lately a republic bordering on the Prussian, Austrian, and Russian dominions, at the point where they Cracow. It stretches along the left bank of the Vistula, where the Rudawa falls into that stream. The territory is about 33 miles in length, and its extent is about 490 square miles, or 313,600 English acres. The land is fertile and well cultivated; and contains mines of iron, zinc, and coal. The inhabitants amounted in 1832 to 123,157, including the city. The form of government was democratic, with a president elected by the inhabitants, who must have been at least 35 years of age, must have been educated at a Polish university, and possess land paying a tax amounting to seventy-five shillings a-year. It was also necessary that he should have previously filled some public office. He exercised his power in common with a senate of twelve members, eight of whom were chosen by the chamber of representatives, two by the clergy of the cathedral, and two by the university.

The capital is fortified, and contains about 43,000 inhabitants, of whom about 11,000 are Jews. The cathedral is an ancient and still magnificent building, containing many antiquities of an historical nature belonging to the kingdom of Poland, whose monarchs were crowned in this edifice. In one of the crypts are the coffins of John Sobieski, of Poniatowski, and of Kosciusko. Near the city an enormous conical mound has been raised in honour of the latter. Cracow possesses some trade, for which great facilities are afforded by the Vistula. E. Long. 19.50.; N. Lat. 50.3.

In 1846, this last vestige of the kingdom of Poland was blotted from the map of Europe. The political outrage and perfidy employed by the partitioning powers in the previous dismemberments of this unhappy country were again resorted to in their seizure of this last little fragment.

In the partition of 1795, Austria took possession of this portion of Poland. Napoleon, in the campaign of 1809, wrested it from that power, and incorporated it with the duchy of Warsaw, which was placed under the rule of Saxony. In the campaign of 1812, the Emperor Alexander made himself master of this and the other territory which formed the duchy of Warsaw.

At the general settlement of the affairs of Europe in 1815, whether at the recommendation of the other powers, or as an adjustment between Austria (which had the right of the first captor), and Russia (which then held it as last conqueror), or whether in deference to strongly expressed public opinion, it was agreed that Cracow and the adjoining territory should be formed into a free state; and, by the General Treaty of Congress, signed by the plenipotentiaries of the seven chief states of Europe at Vienna in 1815 (Article VI.), "The town of Cracow, with its territory, is declared to be for ever a free, independent, and strictly neutral city, under the protection of Russia, Austria, and Prussia."

It was not to be expected that the inhabitants of Cracow would forget the past wrongs inflicted on their native country, or prove indifferent to the tyranny and cruelty daily perpetrated on their brethren in the dismembered districts.

In February 1846, an insurrection broke out in Cracow, apparently a ramification of a widely-spread conspiracy which the revolutionists expected would have broken out at Posen and other places at the same time, but which was suppressed by the energetic measures of the Prussian authorities. The senate and the other authorities of Cracow were unable to subdue the rebels or to maintain order, and, at their request, the city was occupied by a corps of Austrian troops for the protection of the inhabitants.

The three powers, Russia, Austria, and Prussia, made this a pretext for extinguishing this independent state. They alleged, that even before the insurrection of Poland in 1830, symptoms of fermentation existed in the state of Cracow; that, when the insurrection broke out, the intelligence was received by the inhabitants with the most marked enthusiasm; that it was necessary, after the destruction of the Polish revolutionary army, to occupy Cracow with a division of the Russian army; that Poles who were compromised in the revolution found an asylum within its bounds; that in 1836, when the territory was taken possession of by the combined troops of the three powers, nearly 2000 political refugees were found settled there. In fine, they alleged that "the free city of Cracow and the whole of its territory had, from the year 1830 to the year 1846, been in a state of permanent conspiracy against the courts who had called that state into existence." Was it to be wondered at, that, after having been galled for 16 years by the military occupation, the tyranny, oppression, and exactions of the powers calling themselves their protectors,—that the inhabitants of this city, mocked with the name of free, should have risen against their oppressors? It cannot, however, be denied, that the outbreak was rash and reckless, and that its career was stained with violence and outrage, which served as a pretext to the three powers whose dominions were menaced by it to suppress it by force of arms.

In the month of August the plenipotentiaries of the Three Powers met at Berlin, to consult on the course which they should adopt. At the same time, Lord Palmerston wrote to the British ambassador that he expected nothing would be done in regard to the state of Cracow at variance with the stipulations of the Treaty of Vienna; and he was assured by the Prussian minister, Baron Schleinitz, that there was no intention to pursue an opposite line of conduct.

The three courts, having established a conference at Vienna—after due deliberation, contrary to all the assurances previously given, and in opposition to the expressed views of the British and French governments—came to the resolution to extinguish the state of Cracow, and to incorporate it with the dominions of Austria; and on the 6th of November Prince Metternich wrote to Lord Palmerston that this was un fait irrévocablement fixé. Against this resolution Lord Palmerston sent a lengthened remonstrance, and concluded with these words—that this decision, if put in force, "would be a measure justified by no adequate necessity, and would involve a violation of positive stipulations contained in the General Treaty of Vienna;" and M. Guizot, in his official despatch, complains of the duplicity of the Three Courts, in giving the French Government an assurance in the months of February and March that the occupation of Cracow by the troops of the Three Powers was merely a temporary measure, and that it should cease with the necessity of the times. In strongly remonstrating against this violation of treaty, he uses these words: "Le Gouvernement du Roi ne fait donc qu'user d'un droit évident, et en même temps il accomplit un devoir impérieux en protestant solennellement contre la suppression de la République de Cracovie, acte positivement contraire à la lettre comme au sens du Traité de Vienne du 9 Juin 1815."

The Three Powers, calculating on the reluctance of the French or British governments to make this a casus belli, and trusting that the perpetration of this violation of treaty and oppression of the weak would pass with impunity, consummated their criminal purpose; but, as if by a providential retribution, within two years the capitals of Austria and Prussia were visited with the same insurrectionary troubles for which they had doomed Cracow to extinction.