PRUSSIA

PRUSSIA

English Miles.

Poland. months, was compelled to retire towards his own territories, with the loss of 20,000. Here he was harassed for some time by Madalinsky with a small corps of cavalry. Kosciusko, relieved from the Prussians, marched against the new Russian armies, which, during the siege of Warsaw, had reconquered Lithuania and Volhynia. But the battle of Nozylac, on the 10th October 1794, in which the Poles fought with heroic resolution against overpowering numbers, proved fatal to that unhappy country. Kosciusko was made prisoner, and carried to Petersburg, where he remained confined in a dungeon till the death of Catherine. The Russians, after this event, united their forces and marched upon Warsaw, where the Poles had named Wawrzecky general in chief. Though he had only 10,000 men to oppose 50,000, an obstinate resistance was made. At length the suburb named Prague was taken by assault, and the city surrendered. Nine thousand Poles fell in the fight; 30,000 persons of all ages and either sex were destroyed in cold blood; and 30,000 more, who still refused to submit, were suffered to leave the place, and afterwards hunted down by the soldiery on every side. The most distinguished chiefs were carried away to distant provinces; the wretched king was sent to Russia, where he soon after died, not without suspicious circumstances. The two powers were proceeding to divide between them the remaining provinces, when Austria interfered, and declared that she could not permit the destruction of Poland unless she received a share. At that moment it was not thought prudent to raise up a new enemy; and Austria obtained a considerable addition of territory without having struck a blow or expended a florin. The negotiations continued till 1795, when the definitive treaty of partition was signed, which closed a series of transactions unparalleled, for perfidy, cruelty, and infamy, in the annals of Europe. The total acquisitions of each power, from the first dismemberment in 1772 to the final partition in 1795, were as follows:—(Mentelle et Malte Brun, Geog. iv. 402.)

At the peace of Tilsit in 1807, Prussia lost three-fourths of her Polish conquests, which were erected into a principality, under the name of the Duchy of Warsaw. The sovereignty of this duchy was given to the king of Saxony. At the peace of Presburg in 1809, Austria was also compelled to cede a portion of her acquisitions to the duchy of Warsaw. After the peace of Paris in 1814, Prussia recovered a part of what she had lost; and, at the congress of Vienna in 1815, the duchy was raised to the rank of a kingdom, under the name of the kingdom of Poland, the crown of which was annexed to that of Russia. No part of the original acquisitions of Russia is included in this kingdom, which consists entirely of the parts ceded by Prussia and Austria. It contained in 1815 about 47,000 square English miles, and 2,793,000 inhabitants. In 1818 the kingdom of Poland received from the emperor Alexander a representative constitution, founded on principles similar to those of the constitution of 1791.

The air of this country is cold in the north, but tem-

VOL. XVII. Part I.

perate in the other parts both in summer and winter, and the weather in both more settled than in many other countries. The face of the country is for the most part level, and the hills are but few. The Crapack or Carpathian mountains separate it from Hungary on the south. The soil is very fruitful both in corn and pasturage, hemp and flax. Such is the luxuriance of the pastures in Podolia, that it is said one can hardly see the cattle that are grazing in the meadows. Vast quantities of corn are yearly sent down the Vistula to Dantzic, from all parts of Poland, and bought up chiefly by the Dutch. The eastern part of the country is full of woods, forests, lakes, marshes, and rivers; of the last of which, the most considerable in Poland are the Vistula, Nieper, Niester, Duna, Bog, Warta, and Memel. The metals found in this country are iron and lead, with some tin, gold, and silver; but there are no mines of the two last wrought at present. The other products of Poland are most sorts of precious stones, ochre of all kinds, fine rock-crystal, Muscovy glass, talc, alum, saltpetre, amber, pitch, quicksilver, spar, sal-gem, lapis calaminaris, and vitriol. In Lesser Poland are salt mines, which are the chief riches of the country, and bring most money into the exchequer. In the woods, which consist mostly of oak, beech, pine, and fir-trees, besides the more common wild beasts, are elks, wild asses, wild oxen or uri, lynxes, wild horses, wild sheep with one horn, bisons, hyenas, wild goats, and buffaloes. In the meadows and fenny ground is gathered a kind of manna; and the kermesberries produced in this country are used both in dyeing and medicine.

The inhabitants consist of nobles, citizens, and peasants. The first possess great privileges, which they enjoy partly by the indulgence of their kings, and partly by ancient custom and prescription. Some of them have the title of prince, count, or baron; but no superiority or pre-eminence on that account over the rest, which is only to be obtained by some public post or dignity. Formerly they had the power of life and death over their vassals; paid no taxes; were subject to none but the king; had a right to all mines and salt-works on their estates; to all offices and employments, civil, military, and ecclesiastical; could not be cited or tried out of the kingdom; might choose whom they will for their king, and lay him under what restraints they please by the Pacta Conventa; and none but they and the burghers of some particular towns can purchase lands.

The Polish tongue is a dialect of the Sclavonic: (see Language. PHILOLOGY, No 222.). It is neither copious nor harmonious. Many of the words, as they are written, have not a single vowel in them; but the High Dutch and Latin are understood, and spoken pretty commonly, though incorrectly. The language in Lithuania differs much from that of the other provinces. True learning, and the study of the arts and sciences, have been little attended to in Poland, till of late they began to be regarded with a more favourable eye, and to be not only patronized, but cultivated, by several of the nobles and others, both laymen and ecclesiastics.

There are few or no manufactures in the kingdom, if we except some linen and woollen cloths and hardware; and the whole trade is confined to the city of Dantzic, and other towns on the Vistula or Baltic.

Before the troubles, the king's revenue was all clear to himself, for he paid no troops, not even his own guards;

guards; but all the forces, as well as the officers of state were paid by the republic. The public revenues arose chiefly from the crown-lands, the salt-mines in the palatinate of Cracow, from the rents of Marienburg, Dirschau, and Regenhus, from the government of Cracow, and district of Niepolomiez, and from ancient tolls and customs, particularly those of Elbing and Dantzic.

The order of the White Eagle was instituted by Augustus II. in the year 1725. Its ensign is a cross of gold enamelled with red, and appendant to a blue ribbon. The motto, Pro fide, rege, et lege.

The standing forces of Poland were divided into the crown-army, and that of Lithuania, consisting of horse and foot, and amounting to between 20,000 and 30,000 men. These troops were mostly cantoned on the crown-lands, and in Poland were paid by a capitulation or poll-tax; but in Lithuania other taxes were levied for this purpose. Most of the foot were Germans. On any sudden and imminent danger, the whole body of the nobility, with their vassals, was obliged to appear in the field on horseback; and the cities and towns furnished a certain number of foot-soldiers, with carriages, and military stores: but for want of proper arms, provisions, subordination, and discipline, and by being at liberty after a few weeks to return home, this body proved but of little advantage to the republic. Dantzic is the only place in the Polish dominions that deserves the name of a fortress, and it fell to the possession of Prussia. Foreign auxiliaries were not to be brought into the kingdom, nor the national troops to march out of it, without the consent of the states. Such was the military establishment of Poland before the partition treaty.

The Poles are personable men, and have good complexions. They are esteemed a brave, honest people, without dissimulation, and exceedingly hospitable. They clothe themselves in furs in winter, and over all they throw a short cloak. No people keep grander equipages than the gentry. They look upon themselves as so many sovereign princes; and have their guards, bands of music, and keep open houses: but the lower sort of people are poor abject wretches, in the lowest state of slavery. The exercises of the gentry are hunting, riding, dancing, vaulting, &c. They reside mostly upon their estates in the country; and maintain themselves and families by agriculture, breeding of bees, and grazing.