XVII. 1794. April 17. CHAP. provinces. In vain Stanislaus disavowed the acts of his subjects; the flame of independence spread with the rapidity of lightning, and soon all the freemen in Poland were in arms. Warsaw was the first great point where the flame broke out. The intelligence of the success at Raslowice was received there on the 12th April, and occasioned the most violent agitation. For some days afterwards it was evident that an explosion was at hand; and at length, at daybreak on the morning of the 17th, the brigade of Polish guards, under the direction of their officers, attacked the governor's house and the arsenal, and was speedily joined by the populace. The Russian and Prussian troops in the neighbourhood of the capital were about seven thousand men ; and after a prolonged and obstinate contest in the streets for thirty-six hours, 269. Lac. they were driven across the Vistula with the loss of above Hard.i.472. three thousand men in killed and prisoners, and the flag of independence was hoisted on the towers of Warsaw.1 1 Jom. vi. 264, 266, xii.269,271. 43. Russian army disarmed. One of the most embarrassing circumstances in the Poles in the situation of the Russians, was the presence of above sixteen thousand Poles in their ranks, who were known to sympathise strongly with these heroic efforts of their fellow-citizens. Orders were immediately despatched to Suwarroff to assemble a corps, and disarm the Polish troops scattered in Podolia, before they could unite in any common measures for their defence. By the energy and activity of this great commander, the Poles were disarmed brigade after brigade, and above twelve thousand men reduced to a state of inaction without much difficulty -a most important operation, not only by destroying the nucleus of a powerful army, but by stifling the commencement of the insurrection in Volhynia and Podolia. How different might have been the fate of Poland and Europe had they been enabled to join the ranks of their countrymen !2 2 Jom. vi. 271. Kosciusko and his countrymen did every thing that courage or energy could suggest to put on foot a formi XVII. 1794. ertions of and his dable force to resist their adversaries; a provisional CHAP. government was established, and in a short time forty thousand men were raised. But this force, though highly 44. honourable to the patriotism of the Poles, was inconsider- Great exable when compared with the vast armies which Russia Kosciusko and Prussia could bring up for their subjugation. Small countrymen. as the army was, its maintenance was too great an effort for the resources of the kingdom, which, torn by intestine faction, without commerce, harbours, or manufactures, having no national credit, and no industrious class of citizens but the Jews, now felt the fatal effects of its long career of democratic anarchy. The population of the country, composed entirely of unruly gentlemen and ignorant serfs, was totally unable at that time to furnish those numerous supplies of intelligent officers which are requisite for the formation of an efficient military force; while the nobility, however formidable on horseback in the Hungarian or Turkish wars, were less to be relied on in a contest with regular forces, where infantry and artillery constituted the great strength of the army, and courage was unavailing without the aid of science and military 273. discipline.1 1 Jom. vi. lar to them. The central position of Poland, in the midst of its 45. enemies, would have afforded great military advantages, Want of a had its inhabitants possessed a force capable of turning it large reguto account that is, if they had had, like Frederick the proved fatal Great in the Seven Years' War, a hundred and fifty thousand regular troops, which the population of the country could easily have maintained, and a few well-fortified towns to arrest the enemy in one quarter, while the bulk of the national force was precipitated upon them in another. The glorious stand made by the nation in 1831, with only thirty thousand regular soldiers at the commencement of the insurrection, and no fortifications but those of Warsaw and Modlin, proves what immense advantages this central position affords, and what opportunities it offers to military genius like that of SKRYNECKI, to inflict CHAP. 1794. 46. Russians and Prus sians move against Warsaw, tumults there. the most severe wounds even on a superior and wellconducted antagonist. But all these advantages were wanting to Kosciusko; and it augments our admiration of his talents, and of the heroism of his countrymen, that, with such inconsiderable means, they made so honourable a stand for their national independence. No sooner was the King of Prussia informed of the revolution at Warsaw, than he moved forward at the head of thirty thousand men to besiege that city while Suwarroff, with forty thousand veterans, was preparing to and violent enter the south-eastern parts of the kingdom. Aware of the necessity of striking a blow before the enemy's forces were united, Kosciusko advanced with twelve thousand men to attack the Russian general Denisoff; but, upon approaching his corps, he discovered that it had united to the army commanded by the king in person. Unable to face such superior forces, he immediately retired, but was attacked next morning at daybreak near Sekoczyre by the allies, and after a gallant resistance his army was routed, and Cracow fell into the hands of the conquerors. This check was the more severely felt, as, about the same time, General Zayonscheck was defeated at Chelne, and obliged to recross the Vistula, leaving the whole country on the right bank of that river in the hands of the Russians. These disasters produced a great impression at Warsaw: the people as usual ascribed them to treachery, and insisted that the leaders should be brought to punishment; and although the chiefs escaped, several persons in an inferior situation were arrested and thrown into prison. Apprehensive of some subterfuge, if the accused were regularly brought to trial, the burghers assembled in tumultuous bodies, forced the prisons, erected scaffolds in the streets, and, after the manner of the assassins of September 2d, put above twelve persons to death with their own hands. These excesses affected with the most profound grief the pure heart of Kosciusko; he flew to the capital, restored order, and delivered over to punish ment the leaders of the revolt. But the resources of the country were evidently unequal to the struggle; the paper money, which had been issued in their extremity, was at a frightful discount; and the sacrifices required of the nation were the more severely felt, that hardly a hope of ultimate success remained.1 CHAP. XVII. 1794. Lac. xii. vi. 274,279. 272. Jom. 47. ers are com siege. defeats a Poles. The combined Russian and Prussian armies, about thirty-five thousand strong, now advanced against the The invadcapital, where Kosciusko occupied an intrenched camp pelled to with twenty-five thousand men. During the whole of mise the July and August, the besiegers were engaged in fruitless Suwarroff attempts to drive the Poles into the city; and at length a body of great convoy, with artillery and stores for a regular siege, which was ascending the Vistula, having been captured by a gentleman named Minewsky, at the head of a body of peasants, the King of Prussia raised the siege, leaving a portion of his sick and stores in the hands of the patriots. After this success, the insurrection spread immensely, and the Poles mustered nearly eighty thousand men under arms. But they were scattered over too extensive a line of country in order to make head against their numerous enemies a policy tempting by the prospect it holds forth of exciting an extensive insurrection, but ruinous in the end, by exposing the patriotic forces to the risk of being beaten in detail. Scarcely had the Poles recovered from their intoxication at the raising of the siege of Warsaw, when intelligence was received of the defeat of Sizakowsky, who commanded a corps of ten thousand men beyond the Bug, by the Russian grand army under SUWARROFF.* Sept. 17. This celebrated general, to whom the principal conduct of the war was now committed, followed up his successes with the utmost vigour. The retreating column was again assailed on the 19th by the victorious Russians, Hard. i. and, after a glorious resistance, driven into the woods Toul. 589. between Janoff and Biala, with the loss of four thousand 287. men and twenty-eight pieces of cannon.2 Scarcely three * See a biography of SUWARROFF-Infra, chap. XXVII. § 55. 2 Sept. 19. 474, 480. Jom.vi.283, CHAP. thousand Poles, with Sizakowsky at their head, escaped into Siedlice. XVII. 1794. 48. is routed and made prisoner at Upon receiving the accounts of this disaster, Kosciusko Kosciusko resolved, by drawing together all his detachments, to fall upon Fersen before he joined Suwarroff, and the other Maccowice. corps which were advancing against the capital. With this view he ordered General Poninsky to join him, and marched with all his disposable forces to attack the Russian general, who was stationed at Maccowice; but fortune on this occasion cruelly deceived the Poles. Arrived in presence of Fersen, he found that Poninsky had not yet arrived; and the Russian commander, overjoyed at this circumstance, resolved immediately to attack him. In vain Kosciusko despatched courier after courier to Poninsky to advance to his relief. The first was intercepted by the Cossacks, and the second did not reach that leader in time to enable him to take a decisive part in the approaching combat. Nevertheless the Polish commander, aware of the danger of retreating with inexperienced troops in presence of a disciplined and superior enemy, determined to give battle on the following day, and drew up his little army with as much skill as the circumstances would admit. The forces on the opposite sides in this action, which decided the fate of Poland, were nearly equal in point of numbers ; but the advantages of discipline and equipment were decisively on the side of the Russians. Kosciusko commanded about ten thousand men, a great part of whom were recently raised, and imperfectly disciplined; while Fersen was at the head of twelve thousand veterans, including a most formidable body of cavalry. Nevertheless, the Poles in the centre and right wing made a glorious defence; but the left, which Poninsky should have supToul. v. 89. ported, having been overwhelmed by the cavalry under Jom.vi. 291. Denisoff, the whole army was, after a severe struggle, Biog. Univ. thrown into confusion. Kosciusko, Sizakowsky, and other Oct. 4. Lac.xii.274. xxii. 551, (Kosciusko.) gallant chiefs, in vain made the most heroic efforts to rally the broken troops.1 They were wounded, struck down, |