1807.] Particulars of the prefent State of Poland. 325 
peafant and the landholder is this—On 
the marriage of a young peafant, his 
Lord affizns him a certain quantity of 
land, futicient for the maintenance of 
himfelf and family, in the poor manner 
in which they are accuftomed to live. 
Should the family be numerous, they 
have fome increafe of land. At the fame 
time they obtain alfo a few cattle, asa 
cow or two, with fteers to plow their 
Jand. Thefe are fed in the ftubble, or 
in the open places of the woods, as the 
feafon admits. In copfideration of thefe 
grants, the peafant makes a return to the 
landholder, of one half of his labour; 
that is, he works three days in the week 
for his Lord, and three for himfelf. If 
any of his cattle die, they are replaced by 
the matter; a circumftance which ren- 
ders him negligent of his little herd, as 
the death or lofs of fome of them isa 
common occurrence. 
Thus, though the Polifh boors are not 
attached to the foil, in the feudal fenfe of 
the term, and abfolutely fubject to the 
will of the Lord like brute beafts; yet, 
they are full transferred as a part of the 
ftock of the eftate on which they live to 
every frefh purchafer or tenant. They 
are not privileged to quit the foil, except 
in a few inftances of complete enfran- 
chifement; and if they were, the privi- 
lege would be merely nominal:. for 
whither fhould they go? No landholder 
would admit a fugitive peafant, through 
fear of encouraging a {pirit of difaffec- 
tion, It is notin their power, from the 
cireumftances of their condition, to feli 
their labour indifferently to this or that 
mafter; and if fuch obftacles did not op- 
pofe, the very extent of the Polifh farms, 
and the confequent want of a fecond 
contiguous employer, would fuffice in 
moft cafes to preclude a change of mat- 
ters. 
Tt is faid, that a few of the peafants 
improve the little ftock which is com- 
mitted to their management, accumu- 
lating foine fimall property; but their 
conduét is far more frequently marked by 
careleffnefs and want of forecatt. Befides, 
it does not appear, that their allowance 
of land and cattle either is, ordefigned to 
be, more than enough for their feanty 
maintenance. I was once on a {hort 
journey with a nobleman, when we ftop- 
ped to bait at the farm-houfe of a vil- 
lage, as is common, in Poland. The pes- 
fants got intelligence of the prefence of 
their Lord, and affembled in a body of 
twenty or thirty to prefer a petition to 
Montury Mae, No. 156. 
him. I ftoodat a diftance, and perceived 
that he did not yield to their fupplica- 
tion, When he had difiniffed them, I 
had the curiofity to enquire the object 
of their petition; and he replied, that 
they had begged for an increafed allow- 
ance of land, on the plea that what they 
had was infufficient for their fupport, 
He added, “ I did not grant it them ; be- 
caufe their prefent allotment is the ufual 
quantity; and as it has futhiced hitherto, 
{o it will for the time to come. Befides, 
(faid he) if 1 give them more, I weld 
know, that it will not,in reality, better 
their circumftances.” 
Poland does not furnifh a man of more 
humanity than the one who rejected this 
apparently reafonable petition. But it 
mutt be allowed, that he had good reafons 
for what he did. .Thofe degraded and 
wretched beings, inftead of hoarding the 
fmall furplus of their abfolute neceffities, 
are almoit univerfally accuftomed to ex 
pend it in that abominable {pirit which 
they call fehnaps. It is incredible what 
quantities of this pernicious liquor is 
drank both by the peafant men and wo- 
men! I have been told, that a woman 
will frequently drink a pint and even 
More, at a fitting, and that too in no 
great length of time. I have myfelf often 
feen one of thefe poor women fed home 
between two men, fo intoxicated as to be 
unable to ftand; there can be no quef- 
tion, that the exceflive ufe of this whifky 
(were it not to libel whitky thus to ftile 
it) ought to be enumerated among the 
chief proximate caufes of the deficient 
population of Poland. It is indeed fo 
confidered by the Poles; and Count 
-Zamoyfki has lately eftablifhed a porter- 
brewery in Galitzia, in the hope of check- 
ing eventually fo hurtful a habit, by the 
fubftitution of that wholefefome bever=- 
age. 
The farmers are intermediate between 
the nobles and the peafants. They are 
arefpectable clals of men ; and have free 
accefs to the noble’s table. Hence, they 
fometimes acquire a degree of polith fu- 
perior to what is ufually found among 
Englith farmers, though tenfold more 
opulent. The fituation of a farmer, 
therefore, has tome peculiar advantages ;. 
and itis accordingly, the higheft object of 
ambition to a young Pole, not of inde- 
pendent fortune, to get the leafe of a 
good farm; when he eftablifhes himfelf in 
life, in the beft manner which Poland ad- 
mits. As a firft ftep, however, to the 
obtainment of a farm, it is often the cate, 
pba ~ that 
