A man who pretends to know every thing, never knows any thing. A man of
general information, as he is called, has, in reality, never any upon a
particular subject.
* * * * *
* * * *
Interesting History Of
_THE BARON DE LOVZINSKI._
With a relation of the most remarkable occurrences in the life
of the celebrated COUNT PULASKI, well known as the champion of
American Liberty, and who bravely fell in its defence before
Savannah, 1779.
_Interspersed with Anecdotes of the late unfortunate KING of POLAND,
so recently dethroned._
(_Continued from page 158._)
I began my march about ten o’clock.---At midnight we surprised our
enemies in their camp. Never was a defeat more complete: we killed seven
hundred men; we took nine hundred prisoners; we seized all their cannon,
the military chest, and the ammunition.
At break of day Pulaski marched out to join me with the remainder of the
troops: he brought Lodoiska along with him: we were married in Pulaski’s
tent. All the camp resounded with songs of gladness: valour and beauty
were celebrated in joyous epithalamiums: it seemed to be the festival of
Venus and Mars; and it might be truly said, that every soldier appeared
to be impressed with the same sentiments as myself, and that they all
partook of my happiness.
After I had given up the first days of so dear an union entirely to
love, I began to think of recompensing the heroic fidelity of Boleslas.
My father-in-law presented him with one of his castles, situate at some
leagues from the capital; and Lodoiska and myself added to this princely
donation a considerable sum in ready money, on purpose to enable him to
lead an independent and tranquil life.
He first refused to leave us; but we commanded him to go and take
possession of his castle, and live peaceably in that honourable retreat
which his services had so amply merited. On the day of his departure I
took him aside:---“You must go in my name,” said I, “and wait upon our
monarch at Warsaw: inform him that I am united in the bonds of Hymen to
the daughter of Pulaski: state to him that I am armed on purpose to
chase out of his kingdom those foreigners who are ravaging it; and tell
him, in particular, that Lovzinski, a foe to the Russians, is not the
enemy of his King.”
The recital of our operations during eight succeeding years of bloody
war would be uninteresting.---Sometimes vanquished; much oftener
victorious; equally great in the midst of a defeat, as formidable after
a victory, and always superior to events, Pulaski attracted and fixed
the attention of all Europe, whom he astonished by his long and vigorous
resistance. Obliged to abandon one province, he made incursions into,
and performed new prodigies of valour in another: and it was thus that,
in marching successively throughout all the palatinates, he signalized
in each of them, by some glorious exploit, that eternal hatred which he
had sworn against the enemies of Poland.
Wife of a warrior, daughter of a hero, accustomed to the tumult of a
camp, Lodoiska accompanied us every where. Of five children which she
had borne me, an only daughter alone remained to us, about eighteen
months old. One day, after a most obstinate engagement, the victorious
Russians precipitated themselves towards my tent, on purpose to plunder
it. Pulaski and myself, followed by some nobles, flew to the defence of
Lodoiska, whom we saved with difficulty: my daughter, however, had been
carried off.
This lovely child, by a sage precaution which her mother had wisely made
use of in those times of intestine commotion, had the arms of our family
impressed, by means of a chemical preparation, under her left breast:
but my search after my daughter has hitherto been ineffectual. Alas!
Dorliska, my dear Dorliska, either exists in slavery, or exists no more!
This loss affected me with the most lively sorrow. Pulaski, however,
appeared almost insensible to my misfortunes; either because his mind
was occupied at this moment with the great project which he soon after
communicated to me, or because the miseries of his country alone could
affect his stoic heart. He, as usual, re-assembles the remains of his
army, takes possession of an advantageous post, employs several days in
fortifying, and maintains himself in it for three whole months, against
all the efforts of the Russians.
It, however, became at length necessary that he should abandon this
situation, as provisions were beginning to be scarce.---Pulaski, on this
occasion, came to my tent; and, having ordered every one to retire, when
we alone remained, he addressed me as follows:
“Lovzinski, I have just reason for complaining of your conduct. Formerly
you supported, along with me, the burden of command, and I was enabled
to divide with my son-in-law a part of my laborious avocations: but, for
these two last months, you do nothing but weep; you sigh like a woman!
You have abandoned me in a critical moment, when your assistance was
become the most necessary! You see how I am attacked on all sides;
I fear not for myself; I am not unhappy for my own life: but if we
perish, the state has no longer any defenders.
“Awake, Lovzinski! hew nobly you once participated in my cares! Do not
now remain the useless witness of them. We are indeed bathed in Russian
blood: our fellow citizens are avenged; but they are not saved: nay,
even in a short time we may be able no longer to defend them.”
“You astonish me, Pulaski! Whence these sinister auguries?”
“I am not alarmed without reason. Consider our present position: I am
forced to awaken in every heart the love of its country; I have found no
where but degenerate men born for slavery, or weak ones, who, although
penetrated with a sense of their own misfortunes, have bounded all their
views to barren complaints.
“Some true citizens are, indeed, ranged under my standards; but eight
long and bloody campaigns have lessened their number, and almost
extinguished them. I become enfeebled by my very victories:--our enemies
appear more numerous after their defeats.”
“I repeat to you, Pulaski, once more, that you astonish me! In
circumstances no less disastrous, no less unhappy, than the present,
I have beheld you sustain yourself by your courage. . . . .
. .”
“Do you think that it now abandons me? True valour does not consist in
being blind to danger, but in braving it after it has been foreseen. Our
enemies prepare for my defeat; however, if you choose, Lovzinski, the
very day which they point out for their triumph shall perhaps be that
destined to record their ruin, and achieve the safety of our
fellow-citizens!”
“If I choose! Can you doubt my sentiments? Speak! what would you have
done?”
“To strike the boldest stroke that I ever meditated! Forty chosen men
are assembled at Czenstachow along with Kaluvski, whose bravery is well
known; they want a chief, able, firm, intrepid---It is you whom I have
chosen.”
“Pulaski, I am ready.”
“I will not dissemble to you the danger of the enterprize; the event is
doubtful, and, if you do not succeed, your ruin is inevitable.”
“I tell you that I am ready, therefore explain yourself.”
“You are not ignorant, that scarce four thousand men now fight under my
command: with these undoubtedly I have still an opportunity of
tormenting our enemies; but with such feeble means, I dare not hope to
be ever able to force them to leave our provinces. All the nobility
would flock beneath our banners, if the King were in my camp.”
“What do you say? Can you hope that the King would ever consent to
repair hither?”
“No: but he must be forced to do so.”
“Forced!”
“Yes! I know that an ancient friendship connects you with M. de P----:
but since you have supported, along with Pulaski, the cause of liberty,
you know also that you ought to sacrifice every thing to the good of
your country; that an interest so sacred--------”
“I know my duty, and I am ready to fulfil it; but what is it that you
now propose to me? The King never leaves Warsaw.”
“True; and it is, therefore, at Warsaw that you must go and find him: it
is from the heart of the capital that he must be forced.”
“What preparations have you made for so great an enterprise?”
“You behold yon Russian army, three times as strong as mine, and which
has been encamped three months in sight of us: its General, tranquil at
present within his entrenchments, impatiently waits until, forced by
famine, I shall surrender myself at discretion.
“Behind my camp are marshes which he thinks impracticable: the moment
that it is night, we shall traverse them. I have disposed of every thing
in such a manner that the enemy will be deceived, and not perceive my
retreat until it is too late. I hope therefore to be able to steal more
than an hour’s march upon them, and, if fortune seconds me, perhaps a
whole day. I shall advance straight forward to Warsaw by the great road
that leads to the capital, notwithstanding the efforts of the little
Russian bands who hover continually in its neighbourhood. I shall either
encounter and conquer these separately, or, if, they form a junction on
purpose to stop my progress, I shall at least be able to occupy their
attention in such a manner that they will not be able to impede your
operations.
“In the mean time, Lovzinski, you will have preceded me. Your forty
followers disguised, and armed only with sabres, poniards and pistols
concealed under their clothes, shall have arrived at Warsaw by different
roads. You must wait there until the King has left his palace; you are
then to carry him off, and to bring him to my camp. The enterprise is
bold---rash, if you please so to term it: the march to Warsaw is
difficult; the stay in it dangerous; the return from it extremely
perilous. If you are vanquished, if you are taken prisoner, you will
perish, Lovzinski, but you will perish a martyr to liberty! and Pulaski,
jealous of so glorious an end, sighing at being obliged to survive you,
shall send Russians, thousands of Russians, to accompany you to the
tomb!
“But on the contrary, if an all-powerful Deity; if a God, the protector
of Poland, has inspired me with this hardy project, to terminate her
evils; if thy good fortune shall procure a success equal to thy courage,
what a glorious prosperity will be achieved by means of this noble
daring!
“M. de P*** will not see in my camp, other than citizen-soldiers, the
foes of foreigners, but still faithful to their king: under my patriotic
tents, he will respire, as it were, the air of liberty, and the love of
his country: the enemies of the state shall become his; our brave
nobility, ashamed of their indolence, will readily combat under the
royal banners, for the common cause; the Russians shall either be cut
in pieces, or be obliged to pass the frontiers---my friend, in thee thy
country shall behold her saviour!” * * * *
* * * * * * * *
* * * * * * * *
Pulaski kept his word. That very night he accomplished his retreat, with
equal skill and success, by traversing the marshes in profound silence.
“My friend,” said my father-in-law to me, as soon as we were out of the
reach of the enemy, “it is now time that you should leave us. I know
well that my daughter has more courage than another woman; but she is a
tender wife, and an unfortunate mother. Her tears will affect you, and
you will lose in her embraces that strength of mind, that dignity of
soul, which now becomes more necessary to you than ever: I advise you,
therefore, to be gone, without bidding her farewell.”
(_To be continued._)
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