Читать книгу History of the Polish Revolution and the Events of the Campaign - Joseph Hordynski - Страница 6

Table of Contents

Geographical extent, population, and political importance of Poland, as anciently constituted.—Conduct of Napoleon in 1812.—Congress of Vienna.—Grand-duchy of Warsaw erected into a Kingdom.—Dispositions of Alexander.—Zajaczek appointed Viceroy, and Constantine Commander of the Army.—Constantine encroaches upon the civil administration.—Acts of tyranny.—Meeting of the Diet.—Public debates suppressed.—The Polish Conspiracy of 1821.—The Russian Conspiracy of 1824.—Union of the Patriotic Associations.—Death of Alexander.—The Revolt at St Petersburgh.—Punishment of the Patriots.—Coronation of Nicholas.—Constantine appointed Viceroy of Poland.—Oppressions of the Government.—Patriotic Club.—Influence of the French and Belgic Revolutions.—The Quartering-tax.—Excitement in Warsaw.—Arrest of the Students at Praga.—Day of the Revolution fixed upon.

In the early part of July, 1812, when the victorious armies of Napoleon had occupied Wilna, and threatened to annihilate the throne of the Czars, the Polish nation cherished the hope of recovering its former grandeur. The destiny of Poland was then in the hands of Napoleon, and it may be said with truth that on the destiny of Poland depended the security and peace of Europe.

Poland, as is well known to the reader, viewed in regard to its geographical situation and extent, as formerly constituted, forms a strong outwork against the Russian Colossus. Its territories extend to the eastward as far as the Dneiper, and westward as far as the Oder. Toward the north, they reach the Baltic and the government of Skoff, and their southern frontiers are the Carpathian Mountains and the Black Sea. This vast region, composed of the present Kingdom of Poland, the Grand-duchy of Posen, of Samogitia, Lithuania, Livonia, White Russia and Black Russia, Volhynia, Podolia, Ukraine, and Gallicia, is inhabited by twenty-two millions of Poles of the same descent, the same manners and customs, and the same language and religion. According to its ancient limits, the kingdom of Poland is among the first in Europe with regard to population and geographical extent.

The deputies, who, at the period above named, were sent from Warsaw to the Emperor Napoleon, laid before him the most earnest solicitations for the restoration of this state, and endeavoured to direct his views to the future, in order to convince him of its necessity. They concluded with the following words;—'Dites, Sire, que le royaume de Pologne existe, et ce décret sera pour le monde l'equivalent de la réalité.' To this he answered;—'Dans ma situation, j'ai beaucoup d'interêts à concilier, beaucoup de devoirs à remplir. Si j'avais regné pendant le premier, le second, ou le troisiême partage de la Pologne, j'aurais armé mes peuples pour la defendre. J'aime votre nation, j'autorise les efforts que vous voulez faire. C'est entièrment dans l'unanimité de sa population, que vous pourez trouver l'éspoir de succes. Je dois ajouter que j'ai guaranti a l'empereur d'Autriche l'intégrité de ses domaines.'1

Such a reply from Napoleon, the Poles could never have expected. For, who accompanied him so faithfully in all his expeditions as the sons of Poland? Thousands of Poles lie buried in Italy, Egypt, St Domingo, Spain, and Russia, who had fought for the integrity of the French Republic and for the aggrandizement of Napoleon. His cold reception of the deputies of Poland filled all patriots with sadness. They were now convinced, that the good wishes of Napoleon for Poland were not sincere, and that, through his marriage with Maria Louisa, he had come under Austrian influence. Thus the hope of territorial enlargement and national existence vanished away, and Napoleon, by his indifference to the interests of Poland, accelerated his own fall. The burning of Moscow, which was a chance that did not enter into his calculations, became the turning point of his fate. The Poles, who had contributed to his greatness, did not desert him in his distress; they were his companions to the very last. Half a squadron of them followed him to Elba, at his own request. The disasters of France decided the fate of Poland. By the Congress of Vienna, the Grand-duchy of Warsaw was made into a kingdom, and subjected to the iron sceptre of Russia.

At the first moment of entering upon the government of the kingdom, the Emperor Alexander seemed disposed to load Poland with benefits. On his return from Paris he was received by the inhabitants of Warsaw with the most unfeigned good will, and his stay in that city was marked by acts of beneficence. The words with which he then addressed the representatives of the nation, are still in the memory of every Pole.—'Gentlemen, I respect and love your nation. To these feelings on my part, in which all Europe partakes, you are entitled by your continual and disinterested sacrifices for the prosperity of other nations. I swear to maintain your constitution with all the privileges guarantied by it; and this same constitution I promise to grant to your brethren in the provinces, which are to be united with you in one kingdom.' The nation believed in these promises the more readily as the affectionate deportment of the monarch seemed to confirm them. During his stay in Warsaw, he paid visits to several of the most popular and patriotic families and individuals, and every where expressed himself in terms of the highest esteem for the Polish nation.

This show of benevolence, and the dreams of happiness with which it inspired the people, were not, however of long duration. Before his departure from Warsaw, the Emperor named as viceroy of Poland, the old general Zajaczek,2 raising him to the dignity of a prince, and his own brother, the Grand Duke Constantine, as commander in chief of the Polish army. The appointment of these persons to the supreme power was already in direct opposition to all the promises he had made. For Zajaczek, through the infirmities of his advanced age, was unfit for the post of viceroy, and could be but an instrument in Russian hands; while in Constantine, the commander in chief of their army, the Poles received a tyrant.

Not long after the departure of Alexander, the encroachments of the Russian cabinet began to be felt. Removals of officers took place in all the branches of government, in particular of those known as patriots, who were supplanted by minions of Russia, men full of ambition and intrigue. In the first year of the Russian government, the bureau of Police was enlarged, and filled with persons whom the nation despised. The Polish army, which had gathered laurels in so many countries of the three continents, and which was held in such high estimation by the first monarch and general in Europe, was exposed, on the very first days of the new government, to the insults of Constantine. There was not an officer, but was grossly offended by the Grand Duke, and more than all, those who wore military decorations for their merits. No past services were valued; they only exposed those who were distinguished by them to greater persecution. In the first six months, many officers, among whom was the renowned general Sokolnicki, committed suicide; and nearly one half the officers and generals asked their dismission, among whom was General, the late Dictator, Chlopicki, who preferred poverty and want to such an ignominious service. The Polish army, those soldiers animated by feelings of honor and the love of distinction, were to be transformed into the machines of despotism. They who had faced death in so many battles, who were covered with wounds, and who had been called 'brethren' by the greatest leader of his age, were now to be beaten with the Russian knout. In the first year, few days passed in which some of the soldiers did not commit suicide.

This prince, who appeared not to find victims enough for his cruelty in the army, began to meddle with all the branches of administration, and to control them. Soon the liberty of the press was prohibited, freemasonry was interdicted, and a bureau of spies was established. The chief in this bureau of spies were Rozniecki, the vice-president of the city of Warsaw, Lubowidzki, a man of the name of Macrot, and Schlee. From the documents found upon Schlee and Macrot, it was ascertained that there were in Warsaw alone 900 spies. In the provinces their number amounted to 2000. The expenses and salaries of these spies, according to accounts found among their papers, drew from the public treasury $1,000,000, or 6,000,000 Polish gilders. Thus, our poor country, instead of employing her resources for the happiness of her children, was forced to pay the mercenaries hired to distress them. Soon Warsaw and the whole kingdom became one vast prison. These spies endeavoured to steal into every company, and were present in all public places. They tried to catch every conversation, and distorted every word spoken, with however innocent an intention, in regard to the policy and administration of the country. In order to extort money, they accused some of the most respected and honest persons, who were thrown into prison, and many of whom were never again seen by their families, from the midst of whom they had been dragged in the night-time, in order to conceal the crime from the eyes of the world. Persons who did not take off their hats in the streets before the Grand Duke, were compelled to draw barrows of mud upon the public places. There passed hardly a month in which some students were not arrested, and, without any trial, at the mere denunciation of a hireling spy, thrown into prison, where they lingered for years. Thus faded away in dungeons many fair and hopeful youths, the flower of our nation. In Warsaw, besides the public gaols, there were, beneath almost all of the barracks, prisons, where the victims of tyranny were tortured. The very orangery of the Grand Duke was transformed into a prison, from which some persons were liberated during the revolution, who had been confined there for years. It was in this prison that Lukasinski had been kept for a long time, though subsequently bound to a cannon and carried into Russia. In the gaols below the barracks of the artillery many dead bodies were found.

At the first meeting of the Diet, when the Grand Duke Constantine was among the deputies from the city of Praga, and debates commenced on various subjects which concerned the welfare of the country,—such as, the liberty of the press, the abolition of the central police and the spies, and the deposition of several of the higher officers, for which petitions had been sent to the monarch,—a decision was promulgated that the Diet should act in subordination to the will of the Grand Duke, and, in order to add force to this decision, the palace and its galleries were surrounded and filled by guards. All public debates during the session were prohibited, and a ticket from the police was required for admission. These tickets were distributed among Russian generals, officers of government and their families, and creatures of the court. Before such an auditory, discussions of the most sacred interest to the nation were to take place. No patriot could behold, without tears, the senators and fathers of the nations, descendants of Tarnowski, Zamoiski, Chodkiewicz, and Kosciusko, sitting with sad and drooping countenances, exposed to the scoffing and laughter of those minions of the court. The sacred halls were transformed into a theatre for Russian spectators.

In all the different bureaus, spies held important offices, and thus those bureaus became scenes of the most detestable intrigues. Law and right were trampled under foot, and the constitution itself was derided. They used to express themselves in the following and similar terms:—'What is the constitution? It is an impediment to the administration of the government, and the course of justice. The Grand Duke is the best constitution.'

A few years had passed away in this wretched state of the nation, when, towards 1821, our noble patriots, Krzyzanowski, Jablonowski, Plichta, Debek, and Soltyk, conceived the idea of emancipating their country by a revolution. Whilst occupied with their noble scheme, they were most agreeably surprised by receiving information, in 1824, of a similar patriotic union in Russia for throwing off the yoke of despotism. Their joy was increased when they received a summons from this patriotic union in Russia, at the head of which were Pestel, Releiew, Bestuzew, Kichelbeker, Murawiew, and Kachowski, to join hands with them. This junction was effected in Kiow, on the day of the great fair, when Prince Jablonowski became acquainted with some of their members, and was initiated into their plans. The invitation was received by the Poles with delight. Accustomed to combat for liberty, they offered with their whole hearts their aid in the redemption of the Sarmatic nation from the chains by which they had been so long bound down.

Soon after this, it was agreed to meet in the town of Orla, in the province of Little Russia, where solemn oaths were sworn to sacrifice life and property in the cause. Resolutions were taken, and the means of their execution were devised. The Russians promised to the Poles, in case of success, the surrender of all the provinces as far as the frontiers which Boleslaw-Chrobry had established. This promise, as well as that of eternal friendship between the two brother-nations, was sanctioned by the solemnity of oaths. The day fixed upon for the breaking out of the revolution, was the 25th anniversary of the accession of Alexander, in the month of May, 1826; and Biala-Cerkiew in Volhynia was the place selected for the first blow. The reason for choosing this place, was, that the whole imperial family and the greater part of the army were to assemble there, on the great plain of the Dneiper, to celebrate the anniversary of the coronation. This occasion was to be improved, to gain over all the well-disposed generals, and at the same time to secure the imperial family. In the meeting at Orla, it was required of the Poles, that, at the moment of the breaking out of the revolution, they should take the life of the Grand Duke Constantine. To this proposition, however, Prince Jablonowski answered in these well known words: 'Russians, brother Sarmatians, you have summoned us to co-operate in the holy work of breaking the bonds of slavery under which our Sarmatic race has so long pined. We come to you with sincere hearts, willing to sacrifice our fortunes and lives. Rely, my dear friends, on this our promise. The many struggles in which we have already fought for the sake of liberty, may warrant our assertions. Brethren, you demand of us to murder the Grand Duke. This we can never do. The Poles have never stained their hands with the blood of their princes. We promise you to secure his person in the moment of the revolution, and, as he belongs to you, we shall deliver him into your hands.'

The patriotic associations on both sides endeavored to increase their party, by the initiation of many brave men in the army and in civil life. In Lithuania, the respectable president of the nobles, Downarowicz, and the noble Rukiewicz of the Lithuanian corps, with many other officers, were admitted into the conspiracy, and among others Jgelstrom, Wigielin, Hoffman, and Wielkaniec. All the plans for the approaching revolution were arranged with the utmost circumspection, and every circumstance seemed to promise success, when the sudden death of the Emperor Alexander, at Taganrog, in the early part of December, 1825, darkened our bright hopes.

The news of his death had, at first, a stunning effect upon the patriotic club in Petersburgh. Nevertheless, they resolved to act. They hoped to profit by the troubles between Constantine and Nicholas, about the succession. On the 18th of December of the same year, the signal for revolt was given in Petersburgh. Some regiments of the guard were on the side of the patriots, and with them assembled great numbers of the people ready to fight for liberty. Yet all this was done without sufficient energy, and without good leaders. It was unfortunate, that at the time, Colonel Pestel, acknowledged by all to be a man of great talents and energy, happened to be absent in Moscow. The people assembled in their holy cause, but, being without leaders, began to fall into disorder, and a few discharges of cannon were sufficient to disperse them.

As the Grand Duke Constantine, on account of his marriage with a noble Polish lady, Grudzinska, in 1825, was obliged to renounce the throne of Russia, the imperial power was, by a written document, given to the Grand Duke Nicholas, as the eldest in succession after him.

Some days after the proclamation of Nicholas, all the prisons of the realm were prepared to receive their new inmates. Petersburgh, Moscow, Wilna, Kiow, Bialystok, and Warsaw, were appointed for the places of trial. Over the whole of Poland and Russia the sword of cruel revenge was suspended. In Petersburgh, the martyrs of liberty, Pestel, Muraview, Releiew, Bestuzew, Kachowski, were hung on the gallows, and more than two hundred persons of the noblest families were sent to Siberia. In Wilna, Kiow, and Moscow, an immense number were thrown into prison, or transported to Siberia. In Bialystok the Russian general, Wiliaminow, was appointed an inquisitor. This infamous character treated the wretched prisoners with the utmost cruelty. Rukiewicz,3 Jgelstrom, and Wigelin, were exiled to Siberia for life.

In Warsaw, the Grand Duke himself undertook the business of establishing an inquisition over the unhappy prisoners. This court was composed of persons in the Russian interest, a circumstance, the melancholy consequences of which soon became manifest. Senator Soltyk, an old man seventy years of age, was flogged with the knout. Krzyzanowski, unable to endure the tortures inflicted upon him, committed suicide. General Procurator Wyezechowski, that unworthy son of Poland, sentenced all who were condemned to death, to be hung on a gallows, and their bodies to be exposed upon the wheel. This horrid sentence, however, was, notwithstanding all the Grand Duke's influence, mitigated by the supreme court of the senate, which still contained many worthy men under the presidency of the venerable woyewode, Bilinski. The infamous Wyezechowski was unable to oppose this virtuous old man, whose powerful eloquence was a mirror of his noble heart. President Bilinski, fearless of the threats of the Russians, whose briberies he was accustomed to treat with disdain, guided by the articles of the criminal code, altered the sentence of death to a few years imprisonment. This mitigation of the sentence was signed by all the senators, with one exception.4

After Nicholas had ascended the throne over steps of blood, he was crowned, in 1826, Emperor of Russia. Two years after this, in 1828, he was again crowned in Warsaw as King of Poland. This monarch at first intended not to go through with the ceremony of the coronation in Warsaw, in order to avoid the oath of the constitution. Yet, from fear of revolutionary scenes, he suffered himself to be persuaded to do it, and took the oath, like his predecessor and brother, Alexander, to maintain the constitution and the privileges guarantied by it.

Poland may have suffered under Alexander; yet he loved the nation like a friend, as every one of my countrymen will allow. When he was mistaken in his measures, it was, that, surrounded by bad men and enemies of our nation, he was prevented from knowing the truth. He was himself too much engrossed in pleasures, to visit the hut of the poor in order to obtain information of his condition. Poland forgave him all his faults, in the grateful recollection that he had restored her to a separate existence, and respected the constitution. Far different in our eyes appeared the present emperor, Nicholas. Partaking of the errors of his predecessor, he exhibited none of his virtues. Alexander, with a benignant countenance, permitted every one to approach him freely, and his features were never distorted by passion. Nicholas, on the contrary, seemed to terrify by his very look. His lowering and overbearing eye was the true mirror of Asiatic despotism. Every movement was that of command; and his imperious air was in true harmony with the ruling passion of his mind. Such a sovereign, acting through the instrumentality of a brother like himself, the Grand Duke Constantine, must needs bring distress upon our country. Whole volumes might be filled with the relation of the atrocities of this government. The daily increasing host of spies in its employ, among whom even females were found, regarded nothing as sacred, and mocked at the most holy institutions. They lavished away millions of the public funds. Everything was permitted to them. In short, the intention of this government seemed to be to plunge our country into the deepest distress, in order to force us to the abandonment of every national feeling, and to make us slaves of the Russians. Yet in this hope they were deceived. The more the nation was oppressed,5 the more its energy of character was steeled, and the more the love of country developed itself.

Two worthy sons of Poland, Wysocki and Schlegel, mourning over the martyrdom of Krzyzanowoski, Soltyk, Dembek, and Plichta, and meditating on the distresses of their country, resolved to attempt its deliverance. By these two young champions of Poland, the first idea of the revolution was conceived. They communicated their hopes to several other patriots, and thus was formed the Patriotic Club. This association, nourishing in their secret breasts the holy spark of liberty, increased it soon to a flaming light, by which the whole nation was led to honor and glory. These heroic men fearlessly persevered in their endeavors, during five years, exposed to the greatest dangers and amidst thousands of spies. Witnesses of the continually aggravated oppression of their country, they became more and more animated to risk every thing for their holy object.

While this tyrannical government was exulting in the success of its measures, and the honor and morals of our country were fast declining, the revolution of France occurred, and it instantly roused every mind to a comparison of our state with that of the French, who had thrown off the yoke of a Machiavelian dynasty. The three days of July were days of joy, not only to every brave son of France, but to every patriotic heart in Poland. How much were they enraptured, who hitherto in secret had been labouring for the redemption of their country! The happy result of those glorious days was a peal of terror to the Grand Duke Constantine, and to the whole swarm of agents in his tyrannical sway. It gave them a presage of their approaching retribution. Yet, instead of adopting milder measures, and endeavouring to propitiate the nation, their cruelties went on as before. The government had, indeed, advanced too far in its barbarous system to draw back. The activity of the spies was redoubled. From the first reception of the news of the French revolution, there did not pass a day on which some persons were not imprisoned in Warsaw or the provinces. On the night of the 7th of September, forty students were seized in their beds and carried to prison.

Again, the new revolutionary eruption of Belgium cheered and encouraged the heart of every patriotic Pole. The hour for throwing off the yoke of tyranny was fast approaching. The leaders of the revolution succeeded in communicating their sentiments to continually increasing numbers. Many officers of the 4th regiment of the line and of the sappers were initiated. Yet at this very time, when the revolution was every moment expected to break out, the Russian despot, in concert with Prussia and Austria, commenced his preparations for a war against France and Belgium. The Polish army was destined to serve as the vanguard of this expedition, and Modlin and Warsaw were stored with large quantities of arms and ammunition from Russia. All the regiments were completed, and the order for marching was momentarily expected.

These circumstances attracted the notice of our patriots, and they decided to accelerate the revolution, in order to anticipate the march of the army. The eruption was hastened by the following event. The citizens of Warsaw were obliged to furnish quarters for the officers of the army. To lighten this burden, and to avoid various inconveniences, as well as to accommodate the officers,—by an understanding with the inhabitants, it was determined, that instead of furnishing quarters, a quartering tax should be paid. It was intended in this regulation to proportion the tax to the size of the houses, and consequently to the profit which the proprietors would derive from letting them. The tax would in this way be equalized, because, wherever levied, it would be attended by a proportionate compensation, and it was satisfactory to the inhabitants. This regulation, however, was executed in an entirely different manner. In many cases the heavier taxes were paid by the poorer inhabitants, and indeed they had sometimes to provide quarters in addition to the payment of the tax. All the persons employed by the police as spies, and who had by vile means acquired immense fortunes and kept the finest houses in Warsaw, were exempt both from the tax and the providing of quarters. The money collected for the tax was purloined by the commissioners for quartering, who thus amassed millions of gilders.7

A short time before the revolution, the gross impositions of this commission were discovered. The inhabitants of Warsaw began to murmur against it, and addressed the government for the removal of the persons employed, and the substitution of others in their places, who should be deserving of the confidence of the citizens. Among others, the deposition of the president of the city, Woyda, was demanded; and when the government refused to comply with the request, he was publicly insulted and flogged in the streets. The discontent of the citizens, in particular of the poorer classes, continued to increase, and of this discontent the patriots made use in endeavouring to propagate their views of the necessity of a revolution. Public opinion was from day to day expressed more boldly. Papers were pasted up in the streets, with inscriptions such as these:—'The dwelling of the Grand Duke will be let from next new year's day.'—'Away with the tyrants! Away with the barbarians to Asia!' A great concourse of citizens assembled one evening before the city hall, and demanded the punishment of the quartering commissioner, Czarnecki, who, in his desperation, committed suicide.

The holy moment was now fast approaching, and Warsaw was in anxious expectation. Fear and terror was painted in the faces of the spies, while, on the other hand, all true patriots were in raptures of joy, and waited impatiently for the moment to strike the blow. For several nights the whole garrison of the city had been under arms, by the orders of the Grand Duke, who, tortured with the consciousness of so many crimes, had no rest, and surrounded himself with large bodies of guards. A hundred gens d'armes were on horseback for many nights, constantly bringing in their victims. Strong patroles of Russian soldiers traversed the streets. All was in vain. His mercenaries could not protect the tyrant. The word was given, the oath was sworn, to fight for our sacred rights and the freedom of our country.

An event which served to irritate all minds, and hasten the revolution, was the arrest and imprisonment of eighty students. These brave young men were assembled in a private house, in order to pray to God in secret for the souls of their murdered ancestors, on the anniversary of the storming of Praga, by the bloody Suwarrow, in 1796, when none were spared, and Praga swam with blood, and was strewed with the corpses of 30,000 of its inhabitants. Neither old men, women, children, nor pregnant mothers, were spared by the barbarous Russian soldiers. In memory of this event, the patriots had every year met for secret prayer, since public devotions on the occasion had been forbidden by the Grand Duke. The abovementioned students, with some priests, were in the act of worship, praying to the Almighty, and honoring the memory of their forefathers, when the doors were broken open with great violence, and a number of gens d'armes, under their captain, Jurgaszko, with a company of Russian soldiers behind them, entered the apartment. Our brave youths continued their prayers upon their knees about the altar, and in that position suffered themselves to be bound, and dragged away to prison. But this was the last act of cruelty the Russian government was permitted to perpetrate, for it exhausted the patience of the nation. The measure was full, and the hour of retribution was at hand. The news of this outrage was spread through Warsaw with the quickness of lightning, and it thrilled every heart. This was the occasion for fixing upon the 29th of November, as the day for commencing the revolution, on which day the 4th Polish regiment, many of the officers of which were among the initiated, were to mount guard in Warsaw.