652 



Madame de SlaePs- Ten Vears! Exilei 



(he promised <'ontilb\itions. The em- 

 peror turning liis back to liim, replied : 

 " An apothecary's inll,'' — for he has a 

 secret pleasure iu making use of vulgar 

 expressions, tiie more to humble those 

 who are the objects of it. He assumed 

 a sufficient degree of coquetry in his 

 •vvay of living with the Emperor and 

 Empress of Austria, as it was of im- 

 portance to hin\ that the Austrian go- 

 vernment should take an active part in 

 his war with Russia. In a conversa- 

 tion with M. de Metternich, I have 

 been assured that he said, " You see 

 very well that I can never have the 

 least interest in diminishing the power 

 of Austria, as it now exists ; for, first 

 of all, it suits me that my father-in- 

 law should be a prince of great consi- 

 deration ; besides, I have more confi- 

 dence ill the old than in the new 

 dynasties. Has not General Berua- 

 dotte already taken the side of making 

 peace wilh England?"' And in fact, 

 the Prince-Royal of Sweden, as will 

 be seen iu the sequel, had courageously 

 declaretlhimself for the interests of the 

 country which he governed. 



POLAND. 



The Poles love their countiy as an 

 ■unfortunate friend : the country is dull 

 and monotonous, the people ignorant 

 and lazy ; they have always wished for 

 libei-ty ; they have never known how 

 to acquire it. But the Poles think that 

 they can and may govein Poland, and 

 the feeling is very natural. The edu- 

 cation however of the people is so much 

 neglected, and all kind of industry 

 so foreign to them, that the Jews have 

 possessed themselves of the entire trade, 

 and make the peasants sell them for a 

 quantity of brandy the whole harvest 

 of the approaching year. The distance 

 between the nobility and the peasantry 

 is so immense, the contrast between 

 the luxury of the one, and the fright- 

 ful misery of the other, is so shocking, 

 that it is probable the Auslrians have 

 given them better laws than those 

 which previously existed/ But a proud 

 people, and the Poles are so even in 

 theu' misery, does not wish to be hum- 

 bled, even when they are benefited, 

 and in that point the Austrians have 

 never failed. They have divided Gal- 

 licia into circles, each i>i which is com- 

 mandetl by a German functionary; 

 sometimes a person of distinction ac- 

 cepts this employment, but it is much 

 more frequently a kind of brute, taken 

 fi'om the subaltern ranks, and wh(>in 

 virtue of his otftce comjaands in the 



most despotic manner the greatest 

 noblemen of Poland. The police, 

 which in the present times has re- 

 placed the sccr<!t tribunal, authorizes 

 the most opprassive measures. Now 

 let us only imagine what the police can 

 be, namely, the most subtle and arbi- 

 trary power iu the government, en- 

 trusted to the rude hands of the captain 

 of a circle. At every post-house in 

 Gallicia there are to be seen three de- 

 scripticms of persons who gather round 

 travellers' carriages: the; Jew traders, 

 the Polish beggars, and the German 

 spies. The country appears exclusive- 

 ly inhabited by these three classes of 

 men. The beggars, with their long 

 beards, and ancient Sarmatian costume, 

 excite deep commiseration ; it is veiy 

 true that if they would work they need 

 not be in that state ; but I know not 

 whether it is pride or laziness which 

 makes them disdain the culture of the 

 enslaved earth. 



You meet upon the high roads pro- 

 cessions of men and women ciirrying 

 the Standard of the cross, and singing 

 psalms ; a profound expression of me- 

 lancholy reigns upon their counte- 

 nances: I have scon them, when not mo- 

 ney, but food of a better sort than they 

 had been accustomed to was given thera, 

 turn up their eyes to heaven with as- 

 tonishment, as if (hey considered them- 

 selves unfit to enjoy its bounty. The 

 custom of the common people in Po- 

 land is to embrace the knees of the 

 nobility when they meet them; you 

 cannot stir a step in a village Avithout 

 having the women, children, and old 

 men saluting you in this manner. In 

 the midst of this spectacle of wretched- 

 ness you might see some men in shabby 

 attire, who M'ei-e spies upon misery: 

 for that was the only object which 

 could offer itself to then- eyes. The 

 captains of the circles refused passports 

 to the Polish noblemen, for fear they 

 should see one another, or lest they 

 should go to Warsaw. They obligeil 

 these noblemen to appear before them 

 every eight days, in order to certify 

 their presence. The Austrians thus 

 proclaimed in all manner of ways that 

 they knew they vi?ere detested in Po- 

 land, and they separated their troops 

 into two equal divisions : the first en- 

 trusted with supporting externally the 

 interests of Poland, and the second 

 employed in the interior to prevent the 

 Poles from aiding the same cause. I 

 •do not believe that any country was 

 ever B\ore wietehedly governed than 



