thus concluded: "Companions in arms! In the face of God and the presence of my army, I took the oath to fight it out to the last. This oath I have kept, and shall keep it in future. You, too, have sworn to serve the country and obey my commands. The oath of the soldier is equally inviolable with that of the General. In the name, then, of God and country continue the struggle and fight the Muscovite while fighting remains the only means of restoring the liberty and independence of the country.'

The next news that was heard of Langiewicz was that he had crossed the Vistula with a few companions, and given himself up to the Austrian authorities, by whom he was ultimately conveyed to the citadel of Cracow, and his name no longer appears in the history of the struggle.

The Polish chiefs now issued a manifesto addressed to Europe, and calling for sympathy and help. It was dated from the camp at Bialowicza, March 24th, and concluded thus:-"Brethren in civilization, French, English, Italians, Hungarians, Swedes, Belgians, Tcheques, Sclaves, Roumanians, Greeks, Portuguese, Spaniards, and Germans, accept our warm thanks for the sympathy which you have manifested up to the present for our success. Cease not to labour for the triumph of enlightened public opinion, and in return, when Poland shall be free and independent, we promise you that you will never see the forms of Muscovites, of Cossacks, of Tschoudes, of Mordonans, of Carbardiens, of Tschermeeses, of Kirginses, of Kalmucks, of Permiens, of Baskirs, of Pogonlitsches, of Ostiaks, of all those instruments of that moral and material pest which is now actually making war upon us with the tactics of Tamerlane and of Gengis Khan brought to perfection by the Court of St. Petersburg."

The only other leaders, besides Langiewicz, who attained much celebrity were Mieroslawski, Jezioranski, and Lelewel; but it is impossible to give any detailed account of their movements, which consisted in keeping up a guerilla war at different points whenever a favourable opportunity of attacking the Russians occurred. We should mention that during the whole struggle, the Prusso-Polish province of Posen, and the Austro-Polish province of Galicia remained perfectly quiet and undisturbed.

The lamentable state of things in Russian Poland excited the liveliest feelings of sympathy throughout England and France. On the 2nd of March Earl Russell wrote to Lord Napier and

said: ·

"Her Majesty's Government view with the deepest concern the state of things now existing in the Kingdom of Poland. They see there, on the one side, a large mass of the population in open insurrection against the Government; and on the other, a vast military force employed in putting that insurrection down. The natural and probable result of such a contest must be expected to be the success of the military forces. But that success, if it is to w be achieved by a series of bloody conflicts, must be attended by a

lamentable effusion of blood, by a deplorable sacrifice of life, by wide-spread desolation, and by impoverishment and ruin, which it would take a long course of years to repair.

"Yet, however much Her Majesty's Government might lament the existence of such a miserable state of things in a foreign country, they would not, perhaps, deem it expedient to give formal expression to their sentiments, were it not that there are peculiarities in the present state of things in Poland which take them out of the usual and ordinary condition of such affairs.

"The Kingdom of Poland was constituted, and placed in connexion with the Russian Empire by the treaty of 1815, to which Great Britain was a contracting party. The present disastrous state of things is to be traced to the fact that Poland is not in the condition in which the stipulations of that treaty require that it should be placed.

"Neither is Poland in the condition in which it was placed by the Emperor Alexander I., by whom that treaty was made.

"During his reign a National Diet sat at Warsaw, and the Poles of the Kingdom of Poland enjoyed privileges fitted to secure their political welfare.

"Since 1832, however, a state of uneasiness and discontent has been succeeded from time to time by violent commotion and a useless effusion of blood.

"Great Britain, therefore, as a party to the treaty of 1815, and as a Power deeply interested in the tranquillity of Europe, deems itself entitled to express its opinion upon the events now taking place, and is anxious to do so in the most friendly spirit towards Russia, and with a sincere desire to promote the interest of all the parties concerned. Why should not His Imperial Majesty, whose benevolence is generally and cheerfully acknowledged, put an end at once to this bloody conflict by proclaiming mercifully an immediate and unconditional amnesty to his revolted Polish subjects, and at the same time announce his intention to replace without delay his Kingdom of Poland in possession of the political and civil privileges which were granted to it by the Emperor Alexander I., in execution of the stipulations of the treaty of 1815 ?

"If this were done, a National Diet and a National Administration would, in all probability, content the Poles and satisfy European opinion."

On the 10th of April he wrote:

66

If, indeed, the Emperor of Russia had held Poland as part of the original dominions of his Crown, or if he had acquired it by the unassisted success of his arms, and unsanctioned by the consent of any other Power, he could have contended that might was equivalent to right, and, without listening to the dictates of generosity and justice, he might have punished a temporary revolt of a portion of his Polish subjects by depriving the whole of them and their descendants for ever of those privileges and institutions which

his predecessor had deemed essential to the welfare and prosperity of the Polish Kingdom.

"But the position of the Russian Sovereign with regard to the Kingdom of Poland was entirely different. He held that kingdom by the solemn stipulation of a treaty made by him with Great Britain, Austria, France, Prussia, Portugal, Spain, and Sweden; and the revolt of the Poles could not release him from the engagements so contracted, nor obliterate the signatures by which his Plenipotentiaries had concluded, and he himself had ratified those engagements.

"The question, then, having arisen whether the engagements taken by Russia by the Treaty of Vienna have been and are now faithfully carried into execution, Her Majesty's Government, with deep regret, feel bound to say that this question must be answered in the negative.

"Her Majesty's Government, therefore, most earnestly entreat the Government of Russia to give their most serious attention to all the foregoing considerations; and Her Majesty's Government would beg, moreover, to submit to the_Imperial Government that, besides the obligations of treaties, Russia, as a member of the community of European States, has duties of comity towards other nations to fulfil. The condition of things which has now for a long course of time existed in Poland is a source of danger, not to Russia alone, but also to the general peace of Europe."

In April an Imperial manifesto was published by the Emperor of Russia, in which he stated:

"In our solicitude for the future welfare of the country, we are ready to consign to oblivion all past acts of rebellion. Therefore, ardently desiring to put a stop to an effusion of blood, as useless as it is to be regretted, we grant a free pardon to all those of our subjects in the kingdom implicated in the late troubles who have not incurred the responsibility of other crimes or misdemeanours committed on service in the ranks of our army, and who may before the 1st [13th] May lay down their arms and return to their allegiance."

This offer of amnesty was treated with contempt by the Poles, who were determined to be satisfied with nothing less than the independence of their country, and the insurrection continued to rage with as much violence as before.

The Central Committee, now called the Provisional Government, published a proclamation, in which they said :

"Poland is well aware what confidence she can place in this pretended amnesty and in the promises of the Russian Government. But, to avoid any mistake, we formally declare that we reject all these false concessions. It was not with the intention of obtaining more or less liberal institutions that we took up arms, but to get rid of the detested yoke of a foreign Government, and to reconquer our ancient and complete independence."

Prince Gortschakoff was, therefore, well justified in saying in one of his despatches,

"If Lord Russell follows attentively the productions of the press devoted to the Polish rebellion, he must be aware that the insurgents demand neither an amnesty, nor an autonomy, nor a representation either more or less complete. The absolute independence of the kingdom even would be for them only a means for arriving at the final object of their aspirations. This object is dominion over provinces where the immense majority are Russian by race or by religion; in a word, it is Poland extended to the two seas, which would inevitably bring about a claim to the Polish provinces belonging to other neighbouring

Powers.

"We desire to pronounce no judgment upon these aspirations. It suffices for us to prove that they exist, and that the Polish insurgents do not conceal them. The final result in which they would arrive cannot be doubtful. It would be a general conflagration which the elements of disorder scattered through all countries would be brought to complicate, and which seek for an opportunity to subvert Europe."

On the 17th of June, Earl Russell wrote to Lord Napier :

"In present circumstances, it appears to Her Majesty's Government that nothing less than the following outline of measures should be adopted as the bases of pacification:

"1. Complete and general amnesty.

"2. National representation, with powers similar to those which are fixed by the Charter of the 15th [27th] November, 1815.

"3. Poles to be named to public offices in such a manner as to form a distinct national Administration, having the confidence of the country.

"4. Full and entire liberty of conscience; repeal of the restrictions imposed on Catholic worship.

"5. The Polish language recognized in the kingdom as the official language, and used as such in the administration of the law and in education.

"6. The establishment of a regular and legal system of recruiting.

"These six points might serve as the indications of measures to be adopted, after calm and full deliberation.

"What Her Majesty's Government propose, therefore, consists in these three propositions :

"1st. The adoption of the six points enumerated as bases of negotiation.

"2nd. A provisional suspension of arms, to be proclaimed by the Emperor of Russia.

"3rd. A conference of the eight Powers who signed the Treaty of Vienna."

The Marquis Wielopolski strongly urged the Russian Govern

ment to accept these six points, and addressed a letter to the Emperor, in which he said:

"Should the contrary be the case, I should experience the grief of finding myself compelled to withdraw myself entirely from a line of policy which I cannot but consider hurtful and fraught with danger, and I should abandon all hope that my presence will be beneficial to the welfare of my country, or to the service of your Imperial Majesty.'

The Russian Government affected to see in the insurrection only the efforts of the revolutionary party in Europe, and Prince Gortschakoff writing, in April, to Baron de Budberg, the Russian Ambassador in Paris, and speaking of Poland, said :

"The evil from which the kingdom is actually suffering is not an isolated fact. The whole of Europe is infected by it. Revolutionary tendencies, which are the curse of our age, are now concentrated in this country, because they find sufficient combustible materials there to give them the hope of making it the focus of a conflagration which would extend to the whole of the continent. "The Governments whose duty it is to cure this evil cannot devote too much attention to it, too much prudence and allowances, so as to distinguish the elements which ought to be removed as a common danger, from those the development of which, followed with perseverance and maturity, may serve to form a lasting future."

And in a later despatch, addressed to Baron Brunnow, the Russian Ambassador in London, the Prince said :

"Since 1815 this country has witnessed the development of a material welfare unknown until then in her annals, while other States have in the same interval undergone many interior crises.

"This repose was only troubled in 1830 by the consequences of commotions coming from abroad; eighteen years later, in 1848, while almost the whole of Europe was convulsed by the Revolution, the Kingdom of Poland was able to preserve its tranquillity.

"We are persuaded that it would be the same at present were it not for the continual instigations of the party of Cosmopolitan Revolution. If this party, every where devoted to the overthrow of order, at present concentrates all its activity upon Poland, a grave error would be committed in supposing that its aspirations will stop short at that limit. What it seeks there is a lever to overturn the rest of Europe.

"Those Cabinets which attach importance to seeing the Kingdom of Poland return a moment earlier to the conditions of a durable peace, cannot therefore more certainly ensure the realization of this desire than by labouring, on their side, to appease the moral and material disorder which it is sought to propagate in Europe, and thus to exhaust the main source of the agitations at which their foresight is alarmed."