[ 44 ] [JAN. 



WYSOCKl's NARRATIVE OF THE POLISH INSURRECTION. 



THE fall of Warsaw, three months ago, put an end to one of the 

 most heroic struggles that modern times have witnessed, and shewed 

 that for a while only let us hope even the highest moral courage 

 must give way before the lengthened training, and the concentrated 

 energies of a despotic power, which for more than a century has been 

 gradually nerving itself through these means against all struggles for 

 freedom and liberty on the part of its wretched provinces. 



The following account, written by Peter Wysocki, will, nevertheless, 

 be read with interest, though it describes the dawning of a revolution 

 that has been unsuccessful. Ordinary readers will derive from it that 

 interest which attends the relation " of hairbreadth 'scapes" and " mov- 

 ing accidents ;" but the lovers of liberty will do more they will imbibe 

 from it the spirit that inspires the honest heart, when it awakens and 

 finds itself within the thrall of tyranny. It is not necessary here to 

 detail who Wysocki was, as his own narrative sufficiently points out the 

 considerable part that he acted in directing the insurrection of the mili- 

 tary academy of Warsaw, and in discovering those ardent spirits that 

 lay concealed under the gloom that despotism imposed, but were still 

 ready to start into action the instant that the whisper of freedom reached 

 their ear. 



The world already knows what was the fate of the unfortunate Poles 

 who had presumed to plan the independence of their country in 1825. 

 The imprisonment of Soltyk, Krzyzanowski, Albert Grzymala, A. Plichta, 

 and others, the long persecution of Adolphus Cichowsky, and the remem- 

 brance of the services rendered by Niemojewski, had inspired the hearts 

 of the young ensigns with feelings of the noblest patriotism ; and the 

 taunts of our enemies, who mocked the unhappy sufferers, first inspired 

 our minds with the thought of avenging them. At this period, how- 

 ever, the general state of Europe, the character of the men who com- 

 posed the French ministry, the misunderstandings that existed even 

 among the most upright Poles, together with the mistrust occasioned 

 by numerous instances of treachery, seemed to us invincible obstacles to 

 our plan ; yet we did not lose courage. At length Russia declared war 

 on Turkey this circumstance cast a consoling ray of hope on the Polish 

 patriots. 



Nothing decisive, however, had as yet been resolved in the military 

 academy. It was not till the 15th of December, 1828, when several fel- 

 low-students were accidentally assembled at my lodgings, viz.C.Paszkie- 

 wicz, J. Dobrowski, Karl Karsnicki, Alex. Laski, and Josh. Gorowski, 

 that we began to consult freely on the political state of Europe, on the 

 necessity of liberating our countrymen from the yoke that oppressed 

 them, and on the measures to be taken in order to restore the privileges 

 of the constitutional chart, which the monarch and the nation had botli 

 sworn to maintain. The following day I communicated the conversa- 

 tion that had passed to several of the ensigns, whose way of thinking 

 was perfectly known to me. My interview with these young men fully 

 convinced me that their efforts would be such as at once to decide the 

 fate of our country. We agreed upon a form of oath, which ran, as 

 nearly as I can remember, in the following words : 



" We swear before God and our oppressed country, deprived of its 



