and that important right in particular, under their реси СНАР. XVII. 1794. liar protection, and perpetuated a privilege which insured their conquest of the kingdom. The inferior noblesse had the madness to invoke the aid of the Empress Catherine, to maintain their ancient privileges against what they called the tyranny of the aristocracy; and Poland, invaded by the two most powerful monarchies of Europe, was deprived of the aid of the greater part of its own subjects. The higher nobility, the clergy, the real patriots, made generous efforts, but all in vain; the insane people, regardless of every thing but the maintenance of their powers, refused to second them, and one 'Salv.i.498. half of Poland was lost in the struggle.1 38. abandon ous demo vileges. of the Polish reforms. The terrible lesson was not received in vain. Taught by the dismemberment of the territory, what remained When too of Poland strove to amend its institutions: the liberum late, they veto was abandoned, and the nobles themselves, taking their ruinthe lead in the work of reformation, made a voluntary cratic prisurrender of their privileges for the public good. The Difference example of the French Revolution had penetrated the and French wilds of Sarmatia, and a new era seemed to open upon the world from its example. On the 3d May 1791, a constitution founded upon the hereditary descent of the throne, the abolition of the liberum veto, religious toleration, the emancipation of the bourgeois, and the progressive enfranchisement of the serfs, was proclaimed at Warsaw, amidst tears of joy from a people who hoped that they had at last reached a termination to their long misfortunes. The Polish reform was so different from the French, that it would seem as if it was expressly set down by Providence to afford a contrast to that bloody convulsion, and deprive the partitioning powers of a shadow even of justice in the mournful catastrophe which followed. "In contemplating that change," says Mr Burke, "humanity has every thing to rejoice and glory in-nothing to be ashamed of, nothing to suffer. So far as it has gone, it is probably the most pure public good CHAP. 1794. ever yet conferred on mankind. Anarchy and servitude were at once removed; a throne strengthened for the protection of the people, without trenching on their liberties; foreign cabal abolished, by changing the crown from elective to hereditary; a reigning king, from a heroic love to his country, exerted himself in favour of a family of strangers, as if it had been his own. Ten millions of men were were placed in a way to be freed gradually, and therefore to themselves safely, not from civil or political chains, which, bad as they are, only fetter the mind, but from substantial personal bondage. Inhabitants of cities, before without privileges, were placed in the consideration which belongs to that improved and connecting situation of social life. One of the most numerous, proud, and fierce bodies of nobility in the world, was arranged only in the foremost rank of free citizens. All, from the king to the labourer, were improved in their condition; every thing was kept in its place and order, but in that place and order every thing was bettered. Not one drop of blood was spilled, no treachery, no outrage; no slander, more cruel than the sword; no studied insults on religion, morals, or manners ; no spoil or confiscation, no citizen beggared, none imprisoned, none exiled; but the whole was effected with a policy, a discretion, a unanimity, and secrecy, such as have never before been known on any occasion."1 But Old Whigs it was too late. The powers which environed Poland vi. 244, 245. were too strong, the weakness entailed on it by its long anarchy was too great, to admit of its being restored to the rank of an independent power. Like many men who discover the error of their ways when on the verge of the grave, the Poles had continued the passions of their youth down to the period when amendment is impossible, and repentance fruitless. Had they abandoned their democratic contentions in the days of Sobieski, the state 500, 501. might have recovered its ascendency; in the days of Catherine it was no longer practicable.2 1 Burke, Appeal to Works, Salv. iii. XVII. 39. their last October 14, The last struggles of the Poles, like all their preceding CHAP. ones, originated in their own divisions. The partisans of the ancient anarchy revolted against the new and more 1794. stable constitution which they had recently received; Commencethey took up arms at Targowice, and invoked the aid of ment of the Empress Catherine to restore the disorder from struggle. which they had lost and she had gained so much. A 1793. second dismemberment speedily ensued, and, in the distracted state of the country, it was effected without opposition. Prussia and Russia took upon themselves alone the execution of this partition, and the combined troops were in the first instance quietly cantoned in the provinces which they had seized. The Russian general Ingelstroem was stationed at Warsaw, and occupied all the inconsiderable portion of the republic still left to Stanislaus. Soltikoff had under his orders a powerful corps in Volhynia and Podolia. Suwarroff, with a large corps, was placed at Cherson, to overawe both the Turks and the southern provinces: while a large Prussian corps was ready to support Ingelstroem, and had already seized upon the northern parts of the country. Thus Poland, divided and paralysed, without fortified towns, mountains, or defensible positions, was overrun by the Jom. vi. armies of two of the most powerful military monarchies Salv.iii.501. in Europe.1 257,258. arms from elect Kos leader. There is a certain degree of calamity which overwhelms 40. the courage; but there is another, which, by reducing The Poles men to desperation, sometimes leads to the greatest and take up most glorious enterprises. To this latter state the Poles despair, and were now reduced. Abandoned by all the world, dis- ciusko as a tracted with internal divisions, destitute alike of fortresses and resources, crushed in the grasp of gigantic enemies, the patriots of that unhappy country, consulting only their own courage, resolved to make a last effort to deliver it from its enemies. In the midst of their internal convulsions, and through all the prostration of their national strength, the Poles had never lost their individual courage, CHAP. 1794. 92. Jom. vi. 260. or the ennobling feelings of civil independence. They were still the redoubtable hussars who broke the Mussulman ranks under the walls of Vienna, and carried the Polish eagles in triumph to the towers of the Kremlin ; whose national cry had so often made the Osmanlis tremble, and who had boasted in their hours of triumph, that if the heaven itself were to fall, they would support it on the points of their lances. A band of patriots at 1 Salv. iii. Warsaw resolved at all hazards to attempt the restoration of their independence, and they made choice of KOSCIUSKO, who was then at Leipsic, to direct their efforts.1* This illustrious hero, who had received the rudiments Character of of military education in France, had afterwards served, who saw the not without glory, in the ranks of independence in America. Uniting to Polish enthusiasm French ability, the ardent friend of liberty, and the enlightened advocate for order; brave, loyal, and generous, he was in every way qualified to head the last struggle of the oldest republic in existence for its national independence. But a nearer approach to the scene of danger convinced him that the hour for action had not yet arrived. The passions, indeed, were awakened; the national enthusiasm was full; but the 41. Kosciusko, futility of resistance. * Thadeus Kosciusko was born in 1755, of a poor but noble family, and received the first elements of his education in the corps of cadets at Warsaw. There he was carly distinguished by his diligence, ability, and progress in mathematical science, insomuch that he was selected as one of the four students annually chosen at that institution to travel at the expense of the state. He went abroad, accordingly, and spent several years in France, chiefly engaged in military studies; from whence he returned in 1778, with ideas of freedom and independence unhappily far in advance of his country at that period. As war did not seem likely at that period in the north of Europe, he set sail for America, then beginning the war of independence, and was employed by Washington as his adjutant, and distinguished himself greatly in that contest beside Lafayette, Lameth, Dumas, and so many of the other ardent and enthusiastic spirits from the Old World. He returned to Europe on the termination of the war, decorated with the order of Cincinnatus, and lived in retirement till 1789, when, as King Stanislaus was adopting some steps with a view to the assertion of national independence, he was appointed Major-General by the Polish Diet. In 1791 he joined with enthusiasm in the formation of the Constitution which was proclaimed on the 5th May in that year, and in 1792 performed several brilliant actions under Poniatowsky, especially at Dubienka, which with four thousand men he defended during six hours against the assault of twelve thousand Russians. Stanislaus having been forced to make peace, he was means of resistance were inconsiderable, and the old divisions of the republic were not so healed as to afford the prospect of the whole national strength being exerted in its defence. But the public indignation could brook no delay; several regiments stationed at Pultusk revolted, and moved towards Gallicia; and Kosciusko, albeit despairing of success, determined not to be absent in the hour of danger, hastened to Cracow, where, on the 3d March, he closed the gates, and proclaimed the insurrection.1 CHAP. XVII. 1794. Jom. vi. 263. Toul. v. 88. the Russians wice. War surgents. Having, by means of the regiments which had revolted, 42. and the junction of some bodies of armed peasants-imper- He defeats fectly armed indeed, but full of enthusiasm-collected a at Rasloforce of five thousand men, Kosciusko left Cracow, and saw is taken boldly advanced into the open country. He encountered by the ina body of three thousand Russians at Raslowice, and after an obstinate engagement, succeeded in routing it with great slaughter. This action, inconsiderable in itself, April 8. had important consequences; the Polish peasants exchanged their scythes for the arms found on the field of battle, and the insurrection, encouraged by this first gleam of success, soon communicated itself to the adjoining obliged to yield to necessity, and retired to Leipsic, where he lived in seclusion till 1794, when, his countrymen having resolved to make a last effort to avert entire subjugation, he was solicited to take the command, and with true patriotic devotion, albeit almost despairing of success, he set out to sacrifice himself for his country. After the battle of Maccowice, in which he was made prisoner, he was taken to St Petersburg, where he was detained in confinement for two years, until the accession of Paul, when he was set at liberty, and treated by him with great generosity. He then withdrew to England, from whence he passed over to America, where he was received with the utmost distinction; and in 1798 returned to France, where he lived in retirement, refusing all offers of command from Napoleon, whose selfish designs on Poland he early divined. To gain his services, the French Emperor condescended to the baseness, in 1807, of forging his name to a proclamation to the Poles, urging them to reassert their independence-a fraud which Kosciusko exposed in 1814, when the Allies conquered France. He continued to live in retirement in Champagne till March 1814, when the Russians found him, to their great surprise, in a small town near their headquarters. He had several interviews with the Emperor Alexander, who treated him with marks of respect; but he declined all offers of employment, and at last died at Soleure in 1817, beloved alike by his friends and his enemies. See Biographie Universelle, xxii. 551, 552, and Biog. des Contemporains, x. 148. 149. |