744 



POLAND. 



Zamoiski, their leader. They demanded the 

 restoration of the ancient rights of the nation. 

 " "We do not keep aloof," they said, " from mak- 

 ing use of the institutions recently conceded to 

 us, but we deem it a duty to declare, that the 

 policy hitherto adopted has brought the coun- 

 try into a condition, in which neither military 

 power, nor martial law, dungeons and exile, 

 nor even sentences of death can quiet it ; on 

 the contrary, all such measures would only in- 

 crease the excitement, and force the country 

 upon a way equally disastrous to the Govern- 

 ment and to the people. As Poles, we con- 

 fidently support the Government only, when 

 the Government shall be a national, Polish one, 

 and when all the provinces of our country shall 

 be united under free laws." Count Zamoiski 

 was summoned to St. Petersburg, for having 

 called forth this address, and as his defence was 

 considered unsatisfactory, sent into exile. This 

 and other measures neutralized all the effects, 

 that some of the reforms of the Government 

 might otherwise have produced. A revolution- 

 ary party extended its ramifications throughout 

 the country, having its movement conducted by 

 a Central Committee in Warsaw. The excite- 

 ment ran to a fearful height, several attempts 

 were made against the lives of Grand Duke 

 Constantine and Marquis Wielopolski, and the 

 year 1862 closed with forebodings of serious 

 disturbances. 



The agitation was not confined to the King- 

 dom of Poland, but extended to the Old Polish 

 Provinces. In order to prevent patriotic man- 

 ifestations, the Government interdicted or post- 

 poned the triennial assemblies of the nobility 

 in these provinces. An exception was made 

 in favor of that of Minsk, which was opened 

 on November 22d, 1862. Never had a meeting 

 of the nobility been more fully attended, the 

 members considering this attendance a duty 

 to their country. An address to the Emperor 

 setting forth the wishes and wants of the coun- 

 try, was unanimously agreed upon. When the 

 Governor forbade the sending of an address, 

 it was resolved to insert the proposition for it 

 in the minutes. The assembly renewed its 

 former declarations in favor of the equality 

 of all classes and all creeds, freedom of con- 

 science, and institutions founded upon the spirit 

 of the nation. 



January, 1863, was inaugurated by the at- 

 tempt of the Government to enforce a very 

 rigorous conscription law in the towns, which 

 were regarded as the seat of the revolutionary 

 agitation. In Warsaw, the recruiting began in 

 the night of January 14th. According to the 

 Polish accounts, those indicated by th man- 

 agers of the conscription were torn from their 

 beds, and dragged to the citadel under a guard 

 of Cossacks, gendarmes, and other armed men. 

 When those for whom they were in search 

 were not found, they seized married men, 

 fathers of large families, and held them as 

 hostages for their surrender. In a similar 

 way, the conscription was enforced io the 



country towns. Large numbers of the con- 

 scripts and other disaffected people assembled in 

 the forests, in several parts of the kingdom, with 

 the object of preparing for an insurrection. On 

 January 16th, the Central Committee issued a 

 proclamation stating that they had taken all 

 the measures in their power to prevent the re- 

 cruiting, but that they had been taken by sur- 

 prise, and their calculations were upset by un- 

 foreseen circumstances, especially by the hos- 

 tility of the French Government, which had 

 retarded the introduction of arms into Poland. 

 The committee proclaimed the whole country 

 in an exceptional state, and declared the 

 Marquis Wielopolski and his son, and all those 

 who had taken part in the recruiting, to 

 be outlaws. They also gave orders that the 

 youth should quit the city to hide in the 

 woods, in the neighborhood of Warsaw. A 

 large number of secret societies met, on Jan- 

 uary 18th, at Perotsk, in the neighborhood of 

 Warsaw, but they were dispersed by the mil- 

 itary, who arrested about 50 persons. On the 

 night of January 22d, several attacks were 

 made upon the soldiers at Warsaw, and about 

 30 Eussians killed, and three times that num- 

 ber wounded. The loss of the insurgents was 

 very great. Simultaneously, serious conflicts 

 took place at Block, Plonz, Radzin, Siedlic, and 

 other places. Railway and telegraphic commu- 

 nication was interrupted at several points. The 

 lower and middle classes, working men, and 

 the proprietors of small estates, equally took 

 part in the movement, while the great landed 

 proprietors and the peasants kept aloof. On 

 January 25th, the whole kingdom was placed 

 under martial law. 



At the beginning of February, several large 

 bodies of insurgents had already been formed. 

 The main body, consisting of about 5,000 men, 

 was under the command of Langiewicz ; and 

 posted in the mountains of Krzyz. A second 

 division, commanded by Count Jyskiewicz, took 

 up a position near Kawa, on the river Rawka, 

 in the district of Warsaw. The third division, 

 commanded by Frankviski, was posted in the 

 district of Lublin. The insurgents soon took 

 possession of several towns, as Olkusz, on 

 Feb. 1st; of Lodz, an important manufacturing 

 town in the district of Masovia, where they 

 took from the branch establishment of the 

 bank, 18,000 rubles, and from the post office, 

 31,000 rubles. Skirmishes between the insur- 

 gents and the Russians were now of frequent 

 occurrence. In some the Russians were de- 

 feated, and numbers of them fled into Prussian 

 territory. 



The Russian Government at once sent heavy 

 reinforcements of troops into Poland ; at the 

 same time, the conscription was stopped, and 

 the Council of the Empire received orders 

 from the Emperor, to propose several bills 

 having for their object the introduction of re- 

 forms into the government of Poland. The 

 Prussian Government showed its sympathy 

 with Russia, by escorting back the Russian 



