144 PASKEVITSCH AND THE POLES. 



If we may judge from the immense system of fortifications erecting by 

 the Russians, we should infer they still apprehend that the untameable spirit 

 of the gallant Poles will again carve out some hot work for them. They 

 are at present, fortifying Warsaw after the manner that the Prussians 

 have done Posen and Coblentz, by a system of forts. 1st, the Fort of 

 Sfola has been considerably augmented; near to it a citadel will be 

 constructed, and another that will command the city and the vicinity 

 of the Belvidere Bridge ; a third will be built upon an elevation called 

 Jolibord, and another upon the hill of the Barracks of the Guards, that 

 will contain 6,000 men ; the expense of these fortifications is estimated 

 at twenty millions of florins, to be defrayed by the ill-fated city they 

 are intended to subject. In the meantime, the Russians neglect no 

 precautions to ensure their safety. The Circassians are encamped in 

 the Royal Gardens. The chateau is converted into a military hospital, 

 and its beautiful fa9ade marked by the wooden barracks occupied by 

 the line. At Praga, they have thrown up a chain of batteries that 

 mount some guns of an immense calibre ; these are pointed against the 

 city, and sufficiently proclaim the feeling of insecurity that prevails. 

 The garrison is now solely composed of the line, and the irregular 

 troops. All the regiments of the guards have left, they were magni- 

 ficent troops ; but the line are short dark men, very much resembling 

 our Indian sepoys, or the Peruvian Indians the utmost discipline 

 prevails it is rather of the officers, than the untutored soldiery, that 

 the Poles have to complain. The officers of the guards carried off 

 some hundred ladies of very equivocal reputation, whom they married ; 

 they also purchased, with singular avidity, all the political works that 

 had been published during the revolution. 



The morning after our arrival, we saw Paskevitsch on the parade. 

 He is a tall, fine, handsome man, with a distinguished military air. At 

 St. Petersburgh he was famed for his gallantry ; by birth a Lithuanian, 

 his military talents are of the highest order. It was Paskevitsch who 

 defended the famous redoubt in the centre of the Russian position at 

 the bloody affair of the Borodino; and who afterwards led his corps 

 from Riga to the Rhine, by one of the most rapid marches in the annals 

 of modern warfare. The Persian campaigns of this officer are justly 

 celebrated. His brilliant victories at Kainly and Milli duze, both 

 gained by a profound strategetical movement in twenty-four hours, 

 would have done honour to the greatest captain. 



It is melancholy to think that he has since tarnished his brilliant 

 military reputation by his conduct towards the heroic Poles. Paske- 

 vitsch executes, d la letlre, the cold blooded tyranny, the relentless 

 cruelty of his ruthless and tf miscreant master." The indignities which 

 he has inflicted upon this gallant people would fill volumes, and ruin 

 him in the eyes of posterity. 



To our great astonishment, we saw announced for representation at 

 the national theatre, " La Muette de Portici ;" during Coiistantine's 

 time, this piece was strictly prohibited. The house was crowded with 

 Russian military, in fact, exclusively so. 



The Polish campaign, like the fabulous shirt of Dejanira, is already 

 spreading its venom through their ranks; the guards have already 

 returned to Russia, tainted with liberalism and the applause showered 

 down during the popular movements in the market scene, may be 

 taken as an augury j for the future. In fact, what country presents 

 such ready elements for a Massiniello as Russia ? 



