Page:Julian Niemcewicz - Notes of my Captivity in Russia.djvu/32

4 the camp before Warsaw, had crossed the Vistula, near a village called Macieiowice, twenty miles distant from the capital. Poninski, with three thousand men, had been detached to watch his movements, and defend this passage; but he did nothing, and afterwards alleged as an excuse, that the enemy, availing himself of a thick fog, had crossed the river without being perceived by him. The effecting of this passage, either from Poninski's negligence, or our unlucky stars, threatened us with the most fatal consequences. If Fersen should join the large army of , they would make a joint attack, and being thrice our numbers, must infallibly crush us. The Lithuanian army, receiving vague and contradictory orders, was more than a hundred miles from Warsaw, and wandering about without any definite