Publisher's Synopsis
This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1913 edition. Excerpt: ...less than a year from the beginning of the ill-advised rebellion. "Warsaw is at your feet," wrote the Russian commander to Nicholas. Not Warsaw alone, but all of Poland lay at the feet of the czar. The reprisals of the Russian autocrat were severe. The constitution granted by Alexander was annulled; many were banished to Siberia; commissions were appointed to administer the government; the Polish army was merged in the imperial army; Russian provinces replaced the former palatinates; the University of Vilna was suppressed, the Polish language forbidden in Lithuania, and the Uniates were placed under the ban. Europe refused to take up the cause of Poland, although appealed to by Czartoryski and others who visited a number of the capitals. Russian Poland remained fairly tranquil for a period of years. In 1846, however, trouble arose in Austrian Poland. The nobles had made preparations to revolt against Austria, and the peasants in their turn revolted against the landlords. The rumour was systematically spread among the peasants that the emperor had granted them the soil for partition, but that the nobles were suppressing this boon. Their fury knew no bounds. In three days two thousand men, women, and children of the noble rank were killed. Some were burned to death, others flogged until life was extinct, while still others were literally cut to pieces. The free city of Cracow gave asylum to the refugees, and their movements were directed from that remaining fragment of the old republic. Russian, Austrian and Prussian troops entered that country, and these powers decreed that Cracow should be annexed to Austria. The Crimean War aroused the hopes of the Poles, but even Napoleon III turned a deaf ear to their appeals. When peace was...