these considerations, he raised the siege of Warsaw, on the fifth of September, after it had lasted two months, and he had sustained severe losses. He expressed much dissatis. faction at the dilatoriness of the Russians. The fact was probably, that they reserved the capture of Warsaw for themselves, and were not sorry at his failure. Large bodies of them were on their march in all directions, and notwithstand ing the courageous exertions of the Poles, they began to apprehend that the immensity of the numbers they would soon have to contend with, must in the issue overwhelm them, as it had done before. The celebrated Suwarrow had been placed at the head of the ar. mies destined to act against Poland, He was now on his march towards Warsaw, and to be joined on the way by several Russian bodies, of great force. Sensible of the necessity of preventing such junctions, Kosciusko hastened with all possible diligence to obstruct them. But Before he could collect a sufficient strength, a Polish corps of consider. able force fell in with the main body of the Russians near Brzesk, on the borders of Lithuania, on the nineteenth of September, and was defeated with great loss by Suwar row, who continued his march to the capital. On receiving this in, elligence, Kosciusko resolved im, mediately to proceed against the Russian general, before he should be reinforced. The Polish army, under Koscuisko, consisted of twenty thousand men ; but on hearing that baron Ferson, a Russian general, was on the point of joining SuwarBow, he marched with six thousand men to intercept him; leaving the mainder with prince Poniatowski, to force any other divisions of the enemy that might endeavour to close upon his rear. The decisive action that ensued, was fought upon the tenth of October. The beginning of it was fa vourable to the Poles, who twice repulsed the Russians; but inconsiderately pursuing them too far, they were surrounded by their superior numbers, and after a most desperate defence of more than five hours, were routed with a dreadful slaugh ter. One half of them were killed or taken, the other, by dint of uncommon valour, made good their retreat. The loss of the victors was so great, that instead of moving forward, they were obliged to retire to a place of safety. This day decided the fate of Poland, and of Kosciusko. His capacity and courage were eminently displayed in this fatal engagement. Three horses were killed under him : when the last fell, he was at the same time wounded by a Cossack, who was going to repeat his blow, when he was prevented by a Russian officer, who made Kosciusko a pri soner. The loss of this battle was attributed to prince Poniatowski. Through unskilfulness or treachery, he suffered the enemy to cross the Vistula, though he had four thou sand men to oppose them; and while Kosciusko was engaged, he made no movement to his assistance. The defeat and capture of Koseiusko filled Warsaw with consternætion. The heads of the patriotis party exerted themselves to keep alive the spirit of the people: but they succeeded only in part; the majority had placed their chief con fidence in Kosciusko, and did not imagine that any one remained to replace replace him. The Russians were entirely of this opinion; and, pre. suming on the discouragement of the Poles, sent several insulting messages to the king; to which he answered, however, with a composed dignity, suitable to his character and station. The different bodies of which the Russian army consisted, being now united under the command of Suwarrow, his whole effective force amounted to near sixty thousand men. That of the Polish garrison in Warsaw did not exceed ten thousand. They were commanded by the two generals Madalinski and Dambrowski, whose invincible courage determined them to defend the city to the last extremity. It was assaulted by Suwar. row in the same manner as he had done Ismailow in the last Turkish war. After a most intrepid and resolute resistance of eight hours, the Russians forced their way into the suburb of Prague, divided from the other part of Warsaw by the Vistula: they slaughtered indis criminately every one they met ; neither women nor children escaped their barbarity; and the numbers that perished in this horrible mas sacre were computed altogether at twenty thousand. In consequence of this agreement," the executive council, appointed by the insurgents, resigned their autho rity to the king, and all who re fused to accede to the capitulation, were allowed to depart, with this admonition, however, that they would not escape, and when taken must expect no quarter. This number was about thirty thousand; but they were so closely pursued and pressed by the Prussians and Russians, on every side, that, want ing provisions and amunition, they were in a short time compelled to disperse; a few only making their way out of the confines of Poland. The Russians took possession of Warsaw, after disarming the in habitants, on the ninth day of November. An army of thirty thou sand men were quartered in the city, and encamped around it, and batteries of cannon planted against it on every side. Towards the close of December, some bands of insurgents, who were dispersed in the provinces, made all possible haste to surren der. The courts of Petersburgh and Berlin divided between themselves, and that of Vienna, what had re mained, since the last partition, in 1793, of Poland, at their plea. sure; and the cruel courtiers of the empress shared amongst them the possessions of a great number of the proscribed owners. Stanislaus Au gustus was sent to Grodno, in Li. tratthuania, where he was condemned All hopes were now at an end, and the chiefs of the patriots endeavoured to open a negotiation with Suwarrow; but he rejected the m as rebels, and refused to with any but the king and the law. fully established gistracy. A deputation from these waited upon him accordingly, but could obtain no other terms than security of life and property, on surrendering the city at discretion; to which the Russian general added from his w motion, forgiveness for the past, to live obscurely on a pension that was granted him by the empress; whhe prince Repnin, appointed go. vernor of the provinces usurped by Rusi, ostentatiously displayed the pnp of a sovereign. The nobles. Zajor.heck and Kolontay, whe were among the first and warmest supporters of the revolt headed by Kosciusko, Kosciusko, escaped to the Austrian territory, where the rights of hospitality being in their persons violat. ed, they were detained in capti. vity. Kosciusko himself, with Ig. natius Potocki Kapustas, and some others, were transported to Petersburgh, and shut up in dungeons. Among these unfortunate men was the young poet Niemchevitch, the intimate friend and companion of Kosciusko,* wounded, and made prisoner with him. The blood he had lost for his country was not the only injury with which Catharine reproached Niemchevitch. He had composed verses against her in all the boldness and energy of satire. Nor was this all; there appeared at Warsaw, not only pieces, ascribed to Niemchevitch, in verse and prose, but caricature prints also, in which the empress was very much insulted. Her majesty had him at first confined in the citadel of Petersburgh, and afterwards sent him to Schlusselburg, where he was treated with great severity. The empress, in a manifesto, under the name of UNIVERSAL, pub. lished after the partition of Poland, in 1793, guarantees to her new subjects the safety of their persons and properties, and farther professes, an intention to indemnify them for the damages they might have sustained, through the marching of troops especially in the last war. "The first act of our authority," she adds, "being a testimony of benevolence, in favour of subjects, that are newly come under our dominion, and of solicitude for the welfare of the country they inhabit, we are apt to think,that they willgratefully receive this mark of favour, and will know how to value, as they ought to do, the desire we announce here, of gain. ing their hearts by our favours, and to attach them to their ancient mo. ther country, by the hopes of the advantages we offer them, instead of subduing them by dint of arms. We hope that, answering our gene. rous views, they will send up to heaven their thanksgivings for their being returned into the bosom of their ancient mother country, that adopts them for the second time; that the objects of their zeal and of their endeavours will be, to consolidate them in the faithfulness they owe us, and in a constant submission to our laws; that they will unite themselves, with heart and soul, to our faithful subjects, the Russians; that, in short, they will form, as they did formerly, a respectable nation, always tractable, always faithful to their monarchs, always valiant and invincible, whereby they will render themselves truly worthy of the solicitude we shew to them, as a tender mother, * Kosciusko, like other celebrated heroes, is an admirer of poetry, and a friend to poets. Having acquired a knowledge of the English language, in the course of his military services in America, he was enabled to read the English poets; which he did with great taste and judgment. When he was released from his confinement, by the present emperor, and in London, on his way to America, he sent a present of Faler nian wine (being part of a quantity he had himself received from an English gentleman, who is always ready to exercise hospitality to worthy strangers), to Peter Pindar, as a small acknowledgment of the pleasure he derived from his works, and which had amused him, particularly during his voyage to this metropolis, from Petersburgh. Had the state of his health permitted, he would, he said, have waited in person on the poet. The readers of the best English poet of our times will readily recognise how natural it was for the admirer of Nianchevitch, to be the admirer also of Peter Pindar. who who only wishes for the happiness of her children." This tender mother actually gave orders for a public thanksgiving, for the blessings conferred on the Poles, in all their churches; and, sporting equally with affairs human and divine, imposed the following oath on every individual of the Poles and Lithuanians: "I pro mise and swear to God Almighty, by his Holy Gospel, to be always ready to serve, faithfully and loyally, her imperial majesty, the most serene empress, grand lady, Catharine Alexievna, autocratrix of all the Russias, and her well-beloved son, grand duke, Paul Petrovitch, her lawful successor, to go for that purpose, to yield up my life, and to shed the last drop of my blood, to pay due and perfect obedience to the commands already issued, or hereafter to issue from the authorities appointed by her; to fulfil and maintain them all, conscientiously, to the best of my power; to contribute, with all my strength,, to the maintenance of the peace and quiet which her majesty has established in my country; and to have no com munication or intelligence whatever with the disturbers of that quiet, either mediately or immediately, either publicly or privately, either by actions or by advice, and what. ever be the particular occasion, circumstance, or cause, that may lead to it. In cast, on the contrary, ahy thing should come to my knowledge, prejudicial to the interests of her imperial majesty, or to the general welfare, I will not ohly strive to remove it at the time but I will oppose it with all the means that shall be in my power, to hinder it from coming to pass. I will so con VOL. XXXVII. duct myself, in all my actions, as it behoves me, like a faithful citi zen, to behave towards the autho rities which her majesty has set over me, and as I must answer for it to God and his terrible judgment. So may God help me, as well in my body as in my soul. In confirmation of the profes. sion made by this oath, I kiss the holy word and cross of my Savi our." The final dissolution of the Polish commonwealth, and dismemberment of the extensive kingdom of Poland, naturally calls back our at tention to a summary view of the vicissitudes of its history and go. vernment. The first part of the history of Poland cannot be considered in any other light than as a mass of fable, illuminated with some scattered rays of truth. Little, therefore, can be certainly known respecting the ori gin of the Polish government. The re are, however, several circumstances to direct our opinion. The description Tacitus has left us of the tribes, from whom the Poles are most pro bably descended, the analogy of o ther northern nations, and the general tenor of the Polish history, tend to prove, that the great body of the people enjoyed a high degree of freedom, as well as a considerable influence on the measures of govera. ment. Although the sovereign power was generally continued in the same family, there was no established rule of hereditary succession. If a free election did not take place on every vacancy, the consent of the nation, expressed in a general diet, was always necessary to con. firm the nomination of a successor to the ducal dignity. While the government remained on this footing, [D] the the people were in fact free, and yet the sovereign power appears to have been subject to no constitutional restrictions. Neither the proroga. tives of the duke, nor the privileges of the people, were defined by positive law. Custom seems to have formed the only restriction to either. The sovereign carried his power as far as he thought he could depend upon the submission of the nation; and the people sometimes exerted their right of expeliing a tyrannical master and asserting their freedom by force.. The first circumstance that tend. ed to exert a permanent influence on the form of the government, and the condition of the people, was the practice of bestowing fiefs upon feudal principles, which was introduced in the beginning of the ninth century. Through the continued exercise of command, the nobles proceeded, by insensible gradations, to regard the peasants under their jurisdiction as their property. The spirit of the people was by degrees broken, and they yielded. Another event, which contributed to strengthen the power of the aristocracy, was the introduction of the Christian religion into Poland, in the latter part of the 10th century, when the spiritual tyranny of Europe was at its height, and the despotic principles of the Roman Catholic church were received along with the catholic faith. The apostles of this church, far from inculcating the divine purity and simplicity of their predecessors, which are so powerfully recommended by Christ, his disciples, and the first Christian converts, assumed in their mission a tone of authority suitable to the high claims of their temporal head, From either the piety or the folly of the kings and nobles, the higher clergy in Poland, as in other countries, soon saw them. selves in possession of ample territories, invested with all the privi leges of the nobility, and, in some cases, with a inore extensive autho rity than could be claimed by any other subject. The body of the clergy, well trained to subordina tion, seconded with zeal the views of their leaders.. While their territorial jurisdiction gave them the same interest with the nobility to encroach on the rights of the peasants, the blind veneration attached to their character, facilitated their usurpations. Thus the domineering spirit of the Roman Catholic hierarchy, concurring with the arbitrary principles of the fendal system, gave an easy victory to the clergy and the nobility over the liberties of the people. These were excluded from the dict of election, the nobility and gentry, reserving to themselves the sole right of regulating the succes sion to the sovereignty. The abridgement of personal liberty quickly followed the loss of political consequence. Oppressions were multiplied. A variety of vexatious claims were, from time to time, esta blished against them. They were gradually deprived of the rights of men, as well as those of citizens. The law was too weak, or too corrupt, to afford them relief; and they sunk into a state of servitude, from which they have never since emerged. Attempts were indeed made to restore them to the protection of law and the rank of freemen; but these attempts failed of success. It is but justice to acknowledge, that the heads of the church of Rome often interfered, and with much |