742 



POLAND. 



POLAND. At the outbreak of the Polish 

 revolution on January 22d, 1863, the Kingdom 

 of Poland, properly so called, constituted a part 

 of the dominions of the emperor of Russia, con- 

 taining 2,331 geographical square miles, with 

 a population (according to the census of 1859) 

 of 4,764,446 inhabitants. It was divided into 

 the following five governments (provinces) : 



Go<rnph!l Sq. Mile*. Inhabitant* In 185$. 



Warsaw .. .7.7.7 668,29 1,699,461 



! Win " ....... MS 61 952,224 



BE..... ..... M* 932 ' 608 



Anmstovo ............. 841,69 628,010 



..: ............ 818,22 662,148 



The largest cities of the kingdom were "War- 

 saw, with a population of 162,777 inhabitants 

 (in 1861), Lodz, 29,617, Lublin, 18,304. The 

 total number of towns was 453, with 1,164,487 

 inhabitants. The great majority of the inhabit- 

 ants belonged to the Roman Catholic Church, 

 which numbers 3,657,140 ; 4,856 were orthodox 

 Greeks, 215,967 United Greeks, 274,707 Prot- 

 estants of the Augsburg Confession (Luther- 

 ans), 4,189 Reformed, 1,581 Menonites, 1,451 

 Moravians, 599,875 Israelites. 



The Polish Nationality extends far beyond 

 the limits of the Kingdom of Poland. The 

 number of Poles, according to Schaffarik, one 

 of the standard writers on the Slavic races, 

 amounts to about 10 millions, of whom 2,159,- 

 648 are at present within the limits of Austria, 

 1,950,199 within those of Prussia, and the rest 

 in Russia, where they inhabit, besides the King- 

 dom of Poland, the western provinces of Rus- 

 sia Proper. 



The insurrection of the Poles against the 

 Russian rule, forms one of the most important 

 events in the political history of Europe during 

 the past year. It not only maintained itself, in 

 spite of the utmost efforts of the Russian Gov- 

 ernment to suppress it, but it gave rise to the 

 gravest diplomatic complications which Europe 

 has seen for many years. At the end of the 

 year the Polish question not only remained un- 

 solved, but it had become the general opinion 

 of the political world, that Europe would con- 

 tinue to be exposed to the greatest danger 

 until a satisfactory and permanent solution of 

 of it might be found. It had existed for many 

 years, and if the insurrection should be quelled, 

 the difficulty will still survive. In order to 

 explain fully the character of the present in- 

 surrection and the grave diplomatic compli- 

 cation which has thus arisen, it will be neces- 

 sary to give in brief a general history of this 

 Polish question. 



Poland, until the year 1772, was one of the 

 most powerful European empires, having an 

 area of about 13,000 geographical square miles 

 and 13,000,000 inhabitants. In 1772, Austria, 

 Prussia, and Russia agreed upon the First Par- 

 tition of that country, in consequence of which 

 Prussia received 631 (geogr.) square miles, with 

 416,000 inhabitants, Austria 1,280 square miles, 

 with 2,700,000 inhabitants, and Russia 1,975 

 square miles, with 1,800,000 inhabitants. Thus 

 Poland lost in all, in consequence of the First 



Partition, 2,886 square miles, with about 5,000,- 

 000 inhabitants. Russia henceforth exercised a 

 controlling influence upon the destinies of the 

 nation. In order to escape the approaching 

 doom of their nationality, the Polish Diet un- 

 dertook to reform their constitution. They 

 were encouraged in their efforts by the king 

 of Prussia; and a new liberal constitution, 

 which gave to the towns and to the peas- 

 ants a representation at the Diet, was pro- 

 claimed on May 3d, 1791. It was approved by 

 Prussia, and eulogized by Fox and Burke. The 

 Government of Russia protested against the 

 right of Poland to adopt a new constitution, 

 and made it the pretext for commencing war. 

 Austria and Prussia were appealed to, in vain, 

 for help; both censured Poland for having 

 changed her constitution without their formal 

 consent, took sides with Russia, and with the 

 latter, arranged the Second Partition of Poland 

 (1793), which gave to Russia 4,553 geographical 

 square miles, with 3,000,000 of inhabitants, and 

 to Prussia 1,060 square miles, with 1,100,000 

 inhabitants. The Diet was again compelled 

 to ratify this dismemberment of the country. 

 The remainder of the Polish Empire, about 

 3,861 square miles, with 3 millions of inhab- 

 itants, was entirely under Russian influence. 

 In 1794, the patriotic party made the first 

 attempt to reestablish the Empire within its 

 ancient limits. The insurrection broke out 

 in March, 1794, Kosciuszko was proclaimed dic- 

 tator, and succeeded in raising a National army 

 of 70,000 men. The Poles, from March to No- 

 vember, fought with the utmost bravery against 

 the combined forces of Prussia, Russia and 

 Austria, but the defeat at Praga, on Nov. 4th, 

 decided the fate of Poland ; and a Third Par- 

 tition, October, 1795, put an end to her inde- 

 pendence. Russia at this time received 2,030 

 square miles, with about 1,200,000 inhabitants, 

 Prussia 997 square miles, with about 1,000,000 

 inhabitants, Austria 834 square miles, with more 

 than one million inhabitants. In all, Russia 

 had received, by the three partitions, above 

 8,500 square miles with 4,600,000 inhabitants; 

 Austria more than 2,100 square miles with 5 

 million inhabitants, and Prussia, about 2,700 

 square miles with 2,550,000 inhabitants. Na- 

 poleon restored to a part of the former Polish 

 Empire a national independence by establishing, 

 in 1807, the Duchy of Warsaw, which was en- 

 larged, October, 1809, by the Treaty of Vienna. 

 But the hopes of the Poles, for a reestablish- 

 ment of their entire empire through Napoleon 

 were doomed to disappointment, and, in con- 

 sequence of the destruction of the French army 

 in Russia (1812), the Duchy of Warsaw ceased 

 to exist. 



At the Congress of Vienna, which remodelled 

 the whole map of Europe, and placed the Euro- 

 pean state system upon an entirely new basis, 

 the Polish question was found by the assembled 

 diplomats to be one of the most difficult to 

 solve. The final stipulations of the Congress 

 with regard to Poland are still regarded by 



