1831] The peasants. — Polish inaction 471 had the whole army of Diebitsch at his mercy; in fact, his successes ended here. This moment, the beginning of April, was the culminating point of the Revolution. It held both a moral and a strategical advantage ; it was in a position to strike a decisive blow at the Russian army, and had thereby the prospect of bringing about the intervention of Europe. The blame for letting this moment pass rests chiefly on Skrzynecki. Meantime, in the Diet, important deliberations were in progress concerning the status of the peasants. It was a matter of the utmost significance to attract to the national movement the peasants, who had hitherto maintained an indifferent attitude. The proceedings of the former Grand Diet were called to mind, which, notwithstanding the opposition of Catharine II, passed (May, 1791) a resolution to give the peasants legal rights and protection, as well as the action of Kosciuszko, who, in beginning the insurrection of that time, proclaimed the emancipation of the Polish peasants (May, 1794). The laud question was also considered ; and the Government proposed to allot lands to the peasants on the national domains, and on private estates to make them rent-paying tenants. During the debates some members urged that an immediate general allotment should be made ; it was necessary, however, to take into account the scruples of the nobility in the western provinces, who were not so advanced in their views as those in the kingdom of Poland. Ultimately, it was decided (April 18) to postpone a decision in this matter until the recovery of these provinces by the kingdom. These deliberations of the Diet attracted the attention of Nicholas, and caused him to issue an ukase (May 18, 1831), lightening the burdens of the peasants on the lands that had fallen into Government hands in the western provinces. Henceforth it became one of the principal objects of Russian policy to set the Polish peasantry against their nobility, by taking them under Government protection, and thus to break up the unity of the Polish people. In consequence of the inaction of Skrzynecki the military position of the Polish army became rapidly worse. A raid of Dvernicki into Volhynia with a detachment of 4000 men proved a failure. He was pursued by a superior force of Russians and obliged (April 27) to escape into Austrian territory, where his troops were disarmed. Prondzynski now submitted another bold plan, viz. to strike, between the rivers Narev and Bug, at the Russian Guards advancing under the Grand Duke Michael, to cut to pieces that corps, which numbered not more than 20,000 infantry and 7500 cavalry, with 80 guns, and then to take up a position on the Bug, thus cutting off Diebitsch's communications with the Empire and with Prussia. This plan was, after long hesitation, carried out by Skrzynecki; but the delay and neglect of precaution proved fatal. On May 12, 36,000 infantry and 8000 cavalry, with 120 guns, marched out and actually overtook the Russian Guards (May 17) ; 472 Battle of Ostrolenka [1831 but the attack was delayed until May 19. Thus the Russians were enabled to retreat beyond the Narev; and, in order to avoid inaction, a considerable body, amounting to 12,000 men of the Polish army, under General Gielgud, was detached and sent to Lithuania. This was a most unfortunate movement, for, in the meantime, Diebitsch, having been apprised of the expedition, hurried up with the main Russian forces of 40,000 men and 200 guns. Skrzynecki, weakened by the absence of the Lithuanian detachment, could now only muster 30,000 men and 90 guns to oppose the Russians. Under such conditions he accepted battle near Ostrolenka (May 26). Had he taken an energetic offensive while Diebitsch was crossing the Narev in pursuit of the retreating Polish troops, the result might have been different. As it was, he suffered a crushing defeat. Ostrolenka was the beginning of the end. The Lithuanian expedition proved equally unfortunate. Gielgud, along with General Chlapovski, who was supporting him, was obliged, between July 13 and 15, to cross into Prussian territory, where the troops were disarmed. The failure of this expedition also enabled Paskevich, who had, in the meantime, been appointed (June 16) Com-• mander-in-Chief of the Russian army, in the place of Diebitsch, to complete, with the active support of Prussia, his arrangements for a decisive march on Warsaw. Paskevich, having crossed the Vistula (July 16-21), moved forward with great caution, and after two weeks, (August 1) reached Lovicz, having with him over 51,000 men and 300 guns. Meanwhile the Diet assembled at Warsaw (May 31) was deliberating aimlessly about the reform of the Government. After the defeat at Ostrolenka an attempt to reorganise the army was made; but it proceeded slowly, Skrzynecki being occupied with political intrigues and fruitless negotiations with Austria and France. At length (August 11) the chief command was taken from Skrzynecki and given to Dembinski, a general who had distinguished himself by his successful leadership of the solitary detachment that had been saved from the Lithuanian expedition. A popular turmoil broke out in Warsaw, leading to street riots (August 15-16), during which several persons suspected of treason were hanged. The radical "clubmen" aimed at the overthrow of the ruling "aristocrats," whom they accused, not without reason, of a lack of energy, but, undeservedly, of betraying the popular cause. On August 17 the resignations of Czartoryski and three members of the Government were accepted. The ambitious General Krukoviecki, one of the secret instigators of the street riots, was made President. Krukoviecki gave the chief command to the old and incompetent Malachovski. The latter decided to await the enemy in the entrenchments of Warsaw, after having weakened his forces by dispatching a body of 20,000 men and 40 guns to carry out a risky movement in the direction of Brest (August 20). Krukoviecki himself entered into 1831] Attitude of the Powers towards Poland 473 useless and equivocal negotiations with Paskevich. The latter, meanwhile, made his final preparations for storming Warsaw, having at his disposal about 78,000 men. The Poles had only 37,000 men and 130 guns to defend the city. The attack began on the morningof September 6 in the direction of the suburb of Vola, which the Russians took after a stubborn defence. On the following day the attack was renewed and in the evening the Russians had reached the Mokotov and Vola gates. The same night the Diet dismissed Krukoviecki; and, on the morning of September 8, Paskevich entered Warsaw. There were still under arms over 50,000 Poles under the new Commander-in-Chief, General Rybinski; but the Revolution was practically at an end. During the whole of September, indeed, hopeless encounters and vain negotiations with Paskevich were carried on; but the remnants of the Polish army rapidly melted away. At length, with only 20,000 men, Rybinski had to escape to Prussia, and there his forces were disarmed. Soon afterwards the fortress of Modlin (October8), and finally Zamosc (October 21), surrendered. The whole country was now in the hands of Nicholas, and the constitutional kingdom of Poland had ceased to exist. The Polish revolutionary party had, from the very first, applied to the European Powers, which had guaranteed the Polish kingdom at the Congress of Vienna, to assist them either by intervention, or, at least, by mediation. Missions were sent to Vienna, to Berlin, to Paris, and to London. Everywhere the Polish agents were received with apparent sympathy; but nowhere did they find genuine support. Prussia, from the very beginning of the struggle, had taken drastic measures to preclude any assistance reaching the Poles from the grand duchy of Posen; further, she departed from neutrality, not only by preventing, in every possible way, the Polish revolutionaries from communicating with western Europe, but also by supplying provisions and ammunition to the Russian troops, and allowing them to traverse Prussian territory. It seems certain, moreover, that Prussia had decided, in the event of the Russians suffering defeat, to enter the kingdom, and to occupy the whole of its north-west territory; for that purpose she had mobilised on the frontier two corps of 51,000 men and 144 guns. Indeed, for a time, when Poland gained an advantage over the Russians in April, 1831, Nicholas was disposed to agree to the cession to Prussia of the northwest part of the kingdom. Austria, meantime, played a double part. Metternich held secret conferences with the Polish envoy; and the Poles were deluded by the prospect of the Archduke Charles becoming a candidate for the Polish throne. Yet at the same time Nicholas was being informed by Austria of the plans and doings of the Poles; and the Governor of Galicia afforded help to the Russian army, although not so openly as Prussia in Posen. The attitude of France was equally equivocal; and La Fayette at the sittings of the Chamber of Deputies 474 The autonomy of Poland at an end [1831-2 in Paris (January 15 and 28 and March 18, 1831) in vain urged intervention in favour of Poland. The French Government, especially after Casimir Perier had formed his Ministry (March 10), gave evasive answers to the Polish agent, and, at the same time, intercepted his correspondence with the Revolutionary Government and communicated its contents to Nicholas, desiring, in this way, to dispose the Tsar in favour of the Orleans rule. In England, the new Whig Government only offered ineffective sympathy to the Polish requests for intervention. Lord Grey, absorbed in the question of electoral reform, had no desire to mix himself up in the Polish-Russian complications. Lord Palmerston, who had several interviews with the Polish agent, finally dismissed him with a definite refusal. Only after the failure of the insurrection and in order to satisfy public opinion in France and England did the Governments in Paris and London venture to make representations at St Petersburg. These, however, were of a merely general character, referring to the guarantees for the independence of the kingdom of Poland given by Europe at the Congress of Vienna. Such belated representations, coming, as they did, after the complete triumph of Russia, had, as might have been foreseen, no effect. In answer to a dispatch of Lord Palmerston to Lord Heytesbury, English ambassador at St Petersburg (November 23, 1831), with respect to the maintenance of the autonomy of the kingdom, a curt note, sent by the Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Count Nesselrode, to the Russian ambassador in London, Prince Lieven (January 3, 1832), denied England's right of intervention in PolishRussian affairs, and made known the intention of Nicholas to disregard entirely the provisions of the Congress of Vienna concerning Poland. In fact, in September, 1831, an Interim Russian Government was established in Warsaw, under the presidency of Engel; and, in February, 1832, Paskevich was appointed Viceroy with unlimited powers, receiving, at the same time, the rank of Prince of Warsaw. In place of the Constitution, which was abrogated, a new Organic Statute was promulgated (February 14, 1832), containing a certain show of autonomy. This statute was, however, a mere pretence, for its principal clauses concerning autonomy were never carried into effect, and remained a dead letter. On the other hand, the Polish army was incorporated into the Russian army; all electoral institutions were abolished; all higher educational establishments in the country and all the leading government posts were filled by Russians; the Russian language was made compulsory in all higher administrative acts; the most rigorous oppression of the people was begun; and the Russification of the country made rapid strides. In short, during nearly a quarter of a century, under Paskevich as Viceroy, the work of crushing the political and national independence of the kingdom of Poland was uninterruptedly carried on. CHAPTER XV The signal for the Revolution of 1830, which after fifteen years drove the Bourbons once more into exile, had been given by the leaders of a party which was in no sense a popular one — peers of France appointed by the King, deputies elected by voters who were few in number, representatives of an aristocracy and above all of a landed aristocracy. When the 221, by their address in March, 1830, had caused the Polignac Ministry to dissolve and afterwards to issue the ordinances, it was against this Ministry that they declared war, not against the monarchy. To arbitrary authority they had opposed legality, and the Charte to the schemes of the Government. The tumult in Paris on July 27, provoked by the appeal made by the journalists to the artisans and the youth of the Schools, took by surprise the Conservatives, who were lovers of order no less than of liberty. The rapid progress made by the Revolution on the following days among the populace of Paris was largely due to the hope of a national revenge upon the Powers who had imposed upon France the Bourbons and the Treaties of 1815, and was contrary to the desires of the Parliamentarians who had unwittingly let loose disorder. On the morning of July 28 the struggle had begun between the royalist troops and the people, who under the leadership of Bonapartist officers had armed themselves and hastily erected barricades. Marmont, to whom had fallen the task of suppressing the insurrection with insufficient troops, directed two columns, one by the quays on the Seine, and another bythe boulevards, towards the Hotel de Ville and the Bastille. In the evening they were forced to retreat before the insurgents, whom they had been unable to dislodge from the districts of Saint-Antoine and Saint-Denis; and during the night they abandoned to them the H6tel de Ville, in which a provisional democratic Government was installed. On the following day the people, inspired by the students of the Polytechnic who were in possession of the regions and barracks on the left bank |