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people , and followed as it was by the entire extinction of Poland ' s political existence . For thirteen years , from the beginning of 1794 to the close of 1806 , Poland endured the thrall of the three rapacious black eagles ; but her eons left their homes , and though deluded and abandoned by the Trench nation—namely , by their " legal" representatives— acting with its consent , they by thousands entered the Franco-Polish Legion formed in Italy , and fought against the enemies of the French Rewould
public , hoping that those misled Republicans at last be brought back to better sentiments towards their sister-republic , when they would see that it was not one individual , but thousands of the elite of the nation who were victims of the refusal of their assistance ; an assistance which they promised " to all nations wanting to recover their liberty . ' Does history furnish another such example of so many sons of a deceived , abandoned nation , sacrificing their lives to assist that very nation which refused , on absurd and frivolous grounds , help to their country
in its utmost distress . When Napoleon came to Poland , after his having in a few months ( 1806 ) crushed with his broad hand the whole Prussian empire , the Polish nation again rose , and in no time thousands of its children , organized in regiments , joined the French army , and helped it to gain victories over the then combined armies of Prussia and Russia . And what was the result of these new efforts of the Polish nation , of this newly spilt blood ? The chief of the French Republic * instead of restoring at the conclusion of peace at Tilsit ( July 9 , 1807 ) , the Polish Republic in its ancient limits , patched up a small part of the territory as a duchy , and gave its rule to a foreigner , the King of Saxony . Disappointment No . 2 .
The beginning of 1809 saw Poland , after a short respite of two years , again in trouble . The duchy of Warsaw , without any previous declaration of war , was invaded by an Austrian army of about 40 , 000 men , under the command of the Archduke Ferdinand . We then were scarcely able to muster 10 , 000 men to meet the invading army , and , nevertheless , we not only succeeded to repulse the enemy from the territory of the duchy , but to reconquer the whole of what was called New Galicia , from Warsaw up to Sodgorze , ten miles beyond Cracow , an extent of 220 English miles . Our troops fought in this campaign several
pitched battles , and took two fortresses by storm . Here also the Polish nation was again doomed to meet a disappointment ; for after a complete triumph , gained by a fresh sacrifice of human life , at the conclusion of peace between France and Austria ( October 14 , 1809 ) , a great portion , almost the half of reconquered Gulieia , together with the rich salt mines Wielitzka , was restored to Austria . But the disappointment , or rather injury , does not end here ; for , in the same year , Napoleon detached from the duchy a whole palatinate , that of Bialystock , and presented it to—Russia .
Three years afterwards came 1813 , and with it the famous and disastrous campaign to which Poland furnished a contingent of 80 , 000 men , who all perished with the exception of a few thousands . The whole territory , one single palatinate , viz ., that of Cracow , excepted , fell tit one swoop into the hands of the Muscovites . No time was to be lost in reorganizing a Polish army ; but , being limited to one palatinate , scarcely 18 , 000 nun could be gathered and armed . However small that army was , still it rendered the greatest service to the French iirmy in the two following campaigns , viz ., that of 18115 in Germany , and that of 1814 in France . Thus out of the eight years' existence of the Duchy of Wureaw our nation enjoyed but four yours of peace .
Now followed Bixtcen yearn of terrible peace under the Russian knout , ii peace which drove the Polish nation , in 18 : U ) , to arms . It fought against the ¦ w hole military forces of the Northern Colossus , the noble guards of St . Petersburg included , during ten entire months , thus Having Franco from ii new invasion * which was then in contemplation , and in which the Polish army was to take un active part , having for that object already been put on a footing of war . And what did France do whilst Poland was waging that desperate : struggle ? Why , the perfidious Government of Louis Philippe , anxious to help the
Autocrat , treacherously withheld our chiefs from energetically carrying out the war , under the specious pretext that all would be settled by diplomatic , negotiations between the two Cabinets , and without any further bloodshed . Our chiefs having been simple enough to believe in thoao promises , neglected everything , abandoned their advantageous positions , and allowed the Russian army to unmolestedly cross the Vistula ; the result of which was , of course , that the reign of the knout was restored in Poland , which restoration the French Minister ttobestiuni unblushim > ly proclaimed from the parliamentary tribune " the t 0 i n of order in Warsaw . ' Russian oppression now began to weigh more heavily than ever upon our unfortunate country . JNo
Polish army , in fact not even one soldier , was left ; thousands of Polish citizens were dragged to Siberia or to the Transcaueasian army ; thousands of Polish families were driven into the depths of Russia , and replaced by Muscovites ; even children of the male sex were wrested by thousands from the bosom of their parents , and transported to Russia ; the whole country was so disarmed that not even one fowlingpiece was left in the hands of a Pole to kill the wolves ; the axes , even , were taken from the peasants , and only one left for fourteen houses ; it was the same with every other sharp instrument . The country was constantly occupied by an enormous Russian army , and the spy system so extended that there was hardly a house without a spy in it .
A new effort to rise was made by Poland in 1846 , in Galicia and the Duchy of Posen ; but it was unexpectedly prevented in the first province by the wholesale massacre , by Austrian hired assassins , of all the principal and influential patriots ; and in the second , by the early imprisonment of all the leaders . Thus the insurrection , crushed in its very embryo , could not spread throughout the whole of Poland . Does it not go far to prove that the revolutionary spirit of Poland was not extinct when such a revolutionary endeavour was made—when all Europe was plunged in a deep apathetic sleep ? This new symptom of Poland ' s unabated desire to shake off her foreign yoke rendered her enemies still more vigilant , and led them to aggravate the already horrible state of the country , which I have but cursorily touched upon .
Such was the state of Poland when the revolution of 1848 broke out in Paris , Vienna , and Berlin ;—in consequence of which the already numerous army of occupation was almost doubled in Poland , thus rendering her condition still more critical . Meanwhile the frightened Governments of Prussia and Austria made fine promises to their Polish populations of the Duchy of Posen and Galicia , going so far even as to allow them to organize their national forces ; but such pretended concessions were merely made to prevent them from seriously rising , and to gain time for the reaction to acquire strength . This once acquired , their superior forces of regular troops ,
unexpectedly and treacherously rushed upon the yet unarmed and unorganized Poles , massacring them , and mercilessly bombarding their chief towns . I now appeal to the conscience of every honest and impartial man , and ask him whether there ever was a nation more diabolically deluded and insnared than the Polish people ? And moreover , was there ever a country , exhausted as it was by a series of so many unsuccessful efforts and wars , without ever being able to recover its strength , as do those countries whose independence is left to them , —was there ever , " " I repeat , a country more disabled to undertake a revolutionary movement than Poland ?
But let us suppose for a moment that she had been in another position : that her populations had not been deprived of their fowling pieces , axes , and scythes , and that she had never before been deluded and deceived by other nations , —what had the Polish nation in those two years to encourage her to be ^ in a desperate struggle against the hundreds of thousands of Russian , Prussian , and Austrian soldiers , occupying every corner of its soil ? It was certainly not that ahuilling manifesto of IiUmartine , which , if it was intended to have any effect at all , it was
rather to discourage than otherwise . Nor was it the revolution of Berlin which left things in statu quo , soon after showing hostile feelings against Poland , and a rapacious yearning to preserve the infamously robbed Polish provinces , a yeuming which was supported by the whole of Germany . Was it perchance the movement of the Viennese , who repeatedly implored their run-away tyrant to return to his capital ? Or was it , perhaps , Hungary of 1818 ? But did she not likewise beg her foreign despot to come and reign over her ?
Besides , Rome had shown in 1819 , whether up to this moment any French manifesto , any motto , any placarded Fraternity , any Republican Constitution , acknowledging the sacrodness of other nation ** , independence was to he trusted ; and when we consider that in the ranks of tin ; French army sent to crush a sister-nation , a Republic provoked by the consequences of Louis 1 'hilippe ' s ( sudden ilight—when wo consider , I repeat , that there waa in those ranks not one man , man enough to feel the stigma thus < : u . st upon the national colours , to break bis fratricidal sword and throw his epaulettes at the feet of his commander , it is really almost impossible to entertain the slightest confidence in that nation even' for the tut me .
In 184 !) Hugary rose and valiantl y fought against her enemy , but unfortunately , like France in 181 H , she did not adopt the only Hound policy , viz ., to extend the revolutionary movement as noon us ponsilile over the frontier . . Poland , as a matter of eoui-Ho , expected Hungary to do so ; but , ulas ! no ; who feared thus to provoke Russian interference , which , as her statesmen ought to have foreseen , could not have hem withheld , as soon as Uu ; Austrian Government had called for it . ' 1 his , again , was anew disappointment for Poland ; still , as the war in Hungary wutf w « Hud uguintjt a common enemy . bUo uont hoi
contingence of youths , who by hundreds crossed the frontier at the peril of their lives , and entered the contending Hungarian army , where they bravelv fought , as did their brethren in Rome and in Baden thus proving by deeds that they understood the principle of solidarity amongst nations , afterwards proclaimed by the Central Committee of European Democracy . My object in writing this statement is to endeavour to show , and I trust I have succeeded : — 1 . That there is no nation in Europe , whose difficulties to rise are in any degree whatever to be compared to those of Poland ; and 2 . That there was never ui the history of mankind a People so unceasingly disappointed and betrayed as was the Polish nation . '
Consequently , can any one , I ask , conscientiousl y accuse Poland of impassivity , or of having entirely lost her revolutionary character ? Will he not rather find in her continually renewed endeavours to shake off the foreign yoke , a guarantee that Poland has always willed to do so , " willed strongly and unceasingly—in every limb and at every hour of the day—willed in love , sacrifice , and constancy" ? Taking into consideration all I have recorded , I think that no earnest and truthloving man will deny , that in the years 1848 and 1849 , Poland did , as much as she could , her duty towards the then contending nations , so much so , that the enemies of all
nations , that the reactionists hate and persecute the sons of Poland , when and wherever they can , for having done so ; and is it not strange that it is only the hatred of our enemies , which in this respect , renders us justice , whilst the love of our friends refuses it to us ? It is very easy , especially for a Frenchman , to say , Why did not Poland rise ? But he forgets that in that unhappy country a revolutionary movement does not terminate so smoothly as in France , in three days in the streets of Paris , where there is not one single foreign enemy , but , on
the contrary , a formidable national army approaching 400 , 000 men , besides a million and upwards of armed National Guards ; whilst in Poland there does not exist one armed Pole in the whole country , but is overspread by hundreds of thousands of foreign enemies : and even in 1830 and 1831 , when she had an army , the revolution could not terminate in three days ; but after the struggle in the streets , pitched and sanguinary battles were to be fought , —a whole campaign to go through against the strongest European power !
Yes , my sincere conviction is , that even in 1848 and 1849 , Poland did her duty , as much as circumstances allowed her to do ; for , in the application of the salutary principle of solidarity , she helped the struggling nations by sending them her sons . Now what did , for instance , France do during that time ? Did she not excite all the other nations to rally under the banner on which glittered the words Liberty , Equality , Brotherhood , promising them aid and protection ; and then , instead of protection and aid , did she not send her soldiery to crush those who ventured to . believe her signal to be sincerely given ?
I think if my readers will calmly compare the deeds of the two nations during that eventful epoch , they will have no difficulty to arrive at a conclusion favourable to my country—that they will find the actions redound with honour upon the one and disgrace upon the other ; they will likewise be able to determine whether there is any doubt of Poland ' s being revolutionary . The Polish nation alone is competent to judge the opportune time to rise . Rise it will , and rush , were armed
it even empty-handed , upon the numerous hordes , and , whether preceded or not by others , light the last desperate battle between absolutism and liberty , destined to decide , not only its own fate , but also that of all Europe . And indeed as long an Europe does not form a barrier between the northern Colossus and the rest of Europe , the other Continental powers being , without any interposition , bucked by the Autocrat , will continue to be despotic , and will become in a very short time the subaltern Cossacks of their chief Attainan residing in bt .
Petersburg . In conclusion , my earnest hope is , that my countrymen at home will—if they Lave not yet done ho—m spite of those enormous difllculties no other people has to contend with , speedily organize their elements so necessary for an eflicicnt accomplishment of their sacred duty towards their own country and humanity ut large ; and that in their " love" for other nations , whether Sclavonic or otherwise , they will again , they ( lid in 18 , 'U , insc-rihe on their ^ evolutionaly banners — "For our and your Liberty !" A Polish Revolutionist .
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* Thou h with an Emperor at her heud , Franco was then hULL a JLtenublio . Who only conned to bo called no lu lbOU .
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THK UOHP . Mli OJ . ' TKMl'JflUANOIi .. HiirLoii-liy-l . inculn , October KJ , lH . ) l . Dhah Sin .,- —Though I do not think more highly of Mr . R . Cruikshank ' ti logic than do the writers ol tjiu articles on " tho Gospel of Temperance '' and '"< - London Temperance J , ea « iu > , " in your unmoor < u the 11 th instant , i do think that juBtico w »<« jreudorgd to Ui » nelf-d ©» yiug k «» U iu tUa cause ot » ubu-
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1000 < £ t > * 3 L $ & 9 $ t 4 [ Saturday ,
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Oct. 18, 1851, page 1000, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1905/page/20/
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