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POLAND (LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE.) 



uf young men to betray themselves, and 

 crowded the prisons with the victims. Not only 

 the Polish officers, the youth of the military school, 

 and the students, had been gained over to the cause 

 of the patriots ; but the greater part of the citizens, 

 and the chief nobles, were ready to encourage, an 

 ertort to save themselves from what they now fore- 

 saw the occupation of Poland by a Russian army, 

 and the marching of the Polish troops to the south 

 of Europe. 



Such was the state of things when the insurrec- 

 tion at Warsaw broke out, Nov. 19, 1830. A young 

 officer entered the military school, on the evening of 

 that day, and railed the youth to arms. They im- 

 mediately proceeded to Belvidere, the residence of 

 Constantine, about two miles from the city, for the 

 purpose of seizing his person. They were joined, 

 on the way, by the students of the university, and 

 forced their way into the palace ; but the prince 

 was concealed in a clothes-press, by a servant, until 

 he could make his escape by a secret door. Another 

 party of cadets and students paraded the streets, cal- 

 ling the citizens to arms, and they were joined by 

 the Polish troops. The arsenal was seized, with 

 40,000 stand of arms, and the insurrection now be- 

 came general. On the next morning, 40,000 troops 

 and citizens were in arms, and the Russians were ex- 

 pelled from Warsaw. The administrative council 

 was summoned to preserve order, and, to give more 

 influence to its measures, several of the most distin- 

 guished Poles were invited to sit with it. Measures 

 were taken for the organization of a national guard, 

 and of a new police and municipal government. 

 December 3, the prince was allowed to leave the 

 neighbourhood of Warsaw, with three regiments of 

 Russian cavalry, and two regiments of infantry, 

 without opposition. On the 5th, general Clopicki 

 was proclaimed dictator till the meeting of the diet, 

 which was convoked for the 18th. Meanwhile 

 Nicholas issued a proclamation (December 17), iu 

 which he declared that no concessions could be 

 made to the rebels, and, on the 24th, another, ad- 

 dressed to the Russians, telling them that the Poles 

 had dared to propose conditions to their legitimate 

 master : "God," he adds, "is with us, and, in a 

 single battle, we shall be able to reduce to submis- 

 sion these disturbers of the peace." January 24, 

 the Polish diet, which had been opened on the 18th 

 of December, declared the absolute independence 

 of Poland, and the termination of the. Russian do- 

 minion, and, on the 25th, that the Polish throne was 

 vacant. The account of the war which followed, 

 and of the disposition made of Poland, will fall 

 under the article Russia. 



An excellent work respecting Poland, though 

 written with an evident hatred of Catharine and 

 Poniatowski, is Rulhiere's Histoire de I Anarchic de 

 Pologne et du Dimembrement de cette Republique 

 (4 vols., Paris, 1807). Respecting the first parti- 

 tion of Poland, see Von Dohm's Denkwurdigkeiten 

 (I vol.), and Lettres du Baron de f^iomenil (Paris, 

 1808), and Malte Brun's Tableau de la Pologne 

 ancienne et moderns, of which a new edition has 

 recently been published. Consult also Jekel's his- 

 torical and statistical works on Poland and Galicia 

 (Vienna, 1804 9); Flatt's Topographic des Herzog- 

 thums fVarschau (Leipsic, 1810); and Von Holsche's 

 Geographic und Statistik von West-Sud-und Neuost- 

 prettssen (Berlin. 1807). Three works in the Po- 

 lish language are deserving of recommendation 

 Y. S. Bandtke's Affairs of the Polish Nation (Bres- 

 lau, 1826), Ad. Naruscewitsch's History of the 

 Poles, and Jul. Urs. Niemcewicz's Reminiscences of 

 ancient Poland (Warsaw, 1822). To these may be 

 added Alex. v. Bro'nikowski's History of Poland 



(4 vols., Dresden, 1827); Salvaiuly's Hitt.de 

 logne, avant et sous J. Sobieski (Paris, 

 Fletcher's History of Poland (8vo, London, 1831). 

 Much information, especially respecting the period 

 of 1794 98, is contained in Mich. Oginski's Me- 

 moires sur la Pologne et les Polonais depuis 1788 

 1815 (Paris, 1826, 4 vols.); and the same author's 

 Observations sur la Pologne et les Polonais pour 

 servir d Introduction aux Memoires, etc. (Paris, 

 1827.) 



Polish Language. The uncertainty of the earli- 

 est Polish history spreads a deep obscurity over tin 

 rise and progress of the language. It is of Sclavc 

 nic origin, as its whole structure proves, but bor 

 rowed, from the people who had previously inh; 

 bited the country, such a multitude of hard conso 

 nants, that it differs very much in this respect from 

 its eastern sister, the Russian language. The cul- 

 tivation of the language early met with a great 

 obstacle on account of the adoption of Christianity, 

 according to the Latin ritual in 965; for the clergy, 

 being the most cultivated order, took possession of 

 the places of honour and the public offices, so that 

 the Latin language became the language of the 

 state, and afterwards, on account of the kings and 

 queens being foreigners, the language of the court, 

 and of all the educated classes also. The language 

 of the country first recovered its rights in the reign 

 of Sigismund, in the sixteenth century, and became, 

 in the middle of that century, the language of books; 

 it then declined in the seventeenth, but flourished 

 again during the reign of Stanislaus Augustus, and 

 ripened to a maturity of which even the subsequent 

 political changes could not entirely deprive it. In 



1801, a society for the preservation of the purity of 

 the Polish language was formed at Warsaw, under 

 the direction of the bishop Abbertrandi, and, iu 



1802, published the first volume of their transac- 

 tions. The language can appear harsh and rough 

 only to those who are unacquainted with it ; not- 

 withstanding the multiplicity of consonants, it is 

 superior in harmony and flexibility to the other 

 Sclavonic dialects. Of the grammars, after that by 

 the Piarist Copczynski ; the following may be re- 

 commended ; that by Mongrovius (3d -edition, 

 Dantzic, 1827), and Vater (Halle, 1807), particu- 

 larly that by George Bandtke (a new edition, Bres- 

 lau, 1824), and the First Principles of the Polish 

 Language, by Meozinski (Warsaw, 1822). Of dic- 

 tionaries, that by Bandtke (Breslau, 1806), and the 

 great one by Linde, are the most valuable. The 

 latter is in six quarto volumes. 



Polish Literature. Although the marriage of 

 Miecislaw with Dombrowka, the daughter of the 

 king of Bohemia, led to the introduction of Chris- 

 tianity into Poland, in 965, the continual domestic 

 and foreign wars prevented this event from produc- 

 ing any favourable effect on the civilization of the 

 country. The political literature begins, in the 

 twelfth century, with the chronicles of the country, 

 written in Latin by Mart. Callus (about 1109), 

 Nicholas Kadlubek (died in 1223), and Boguphalus 

 (died 1255), and the chronicle of the popes and 

 German emperors by Mart. Strzempski, or Poloniiis 

 (died in 1279). A new edition of Vincent Kadlu- 

 beck's Res gestts Principum ac Rcgum Poloniee 

 appeared at Warsaw in 1824, together with Dzier- 

 swan's Chronicon Polonorum (of the thirteenth cen- 

 tury). After a long cessation, Casimir III., or the 

 Great, who reigned from 1333 to 1370, improved 

 the state of things. He not only built many cities, 

 but, in 1347, drew up a code of laws, first held the 

 diets, encouraged agriculture and manufactures, and 

 founded, in 1347, the university of Cracow, which 

 was revived in 1400, but was not in a flourishing 



