On the 27th the army arrived at Pultusk, without having been pursued. Here Skrzynecki entrusted the command to General Lubienski, and throwing himself into a carriage with Prondzynski the chief of his staff, drove to Warsaw, weeping, and repeating the words of Kosciuszko, Finis Poloniæ." The troops followed unmolested, and on the 29th entered Praga. Amongst the errors with which Skrzynecki has been charged, one of the gravest was his leaving Gielgud at Lomza. This officer commenced his march towards Lithuania on the 27th, along the chaussée of Kowno. On the 29th he attacked General Sacken, who, with 8000 men and sixteen pieces of artillery, occupied a position at Raygrod, deemed impregnable, being protected on each side by lakes. But the Poles overcame these difficulties. The two squadrons of Posen cavalry, especially, distinguished themselves by breaking through several battalions, and Sacken lost two cannons, 1800 men killed, and 1200 taken prisoners. No further obstacle remained to obstruct Gielgud's march into Lithuania, and he had no longer to apprehend the double fire from the troops of Sacken, and those sent against him by Diebitch. On the 3rd of June he passed the Niemen at Gielgudyszki, and entered the Lithuanian territory. CHAPTER X. The Insurrection of Lithuania. THE Duchy of Lithuania, three times as extensive as the Polish kingdom established in 1815, contains about 8,000,000 inhabitants, chiefly Roman Catholics. The men, whose virtues shed undying glory on the last days of Poland's political existence, Kosciuszko, Reytan, and Korsak, were of this province; so also are the poets Niemcewicz and Mickiewicz ; so also, by origin, is the guardian of the country, Prince Czartoryski. The Lithuanians have always been forward for the restoring of Poland; and, on the present occasion, no one except Chlopicki, who knew but little of his country, or the Czar, who dreaded such an event, could have doubted their co-operation. The Warsaw insurrection was hailed in Lithuania as joyfully as in any other part of ancient Poland. The majority of the officers of the Lithuanian corps sympathised with it, but Chlopicki's fatal negociations gave time for precautionary measures, and 600 of them were transported into the interior of the empire, and their places supplied by men of Muscovite origin. Such an alloy would have sufficed 328 ENTHUSIASM OF THE LITHUANIANS. to demoralize any army, and the Poles felt its evil influence, until the corps was finally disabled at Dembé Wielkie. Then, however, 4000 of the men entered the national service. The whole population was forced to renew their allegiance to the Czar, who by this measure tacitly admitted the illegality of the former. As in the other provinces, the nobles had to forward to St. Petersburgh loyal addresses, and aspirations for the success of the emperor against their rebellious countrymen. But even this act of compliance could not tranquillise his paternal solicitude, and by a confidential ukase, addressed to all persons of distinction who had ever borne arms, he required them to emigrate for an indefinite period to the government of Orenburgh, on the Asiatic frontier. Next came an order, that all weapons of offence should, on pain of death, be delivered up to the Russian authorities. It was rigorously enforced, and the inhabitants were deprived not only of all their fire arms, but of their scythes, forks, long knives, and all iron instruments, though evidently agricultural. Even after this, the Russian troops carried their mistrust so far, that they usually marched with loaded guns and lighted matches. They knew the hatred borne them by the Lithuanians, whom, not even their formidable presence could intimidate into inaction. Three thousand persons, mostly servants and young men, contrived to escape into the kingdom during the month of January, and an ukase was in consequence issued, wherein masters were declared responsible for their servants, fathers for their children, and public officers for their clerks. It had been the policy of Russia for forty years to carry on her aggressive wars at the expense of the Polish nation; and on the present occasion, the Czar employed the resources of the Lithuanians as a means of destroying the Poles. The peasants were compelled to convey both their own and their landlords' provisions to the Russian camp, over a space of between two and three hundred miles, from the Dwina to the Niemen and the Bug, during the depth of winter, and over bad roads, the chaussées being exclusively reserved for the army. Frequently they were ill-used, and obliged to return without their waggons, or perhaps detained for weeks, waiting to deliver their contributions. The houses of the nobles were used as hospitals for the invalid soldiers, and the army advanced like a scourge of heaven, leaving behind it hunger, sickness, and affliction. The battle of Grochow having baffled the Emperor's hope of crushing the insurrection at a blow, he next ordered the Lithuanians to furnish an extra number of conscripts, and provisions which would have sufficed for 300,000 men during a year. This crowning act of despotism, purposely designed to deprive them of all means of resistance, raised their indignation to the highest pitch; and, in despair, they unfurled the banner of insurrection. On the 25th of March, the rising commenced in the three districts of the Vilno government, comprehended under the name of Samogitia, and bounded by Prussia, the Baltic, and the Duchy of Courland. Six hundred Russian soldiers, stationed in various garrisons, were disarmed. Two hundred of them, however, escaped into Prussia, from whence, soon permitted to return, they occupied Polangen, a seaport of the Baltic. They were, however, when driven out by the insurgents, who, in their turn, retired on the approach of a Russian force from Courland. In four days the whole of Samogitia was successfully insurrectionized, and placed under Polish authorities. The Russian Colonel Bartholomeus, with 1200 men, then sought refuge in Prussia, and the Samogitians believing that, in accordance with the existing neutrality, he would be disarmed and detained till the conclusion of the war, did not pursue. Contrary to their expectation, however, after eighteen days' detention, he returned furnished with food and ammunition to attack them, as Prussia, designating them as brigands, professed to owe them no neutrality. The insurrection had spread through the whole government of Vilno, and various small garrisons had surrendered. Hitherto, about 1200 cavalry stationed in Vilkomir, under General Bezobrazoff, had prevented all attempts of the insurgents in that district. Yet the fears of the Russian general so magnified their number, that he evacuated the place, in order to join the garrison at Vilno. On reaching the river Viessa, his passage |