Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 19.djvu/473

Rh P N P O N 453 third dismemberment of Poland, but had neither manu facturing nor commercial importance until it was brought into railway connection with Libau, with which seaport it now carries on some trade in agricultural produce. Its population (8070 in 1865) had in 1881 reached 15,030, of whom nearly one-half were Jews. PONIATOWSKI, a family of Poland, the earliest member of which to acquire high distinction was STANIS LAUS CIOLEK (1677-1762), regarding whose descent there are conflicting accounts, some tracing it to the Lombard Counts Torelli, one of whom in the seventeenth century married a daughter of Albert of Poniatow, and added the name of Poniatowski to his own, which he changed to its equivalent in Polish, Ciolek, while others affirm that the name Poniatowski was adopted by one of two brothers from an estate which fell to his share, while it is also asserted that Stanislaus Ciolek was the natural son of Prince Sapieha, and was adopted by a Polish nobleman named Poniatowski (see Szymanowski, Die Poniatowski, Geneva, 1880). In any case he had sufficient influence and ability to insure his rapid promotion in the army of Charles XII., and as major-general at the battle of Poltava in 1709 was able by his self-command in facilitating the passage of the Dnieper to save the retreating army. In 1711 he was sent on a special embassy to Constantinople, when he succeeded in obtaining from the sultan a promise to send an army to aid Charles in the war with Russia ; but on account of a change in the office of grand vizier the promise was never carried out. All possibility of undertaking a Russian invasion being therefore at an end, he was appointed by Charles governor of the duchy of Zweibriicken. After the death of Charles, he gave his adhesion to Augustus II., by whom he was in 1724 made grand treasurer of Lithuania, and in 1731 palatine of Mazovia. On the death of Augustus II. he sought to effect the promotion of Stanislaus Leszczynski to the throne, but ultimately he gave in his submission to Augustus III., and after holding under him several high offices was in 1752 appointed castellan of Cracow. He was the author of Remarques d un Seigneur Polonais sur rilistoirede Charles XII. par Voltaire, 1741, which was translated into English in the same year. He died in 1762, leaving by his marriage with Constance Princess Czartoryski four sons, the best known of whom was the second, STANISLAUS AUGUSTUS (1732-1798), king of Poland, born 17th January 1732. Sent by Augustus III. to the court of Russia, he won the favour of the grand- duchess Catherine, who succeeded to the throne by the assassination of her husband, 9th July 1762. Through her influence he was, 7th September 1764, chosen king of Poland. For an account of his despicable and disastrous rule see POLAND (pp. 297-8). After signing his abdi cation, 25th November 1795, he took up his residence at St Petersburg, where he enjoyed a pension of 200,000 ducats paid jointly by Austria, Russia, and Prussia. He died unmarried, 12th February 1798 (see Memoires Secrets inedits de Stanislas II. Auguste, Leipsic, 1867, and De Mouy, Correspondence inedite de Roi Stanislas- Auguste et de Madame Geq/rin, Paris, 1875). Of the other sons of Stanislaus Poniatowski, Casimir (1721-1800), the eldest, was grand chamberlain of Poland and commander of the royal guard; Andrew (1735-1773) became an Austrian field marshal; and Michael (1736-1794) was ultimately promoted primate of Poland. JOSEPH ANTON (1762-1813), prince and marshal of France, son of Andrew Poniatowski was born at Warsaw, 7th May 1762. At the age of sixteen he entered the service of Austria. After the resolution of the diet to reorganize the Polish army he was recalled and obtained the rank of major-general. On the outbreak of hostilities with Russia in 1792 he was made com mander of the army defending central Poland. When the king his uncle acceded to the confederation of Targovitza he resigned his commission, but on the outbreak of the insurrection in 1794 he enrolled himself as a volunteer under Kosciuszko, although Kosciuszko had previously held inferior military rank to his own. In command of a division he had charge of the defence of the northern side of Warsaw, and after its capitulation he went to Vienna. In 1798 he returned to Warsaw, having obtained from the Prussians a portion of his confiscated estates. On the arrival of Napoleon at Warsaw, 19th December 1806, Poniatowski accepted his invitation to become general of a national Polish army, which, fired by the hope of national independence, gathered to the number of 27,000, to assist Napoleon in his Russian campaign. After the peace of Tilsit, 7th July 1807, the duchy of Warsaw was created, and Poniatowski became minister of war. On the invasion of the duchy in 1809 he fought a desperate battle near the village of Raszyn, and, being permitted afterwards to retreat across the Vistula, invaded Galicia and compelled the Russians to evacuate Cracow. In Napoleon s cam paigns he held the command of the Polish army corps, distinguishing himself at Smolensk, Borodino, and Leipsic, where he took 1000 prisoners, and in token of his brilliant exploit was created by Napoleon a marshal of France the same evening. He was employed in covering the retreat from Leipsic, and while charging a column of Prussian infantry was wounded by a ball in the shoulder. When the enemy obtained possession of the suburbs he endeavoured to join the main army by plunging into the&quot; Elster, but was fired upon and, enfeebled by wounds, was drowned, 19th October 1813. JOSEPH (1816-1873), grandson of Casimir mentioned above, was born 4th February 1816, at Rome. Entering the Tuscan service, he went in 1849 as minister of Tuscany to London. In 1850 he took up his residence in Paris, and becoming a naturalized citizen was in 1854 chosen a member of the French senate. In 1870 he removed to London, where he supported himself by teaching music. He was the composer of several operas. He died 3rd July 1873. PONS, JEAN Louis (1761-1831), French astronomer, born at Peyre (Haut-Dauphine ), 24th December 1761, received a place at the Marseilles observatory in 1789, and in 1819 became the director of the new observatory at Marlia near Lucca, which he left in 1825 for the obser vatory of the museum at Florence. Here he died October 14, 1831. Pons was famous as a comet-hunter, discover ing between 1801 and 1827 thirty-seven of these bodies, one of which (discovered 26th November 1818) is the famous comet named after Encke, who determined its orbit. PONSARD, FRANCOIS (1814-1867), French dramatist, was born at Vienne in Dauphine on the 1st June 1814. He was bred a lawyer, and his first performance in litera ture was a translation of Manfred (1837). But the first important, and indeed the most important, event of his life was the representation of his play Lucrece at the Theatre Franqais on the 1st April 1843. This date is a kind of epoch in literary and dramatic history, because it has been supposed to mark a reaction against the romantic style of Dumas and Hugo. In reality, however, Ponsard was only a romantic of a somewhat tamer genius than those who had gone before him. It so happened that the tastes and capacities of the most popular actress of the day, Rachel, suited his style of drama, and this contributed greatly to his own popularity. He followed up Lucrece with Agnes de Meranie (1846), Charlotte Corday (1850), and others. Ponsard accepted the empire, though with no very great enthusiasm, and received the post of librarian to the senate, which, however, he soon resigned, fighting a blood-