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
INSEEKECTION
OE POLAND.
373
embodying
the
male
population
of
the
suburbs,
and
Zalewski,
the
celebrated
chief
of
the
ensigns,
had succeeded
in
organising
an
urban
guard
of more
than
20,000
men,
the staff
of which
was formed
of
the
unemployed
officers
;
but
Chrzanowski,
by
spreading
an
alarm of another
night
of
the 15th
of
August,
obtained
the
dissolution
of
this
formidable
militia.
Thus
everything
conspired
to
bring
about
the fall of Warsaw
;
each
step'
that Poland
made towards
her
ruin,
corresponded
with
the
progressive
enfeeblement
of
the
democratic
principle.
Before
commencing
the
attack,
Paskievitch
wished
to at-
tempt
an
arrangement,
and
general Berg presented
himself
for
this
purpose
at the
outposts,
where he
had an
interview
with
Prondzynski
;
but the council
of ministers
and
Kruko-
wiecki
himself
having
declared
that
they
would
only
treat
on
the basis of a
manifesto,
which was
equivalent
to a
rup-
ture,
the field-marshal ordered
the attack
for
the next
day,
the
Gth
September,
and
prepared
his
troops
for
it
by
distri-
buting
among
them enormous
rations
of
brandy.
For the
Russians,
though good
soldiers,
well
able to endure
fatigue,
and obedient unto
death,
are deficient
in the
impetuous
energy requisite
for so terrible
an
assault
as this
was to
be.
At
daybreak
the Russians
opened
a
fire from two
hun-
dred
cannon.
Muravief and
Strantmann
advanced
to attack.
Uminski,
and
at
the same moment
the columns of
Kreutz
and
Luders,
debouching
from the
centre,
threw themselves
upon
the entrenchments to the left of
AVola,
and
carried
two
redoubts
;
but as
they
were
taking
possession
of
battery
51,
lieutenant Gordon
fired the
powder magazine,
and blew
up
himself
with
the
enemy.
Wola
was
then attacked
from be-
hind
by
the
victorious
troops,
and
in front
by
the
general
of
Pahlen'a
corps,
who
hurried
their
drunken soldiers on
to
the
assault,
after
having
battered the
walls
with
a hundred
and
fifteen
pieces
of
heavy
artillery.
Assailed
from
all
points
at
once,
the
garrison
of
Wola,
too feeble to resist
such
a
mighty
attack, retreated,
and
entrenched themselves in
the
church.,
where
their
old
commandant,
Sowinski,
made them swear
upon
the
cross
never to
surrender. The
place
was soon
forced,
and
the
soldiers
put
to
death,
Sowinski
himself
falling,
pierced
with
wounds,
upon
the altar.
Masters of
Wola,
the
Russians
planted
their
artillery
there,
and marched
from it
towards
noon,
under
cover of
the
fire of a hundred
cannon,
to
attack
the
second
line,
374
HISTOEY OF ETJSSIA.
[CH.
LXVII.
which,
resting
on the suburb of
Czyste,
was covered
at
the
point
of
assault
by forty pieces
of
cannon under
the direc-
tion of
the
deputy,
Roman
Soltyk,
and
of
general
Bern,
that
incomparable artillery
officer,
who had
been so fatal
to
Die-
bitsch at the
battle
of
Ostrolenka.
On
seeing
the
Eussians
debouch from the
fort,
the
general
directed
his
artillery
and
poured
in a terrible
fire,
overthrowing
horse
and
foot,
and
clearing
the
ground quite up
to the
entrenchments of
AVola,
which
Soltyk
inundated with shells and
projectiles.
The
generalissimo
Malachowski,
seizing
the
opportunity,
pushed
forward
two battalions of the
4th
regiment
of the line to re-
take
Wola
;
and a fierce
struggle
commenced at the foot
of
the
fort,
bristling
with
cannon,
and defended
by
a
body
of in-
fantry
double
the
number
of
the
assailants,
and which was
reinforced
by
four battalions of
grenadiers.
Thrice
these
masses fell
upon
the
two Polish
battalions,
and
each time
they
were driven back
to
the
fort,
by
one
of those
charges
at
the
point
of the
bayonet
which have
immortalised the 4th
regiment
of the line. The
enemy
at
length
found
itself
com-
pelled
to
send the
squadrons
of
Chilkoff
against
them,
and
the two
battalions,
not
being supported,
fell back
in
good
order
upon
the suburb
of
Czyste.
The
Russians remained
masters of the first
line,
of which
they occupied
the
chief
points.
The
battle
began
with
a
cannonade,
in
which
the Russians
had the
superiority
in number of
pieces
and the
Poles in
skill. Three hundred and
fifty pieces
thundered
together.
To facilitate the
principal
attack made
by
Kreutz and Pahlen's
corps
on
the
suburb of
Czyste,
Muravief received orders to
march
against
Uminski,
who commanded
the
left
of the
Poles,
by
the barriers of Jerusalem.
The
seventy-third
battery,
under
colonel
Przedpeiski, placed
on a salient
lunette,
played
aslant
on the
Russian
artillery
acting
against
Czyste,
dis-
abled
the
enemy's
pieces,
and
swept
all before
it.
Muravief
wished to
drive the colonel's
artillery
from
its
position.
Two
columns
of
infantry,
commanded
by general
Witt
in
perso?i,
advanced
along
the
two flanks of the
Raszyn
causeway
lead-
ing
to
the Jerusalem
gate.
The Polish
grenadiers,
without
waiting
for the
enemy
to
come
up,
rushed
on their
columns,
already
broken
by
the
discharges
of
grape,
and
made
a
great
carnage.
As
they
were
rallying,
IJminski
sent
the blue
lancers and
the
squadrons
of Sandomir
to
charge
them
in
A.D.
1831]
THE IKSUEEECTION
OF POLAND.
375
flank,
and
they
were driven
back
upon
their
batteries.
But
a
brigade
of
the
cavalry
of
the
Russian
guard
hastened
to
their
aid,
and drove
the Poles
back
to their
lines,
but
there
it suffered
its
imprudent
ardour to
carry
it
too far.
It was
mowed
down
by
the fire of
the
Poles,
and but
thirty
horses
were
left out of
the two
Russian
regiments.
Presh
masses
of
cavalry
attempted
to
carry
the
seventy-
third
battery,
but
the
cannon
made havoc
in their
ranks,
and
they
retreated
full
gallop.
Whilst
this formidable
battery
was
occupied
with
its own
defence,
Kreutz and Pahlen refitted
their
damaged
pieces,
and recommenced
the attack on
Czyste,
which
was the
salient
point
of
the
second
line.
Their
columns marched
resolutely
over the
ground
swept
by
their
artillery,
and
they
carried two batteries.
Assailed
on
all sides
by
Pahlen's
troops,
which
stole
along
under cover
of
the houses
and
garden
walls,
the
twenty-third
battery,
commanded
by
colonel
Romanski,
sustained
a
desperate
con-
flict. Pomanski
was
killed. He and Bern
were
the ablest
officers of
artillery
in the two armies.
It was five in the
afternoon.
The
Czyste
faubourg
had
been
set
on
fire
by
a shower of
shells,
and the flames
lighted
up
the
streets
strewed with dead. The
gardens
and
enclo-
sures
became
the
scenes of
partial
conflicts,
in
which
the
combatants
fought
almost man
to
man. The
4th
regiment
of the
line,
entrenched
in
the
cemetery,
made
a
furious
de-
fence,
but
was soon
driven
from
beneath
the
wall
of
the
toll-
house
by
the
spread
of
the
conflagration.
General
Nabakoff,
and the
grenadiers
led
by
Szachoskoi
himself,
advance
as
for
as
the
barrier of
"Wola,
seek
a
passage
through
the
flames,
and become
entangled
in
a
labyrinth
of
lanes,
ditches,
and
parapets.
On
reaching
the
cross
ways,
their
ranks
were
swept
by
four
pieces
of
cannon,
planted
at
the
end
of
the
alley.
The murderous
conflict
continued
for
into the
night.
That
day
the
people
of
Warsaw
were disarmed,
and
bhe mobs
were
dispersed!
The
streets
of
the
city
were
silent
and
deserted;
all
eyes
were
turned towards
Praga,
whence
the
20,000
men under
Pamorino,
so
cruelly
backward,
were
every
moment
expected.
At
nine in the
evening
the
army
received
news of the
capitulation,
with
orders
to
retire on
Praga.
376
HISTORY OP
RUSSIA.
[CH.
LXYIII.
CHAPTEE
LXVIII.
CRUELTIES
INFLICTED ON THE
POLES
—
PERSECUTION
OP
THE
UNITED GREEK
CHURCH
—
MARTYRDOM OP THE NUNS OF
MINSK.
Poland now
lay
bleeding
at
the
feet
of
Nicholas,
and
fearful
was
his
vengeance.
The
vanquished
were
treated
as
criminals
;
patriotism
and
independence,
virtues which
we
should
rejoice
to see
possessed by
the
Russians,
were
im-
puted
as crimes
to
the Poles.
Siberia,
the
Caucasus,
and
the
army,
were
filled with these
unhappy
beings
;
Poland
was
incorporated
with
Russia, and,
contrary
to
all
treaties,
be-
came a
province
of that
empire. Every
species
of
punish-
ment
was
inflicted
;
and neither
property
nor
the ties
of
family
were
respected.
In one
government,
that
of
Podolia,
an
order
was
given
to
transplant
five hundred families
(twenty-five
or
thirty
thou-
sand
souls)
of
amnestied
insurgents,
or
of
suspected
persons
;
an order to
transplant
them
to
the
frontier
of the
Caucasus,
to the uncultivated and
miasmatic
lands,
within a
stone's
throw of
the
enemy.
The
reply
of the
governor
of Podolia
is
interesting.
There
exist,
says
he,
three
classes
of
nobles :
1.
The noble
proprietors.
2. The noble
servants, labourers,
and
workmen
;
and 3.
The
nobles of
towns,
tradesmen,
ad-
vocates,
&c.
It is most essential not to be restricted to
the
first,
but
to take from
the other
two,
"
to
rid the
country
of such
persons."
This execrable
appeal
to
imperial
fero-
city
was
perfectly
understood.
In his letter
of
the
6th
(18th)
of
April,
1832,
the minister
of
the interior
replies,
that
his
majesty
has
sanctioned these
regulations,
adding
with
Ms own
hand,
they
are
to
serve
not
only
for
Podolia,
but for
all
the
tvestem
governments,
care
being
taken
only
to send
those
persons
who
were
capable
of work
;
their fami-
lies could
be sent
later.
So
they
are to
go
alone,
separated
from
all
belonging
to
them
;
the wife and the
children
stay
to
die
of
hunger
in
Poland,
and the husband
departs
to meet
his
death
in the
Caucasus.
A.D.
1832]
SEQUEL
OE THE
INSUEKECTION
OE POLAND. 377
Finally,
the
emperor
adds,
that
the nobles of
the
second
class,
not
proprietors,
shall
be
placed
apart,
enrolled
among
the
Cossacks,
without
intercourse with
the colonies
of
their
countrymen.
These
fearful
regulations
were not
merely
transitory;
they
still serve
as
the basis
of
fixed
measures
which
make
humanity
shudder.
For
the French
conscription,
which
drew
the
men
by
lot,
has
been
substituted
the
horror
of
Eussian
recruitments,
in
which
the men are
arbitrarily
chosen
accord-
ing
to
the humour
of
their
masters and
the
imperial
agents.
It is needless
to
say
how
little those
suspected
of
Polandism
are
spared
in
this
operation.
Thus
chosen,
they
march
to
the
Caucasus,
whence,
according
to the
avowal
of
Paskie-
vitch,
they
never return.
By
this
means,
Eussia
has
esta-
blished
a kind of horrid
issue,
out
of
which
runs
the
best
blood
of
Poland,
her
manhood
and
her
strength.
The
worst
rigours
of
this
system
have
fallen
upon
the
second
class,
that
of
the noble
peasants,
a
body
essentially
military,
and
which,
more than
the
citizens
of
towns,
forms
the
real
middle
class
in Poland. In
the
first
place,
they
were
lowered
to
the
rank
of the soi-disant free
peasants
of
Eussia
(odnodvortzi)
: then
a means
was found
of
making
them
pay
four
times
for
once
the
tax of
blood.
All
other classes
of
Eussian
subjects
un-
dergo
recruitment
only
every
two
years,
but
they
every year.
Others furnish five men in
a
thousand, they
furnish
ten.
Thus
their burden is
quadrupled.
The
ordinance
of
1832,
which
alone
remained
to
Poland,
was soon
infringed by
the
emperor
himself.
In
the
follow-
ing
year,
he undertook
the entire
transformation
of
the
country.
For
the Polish
division
of
palatinates,
he
substi-
tuted
the Eussian
division
of
governments
;
for
the
decimal
and
metrique
division,
followed
by
the
Poles,
the
Eussian
weights
and
measures;
for
the modern
calendar
of
common
sense
and of
science,
the old Julian
calendar.
Lastly,
he
has
tried to efface the
Polish
language!
suppressing
it
in
the different
administrations,
dismissing
those
functionaries
who
were
unacquainted
with
Eussian, commanding
the
use
of
the Eussian
language
in
the
Polish
schools,
forbidding
the
youth
to
speak
their own
native
tongue
!
Several
stu-
dents of
Wilna
met
secretly
to
speak
the
Polish
language.
378
HISTORY OF RUSSIA.
[CH.
LXYIII.
Surprised,
and carried
off,
bound
to
the tails
of the Cossacks'
horses,
behold
them
soldiers
for life !*
It
was
in the month of
March, 1832,
during
the
emperor's
most violent
fury,
that
he commanded
the
transplantation
of
so
many
families. Then
it
was that he
caused to be
seized
(that
is the word used
by
the
council
of
administration)
all
the male
children,
vagabonds, orphans,
and
poor,
from seven
to sixteen
years
of
age.
The
order came
direct
by
the
aide-
de-camp
Tolstoi.
Paskievitch,
in
his
regulations, expresses
himself
differently
;
by
means of two letters he
changes
the
whole
sense
—
a
change
he
would not have
made without the
authority
of the
emperor.
He
says
or,
and not and- he
says orphans
OR
poor;
a
most cruel
distinction,
because
from that moment
might
be taken
away
children
who,
though
not
orphans,
belonged
to
poor
parents.
The
govern-
ment of
Warsaw,
in
publicly
posting
this cruel
order,
added,
with the view
to
soften and
mitigate
the
public
fermentation,
these
words
foreign
to the
text: Those
children
having
no
place
of
abode. In
reality,
the children
of
poor parents
were
not the less
seized,
in
spite
of the
violent
and
terrible
protes-
tations of their
parents.
*
"
This strikes me
as
the
most
outrageous
of
enterprises,
the most
barbarous and unnatural
cruelty.
Our
language,
our mother
tongue,
dear
to
every
one of
us,
that
which
recals to
us,
in its
every
word and
its
every
sound,
the voice of our
country,
and which
affords us all
the
sweet emotions
of
our
life,
our homes of
childhood,
and our time of
love. .
. . Tear it
from our
hearts,
and
you
tear
our
hearts in
the
effort.
It seems
to me that what remains the most treasured
in our
remembrance,
of
those
whom
we have loved
and lost
for
ever,
more than
their
features,
more than their
expression,
more
than
their
gestures,
is
the
sound of their
household words. That
which I have
the
most re-
membered
of
my
father,
with whom
I lived
during forty-eight
years
of
my
life,
is the tone of
his voice. ... I start
when
I
think
that he is
still
beside
me,
that
he
speaks
to
me and
says,
'
My
son
!'
Yes,
all our
heart
is in
our
native
tongue
—
friendship,
love,
country.
Each of
the
great
nations
has inherited
the
best
part
of itself
in
its
language
and
its voice. The
heroic
Polish
tongue,
all
vibrating
with
manly
tones,
causes even
him who understands not
the
meaning
of the
words to feel
the
majesty
of the ancient
republic;
it
brings
before
the
beating
heart
all
the
glory
of
her
history.
One
hears the noble
voice
of heroes. The
Eussian
language
has a
very agreeable
sound,
sweet
and
caressing.
It
resembles
the
melodious
language
of
the
South.
Inflict
it
upon
Poland,
and
you
change
the national
character
in
a most
serious
point
—
you
render
it
weak
and
effeminate."
—
Michekt.
A.D.
18321
SEQUEL
OF
THE INSTJEBECTION
OE POLAND.
379
It
was
a most
fearful
scene.
After several
convoys
of
children
bad been
carried
off
by
night,
on the
17th
of
May,
1832,
one was
sent off
in the
daytime.
The
mothers
ran
after
the
waggons,
tearing
their breasts
;
several
threw
themselves
under
the
wheels,
and
were
only
driven
away
with
stripes.
On
the
18th,
another
multitude
of little
children,
who worked
or sold
in the
streets,
were
seized.
On the
10th,
the
parish
schools
were
emptied.
These
poor
little
things,
so carried
off,
died
like insects
throughout
the
whole
journey.
"When
they
were too weak
to
go
on,
they
were
left
to
die
by
the road-side.
The bodies
of
these little
innocents
were
found
by
the
country
people
;
near
them
lay
their
bread,
which
they
had
not
had
strength
enough
to
touch.
The
emperor
had
just
discovered
(what
had been
known
from
all
time)
that the Jews of
Poland,
excluded
from
all
honest
industry,
lived
by
smuggling
and
second-hand
deal-
ing.
An order
was issued
to
transport
them,
without
loss
of
time,
to the
extremity
of Eussia.
Never
had
there been
such
desolation
since
the
ruin of Jerusalem.
No
delay.
The Cossacks
arrive
—
the
goods
are
in the streets.
"
Clear
off
! March
! Go
you
must,
that is
the order.
—
Not a
day,
not an
hour."
Old
men,
women,
young
children,
depart;
they
drag
themselves
along,
the soldiers
press
behind
and
goad
them
at
need.
They
fall from weariness
and
hunger.
There
they
are
left
helplessly
to
die,
like so
many
dogs.
The
wife
may
faint
and
die,
but the husband
must
march
on.
Is
this
enough
?
No.
The
survivors,
in
their new
habitations,
see the
beginning
of
another
murderous
persecution,
the
co7iscription
of
their
children
! At six
years
old
they
are
carried
off for the
military
or
naval
service.
All these chil-
dren
die.
The Jew cannot
exist as a
soldier.
Towards the
end
of
the sixteenth
century
a
large body
in
the Greek
church
separated
itself
from the orthodox
or
state
establishment,
and under
the
name of
the
TTniate,
or
United
Greek
Church,
entered
into
communion
with
Borne,
placing
itself
under
the
spiritual
supremacy
of
the
pope,
in
opposition
to
that
of
the
patriarch,
and afterwards
of the
sovereign.
This schism
struck
the
deepest
root in
Lithuania
and
modern
Poland;
and,
since
the
partition
of
the
empire,
has had
powerful
political
influence
in
keeping
380 HISTORY OF
RUSSIA.
[CH.
LXVIII.
up
the
feeling
of Polish
nationality
;
the Uniate
Church and
national
fidelity
being
held as
synonymous,
while
the Polish
adherent
to the
Eusso-Greek or orthodox
church was
gene-
rally
assumed to be
an
apostate
to his
faith,
and a traitor to
his
country.
It
was therefore a
matter
of
great
importance
to the czar
to
destroy
this
schismatic
branch,
and it
was done.
The
process
was
very simple
: the
villages
were
surrounded,
and the
priests,
after
receiving
the
knout,
were carried off.
The
Eussian
priest,
whip
in
hand,
passed
in
review the
trembling
flock,
threatening
them,
lashing
them.
The
obsti-
nate
were shut
up
in heated
rooms
filled with
the smoke of
green
wood.
Grace
soon
operated upon
them
by
means of
suffocation.
All
being
so
well
agreed
in the new
faith,
they
were
consigned
to
the
church,
and there the sacrament was
thrust
down their
throats,
while the
whip
was
held over
their
heads. The
most
horrible of these
clragonades
took
place
out of
Poland,
in the
military
colonies established
in
the
wastes of
Eussia. The
unruly
were sent
thither,
and
under the
pretext
of
military discipline,
were
literally
crushed
with
blows,
without even
the
consolation of
reli-
gious
martyrdom,
—
killed,
not as
Catholics,
but as
rebellious
soldiers.
Nevertheless,
their
conversion was
triumphantly
proclaimed.
A visible miracle.
To
aid
this
good
work,
laws
were
passed
which forbade
the
hearing
of
mass,
ex-
cepting
on
Sundays
and
great
festivals
;
which
forbade
the
teaching
of
the
Catholic
religion
to the children of
Catholic
parents
;
which
prescribed
the sermons that were
to
be
preached,
and the catechisms that
were to
be
used in
Catholic churches
;
and which allowed of no
theological
ex-
planations
of
theological
differences
; which,
later,
dispersed
the
Catholic
priests
with
violence,
shut
up
their
churches,
and
refused all
spiritual
consolations to their
flocks
;
which
ex-
communicated as schismatic all Catholic children
not
baptised
according
to
the rules
of
the established church
within
four-
and-twenty
hours after their
birth,
and which offered entire
pardon
and
indemnity
to
any
Catholic convicted
of
any
crime
whatsoever
—
murder,
robbery,
no matter what
—
who recanted
and
became
orthodox.
So
much
vigorous
legislation
was
not
without
its effect. In
the
spring
of
1839
the whole
of the
episcopal
body
of
the
Uniate
signed
the act
of
recantation,
A.D.
1839]
MARTYRDOM
OF
THE
NUNS OF
MINSK.
3S1
petitioning
the
emperor
graciously
to re-admit
them
into the
bosom
of the
orthodox
church,
and
asking pardon,
both
of
him
and
of
God,
for
their
long
blindness
and
obstinacy.
The
em-
peror
deigned
to
grant
their
prayer.
His
official
journal,
in
an
edifying
article,
chants
forth a
pious
Hosannah
:
"
Happy
union
!" it
exclaims,
"
and
which
has cost
no
tears
!
mildness
and
persuasion
were
alone
employed
!"
To celebrate
the in-
corporation
of
the
united Greeks
with
the orthodox
church,
a medal was
struck
with this
inscription:
"Separated
by
violence in
1596,
reunited
by
love
in 1839."
Amongst
the converted
clergy,
the
bishop
Siemaszko
dis-
tinguished
himself as
particularly
ardent
in
his
professions
of
orthodoxy
;
and
as a
proof
of his
zeal
—
or as
its
reward—
he
undertook
the
task
of
converting
the
Basilian
nuns
of
Minsk,
of
whom
he
had been
"
bishop
and
shepherd."
He
began
his mission
with
moderation,
even with
kindness,
calling
on
them
affectionately,
a3 their
pastor,
to
renounce
the commu-
nion
of
Home,
and
the acts of
St. Basil
; but,
as
their
refusals
were
more
vehement
than
he
had looked
for,
his
behaviour
suddenly
changed
;
and one
Friday,
as
the
nuns
were
going
to
prayers,
Siemaszko,
accompanied
by
Uszakof,
the
civil
go-
vernor
of
Minsk,
and
a
troop
of
soldiers,
burst
open
the
con-
vent
gates,
to offer
them their
final
choice
between
honours
with
the
orthodox
religion,
and
constancy
to
their communion
•with
forced
labour
in Siberia.
The nuns
despised
his threats
as
they
had
rejected
his bribes.
The
reverend
mother,
Makrena
Mira/.yslawski,
answered
generally
in
the
name
of
all,
and
Siemaszko
then ordered
them,
angrily,
to
prepare
instantly
for
a
march.
"With
difficulty
they
obtained
per-
mission
to
offer
up
a
few
prayers
before
their
departure.
They
Hung
themselves
before
the
host,
the
renegade prelate
cursing
them
as
they
prayed.
Thirty-five
knelt
on
the church
flags
; but,
when thev rose
up
to
go,
one
was
found
dead,
Hosalie Lenszeka.
Her
heart
had broken
between
fear
and
grief.
They
were
marched
through
the
town;
the
orphan
chil-
dren,
of
whom
they
had
forty-
seven
in the
convent,
following
them
with
tears and
lamentations,
and
many
of
the
inhabi-
tants
crowding
round
them,
weeping
too
;
for,
according
to
various
depositions,
these nuns of St.
Basil
were
much
be-
382
HISTOEY OF ETTSSIA.
[Cfl.
LXVIII.
loved.
Their kindness and
benevolence
to
the
poor
and
the
afflicted
was a
matter of
public notoriety
and of
public
benefit.
The soldiers were afraid
of a
popular
demonstration if
they
attempted
any personal
violence
in the
town,
so that
the
nuns were not
ironed until
they
came
to their
first
halting-
place,
about a
league
from Minsk. There
they
were
chained
in
couples,
with irons on their hands
and
feet,
and in
this
manner
they
marched
for
seven
days,
until
they
reached
Witebsk.
They
were
placed
in a
convent
of
Czernicks,
or
Black
Nuns,
chiefly
widows of Russian soldiers
;
women of
coarse habits and cruel
feelings,
to
whom
they
were
appointed
servants,
or rather serfs
and
victims.
Their
coupling-
chains
were removed
;
but
their irons remained on their
feet
;
and
these
they
wore
for
the
seven
years
of
their
persecution.
At
this
convent
—
which
had
formerly
been
Basilian,
and had
be-
longed
to the Uniate Church
—
they
found
thirteen
of
its
former
owners,
Basilian
nuns,
subject
to the same
treatment
which
they
themselves were about to
undergo.
The whole
of the sisterhood united was
placed
under the
charge
of the
father
Ignatius
Mikhailievitch,
who had
formerly
been their
own
almoner,
but
who was now orthodox and
renegade.
Before six
o'clock
in the
morning
the nuns
performed
the
service of the
house,
drew
the
water,
carried
it,
prepared
the
wood,
lighted
the
fires, and,
in
short,
did all that was
required
in the establishment.
At
six
they
went to hard
labour :
breaking
stones
and
carrying
them in
wheel-
barrows,
to which
they
were chained.
Erom noon
to
one
o'clock
they
rested
;
from one
till
dark,
hard
labour
again
;
and,
after
dark,
household
work and
attending
to
the cattle.
Then
to
rest,
such as
they
might
find,
in a low
damp
room,
where
a few
wisps
of straw
was their
only
furniture,
and
where
their
clanking
irons
were not removed.
Their
food
was
so
scanty
and
so wretched
that the
beggars
used
to
bring
them
bread,
and often
they
shared
the
provender
of
the
cattle
when
serving
them,
—
a
crime
the
Black Nuns
punished
with
blows,
telling
them
they
did
not deserve
to
share the
food
of
their
hogs.
One of
their
most
painful
duties
was
cleaning
the
high
leather boots
worn
by
the
Czernicks,
Avith a
certain
preparation
called
"
dziegiec,"
which
was
overpoweringly sickening.
But
the
poor
nuns of