96 THE PERSECUTION OF POLISH PATRIOTS.

believed that the day may yet come when it will be effected.

By the confessions of the Russian conspirators, the new Czar learnt the existence of the Patriotic Association in Poland, and, in consequence, he authorised Constantine to arrest whomsoever he might think proper. Colonel Krzyzanowski, who was certain to be amongst the number, refused to listen to the entreaties of the officers at Warsaw, either to hasten the insurrection, or to secure his own safety by flight. Believing that the insurrection would break out of itself, in the mean time he chose the doom of a martyr, rath er than that of a hero; and so also did his colleagues. Constantine executed the order to its fullest extent, and having filled seven state prisons in Warsaw, besides the fortresses of Zamosc and Modlin, he instituted a committee of his courtiers to examine the prisoners. After the lapse of a year, eight persons were committed on a charge of high treason, which the interviews, already mentioned, with the Russians, tended greatly to aggravate. Resolved that the affair should end tragically, Constantine demanded that they should be tried by a court-martial, by which he thought to justify his former acts of violence, illegal imprisonment, and oppressive decrees; and in this he was supported by Novosilzoff, who was anxious to prove, by a bloody sentence, that he was right in whatever he had advised for the destruction of Poland.

The supremacy of the one in the administration, and the credit of the other at the court of the new Czar, depended on their counsel being approved. It was sufficient that any opinion should be held by them, to ensure its opposition by Lubecki, who had, besides, all along assured the Czars of the unshaken fidelity of the Poles, and advocated the propriety of a legal trial by a high national court, composed of senators. A violent contest ensued in the state council, conducted with extraordinary skill by Lubecki, whose wish to humble his two opponents, rendered him the guardian of the law, and the defender of the prisoners in the first instance, and then of their judges. All that high intellect and eloquence could do-animated by such motives, and by the difficulty of his position between Russian policy, ably supported by Novosilzoff, and the necessity of saving the state prisoners-between the Czar and the Czarewitch-was done, and with perfect success by Lubecki, whose character for patriotism was thus established.

Beaten on this point, Novosilzoff still did not relinquish his design, and demanded of the State Council, what should be done with the prisoners, in case of their acquittal? This question-proposed for the first time in a civilized country-was seriously discussed, and it was resolved that they should be detained in prison, until the decree of the court should be confirmed by the sovereign—in

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other words, that they should be punished, in spite of their acquittal.

Although the government apparently adopted a legal course with regard to the prisoners, still Novosilzoff, at the suggestion of Constantine, and with the Czar's approbation, drew up an organic statute of proceedings, by which the High Court was directed to adhere, during the trial, and which, when applied to the Polish criminal code, was found to contain such glaring contradictions, that the senators might acquit the prisoners with perfect security to themselves. The High Court, in which the senator Bielinski presided, began by annulling the report of the special committee, the statements therein contained having been extorted by flogging, as was proved, on the person of the senator Soltyk, a man eighty years of age. After a full investigation of the affair, it appeared that the charge of high treason could not be substantiated; Colonel Krzyzanowski was alone found guilty of the non-revelation of the Russian conspiracy.

Every effort was made to induce the High Court to pass sentence of death on the prisoners, hints being thrown out, in that case, of royal mercy, whilst, at the very time, a proposition was before council, for establishing a colony of condemned Poles in Siberia! Pending the trial, obstinate and scandalous struggles continually occurred between

the police and the populace, to the infinite vexation of Constantine as well as Novosilzoff, who sought comfort in intoxication. To Lubecki this was a season of the highest satisfaction, not at the aspect now assumed by the trial, but at the triumph which he considered it afforded him, at St. Petersburgh, over the imperial commissary, forgetful that he was thus preparing a mine which might ruin, by its explosion, himself, his rival, the kingdom, and his master's throne. The populace repairing in throngs to the palace, where the trial was conducted, Constantine, in his hatred of them, rendered himself a policeman of the court, forbidding those without uniforms to enter at all, and compelling the rest to inscribe their names in a book, with a view to facilitate future persecution. Driven from the avenues of the palace, the people collected in the adjacent square; and on a squadron advancing to expel them, fresh fights ensued. Malignant satires, or bold appeals, were circulated in MS., in default of a free press; their effect being the greater, as the authors were unknown, and remained so, in spite of the efforts of the police to discover them. Close watch was kept by the spies over the relations, and even the visitors of the senators, who continued to rise in public opinion in proportion as they were persecuted. The court was thus beset, on the one hand by the Grand Duke and all the mercenary in Poland, on the other by all who desired to humble him and his

minions. Court, with the exception of General Krasinski, unanimously acquitted the prisoners of high treason, Krzyzanowski alone being condemned to six years' imprisonment (commencing from the time of his arrest) for not having revealed the conspiracy. Such a verdict, pronounced by the most distinguished men of the country, might have proved to the despotic triumvirate, that when Poles make an effort to restore their country, no intimidation will induce other Poles to view it as a crime. The national spirit had never been so decidedly manifested, since the establishment of the kingdom. Warsaw was actually in insurrection, having its government in the High Court, against which Constantine struggled in vain for the interests of the empire, endangered by the observation of a single article of the charter, introduced by Alexander, and sworn to by Nicholas.

Their wish was gratified. The High

As if still further to exasperate the emperor, thirsting more than ever for vengeance on the Poles since the late effusion of Russian blood, Bielinski, the president, forwarded a report illustrative of the sentence passed by the court, which may be thus epitomized: That so far from being guilty of high treason, the prisoners had done no more than "their duty in promoting the interests of nationality, guaranteed by the treaty of Vienna, and by "Alexander's solemn promise to unite all his Polish

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