Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 14.djvu/154

 142 K O E K S fires at night, that helped to spread that fervour in the corps which made it peculiarly terrible to the enemy. The poems written by him at this time are published under the title Leyer und Schwert. They include the lines &quot; Abschied vom Leben,&quot; which were composed during the night when he lay wounded in the wood by Kitzen. The letters written by Kb rner to his parents at this time are tender and thoughtful often aflame with patriotic fervour, but with now and then a ring of intense sadness which forebodes the end. This was very near. His last poem, &quot;Das Schwertlied,&quot; was scribbled in his pocket-book at dawn on the 26th of August, when the corps was prepared for action ; and he was reading it to a friend when the order to attack was given. It is the wildest of all his war- songs, a love-rhapsody to his sword, the soldier s bride; and it was this poem that suggested the refrain of Mrs Hemans s beautiful verses to his memory. In the engage ment that followed, on the high road between Gadebusch and Schwerin, Korner, as adjutant, fought at Liitzow s side. The French were in great force, but were overcome and fled. Among the hottest in pursuit was Korner, who was mortally wounded, as he rode through a wood, by a shot from one of the fugitive tirailleurs who lay hidden there. He was buried with full military honours under an old oak on the road from Liibelow to Dreikrug, by the village of Wobbelin, where there is now a monument to his memory. Korner s position in the literature of his country is a peculiar one. He was not quite two and twenty when he died, and his works are necessarily but first-fruits might all be included in the modest title Knospen plentiful indeed, and full of promise of flowers to come. His earlier poems were hardly more than graceful and pleasing, and even his popular dramas scarcely entitle him to a high place in the literature of his country. It was with the war that Korner s true inspiration came. Had he lived a life time, he could never have excelled the productions of those few impassioned weeks ; but the homage which all Germany paid, and still pays, to the young poet s memory is due, not to his lyric genius alone, but to his bright youth also, and heroic death. His works have passed through many editions. That published in one volume, with a preface by Karl Streckfuss (Berlin, 1879), includes a sketch of his life, extracts from his letters, a few English transla tions of his poems, and stanzas to his memory by German and English poets, of which last Felicia Hemans is the chief. There is an indifferent English translation of the life of Korner by his father, with selections from his works, by G. F. Richardson, 2 vols. , 1827. (F. M.) KOROTCHA, a district town, in the government of Kursk, Russia, 100 mil 23 south of Kursk, on the Korotcha river. Its 7000 inhabitants live by gardening, exporting great quantities of dried cherries, by making candles and leather, and by trade; the merchants purchase cattle, grain, and salt in the south, and send them to Moscow. Founded in 1638, Korotcha formerly was a small fort erected against the invasions of Tartars. KOROTOYAK, a town of Russia, in the government of Voronezh, on the right bank of the Don, 6 miles from the Davydovka railway station, and 47 miles south of Voronezh. It was founded in 1642 by emigrants from interior pro vinces of Russia, and had a small wooden fort. Owing to the proximity of Ostrogojsk, which is a trading place of some importance, its trade is insignificant, and its 9000 inhabitants live by agriculture and some trade in grain. KOSCIUSKO, or KOSCZIUSKO, THADDEUS (1746-1817), Polish patriot, was descended from an old family of small proprietors in the province of Lithuania, and was born in 1746. From his father he inherited a taste for music, and in the other branches of education he showed such marked aptitude at the cadet school of Warsaw that along with some other youths he was sent at the expense of the state to complete his education at Versailles, Brest, and Paris. On his return to Poland he was appointed captain of artillery, but on account of the unfortunate result of his attachment to the daughter of a nobleman he in 1777 went to Paris, whence he sailed with the French fleet to aid the North American States in their war of independence. Under Washington he displayed great firmness and intre pidity in various trying circumstances, and rose to be general of a brigade. In 1786 he returned to his native country, where he lived in retirement until the reorganiza tion of the army in 1789, when he was appointed major- general. In the war with Russia which followed the adoption of the new constitution of 1791 he conducted himself with conspicuous valour and skill, and at Dubienka, with a force of only 4000 men, held an army of 20,000 Russians at bay. All his efforts were, however, rendered fruitless by the pusillanimity of King Stanislaus, who in March 1792 agreed to a humiliating peace, upon which Kosciusko along with several other leading officers resigned his commission. A second partition of Poland was con summated in August 1793, but a spirit of resistance gradually gathered force and culminated in the insurrec tion of 1794, when Kosciusko was recalled to Cracow and appointed generalissimo and dictator. With an army of 5000 he marched to meet the Russians, who were advancing upon Cracow in greatly superior numbers, and after a strenuous conflict of four hours duration completely defeated them. On receipt of the intelligence Warsaw rose against the Russian authorities, putting 7000 persons to death ; and after instituting a new government Kosciusko went in pursuit of the enemy, who retired towards the Prussian frontiers. But for the interposition of Prussia the emanci pation of Poland would have been accomplished. King Frederick William, however, advanced against Warsaw with an army of 40,000 men, to which Kosciusko could oppose only 15,000. He was defeated at Szezekocin, but retreated in good order upon Warsaw, which he defended with stub born persistence, until the diversion of an insurrection in Great Poland caused them to raise the siege. Meantime an immense force of Russians was advancing against War saw in two divisions, the one under Suwaroff and the other under Fersen. Kosciusko resolved to attack Fersen before his junction with Suwaroff, but, as he had only 4000 men to meet the 14,000 Russians, his small army was in a few moments completely enveloped by superior numbers, and he himself fighting desperately fell pierced with several wounds. A tradition that as he fell he gave utterance to the words &quot;Finis Poloniai&quot; found currency several years afterwards, but when it came to his know ledge he indignantly denied it. For two years he re mained a prisoner at St Petersburg, but, gaining his liberty after the accession of Paul I., he went to England and then to America. Returning to France in 1798, he took up his residence at Fontainebleau. In 1806 he refused to allow Napoleon, whose professions he rated at their proper value, to use his name to incite a rising in Poland against Russia ; and the forged address put forth by Napoleon in his name was never accepted by his country men as genuine, although Kosciusko was unable to dis avow it until eight years after it was issued. In 1814, when the Russian army entered France on the fall of Napoleon, Kosciusko had a long interview with the emperor Alexander of Russia, who, it is said, promised to him to restore to Poland its ancient boundaries. In 1815 he settled in Switzerland, devoting himself chiefly to agri cultural pursuits. His death, October 17, 1817, was the result of an accidental fall from his horse. If as a statesman Kosciusko was more ardent than sagacious, he manifested a skill and daring as a soldier which but for the overwhelming nature of his task would have gained him a place among the most renowned generals of his time, while his noble and chivalrous patriotism, untainted by any desire after self-glorification, has secured him the worlds universal admiration and esteem.