of Cracow, therefore, the refugees from Poland
hoped to find a safe neutrality. General Rozycki, with his corps,
had been disappointed in this hope in 1830, when the republic was
occupied for two months by Russian troops, who at length, contrary
to the promise of their general, departed without remunerating the
state for their expenses. The person of the bishop had also been
placed for a time in a state of durance, and the inhabitants thereby
deprived of religious superintendence. Still, Cracow became the
refuge of many a Pole, wishful, after the extinction of the remainder
of his country, to lay his bones at the foot of the tumulus of Kosci
usko. To expel these unfortunate persons became the object of
Russia; and Austria and Prussia, now in abeyance to that gigantic
and overbearing power, consented to aid in the cruel and unholy
procedure.
574 HISTORY OF POLAND.

For some months, the German papers continued to spread reports

that Cracow had become a receptacle for the seditious of other
countries, and a scene of assassinations and tumults. These reports
were contradicted by the authorities of the republic, who denied the
existence of any secret societies in their territories, except one un
der the patronage of Russia. After vainly endeavouring to gain the
sanction of the senate to the measure, the three powers at length
determined on occupying Cracow, and seizing or ejecting the obnox
ious patriots. Accordingly, in February, 1836, a corps of troops
under the command of the Austrian general Kaufmann Von Trauen
steinburg, and consisting of 3000 men, of whom 560 were cavalry,
entered the republic. The president, Weiloglowski, immediately
resigned; and his successor was appointed by the armed usurpers,
who were to be maintained by the little state. Not content with ex
pelling from the free city about 400 individuals suspected of
being Polish refugees, the Russians, Cossacks, Prussians, and Aus
trians also dispatched parties of horse and foot into the neigh
bouring country, for the purpose of clearing it effectually of
any Poles who might have fled into the fields or forests to avoid
the persecution of their oppressors. Moreover, it having been dis
covered, or at least asserted, that the city militia of the free and
independent republic numbered in its ranks some individuals who
were not subjects of Cracow, the whole body was disbanded by order
of the three powers. On the 10th of March it was announced that
the troops of the three powers had completed the business of clear
ing the territory of the republic, and the greatest tranquillity pre
vailed in the city. They were therefore withdrawn. The exiles
were to have been sent to America; but the French government
hospitably consented to receive a part of them, and to grant them a
subsidy. It appears, however, that some of them had been convey
ed as prisoners into the Prussian territory.
Having thus brought down our narrative of events to the present
time, it appears unnecessary to refer the reader back to them for
proof of the existing necessity of British watchfulness, if not of
British interference. It is now, says an acute political writer,
an insult to the emperor (of Russia) to talk of the independence
of Poland; it will soon be treated as an insult to talk of the inde
pendence of Turkey, Persia, and Austria. The tide of affairs,
in fact, seems strongly to roll in that direction. If, indeed, the
hope, suggested by some politicians, is to be entertained, that the
gigantic empire of Russia must fall to pieces by its own weight,
 HISTORY OF POLAND. 575

that hope is countenanced by the maxim, which ought to be true in

politics as well as morals, that crimes produce their own punish
ments. The thousands of Polish patriots banished to the snows of
Siberia by Russian tyranny, must, in some degree, infuse their love
of liberty into the breasts of those around them ; and those frozen
regions may yet, warmed by the sun of freedom, present an inde
pendent state, to check czarish ambition, and punish the wrongs of
outraged Poland.
In the mean while, however, the states of western Europe must
submit to the mortification of beholding the consequences of their
criminal connivance in the designs of Russiaa power which, by
its gradual aggrandizement, threatens to overturn the political rela
tions of the world. To this aggrandizement the re-establishment
of independence in Poland would have constituted a check. This
opportunity was lost; and the struggle will now probably be trans
ferred to regions more contiguous to our oriental possessions. The
restoration of the ancient and independent kingdom of Poland,
is an event which must depend on the degree of jealousy that
Russia may excite in the governments of England and France.
We would not willingly dash the cup of hope from the lips of those
heroic men who have fought and suffered for their country's free
dom; but the national debt of England and the unpopular govern
ment of France are bitter ingredients in its composition. Poland,
however, possesses the sympathy of all good men; and the picture
exhibited by Campbell is too pleasing to be hastily rejected:
Come but the day when Poland's fight is won,
And on my grave-stone shine the morrow's sun
The day that sees Warsaw's cathedral glow
With endless ensigns ravish'd from the foe
Her women lifting their fair hands with thanks,
Her pious warriors kneeling in their ranks;
The 'scutcheon'd walls of high heraldic boast,
The odorous altar's elevated host,
The organ sounding through the aisle's long glooms,
The mighty dead seen sculptur'd o'er their tombs;
John, Europe's saviourPoniatowski's fair
ResemblanceKosciusko shall be there.

DIRECTIONS FOR PLACING THE PLATES.

A Polish Nobleman, to face the Title-page.

Vice-regal Palace at Warsaw - - - - - - - Page 22
Battle of Varna - - - - - - - - - - - 137
Bogdan Kzmielniski on his Way to instigate the Cossacks to Rebellion 308
Portrait of General Suwarrow - - - - - - - - - 503
 TABLE OF CONTENTS.

DESCRIPTIVE VIEW OF POLAND.

Situation, Boundaries, Extent, Divisions, Population, &c. - Page 7

Natural History - - - - - - - 10.
Cities and Towns, Roads, &c. - - - - - 20
Character, Manners, and Customs of the Poles - - - 42
Trade, Manufactures, Revenue, Army, &c. - - - - 60

Histort Y of Poland.

Part I.-From the Commencement of Polish History to the Extinction of the

House of Lesko - - - - Page 67
Lech I. - - Page 73 || Lesko I. - - Page 78
Wiscimir - - 74 || Lesko II. - - - 79
Cracus I. - - - 75 || Lesko III. - - - 80
Cracus II. - - 76 || Popiel I. - - 81
Lech II. - - - ib. || Popiel II. - - - ib.
Wenda - - ib.

Part II.-From the Accession of Piast to the End of his Dynasty in the Per
sons of Casimir III. and Lewis King of Hungary, Page 84 -

Piast - Page 84 || Micislaus III.

- Page 108 -

Ziemowit - - 86 || Casimir II. - - 109

Lesko IV. - - - ib. || Lesko V. - - - 111
Zienomislaus - - ib. || Micislaus III. restored - ib.
Micislaus I. - - 87 || Uladislaus III. - - 112
Boleslaus I. - - 89 || Lesko V. restored - - ib.
Micislaus II. - - 94 || Boleslaus V. - - ib.
Interregnum - - - 95 || Lesko VI. - - - 115
Casimir I. - - 97 | Premislaus - - 116
Boleslaus II. - - - ib. || Winceslaus - - 117
Ulad slaus I. -. - 101 || Uladislaus IV. - ib.
Boleslaus III. - 102 || Casimir III. - - 120
Uladislaus II. - - 105 || Lewis - - 124
Boleslaus IV. - 107 || Hedwig - - 125

Part III.-From the Accession of the House of Jagellon to its Extinction in

the Person of Sigismund II. - Page 127 - - -

Uladislaus W. - Page 127 || Alexander Page 147 -

Uladislaus VI. 133 || Sigismund I.

- - 150 - -

Casimir IV. - 138 || Sigismund II. (Augustus)

- 159
John Albert - - 143

Part IV.-From the Extinction of the Dynasty of Jagellon to the Abolition

of the Monarchy in King Stanislaus Augustus Page 181 - -

Interregnum Page 200 || John Sobieski

- - Page 343
Henry - 211 || Interregnum
- 368 - -

Interregnum -217 || Frederick Augustus I. 378 -

Stephen Bathori 218 || Stanislaus Lesczynski

- 391 -

Sigismund III. (Wasa) 250 || Frederick Augustus I. restored 399

-

Uladislaus VII. 298 || Stanislaus Lesczynski restored

- 406
John Casimir -313 || Frederick Augustus II.
- - 410
Interregnum - 332 || Interregnum
- 424 - " -

Michael Coribut Wiesnowiski 337 || Stanislaus Augustus - 426

Interregnum - - 340 -

Part W.-Events which have occurred in Poland since the Dissolution of the
Monarchy - - - - - - Page 510

PRINTED BY PATTISON AND ROSS, 48, PILGRIM STREET, NEWCASTLE.

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