Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume V.djvu/627

 CZARTORYSKI 623 ment before the Cossack rebellion in 1648. He was made captive in the battle at the Yellow Waters (May 25, 1648), but was set free after the pacification of Zborow, in the following year. He fought in the long and bloody battle at Beresteczko, June, 1651, in which the Cossacks and Tartars were defeated. In 1655 he de- fended the castle of Cracow with the utmost bravery against the king of Sweden, but was compelled by want of food to surrender. After the repulse of the Swedes from Czenstochowa he collected the scattered remains of the Polish troops, formed the confederation of Tyszowce with John Sobieski and others, and commenced a brilliant and successful course of partisan warfare against the Swedes, who had con- quered the greatest part of the country, and before whom the patriotic but feeble king, John Casimir, had fled to Silesia. In the early part of 1656, with the assistance of 5,000 Tartars, he defeated them in four battles, brought back the king in triumph, and turned his arms with similar success against Rakoczy, prince of Transylvania, who had invaded Po- land shortly after the Swedes, and whom he drove back into his country and compelled to sign the treaty of peace he had ' himself pre- scribed (July, 1657). The dignity of palatine of Red Russia, and the title of " Liberator of Poland," were his reward. In 1658 he marched to the assistance of Frederick III. of Denmark, who had invaded the German possessions of Sweden ; he conquered the island of Alsen, took the command against the Russians, hast- ened to Lithuania, and won two great victories at Polonka, near Slonim, and on the banks of the Dnieper. Being sent against the Cossacks, he rapidly crossed the Dnieper, and took several places on that river. On June 7, 1661, he made a triumphal entry into Warsaw, where the king had convened a diet, and presented to him 150 flags taken from the enemy. The diet by a unanimous vote gave him in perpetuity the county of Tykocin. He then undertook to chastise the Cossacks, who, incited and sup- ported by the Russians, had again commenced their devastations (1663) ; and in order to procure the assistance of the Tartar khan he set out with only 13 horsemen, following the course of the Dniester, hastened through Bes- sarabia and the Ukraine to the Crimea, and de- feated the Cossacks at Czehryn (1664) and Stawiszcze (1665). But these exertions ex- hausted him ; returning, he could not be car- ried beyond the village of Sokolowka, where he died in a peasant's hut, having received a few days before the staff of hetman of the crown. CZARTORYSKI, the name of a Polish princely family, whose origin is traced to Korygiello or Constantine of Tchernigov, son of Olgierd, duke of Lithuania, and half brother of Jagiello, the founder of the dynasty of that name in Poland (1386). The name is derived from the dominion of Czartorya, and the place Czar- torysk near Luck in Volhynia. Of the two branches of the family, which belongs to the 245 VOL. v. 40 highest rank of nobility in their country, and boasts of a number of statesmen equally re- markable for wealth, talents, and patriotism, the male line of the younger branch, that of Korzek, became extinct in 1810, while the elder, that of Zukow, is still flourishing. To this elder branch belong the following. I. Mi- chal Fryderyk, born about 1695, died at Warsaw, Aug. 13, 1775. He was made castellan of Wilna in 1720, vice chancellor of Lithuania in 1724, and great chancellor of that principality in 1752. Together with his brother and other nobles, he formed an influential party, which strove to bring about a reform of the constitu- tion of Poland designed to strengthen the influence of the king and the judiciary, and to restrain the anarchical independence of the high dignitaries of the crown. Their chief ob- ject was to change Poland into a hereditary kingdom, if possible under a Czartoryski. To counterbalance the influence of the reigning house of Saxony, as well as that of Austria, they courted the assistance of Russia, which by money and arms, however, finally deci- ded the matter in its own favor. II. ingnst Alexander, brother of the preceding, born in 1697, died in Warsaw in 1782. He was pala- tine of Red Russia, and lieutenant general of the army of the crown. He was a zealous cooperator with his brother, but was deceived in the expectation of seating his son upon the throne. By activity and lucky speculations he added greatly to the wealth of the family. Ill* Adam Kazimierz, son of the preceding, born at Dantzic, Dec. 1, 1731, died at Sieniawain Gali- cia, March 19, 1823. After the death of Augus- tus III. (1763), the party headed by his father and uncle chose him as candidate for the royal dignity. To gain the assistance of Russia, his cousin Stanislas Poniatowski was sent to the court of St. Petersburg. But Catharine II. de- termined to put the crown of Poland upon the head of her favorite Poniatowski himself. This being known, Czartoryski yielded to his rival, to whom he had been attached from early youth. At the assembly of the nation preceding the election, the Czartoryskis and their adherents appeared in great numbers at Warsaw, and with them an army of Russians, sent to sup- port the claims of Poniatowski. Adam Kazi- mierz was chosen marshal or president of the diet. in spite of patriotic opposition roused by the presence of the Russians, and Poniatowski was elected king. After the first partition of Poland in 1772, Czartoryski, who possessed large estates in Galicia, accepted the commis- sion of a general of artillery in the Austrian army, but still adhered to the party which worked for the restoration of the power of Poland through a constitutional reform, and distinguished himself at the long diet, which, proclaimed the liberal constitution of May 3, 1791. He was also active in persuading the elector of Saxony to accept the hereditary suc- cession to the crown of Poland, and Austria to engage in an alliance against Russia. But