Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 16.djvu/197

POLAND. furnished a considerable contingent to the French armies. The disaster to the French in Russia in 1812 and the advance of the allied army in 1813 put an end to the existence of the duchy. The partition of Poland was rearranged by the Congress of Vienna in 1815. Prussia retained West Prussia and recovered the western portion of the territory embraced in the Duchy of Warsaw, which region was constituted into the Grand Duchy of Posen: Austria recovered the territory which she had taken in the first partition of Poland in 1772 (Galicial ; Russia was secured in the possession of all the territories that she had appropriated in the three partitions; out of the bulk of the Duchy of Warsaw was created a new Kingdom of Poland, which was to be united with the Russian Empire by a personal union. The city of Cracow, with a small surrounding territoiy, was erected into a republic, which was placed under the protection of the Great Powers. This final partition of Poland gave Russia 220,500 square miles, Prussia 26,000 square miles, Austria 35,500 square miles. Of the portion which was to belong to the Emperor of Russia, about 49,000 square miles were included in the new Kingdom of Poland.

Alexander I. of Russia first granted a liberal constitution, a separate standing army, and liberty of the press. This, however, did not prevent the Polish nobles from conspiring for the restoration of the liberties of their country. Secret societies, as elsewhere in Europe, fomented the revolt, and a general insurrection of the people, headed by the aristocracy, took place. On November 29, 1830, a military insurrection broke out at Warsaw, and in a short time the Russians were driven from the country. The leadership of the movement was assumed by a number of nobles, most prominent of whom was Prince Adam Czartoryski (q.v.). Chlopicki (q.v.) was appointed dictator. In January, 1831, the independence of Poland was proclaimed, and Czartoryski was made head of the national Government, Chlopicki having laid down his dictatorship. A Russian army under Diebitsch invaded the country. The Poles fought with their wonted bravery and for months kept the enemy at bay, but their main army, under Skrzynecki, was defeated at Ostrolenka on May 26th. Paskevitch, who succeeded to the command of the Russian forces on the death of Diebitsch, carried on the war with vigor, and was aided by the inveterate dissensions among the Poles. Warsaw was taken on September 8th. and the Polish armies sought refuge on Prussian and Austrian soil. Dilatoriness on the part of the military leaders and the delay occasioned by fruitless negotiations with Emperor Nicholas had proved fatal errors.

There followed for those who had participated in the rebellion imprisonment, banishment, confiscation, and enforced service in the Russian army. From this time all self-government in Poland was suppressed. The liberal Constitution of 1815 and laws were abrogated: strict censorship of the press and the Russian spy police system were established in all their vigor; the country was robbed of its rich literary collections and works of art; and the most severe and arbitrary measures were taken to Russianize the people. Large numbers of Poles were forced to take refuge in France and elsewhere, where they carried on an active revolutionary propaganda, and some of them played an important part in the struggle for liberty in other countries. (See ; {{NIE article link|Dembinski{{NIE article link|.) The year 1846 witnessed another effort on the part of the Poles to shake off the yoke that had been imposed upon them. The movement did not proceed far. In Prussian Poland (Posen) it was promptly checked by the arrest of Mieroslawski (q.v.) and other leaders, while in Galicia the peasantry (in great part Ruthenians) rose against the nobles, the leaders in the outbreak, and massacred many of them. In the same year the Republic of Cracow was incorporated with Austria. In 1848 there was an insurrection in Posen, which was quickly suppressed. After the accession of Alexander II., of Russia, in 1855, the condition of the Poles was considerably ameliorated, and an act of amnesty brought back many of the expatriated Poles.

The Czar evinced by his acts his readiness to make far-reaching concessions to his Polish subjects, but in spite of this there were violent revolutionary demonstrations in 1861, which were repressed with bloodshed. In 1862 a regime of partial autonomy was inaugurated under the guidance of Marquis Wielopolski, a member of the Polish aristocracy; but the Russian Government was not trusted by the Poles, and a revolutionary fever had taken hold of the youth, which found vent in fresh outbreaks and in attempts to assassinate the Viceroy Constantine (brother of the Czar) and Wielopolski himself. The Russian Government proceeded to stern repressive measures, and in January, 1863, resorted to a barbarous expedient in order to quell the revolutionary spirit — a wholesale conscription, suddenly executed, which should at one stroke remove the patriotic young men from the field of their activity. This measure, which could be but partially carried out, brought matters to a crisis and the country rose in insurrection. This movement differed from the preceding uprisings in that it was largely a democratic agitation and was carried on under the guidance of a secret revolutionary committee. This body issued its first proclamation in February, 1863, and a week afterwards Mieroslawski raised the standard of insurrection on the Posen frontier. The principal commander of the patriots was Langiewicz. It was little more than a mere guerrilla war, and no great or decisive conflicts took place. The sympathy of Europe was largely enlisted on behalf of the Poles, but the remonstrances of the Powers were wholly disregarded by the Czar's Ministers. The Poles fought heroically against desperate odds. The national committee continued to guide the revolt and resorted to terrorism, even assassination, to carry out its measures and enforce obedience. The overwhelming numbers of the Russians soon carried everything before them, and early in 1864 the last sparks of the insurrection were stamped out. Large numbers of the patriots were executed and crowds were transported to Siberia. Lithuania and other parts of old Poland, not included in the so-called kingdom, were at once subjected to a process of Russification, which was carried out with extraordinary barbarity. By an Imperial ukase of February 23, 1868, the government of Poland was completely incorporated with that of Russia. Russian has been made the language of the administration and of the schools. To the Polish peasantry Russian government brought a boon in the shape of emancipation (1864). The Panslavists of Russia (see {{NIE article link|Panslavism}}) regard agitation