The insurrection in Lithuania.--Dispositions of the Lithuanians at the
breaking out of our revolution.--Their offers of co-operation were
rejected by the dictator.--View of the condition of Lithuania under
the Russian sway.--Scheme of the Russian government to destroy all
Polish national feeling in that province.--The insurrection is brought
about by the massacre of the patriots at Osmiany.--Capture of numerous
towns by the insurgents, and dispersion of their garrisons.--Storm
of Wilno, and delivery of prisoners.--Several partizan corps are
formed.--Their destination and successes.
It had pleased Providence thus far to make the success of our arms, in
every point, a just chastisement of our enemy, and encouraged by this
success, the nation had begun to cherish the brightest hopes for the
future. Their confidence and exultation were complete, when the report
was received, that our brethren in Lithuania and Samogitia had risen
to break the yoke of despotism, and had openly commenced a revolution.
The certain confirmation of this happy intelligence was brought to the
kingdom by one of the students of the University of Wilno. This brave
young man belonged to the patriotic club which had been secretly formed
there, and that club had sent him to Warsaw to carry the authentic
intelligence of the insurrection.[51]
Then it was, at last, that the voice of liberty was heard upon the
shores of the Baltic, and at the sources of the Dwina and the Niemen;
and with this voice, was heard that of union with ancient Poland. The
brave inhabitants of this immense region, animated with an attachment
for us, the strength of which ages had proved, regarded themselves only
as a part of one great family with ourselves. Almost within hearing
of the bloody combats which had been fought, they could not restrain
themselves from joining in the struggle, and acting side by side with
us, for our common Poland.
Before I enter upon the details of this revolution in Lithuania,
the reader will permit me to refer him, in the Appendix, to a short
description of that country and a view of its connection with Poland,
which is, in general, so imperfectly understood.
The Lithuanians of Wilno knew, four days after the 29th of November,
that Warsaw had given the signal of a new Polish insurrection. A
deputation was immediately sent by them to the dictator Chlopicki,
announcing to him _that all Lithuania, and particularly the Lithuanian
corps d'armee, of 60,000 strong, was ready to pass to the side of the
Poles_. But that inexplicable and lamentable dictatorship _rejected
this offer_, so great and so generous. The Lithuanians, however, not
despairing, waited for a more propitious moment; and scarcely was the
dictatorship abolished, when the national government,--thanks to the
thoughtful care of Joachim Lelewell,--addressed itself officially to
the Lithuanian committee. Every disposition was made for a rising at an
appointed time, which at length arrived.
It would not be in my power to give the reader a just idea of the
tyranny and persecution to which the Polish provinces united to
Russia were subjected. If the kingdom was oppressed, it has always
had some glimmer of constitutional right, but in the provinces the
only constitution was absolute power. Those provinces, abounding in
resources, and which, had they been protected by free laws, would have
been, as they formerly were, the granary of Europe, presented every
where traces of misery, being exposed to the abuses of the Russian
administration and its agents, who wrung them to the last drop, to
enrich themselves. Justice was unknown. Sometimes the governors, or
sprawnaks, men of most depraved conduct, changed the laws at their
own will, and not to obey that will was to be subject to be sent
into Siberia. All those provinces were submerged by the Russian
military, who were quartered in every village; and those soldiers,
receiving only the small compensation of a groat a day, which was
altogether insufficient for their subsistence, levied upon the
inhabitants the means of their support. But the cause of the greatest
suffering in Lithuania, was, that, in order to prevent all sympathy
between the soldiers and peasantry, and all national feeling in the
Lithuanian soldiers, most of the levies from that province were sent
to serve on the barbarian frontiers of Asia, while Russian soldiers
were substituted for them, who were without any sympathy with the
inhabitants, and who would be regardless of their feelings in their
deportment towards them, and merciless in their exactions. It was not
so under Alexander,--the arrangement was made by Nicholas. No idea can
be given of the distress which it caused. Many a family was obliged
to deny themselves their necessary food, to supply the demands of the
military tyrant who was quartered upon them. The peasantry in those
provinces were treated like brutes. No civilization, not the least
glimmer of light, not a school was permitted. That poor race were kept
in a state so degraded, that the elements of civilization seemed to
be lost in them, and the possibility of their being recovered seemed
almost hopeless.
One of the greatest evils was the systematic endeavor to destroy all
national sympathy with Poland. The Russians carried their oppression,
indeed, so far, as to change the religion of the country, and to
introduce the Greek schism. But through all these persecutions,
Providence saved that people from losing their national sentiments
as Poles. On the contrary, they have proved that neither time nor
persecutions will ever destroy that attachment, but will, indeed,
rather strengthen it. The late insurrections in Lithuania and
Samogitia, which have been so long under the Russian government, and
the inhabitants of which hastened to take up their arms, at the signal
of our revolution, afford a sufficient evidence of this attachment.
What deserves especially to be noticed, is, that in Lithuania, it was
the peasants and the priests, joined by the youths of the academies,
who first began the revolt, and who were the most zealous defenders of
the common cause. That heroic people commenced the revolution without
any munitions, and without any arms but the implements of husbandry.
Armed in most cases with clubs alone, they abandoned all to unite in
our aid, and fought with courage and success for nearly two months,
against the different Russian corps, before the corps of Gielgud and
Chlapowski arrived, which, instead of succoring them, by the misconduct
of their generals, sacrificed the Lithuanians, as well as themselves,
and gave the first downward impulse to our cause.
The insurrection of Lithuania and Samogitia, was propagated with
rapidity through all the departments of those provinces. The
commencement was made in the departments of Osmiany and Troki,
accelerated by the following circumstance.
Many of the patriots, for the purpose of consulting upon the different
arrangements for the revolt, had secretly assembled on the last of
March at Osmiany, and held their secret conferences in the church of
the place. While occupied in this manner, a loud shouting was heard
in the town. A regiment of cossacks had entered the place, and a great
part of the regiment surrounded the church. The doors were broken down,
and the cossacks entered and sabred the unfortunate men within these
sacred walls. Wounded as they were, those who survived the attack were
thrown into wagons to be carried to Wilno. But in this the barbarians
did not succeed. A few escaped from their bloody hands, ran into the
suburbs of the town and collected the peasantry, and on that very
night, some hundreds of the inhabitants having been got together,
Osmiany was attacked with the greatest fury by the patriots. Several
hundreds of cossacks were massacred. The others took flight, and the
poor prisoners were delivered. From that moment the flame spread to the
departments of Wilno, Wilkomierz, Rosseyny, and Szawla. In a few weeks,
more than twelve towns were taken by storm, and the Russian garrisons
driven out and dispersed. The principal of these towns were Jarbourg,
Szawla, Keydany, Wilkomierz, Kowno, Troki, Swienciany, Rosienice,
and Beysagola. In a short time, more than a thousand Russians fell
under the blows of the Lithuanians, and another thousand were taken
prisoners. The Lithuanians accoutred themselves with their arms. Some
hundred horses, and several pieces of cannon were also taken. The most
bloody affair was the storm of Wilno, on the night of the 4th of April.
Two hundred Lithuanians attacked this town, and fought with 4,000
Russian infantry, (nearly two regiments,) six squadrons of cavalry, and
twelve pieces of cannon. For the whole night, the Lithuanians pressed
their attack with fury. They took the powder magazine and arsenal,
where they found many arms. But the most consolatory success was, the
rescuing of some hundred patriotic students, and proprietors, who had
been confined in prison there for years. The battle of Keydany and
Szerwinty was also severe, and the valor of the brave Lithuanians was
equally displayed there. At Keydany, twenty of the brave youths of the
academy defended the bridge over the Niewiaza, against two squadrons of
cavalry, while, on the other side, some hundreds of those brave youths
made a storm upon the city, and routed the garrison, which consisted
of three squadrons of hussars. In a word, not quite 2,000 Lithuanians,
armed in the most defective manner, commenced the struggle, and drove
out garrisons to the amount of eight or ten thousand Russian regular
troops, spreading consternation throughout the whole of the enormous
space between the Dwina and the Niemen. Their numbers were soon
augmented, and armed with weapons taken from the Russians. Their forces
were afterwards divided into several small detached partizan corps,
which received the following destination. 1st, the corps under the
command of B***, consisting of about 1,500 infantry and 100 horse, was
to observe the territory upon the Russian frontier, between Jarbourg,
upon the Niemen, as far as the frontier of Courland. This corps was
to interrupt the transport of provisions, from the Russian territory,
and also to keep a communication between the ports of the Baltic Sea,
Lipawa and Polonga, so as to secure a correspondence with foreign
vessels which might arrive with ammunition and other aid for Poland.
The 2d corps consisted of about 2,000 infantry, under the command of
P***, and Z***, and were to act between Uceamy and Dawgeliszki. There
this corps of partizans was to profit by the strong positions which the
nature of the country offers, among its lakes and forests. This corps
was to observe the great road which leads through that country from
St Petersburgh to Warsaw, and to surprise and attack all the Russian
detachments which might pass that road, on their way to Poland.
To act in communication with this corps, and against the garrison of
Wilno, was designated a 3d corps, under the command of M***, composed
of nearly 2,000 infantry and 100 cavalry. This corps made itself
severely felt. A fourth small detachment, under the command of B***,
of about 800 strong, acted in the department of Grodno, and occupied a
part of the forest of Bialowiez.
Besides these, was a detachment of 400 horse, under the command of
V***. This detachment was constantly in movement, and kept open the
communications between the other corps, and acted as occasion required.
It was especially to attempt to surprise the enemy's artillery, which
was often sent in an unprotected state. This detachment of cavalry,
with the first named corps under the command of B***, attacked so
sudden and vigorously the Russian corps under the command of general
Szyrman, that they were forced to take refuge upon the Prussian
territory at Memel. The Prussians received them, and afterwards
permitted them to leave with their arms and ammunition. This was not
the first nor the last example of such relief afforded to our enemy by
Prussia.
The insurrections of Lithuania and Samogitia, which had begun so
successfully and promised to extend even to the borders of the
Dnieper and the Black Sea, could not but threaten the utmost danger
to the Russian forces which had entered the kingdom, and it was from
this moment that the situation of the enemy became in a high degree
critical, as every military judge will perceive. The danger of their
position was still more to be augmented by our success in the battle of
Iganie, on the 9th of April.
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 51: The young Lithuanian, whose name was Szymanski, had
passed, on foot, two hundred and eighty miles in eight days, in the
vilest habit of a beggar, and even without shoes, through forests,
marshes, and fords, to avoid interception, exposed in fact to every
kind of privation. He arrived on the 4th of April, at the camp of
the generalissimo, at Jendrzeiow, where he was received with great
enthusiasm. He was immediately sent to Warsaw, to announce the happy
intelligence to the people.]