386 LIVES OF THE POLISH HEROES. 



But Sowenski felt that his talents should be exerted in a better 

 cause; he, therefore, quitted the Prussian service. In 1809 at the 

 head of a battery of Polish artillery he was present at all the actions in 

 that campaign, and greatly distinguished himself. Endowed with a 

 sound mind, and an heroic calmness, he had often those bold inspira- 

 tions which decide great enterprises. Obeyed by his artillery-men as a 

 father by his children, his battery resembled a family. Affable and 

 condescending in the extreme, his fine qualities conciliated the affection 

 of all around him ; and the grief of the army was universal, when at 

 the battle of Mozaisk, his leg was carried off by a cannon-ball. His 

 active career in the field thus closed, he was obliged to resign himself 

 to the service of theory and instruction. Appointed lieut.-colonel, 

 Chevalier of the Polish Order Vertuti Militari, and officer of the Legion 

 of Honour, Sowenski remained in the corps of invalids till the year 

 1816, when he was taken from it by the Emperor Alexander, and 

 appointed colonel and director of the School of Application, just 

 founded by that monarch at Warsaw. 



The revolution of the 29th of November, found him still invested 

 with these functions on the memorable night, in which the Belvidere 

 palace was attacked. The young cadets of the School of Application, 

 hearing the report of musketry, wished to force the gates of the esta- 

 blishment, in order to join the patriots on the outside. 



Sowenski totally unprepared, and ignorant of the object of the insur- 

 rectionary movement, fearful, moreover, in case of failure, of drawing 

 down upon his pupils the wrath of the grand duke, threw himself at 

 their feet, and supplicated them to wait till the following morning. 

 " To-morrow," said he, " to-morrow, if the affair is of any importance, 

 we will sally out, and I will place myself at your head." The cadets 

 yielded to his entreaties, and the director kept his word : for on the 

 following morning he marched out at the head of his pupils, traversed 

 several quarters of Warsaw, accompanied every where by the cries of 

 " Sowenski for ever," and as his wooden leg did not permit him to 

 march far, he was carried in triumph on the shoulders of the populace 

 to his own house. 



Sowenski was now charged by the government with the fortification 

 and armament of Warsaw ; during the whole course of this murderous 

 war, all his faculties were concentrated upon this one object, he every 

 day effected some change or improvement in the system of defence. 

 When the decisive moment at length arrived, the brave Sowenski, 

 stung to the quick by the inactive share which the loss of his leg had 

 obliged him to take in this glorious struggle, solicited the commander- 

 in-chief, to confide to him the defence of the most important point of 

 the fortifications. At his request he was appointed to command the 

 Wola, but the defences of this fort were so incomplete, and its garrison 

 so weak, that it was unable to hold out long against the vigorous 

 assault of the Russians. His first line forced, he retreated to the second 

 from whence he kept up a galling fire of musketry, until Field Marshal 

 Paskevitch, surrounded and carried this obstinately disputed point. 



After having seen all his soldiers butchered, left quite alone among 

 the slain, Sowenski seized the firelock of a soldier who had fallen by 

 his side, and keeping up a fire until he had expended his last cartridge, 

 he placed his back against the wall of a small church, where he defended 

 himself with the bayonet till he fell pierced with six wounds. The 



