290 SPECIMENS OF PUBLIC VIRTUE. 



himself of that moment of excitement, endeavours to direct the 

 storm to a proper point. 



" Whoever loves God," exclaims he, " whoever is attached to his 

 country, let him persevere in the defence of both, because all our 

 laws and our liberty are threatened with total destruction !" 



It is with an invigorated zeal, but at the same time with darker 

 apprehensions that the assembly separated. A third day of trial 

 awaited them. The 2lst of April dawned upon the city, which 

 expected, with the utmost anxiety, the issue of the contest. At day- 

 break, its inhabitants filled the street leading to the royal castle. Old 

 men, children, women, proceeded in a dense mass towards the hall, 

 where the doom of Poland was to be sealed, because the sanction 

 of one spoliation would justify any subsequent national robbery. But 

 they found that the chief traitor was there before them. Backed by 

 twenty-five Prussian hussars and thirty-six Russian grenadiers, Po- 

 ninski beset every issue of the castle with guards, and enjoined them 

 not to allow the public to enter. Thus driven away from the 

 entrance, the ebbing crowds grouped themselves around the column 

 which stands in the centre of the royal place. They looked up and 

 beheld the statue of the king, who was as indolent and weak as he 

 that now lingered in his royal prison. Under the long reign of the one 

 the glory and power of Poland began to decline ; under that of the 

 other, she was doomed to fall. To the throne of Sigismundus III. 

 the two captive czars were led in triumph; Stanislaus rose to his 

 by the favour of a czarine. In the seventeenth century Russsia was 

 about to become a bright gem in the diadem of the Polish kings ; 

 in the eighteenth the spoils of lacerated Poland hardly added any 

 splendour to the crown of the czars. 



These mournful recollections, and yet more painful apprehensions, 

 saddened the countenances of the bystanders. The appearance 

 of Reyton and his faithful companions dispelled that gloom for 

 awhile. They cheered him up as he was clearing his way to the 

 gate of the castle. He was again about to defend, with his powerful 

 eloquence, the liberty of Poland, now almost a solitary champion 

 in the suite, unwelcomed, uncheered, unsupported by the presence of 

 the people, excluded to-day, for the first time, from the hall of the 

 Diet. He approaches the entrance, followed by his colleagues, one of 

 whom conceals under his cloak the staff, that improvised sign of 

 his authority. But, before he disappears in that gulf of iniquity, he 

 stops, and casting an electrifying glance on the people, he exclaims ; 

 " Brethren, follow me ! I will die before Poninski becomes the law- 

 ful Marshal of the Diet." Vain were the efforts of the soldiers 

 to drive back the crowd. The people rushed in the steps of the 

 young patriot, and in a moment filled up the gallery of the house. At 

 nine o'clock, Reyton received the intelligence that he is proclaimed 

 infamous by a special decree. " I am prepared for the worst," was 

 his only reply. In the mean time, Poninski, despairing of being 

 ever able to overcome the determination and activity of his oppo- 

 nents, draws up, in his own house, the act of the Confederation. 

 Throwing aside all show of legality, he sends that act for the assent of 

 the king. The feeble monarch did not resent the insult, but humbly 



