Kelly W.K. The History of Russia: from the Earliest Period to the Present Time. Volume 2
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A.D.
1831]
THE
INSTJEEECTION OE
POLAND.
363
marched towards
Zomki,
and arrived
by
daybreak
on
the
flanks
of
Geisuiar's
forces,
which
occupied
a
strong
position
in
the
forest
of
Waver.
A
thick
fog
overhung
the
country,
and the
Russians,
supposing
the
enemy
to
be
remote,
were
fast
asleep.
Before
beginning
the
attack,
Bybinski
detached
colonel
Eamorino with
part
of his
division into
the wood.
The colonel
making
a
detour,
posted
himself
behind the
Eussian
entrenchments,
so as
to
cut
off
their
retreat. The
enemy,
suddenly
assailed in front
and in
flank,
had
no time to
recover
from then
confusion,
for
scarcely
had
Bybinski's
infantry
opened
their
fire,
when the
lancers,
sallying
from
the barriers
of
Grochow,
fell
upon
G-eismar's
advanced
posts
and
routed them.
His
ranks were all
in
disorder,
and all
his
efforts to
rally
his
battalions
were
fruitless. The Eussians
thought
to
escape by
the
road
to
Minsk,
but
they
fell in
with
Eamorino,
who
charged
the
surprised
and
panic-stricken
fugitives
at
the
point
of
the
bayonet.
The
rout was then
complete
: Geismar's
corps
were half
destroyed
or
made
pri-
soners,
and
the Eussian
general
fled with
the
remains
of
his
forces
through
the
wood to
Dembewilkie.
Rosen's
division was
posted
there, 15,000
strong,
in
a
posi-
tion
protected
by
woods,
and
favoured
by
the
sloughy
nature
of the
ground,
which was
impracticable
for
cavalry
and artil-
lery.
But it
was still
daylight,
and
though
he
could
only
come
at
Eosen
by
the
narrow
ground
afforded
by
the
high
road,
the
commander-in-chief
gave
orders to take
possession
of
tip
\
illage
of
Dembewilkie,
situated in
an
open
glade
on
•
of the
main
road,
which
it
commands.
Though
unable
to
reply
to the
Eussian
artillery,
the 4th
and 8th
regiments
of
the line
gallantly
advanced,
in
defiance of
a
bremendous
fire and
repeated charges
of
the
enemy.
Two
at
length brought
up
with
immense
exertion,
and
1
evening
the
1th
regiment
charged
into
the
village.
General
Skarzynski's
cavalry
and
the
Rosen
squadrons
then
come
up by
the
defile,
passed
the
village,
charged
the
enemy's
centre,
and bore
down
Ids
infantry
and
his
hulans.
The
Eussians
abandoned the
field
of
battle*
with
the
loss of 2000
mm
killed,
fcwehre
pieces
of
cannon,
innumerable
arms,
and
GOOO
prisoners.
The
Boles
had
lost
but
300
men. The next
day
Lubienski
hotly pursued
Eosen
through
the
towns of
Minsk
and
Kaluszyu,
and
increased
the
number
of
prisoners
361
HISTORY.
OF
RUSSIA.
[CH.
LXVII.
to
11,000.
Skrzynecki
bad not
the skill
to
turn
Lis
advan-
tages
to
good
account,
or
to
make
up by
tbe
audacity
of
bis
movements
for the
want of
numbers
:
be
was
accused
of
in-
decision,
and
in fact he
did
not
know
bow
much
might
have
been
made of tbe
enthusiasm
of
tbe
victorious
Poles,
and
the
discouragement
of the
Eussians,
who
seemed
to
be
delivered
into
his
hands
by
tbe
incapacity
of
Diebitscb.
The
Eussian
troops
were
so
disheartened
by
the
unexpected
reverses
they
had
sustained,
that
being
attacked on
the
10th of
April
at
the
village
of
Iganie
by general
Prondzynski,
they
disbanded
;
and
the
flower of the
Eussian
infantry,
those
whom
tbe
emperor
called
ever
since tbe
Turkish war
the lions
of
Varna,
laid
down
their
arms,
tore
the
eagles
from
their
schakos,
and
fled
or
surrendered.
The
victory
of
Iganie,
in
which the
Eussians lost
2500 men
and
some
pieces
of
cannon,
did not
produce
all
the results
that
might
have
been
expected,
on
account of the
slowness
of
the
generalissimo
to
execute the
movement
agreed
on.
Prondzynski
expected
every
moment to see
him
approaching
from
Siedlce
through
Bobimie,
according
to
the
plan
they
had
arranged
together.
It
would have been all
over with
Eo-
sen's
corps,
if,
instead
of
losing
invaluable
time in
repairing
the
Kostrzyn
bridges,
Skrzynecki
had sooner
debouched
from
the
forest
;
be
would
have cut
off the
Eussians'
retreat
and
destroyed
a
whole
division.
But
a
more
terrible
disaster than
war was
about
to
inflict
its
ravages
on the
Poles. The
cholera
morbus
was
on its
march from
India. To
the north it
had
advanced into
Siberia;
to the
south it
had
spread
as far as
the
coasts
of
New Hol-
land
;
eastwards,
it
had crossed
the
great
wall of
China,
and
showed
itself in
Pekin
;
westwards,
passing
over the
Caspian
Sea,
it
had
infected
Tiflis
and
JS'ew
Georgia,
crossed the
Caucasus,
entered the
Eussian
empire,
and
broken
forth
in
Moscow
;
and Diebitscb's
soldiers
carried it with them. It
was at
the
battle of
Iganie
that tbe
Poles contracted
this
frightful
malady:
it
began
with the
regiments
that
had
been
most
engaged,
and soon
spread
to
the rest of
tbe
troops.
It
was as
though
the
mortality
of
battles was
not
enough
to
satisfy
the mutual
rancour
of the
belligerents.
Since
Dwernicki was in
occupation
of
Zamosc,
tbe
nobility
of
Volhynia,
Podolia,
and
the
Ukraine,
encouraged
by
bis
A.D.
1831]
THE INSUKBECTION
OF POLAND.
365
vicinity,
were
preparing
a vast
insurrection,
the
generous
intention
of which
extended
even
to
the
emancipation
of the
serfs.
To
urge
on
this
great
movement,
to methodise
it,
and
to
support
the
patriotism
of
those
regions
covered
with
forests
and
inhabited
by
rude
hunters,
was the task
given
Dwernicki
to
accomplish
with his
small
band,
which
was
so
weak,
that
to
give
him such
orders
seemed
equivalent
to
dooming
him to destruction.
Be
this as
it
may,
resolved
to
pass
through
the
three
armies
that
menaced
him,
Dwernicki set
out
from
Zamosc
on
the
3rd
of
April,
and
arrived on the 16th
at
Boremel,
where
he
speedily
encountered
Biidiger's corps.
One of
those
engagements
ensued
which
nothing
but
Polish
fury
can
explain.
Leaving
his
infantry
in the
village,
Dwernicki,
with 2000
republican
cavalry,
dashed at
Biidiger's
9000
men :
with
two
charges
he
put
them to
the
rout,
and
cap-
tured
eight
pieces
of
cannon.
The
next
day
Dwernicki
directed
his march
to
Podolia,
pursued
by
Biidiger,
who had
effected a
junction
with
Kaysarof.
At
noon,
general
Both
advanced
to
bar
his
way.
The Polish
general
learned,
at
Kolodno,
that
it
was
intended
to
cut
him
off
from
the
fron-
tiers
of
G-allicia.
He
pushed
on to
Lulince;
but
on the
night
of
the
25th of
April,
Biidiger,
violating
the Austrian
territory,
ordered
a detachment
to
place
itself
in
the rear of
the
Poles.
On the
morning
of
the
27th,
when
the
fog
cleared
off that
concealed the manoeuvres
of
the
Bussians,
Dwernicki
saw himself
surrounded
by
25,000
men.
He
then
crossed
the
frontier;
but the
Austrian
troops,
which
had
tolerated
the
violation
of
their
territory by
the
Bussians,
surrounded
him
and
forced
him
to
lay
down his arms. The
inhabitants of
the
place,
which
the
little
band
passed
through
as
prison-
ers,
received
them with
enthusiasm;
the
ladies of
Presbu:-^
plucked
the
buttons from Dwemicki's
uniform,
and
hung
them
with
gold
chains
from
their
necks.
Dwernicki's
disaster frustrated the
insurrection
of
the
southern
provinces.
That of the
Lithuanians thenceforth
attracted
all
the attention
of the
Poles.
Skrzynecki
lost
precious
time
after the battle
of
Iganie.
He
might,
with
his whole
combined
force,
have
fallen
suc-
cessively
on
each
of
the
grand
divisions
of the Russian
army,
which were
always
at a
considerable
distance
from
each
366
HISTOBY OP
BTJSSIA.
[CH.
LXYI1.
other,
and
have
heaten them
separately,
from
his
superiority
both
in valour
and in
numbers.
The
Russian
guard
was
in
cantonments
between
the
Bug
and the
Narew,
twenty
leagues
to the north of
Diebitsch's
head-quarters.
It
occupied
the
ground
extending
from
Lomza to
Zambrow,
and Diebitsch
could
only
join
it
by
passing
the
Bug.
The
guard,
20,000
strong,
was com-
manded
by
the
grand-duke
Michael,
and contained the
elite of the
Russian
nobility.
Its destruction would
have been
a mortal
blow to the
emperor
of
Russia,
and would
have
exposed
him
to the hatred of the
already
malcontent
great
families.
This
corps
was, therefore,
the
first
which
the
Polish
generalissimo
should
have
attacked,
the
more
because
in
marching
to
give
it
battle he
might
have thrown succour
into
insurgent
Lithuania.
Skrzynecki
had
lost a month in
tergiversations
: he re-
solved
to
act at
last.
On
the 12th of
May
he
quitted
his
camp
at
Kaluszyn,
and marched on
Serock,
a
town
situate at
the
confluence of the
Bug
and the Narew. He
had
with
him
46,000
men
and a hundred
pieces
of cannon.*
In
order
to
mask
this
great
movement
from
Diebitsch,
he
left
general
Uminski at
Kaluszyn
with a
few
troops.
Having
arrived at Serock on
the
14th,
without
anything
having
transpired
as
to
his
designs,
either in the
Russian
army
or in
Warsaw
itself,
Skrzynecki
divided his
army
into
two
columns,
and
tbrowing
himself into
the
ground
enclosed
between
the
two
rivers,-
he marched
against
the
guards,
having
the
Bug
on
his
right
and the Narew
on
his
left. One
of the
columns,
under the command
of
Lubienski,
moved
in the
direction of
JSTur,
to observe
Diebitsch,
and
hinder him from
crossing
the
Bug.
The
other,
under the
orders of
Skrzynecki
himself,
marched
on Lomza
to
surprise
the
guards,
menacing
Ostrolenka
on its
left,
a small
town
on
the
left
bank of the
Narew,
and
surrounded
by
sands and
marshes.
The
town
was
occupied
by
a
division
of
7000
men,
under
the command
of
Sacken,
who
was
thus
parted
from
the Rus-
*
His
forces had been
considerably augmented
since
the
commence-
ment of
the
-war.
They
amounted in
all,
at
this
period,
to
about
8G,000
men.
A.D.
1831]
THE
INSUKEECTION
OF POLAND.
367
sian
guard by
the
whole
distance
between
Ostrolenka
and
Loruza.
Instead of
passing
by
Sacken's
corps,
wbicb
could
after-
wards
have been
destroyed
in its isolated
position,
and
which
was
kept
in check
by
a
Polish division
previously
sent
for-
ward to
the
right
bank,
Skrzynecki
committed
the mistake
of
detaching general
Grielgud against
Sacken,
whereby
he at
once
weakened
the
Poles and forced
Sacken's
Russians to
fall back
on Lomza
and
rejoin
the
guards.
Already,
more-
over,
the
guards,
profiting by Skrzynecki's
tardiness,
had
gained
a
march,
and
placed
the river between
them
and
the
enemy.
The
expedition
against
the
guards
failed,
therefore,
for
want of
vigour
and
audacity.
Diebitsch
at
length
received
information
of
these
great
movements.
He
might
have
marched on
Warsaw,
and
effected
a formidable
diversion :
he
preferred going
to the
support
of
the
guards.
He left
his
camp
at
Siedlce
in
haste,
and with as
much
promptitude
on this occasion
as
he
was
usually
slow,
he advanced
to the
Bug,
crossed it above
Nur,
and attacked
Lubienski
in the
plain.
Lubienski,
at the head
of
his
10,000
men,
bravely
sustained
the assault
until
evening.
Hemmed
in
by
count
"Witt's
cavalry
he refused
to
surrender,
forced
a
passage
through
the
enemy's
ranks
at the
point
of
the
bayonet,
whilst the
fauclieurs
mowed
down the Russian
cavalry,
and
escaping
under
cover
of
darkness effected
his
junction
with
the
generalissimo.
The
latter,
hearing
cannon
in the
direc-
tion
of
Nur,
was
already
Jailing
back
on
Ostrolenka;
and
on
night
of
the
25th lie
passed
the Narew
r
,
over
the two
bridges
of
that
town,
with
the bulk
of
his
army
and
all
his
artillery,
avoiding
a
battle,
but
by
some
inexplicable
mistake
leaving
Lubienski's
corps unsupported
on the left bank.
Meanwhile
the
guards,
recovering
from
the
alarm,
and
finding
the
ground
clear
between
the
two
rivers,
had
effected
their
junction
with
Diebitsch,
and
on the
morning
of
the
2Gth the whole
Russian
army
advanced on Ostrolenka.
In
front of
the town extends
a
plain,
interspersed
as we
have said
with
sands,
marshes,
and
some wooded
hillocks.
Here
Luhienski's
cavalry
deployed,
awaiting
the
Russians,
behind
general
Kaminski's
division of
infantry.
At
nine in
the
morning
the
great
Russian
army
arrived
SGS
history or
eussia.
[en.
LXYII.
en masse
in the
plain,
spreading
out like
a
fan,
and
flanked
by
clouds of
Cossacks. The
affair
was
begun by
the
troops
of
general
Berg,
which were
vigorously
received
by
Kamin-
ski's
infantry.
But
as
the
vast
numbers of
the
Bussians
threatened
to
hern in the
whole Polish
body,
it
was forced
to
abandon the
ground.
The
cavalry
first fell
back on Ostro-
lenka,
and
general
Pac
ordered
it
to
cross over
to
the
right
bank.
It was
followed
by
Kaminski's
infantry.
The 4th
regiment
of
the line
brought
up
the
rear,
and fell
back
slowly
;
stopping
from time
to
time to
repulse
the
Bussian
cavalry,
which
poured
like a
deluge
upon
it,
it fired from all
its
fronts,
and
reached
Ostrolenka,
whilst
the
troops,
whose
retreat it
covered,
hurried
through
the town to
the two
bridges
to
join
the bulk of
the
Polish
army encamped
in
perfect
security
on
the
right
bank.
But
the
Bussians
entered
on
the
heels of the
rear-guard
at
several
points.
Disorder
began.
Unfinished barricades
obstructed the
streets
;
shells
burst in
every
direction,
and
the
houses of
Ostrolenka
were in flames
:
the
fight
con-
tinued
in
the
midst
of the
conflagration.
"Whilst
the Poles
were
debouching
by
all the issues
towards
the
bridges,
the
grenadiers
of
Astrakhan,
already posted
in the houses
adjoin-
ing
the
river,
fired at
point-blank
distance on the
retreating
battalions.
The
Bussians,
mingled
with
Poles,
choked
up
the
avenues and
planted
their
batteries on the
bank
of the
river.
The
4th
regiment,
left
alone in
the
town,
had to cut its
way
tlu-ough
this
dense
multitude. It
closed
its
ranks,
and
with
loud
hurrahs
charged
the
human
mass
at the
point
of
the
bayonet,
made an awful
carnage,
and cleared
a
passage
to
the
bridge,
leaving
it
piled
with
dead.
Nothing
was seen
on
the
surface
of
the
blood-red
Narew but
the
dead
or
the
dying.
It
is
eleven
in the
forenoon. The Astrakhan
and Suvarof
grenadiers
rush
headlong
on
the
crazy
bridges
in
pursuit
of the
4th
regiment
of
the
line. The Polish
cannoniers,
after
repeatedly
sweeping
the
bridge,
have been
one
by
one
picked
off
by
sharpshooters,
and stretched dead
by
their
guns.
It
is round
these
pieces
that the
fight
rages
on
the
right
bank. The
Bussians are
protected
by
the fire
of
eighty
guns,
which the
curve
of the
river
enables
them
to
range
in
A.D.
1831]
TILE
INSURRECTION
OF
POLAND. 369
a
horse-shoe form
on the left hank.
Suddenly
the
general-
issimo
arrives in
wild
dismay
among
the
Poles. A
moment
before,
quiet
and
unsuspecting
in his
head-quarters,
he
thought
he heard
the noise of a common
engagement.
The
troops
seated
round their bivouac fires
had
not
eaten
for
thirty
hours.
On
learning
that the Russian
army
is
assailing
the
right
bank,
all assemble
tumultuously
;
the
battalions rush
to meet the
enemy
without order or
concert.
Skrzynecki
gallops
like a
madman
from column
to
column,
shouting,
"
Ho
!
Pybinski
!
Malachowski !
Forward
!
forward,
all !"
Himself,
with his
coat torn
with
balls,
rushes towards the
bridge,
from
which fresh
masses are
every
moment
issuing
;
and
taking
his battalions one after the
other,
he
plunges
them into the melee.
The
generals
set the
example
;
Lan-
germann,
Pac, Muchowski,
and
Prondzynski
execute
furious
but
ineffectual
charges
;
the Polish
artillery
has
soon
spent
its ammunition
;
the
battery
of
colonel Bern alone carries
death into the
ranks of the
enemy.
The battle is
fought
man to
man,
with
swords and
pikes.
A
sort of
frenzy
seizes
the
Poles. Hundreds of officers
are seen
rushing
to the
front,
sword in
hand,
singing
the Warsaw
hymn.
The
lancers
attempt
to
charge
in
their
turn,
and the
general-
issimo
urges
them on at full
speed
;
but
their
horses sinlc
up
to
the breast
in
the
plashy
soil,
and
they
are
exterminated
without
striking
a blow.
Night
began
to fall
: the
field of
battle
was now but
a
vast
cemetery. Skrzynecki
had
succeeded in
preventing
the
Russian
army
from
passing
over
wholly
to
the
right
bank.
He remained master of
the
field:
but it
had cost
him
7000
men. Generals
Kicki and
Kaminski
were
slain,
270 officers
had
fallen. The
Russians
recrossed
the
Narcw
during
the
night,
haying
lost
more than
10,000
men. The
Polish
generalissimo
gave
orders to
retreat to
Warsaw,
and as
he
stepped
into
his
carriage
with
Prondzynski,
he
repeated
sadly
the famous
words of
Kosciusco,
Finis
Polonicc.
Shutting
himself
up
in
the
camp
of
Poltusk,
whither the
cholera
had
pursued
him,
Diebitsch
sank
into a
profound
melancholy.
No
longer
douhting
the
loss of his master's
favour,
he
sought
oblivion of
his
losses
and humiliations
in
intoxication.
He
died on
the
11th
of
June,
and
his death
was
almost
immediately
followed
by
that
of
the
grand-duke
VOL.
II.
2
B
370
HISTORY
OF
ETJSSIA.
[CH.
LSVII.
Constantine. Both have
been attributed to
poison
adminis-
tered
by
the
emperor's
most
trusted
confidant,
count
Orloff;
but
this is
nothing
more than
a
conjecture,
not
only
unsup-
ported
by
a tittle of
evidence,
but even at
variance
with
pro-
bability.
Meanwhile,
from the
depths
of
Russia
incessantly
poured
forth
new masses of
troops.
The
Russian
army,
70,000
strong,
with 300
cannon,
had
passed
under
the command
of
field-marshal
Paskievitck,
of
Erivau,
the
conqueror
of the
Persians.
Renouncing
the
idea
of
attacking
Warsaw
on the
right
bank,
where it
was defended
by
the
suburb
Praga,
and
by
the
river
itself,
this
daring
man
formed the
project
of
transporting
his line of
operations
to
the other
side of
the
Vistula.
His
plan
was
to
march
towards
the
Prussian
fron-
tier,
where
additional succours of
every description
awaited
him,
to
cross the
Vistula at
Oziek,
and
to return
and
attack
"Warsaw
on the left bank.
After
passing
Warsaw,
the
river
continues
its course
towards the
north
for
about five
leagues,
as
far as
Modlin,
a
fortified
town,
then
occupied
by
the
Poles.
At this
place
it
makes an
elbow,
turning
sharp
round to
the west
;
and
here
receives
the
Bug
and the
Narew, which,
just
before
united
into a
single
stream,
throw themselves
into
it
by
one mouth.
Modlin,
then,
was a
fortress,
whence the Poles were
to com-
mand
the new theatre of
war. But the
resolution of the
field-marshal was
taken,
and on the 4th of
July
the Russian
army
was
put
in
motion. Divided
into four
columns,
it
was
ordered
to execute
a
parallel
march,
turning
round
Modlin,
as round a
pivot,
the
column nearest that fortress
having
di-
rections to
advance
slowly,
in order that
the column
at
the
extremity
of
the radius
might
have
time
to
accomplish
its
movement. This march was
in the
highest degree
rash and
dangerous.
The
soldiers
had to make their
way
over a
country
ploughed up
by
the
heavy
rains,
and
intersected in
every
direction with
rivers and
torrents. Worn
out
by
the
heaviness
of
the
way,
encumbered
by
their
baggage,
their
large park
of
artillery,
and
the immense
train
requisite
for
the
transport
of
twenty
days'
victualling
for such
an
army,
pursued,
moreover,
by
the
cholera,
which
strewed
the
road
with
dead
and
dying,
the
various
divisions
dragged
on their
painful
march,
exhausted,
broken
up, dispersed.
Had an
A.D.
1S31]
THE INSUEKECTION
OF
POLAND.
371
army
of
40,000
men,
debouching
from
M
odlin,
fallen
upon
these
disordered
masses,
there
is
every probability
that
Paskievitch
would have been
utterly
overwhelmed,
that
Poland would have been saved.
A
corps
of
Polish
cavalry,
sent
out
as a
reconnoitring
party,
proved,
indeed,
the
ex-
treme
probability
of such
a
result,
by
the entire
confusion
which it threw
into
the Russian
army,
by
driving
in Ataman's
Cossacks.
But,
tranquil
on the left
bank,
Skrzynecki
occupied
him-
self and his
troops
with the celebration
of
mass. "Battle!
battle !"
vociferated
the
troops
with
enthusiastic
energy,
each
time that the
general passed
before
their ranks
;
but head-
strong,
inflexible,
he
merely
smiled or
shrugged
his
shoulders.
What
mystery
lurked
beneath
this
conduct ? Did
the hero
of
Dobre,
of
Grochow,
of
Waver,
of
Dembewilkie,
wish to
draw
the
Russians over to the
left
bank,
in
the
hope
of
crushing
beneath
the
walls of
Warsaw
the formidable
field-
marshal,
then cut off from all
communication
with
Russia,
and
inextricably
involved
in the disasters
of
an
impossible
retreat
? But
to seize
the
victory
which offered
itself was
surely
better
than
to await it under circumstances
;
to
post-
pone
it
until it
was,
as
he
might
deem
complete,
was to
ren-
der it
uncertain.
So
thought
the
generals,
so
thought
the
soldiers,
compelled
to
inactivity.
Loud
and
general
clamour
arose;
and well it
might,
for
Paskievitch,
in the
mean
time,
hud
crossed
the river on
floating bridges,
the
materials
for
which
had
been
prepared
by
Prussia at
Thorn,
and
his
army
was
now
advancing
in
compact
array
to swallow
up
devoted
Warsaw.
The
clamour
now
became
universal
;
murderous
riots
broke
out in
Warsaw,
and
Krukowiecki,
their
alleged
was
appointed
dictator ou
the
lGth
of
August.
On the 19th
of
August,
Krukowiecki assembled
a
council
of
war,
which,
of all
the measures
proposed
to
it,
most
deci-
sively
rejected
that
which was at
once
the
boldest,
and
the
onbj
practicable
one,
namely,
that
suggested by
the dictator
him-
self,
w
hich
was,
to
give
battle
under the walls of
Warsaw
with
the
entire
farce
at the
disposition
of the
government.
TJmin-
ski
proposed
to detach
one half of
the
army by
1
lie
right
bank
of
the river into Podlachia
to
victual
the
capital,
and render
it
capable
of a
long
defence.
Dembinski
suggested
that
the
whole
army
should
abandon
Warsaw,
and
transport
itself
into
2
b
2
372
HISTORY OF
RUSSIA.
[CH.
LXTII.
Lithuania,
crushing
on
its
way
the
small
corps
of
Eosen
and
Grolowin.
These
two latter
plans
were
evidently
only
admissible
after
the
first
had
been
tried.
Tor,
after
they
had
given
battle
there
would be
ample
time
for
them,
in the
event
of
defeat,
to
entrench
themselves in
the
city,
to vic-
tual
it
from the
right
bank,
to arm
the
people,
to barri-
cade
the
streets,
and
to renew
the immortal defence
of
Saragossa.
As to
the
proposition
of
Dembinski,
it was
only
worthy
of
consideration as a forlorn
hope,
as a last
resource,
after
the failure
of
everything
else. The
plan adopted
was
that of
Uminski
;
a
most fatal
selection,
for it
sent
away
one
entire half of
an
army,
already
far
too
weak,
on
the
prepos-
terous mission
of
procuring,
a full
fortnight
before
they
were
wanted,
additional
provisions
for
a
city,
whose
greatest clanger
at
that
moment
was,
not
famine,
but
assault.
Accordingly,
Ramorino was
despatched
with
20,000
men
and
forty-two
pieces
of
cannon
into
Podlachia,
and
Lubienski,
with
a
detachment of
4000 men
into the
palatinate
of
Plock,
so
that
there
remained for the defence of the
capital only
35,000
men.
On
learning
that
the Polish
army
was
thus
broken
up,
Paskievitch
decided
upon
attempting
an
assault,
and
fixed the 6th
of
September
for that
purpose.
His
forces
had
just
been
increased
by
a new
army
of
30,000 men,
which
general
Kreutz had
brought.
Thus the
capital
of Poland
was
menaced
at
different
points
by
a
total mass
of
120,000
men
and
386 cannon ! The
effective of the Polish
army
was about
80,000
men and 144
cannon,
but
there were at the
present
mo-
ment
in
Warsaw
only
35,000
men and 136
pieces
of
artillery.
The
city
was defended
on the left bank
by
three semicircular
lines of
vallations,
the most extended of which did not em-
brace
less
than
five
leagues.
The
principal
sallies
were
Wola,
Pariz,
and
Marymont,
connected
together
by
lunettes.
This
immense
development,
to be
adequately
maintained,
required
an
army
three times as
large
as that of the Poles.
Certain
points,
of
necessity insufficiently
manned, must,
as
a matter
of
course,
fall into
the
hands of
Paskievitch,
so that
they
had
built forts
for
the
enemy,
and
the
very
works
which were
in-
tended
to
stop
the
besieger,
became
an additional
element
of
success
at
his
disposition.
To
complete
this
misfortune,
the
points
the best
fortified
were
precisely
those
which
the Rus-
sians could
not attack.
Ivrukowiecki had conceived
the idea of