388 LIVES OF THE POLISH HEROES. 



Warsaw, without calculating that death or an eternal prison menaced 

 them, along a line of route of 120 leagues. Anxious to confer with the 

 Dictator Chlopecki, and to speak to him in the name of Lithuania, 

 they set out, proud of so lofty an enterprise and full of confidence in 

 their star. 



With the view of increasing their chances of success, the two envoys 

 took different routes. Wollowicz directed his course towards the 

 Niemen, accompanied by five well-armed domestics. Surprised in the 

 environs of Merecz, by two companies of Russian soldiers, and forced 

 back upon the banks of the river, he saw himself reduced to the alter- 

 native of surrendering to the enemy, or of prcipitating himself into the 

 Neimen, from the summit of a steep rock. On one side was eternal 

 slavery on the other, an imminent danger but still surmountable. 

 Wollowicz hesitated not a moment. Mounted as he was he threw him- 

 self into the river filled with large floating pieces of ice. His domestics 

 animated by his example, dashed after him. This intrepidity saved 

 them all. They reached in safety the opposite bank, while the Russians 

 beheld, with shame and rage, the escape of their gallant prey. 



Przeclawski entered the Palatinate of Wolhynia, disguised as a 

 Russian employe, with the assistance of a peasant he deceived the vigi- 

 lance of five sentinels, and passed the frontier in safety. By dint of 

 great courage, and well-conceived stratagems, the two envoys reached 

 Warsaw on the same day. 



Immediately on their arrival they had an interview with the com- 

 mander-in-chief, in which they gave him a faithful expose of the state 

 of Lithuania, and of the eagerness of her population to rally round the 

 standard of independence. They conjured him not to suffer such 

 powerful elements of force, to lie dormant. Having fulfilled their mis- 

 sion, and desirous of marking their journey by some active service, 

 Wollowicz and Przeclawski enlisted as privates in the Lithuanian 

 legion, just formed ; it was about the period of the celebrated battle of 

 Grochow. Unable to march with the corps, the organization of which 

 was not completed, the two Lithuanians quitted Warsaw almost by 

 stealth, armed with sabres and lances, and joining the Polish ranks as 

 volunteers, they shared in the glory of that memorable day. 



Some time afterwards, an unexpected intelligence reached the Polish 

 capital, that Samogitiahad effected alone her insurrectionary movements ; 

 impatient of longer delay, without ammunition, armed only with 

 scythes and lances, the patriots of this country had risen against the 

 Russians, and were harassing them by their active diversions. At this 

 news, the Polish government felt the necessity of supporting this insur- 

 rection. They sent for the two Lithuanian patriots, and requested 

 them to repair to Samogitia, in order to spread the news of what was 

 passing in Poland, to animate the zeal and hopes of the insurgents, and 

 to announce to them at the same time, that two vessels laden with arms 

 and ammunition, would shortly cast anchor in the port of Polangen. 



This new mission was even more hazardous than the first ; for its 

 accomplishment it was necessary to traverse in all its length the 

 narrow palatinate of Augustow, occupied by 20,000 Russians, to deceive 

 along a rout of 200 leagues, the vigilance of the civil and military 

 authorities. But the souls of the two Lithuanians were too strongly 

 nerved, to be daunted by the dangers of the enterprise. 



They left Warsaw on the 7th of April, 1831, armed with guns, 



