614 RKCKNT ATROCITIES IN POLAND. 



on it as a mark of disrespect to his illustrious person, the prince 

 ordered the poor fellow to be seized, and to receive, in his presence, 

 fifty lashes of the knout. 



The destruction of literary and scientific establishments is a third 

 means employed by the Russian government to extinguish Polish 

 nationality. The national library of Warsaw, containing 200,000 

 volumes, and especially rich in MS. of the ancient Sclavonian litera- 

 ture, has been conveyed to St. Petersburg. 



The numismatic cabinet, and that of engravings, have shared the 

 same fate. The first was unique in Europe for the collection of an- 

 cient Polish and Sclavonian coins: the last was presented for the use 

 the nation by the king Stanislaus Augustus and Count Stanislaus 

 Potocki. Besides these spoliations, they have studiously carried off 

 every thing that could revive the recollection of the ancient glory of 

 the kingdom of Poland. In fact, the destruction of Polish nationality 

 is pursued even in the most trifling details. Only the Russian colours 

 are now seen, with which the military posts and parapets of all the 

 bridges are painted ; the public authorities are strictly ordered to tie 

 together the leaves of all the official documeuts with these colours ; 

 the decoration of the white Eagle has been changed ; the Russian 

 Eagle has been substituted for that of Poland, and the colour of the 

 ribbon from light to dark blue. 



The bulletin of laws and the decrees of the administrative council, 

 contain at present the Russian text opposite to the Polish ; the Polish 

 national cockade has been changed,* and their decoration (f virtuti 

 militari," now glitters upon the breast of every Russian. In the 

 meantime the fortifications of the citadel of Warsaw are rapidly 

 advancing, while the outward aspect of that city has undergone a 

 complete transformation. Nothing to be seen but Russian reviews 

 nothing to be heard but the shrill cry of the bearded Russian coach- 

 men, as they drive at a furious rate their haughty masters with their 

 starved beasts. On every side an Asiatic ostentation reigns. In the 

 principal streets all the first floors are occupied by Russian families ; 

 but the capital supports her misfortune with heroic dignity. The 

 inhabitants seldom appear abroad. In no public fete is the face of a 

 Pole seen. The people, with all the energy of their character, appear 

 resolved to rise superior to their fate. Sanguine in their hopes of 

 deliverance, they look for the arrival of the French and Hungarians 

 as if they were only a few leagues from their gates ; and ever ready 

 to fight for their independence, they stand erect and feel their moral 

 superiority over their barbarous oppressors. 



In Lithuania, some thousands of inhabitants, goaded to desperation, 

 have taken refuge in the forests of Beallossies, where they have been 

 carrying on with some success a partisan warfare. There are among 

 them many distinguished individuals, followed by their families and 

 the entire population of some villages, who had only this alternative 

 left them, of savi'ig themselves and their children from death and 

 exile. 



* When this decoration was sent to General Rudiger, he said, " C'est une 

 carte blanche pour avoir un sourHet a 1' etranger." 



