Poland. a manner as made them become formidable to the Turks and other neighbouring nations: and this is the military establishment to which the Poles have given the name of quartienne; because a fourth part of the revenue is employed in supporting them. Batori sent this body of cavalry towards the frontiers of Tartary, to check the incursions of those barbarians; by which means the Ukraine, a vast tract of desert country, was filled with flourishing towns and villages, and became a strong barrier Batori civi- against the Turks, Tartars, and Russians. The last

88

lizes the

memorable action of Batori was his attaching the CosCossacks. sacks to Poland, civilizing and instructing them in the arts of war and peace. His first endeavour was to gain their affections by his liberality; for which purpose, he presented them with the city of Techtemeravia, situated on the Boristhenes, which they formed into a magazine, and made the residence of their chieftains. He gave them officers of all degrees, established discipline among them, altered their arms, and formed them into a regular militia, which afterwards performed eminent services to the state. All kinds of manufactures at that time known in Poland were likewise established among the Cossacks; the women were employed in spinning and weaving woollen cloths, while the men were taught agriculture, and other arts proper for their sex.

While Batori was employed in this manner, the Swedes broke the convention into which they had entered with Poland, and were on the point of getting possession of Riga. To this, indeed, Batori himself had given occasion, by attempting to impose the Romish religion upon the inhabitants, after having promised them entire liberty of conscience. This so irritated them, that they revolted, and were on the point of admitting a Swedish garrison into the city, when the king was informed of what was going forward. Upon this he resolved to take a most exemplary vengeance on the inhabitants of Riga; but before he could execute his intention, he died in the year 1586, the 54th of his age, and roth of his reign.

The death of Batori involved Poland in fresh troubles. Four candidates appeared for the crown, viz. the princes Ernest and Maximilian of the house of Austria, Sigismund prince of Sweden, and Theodore czar of Muscovy. Each of these had a separate party; but Sigismund and Maximilian managed matters so well, that in 1587 both of them were elected. The consequence of this was a civil war; in which Maximilian was defeated and taken prisoner and thus Sigismund III. surnamed De Vasa, became master of the throne of Poland without opposition. He waged a successful war with the Tartars, and was otherwise prosperous; but though he succeeded to the crown of Sweden, he found it impossible for him to retain both kingdoms, and he was formally deposed from the Swedish throne. In 1610, he conquered Russia, and placed his son on the throne; but the Polish conquests of that country have always been but for a short time. Accordingly the young prince was soon after deposed; and the Russians not only regained their liberty, but began to make encroachments on Poland itself. A very unfortunate war also took place with Sweden, which was now governed by the great Gustavus Adolphus; the particulars of which, with the other exploits of that renowned warrior, are related under the article SWEDEN. At last Sigismund, worn out with cares and misfortunes, died in 1629.

After Sigismund's death the affairs of Poland seemed Poland. to revive a little under Uladislaus VII.; for he obliged the Russians to sue for peace, and Sweden to restore some of her conquests: but having attempted to abridge the liberty of the Cossacks, they revolted, and gave the Poles several terrible defeats. Nor was the war terminated in the lifetime of Uladislaus, who died in 1648. His successor, John Casimir, concluded a peace with these dangerous enemies: but the war was soon after renewed; and while the kingdom was distracted between these enemies and the discontents of its own inhabitants, the Russians took the opportunity of invading and pillaging Lithuania. In a little after the whole or kingdom was subdued by Charles Gustavus, successor Poland subto Christina queen of Sweden.

dued by

Charle's

Happily for Poland, however, a rupture took place Gustavus. between the courts of Sweden and Copenhagen; by which means the Poles were enabled to drive out the Swedes in 1657. This was succeeded by civil wars and contests with Russia, which so much vexed the king, that he resigned the crown in 1668.

For two years after the resignation of Casimir, the kingdom was filled with confusion; but on the 17th of September 1760, one Michael Coribut Wiesnowiski, collaterally descended from the house of Jagello, but in a very mean situation at that time, was chosen king. His reign continued but for three years; during which time John Sobieski, a celebrated Polish general, gave the Turks a dreadful overthrow, though their army consisted of more than 300,000 men; and had this blow been pursued, the Cossacks would have been entirely subdued, and very advantageous terms might have been obtained from the sultan. Of that vast multitude of Turks no more than 15,000 made their escape, the rest being all either killed or taken: however, the Polish soldiers, being bound by the laws of their country only to stay a certain time in the field, they refused to pursue this signal victory, and suffered the king to make peace on any terms he could procure.

Wiesnowiski died before the news of this transaction reached Cracow; and after his death a new scene of 92 confusion ensued, till at last the fortune of John Sobieski John Sobieski reprevailed, and he was elected king of Poland in 1674. trieves the He was a most magnanimous and heroic prince; who, Polish afby his valour and good conduct, retrieved the affairs of fairs. Poland, and entirely checked the progress of the Turks westward. These barbarians were everywhere defeated, as is particularly related under the article TURKEY; but notwithstanding his great qualities, Poland was now so thoroughly corrupted, and pervaded by a spirit of disaffection, that the latter part of this monarch's reign was involved in troubles, through the ambition and contention of some powerful noblemen.

Sobieski died in 1696; and with him fell the glory of Poland. Most violent contests took place about the succession; the recital of which would far exceed our limits. At last Frederic Augustus, elector of Saxony, prevailed; but yet, as some of the most essential ceremonies were wanting in his coronation, because the primate, who was in an opposite interest, would not perform them, he found it extremely difficult to keep his subjects in proper obedience. To add to his misfortunes, having engaged in a league with Denmark and Russia against Sweden, he was attacked with irresistible fury by Charles XII. Though Augustus had not been betrayed, K 2

as

Poland.

XII.

93

however, the court of Russia seemed determined to make her remonstrances more effectual, and a small body of Russian troops marched to within two miles of the capital of Poland.

as indeed he almost always was, he was by no means a match for the ferocious Swede. The particulars of this war, however, as they make great part of the exploits Poland of that northern hero, more properly fall to be related Conquered by Charles under the article SWEDEN. Here, therefore, we shall only observe, that Augustus was reduced to the humiliating necessity of renouncing the crown of Poland on ●ath, and even of congratulating his rival Stanislaus upon his accession to the throne: but when the power of Charles was broken by his defeat at Pultowa, the fortune of Augustus again prevailed; Stanislaus was driven out; and the former being absolved from his oath by the pope, resumed the throne of Poland.

Poles.

95 Elevation of Ponia

towski, by the name

of Stanis

94 DegeneSince that time the Polish nation has never made any racy of the figure. Surrounded by great and ambitious powers, it has sunk under the degeneracy of its inhabitants; so that it now scarcely exists as a nation. This catastrophe took place in the following manner: On the 5th of October 1763, died Augustus III. elector of Saxony, and king of Poland. He was succeeded by Count Poniatowski, a Polish grandee, who was proclaimed Sept. 7th 1764, by the name of Stanislaus Augustus, and crowned on the 25th of November the same year.-During the interregnum which took place between the death of Auguslaus Augustus III. and the election of Stanislaus, a decree had been made by the convocation-diet of Poland, with regard to the dissidents, as they were called, or dissenters from the Polish religion. By this decree they were prohibited from the free exercise of their religion, much more than they had formerly been, and totally excluded from all posts and places under the government. On this several of the European powers interposed, at the application of the dissidents for their good offices. The courts of Russia, Prussia, Great Britain, and Denmark, made remonstrances to the diet; but notwithstanding these remonstrances, the decree was confirmed by the coronationdiet held after the king's election.

tus, to the throne.

96

behalf of

dents.

October 6. 1766, an ordinary diet was assembled. InterfeHere declarations from the courts above mentioned were rence of foreign presented to his Polish majesty, requiring the re-estabpowers in lishment of the dissidents in their civil rights and privithe disleges, and the peaceable enjoyment of their modes of worship secured to them by the laws of the kingdom, which had been observed for two centuries. These privileges, it was alleged, had been confirmed by the treaty of Oliva, concluded by all the northern powers, which could not be altered but by the consent of all the contracting parties. The Popish party contended strongly for a confirmation of some decrees made against the dissidents in 1717, 1723, and 1736. The deputies from the foreign powers replied, that those decrees had passed in the midst of intestine troubles, and were contradicted by the formal protestations and express declarations of foreign powers. At last, after violent contests, the matter was referred to the bishops and senators for their opinion. Upon a report from them, the diet came to a resolution, That they would fully maintain the dissidents in all the rights and prerogatives to which they were entitled by the laws of their country, particularly by the constitutions of the year 1717, &c, and by treaties; and that as to their complaints with regard to the exercise of their religion, the college of archbishops and bishops, under the direction of the prince primate, would endeavour to remove those difficulties in a manner conformable to justice and neighbourly love. By this time,

Poland.

97

ces of this

These resolutions of the diet were by no means agreeable to the dissidents. They dated the beginning of their sufferings from the year 1717. The referring their griev ances to the archbishops and bishops was looked upon as a measure the most unreasonable that could be imagined, as that body of men had always been their opposers, and in fact the authors of all the evils which had befallen them. Shortly after matters were considered in this view, an additional body of Russians, to the number of about 15,000, entered Poland. The dissidents, being now pretty sure of the protec- Consequen tion of foreign powers, entered, on the 20th of March 1767, into two confederacies, at Thorn and Sluck.. One of them was signed by the dissidents of Great and Little Poland, and the other by those of the Great Duchy of Lithuania. The purpose of these confederacies was, an engagement to exert themselves in the defence of their ancient privileges, and the free exercise of their religion; professing at the same time, however, the utmost loyalty to the king, and resolving to send a deputation to him to implore his protection. They even invited those of the Catholic communion, and all true patriots, to unite with them in maintaining the fundamental laws of the kingdom, the peace of religion, and the right of each one jointly with themselves. They claimed, by virtue of public treaties, the protection of the powers who were guarantees of their rights and liberties; namely, the empress of Russia, and the kings of Sweden, Great Britain, Denmark, and Prussia. Lastly, they protested, that they had no intention of acting to the detriment of the Roman Catholic religion, which they duly respected and only asked the liberty of their own, and the re-establishment of their ancient rights. The three cities of Thorn, Elbing, and Dantzic, acceded to the confederacy of Thorn on the 10th of April; as did the duke and nobles of Courland to that of Sluck on the 15th of May.

The empress of Russia and king of Prussia, in the mean time, continued to issue forth new declarations in favour of the dissidents; and the Russian troops in Poland were gradually augmented to 30,000 men. Great numbers of other confederacies were also formed in different parts of the kingdom. These at first took little part in the affairs of the dissidents: they complained only of the administration of public affairs, in which they alleged that innovations had been introduced, and were therefore for some time called confederations of malcontents. All these confederacies published manifestoes, in which they recommended to the inhabitants to quarter and treat the Russian troops as the defenders of the Polish liberties.

98

The different confederacies of malcontents formed in General the 24 districts of Lithuania united at Wilna on the confedera 22d of June; and that general confederacy re-established cy. Prince Radzivil, who had married the king's sister, in his liberty, estates, and honour, of which he had been deprived in 1764 by the states of that duchy. On the 23d of June Prince Radzivil was chosen grand marshal of the general confederacy of all Poland, which then began to be called the national confederacy, and was said to be composed of 72,000 noblemen and gentlemen.

The

Poland.

99 Tamults in the diet.

100

Violent

ings of the Russians.

The general confederacy took such measures as appeared most proper for strengthening their party. They sent to the several waywodes of the kingdom, requiring their compliance with the following articles: 1. That all the gentlemen who had not signed the confederacy should do it immediately; 2. That all the courts of justice should subsist as formerly, but not judge any of the confederates; 3. That the marshals of the crown should not pass any sentence without the participation of at least four of the confederates; and, 4. That the marshals of the crown and the treasurers should be immediately restored to the possession of their respective rights. The Catholic party in the mean time were not idle. The bishop of Cracow sent a very pathetic and zealous letter to the dietines assembled at Warsaw on the 13th of August, in which he exhorted them to arm their nuncios with courage, by giving them orthodox and patriotic instructions, that they might not grant the dissidents new advantages beyond those which were secured to them by the constitutions of the country, and treaties with foreign powers, &c. The pope also sent briefs to the king, the great chancellor, the noblesse, bishops of the kingdom, and to the prince primate, with such arguments and exhortations as were thought most proper to ward off the impending danger. Councils in the mean time were frequently held at the bishop of Cracow's palace, where all the prelates at Warsaw assembled.

On the 26th of September 1767 the confederacy of dissidents was united with the general confederacy of malcontents in the palace of Prince Radzivil, who on that occasion expressed great friendship for the dissidents. In a few days after, the Russian troops in the capital were reinforced, and a considerable body of them was posted at about five miles distance.

On the 5th of October an extraordinary diet was held: but the affair of the dissidents met with such opposition, that it was thought necessary to adjourn the meeting till the 12th; during which interval, every expedient was used to gain over those who opposed Prince Radzivil's plan. This was, to appoint a commission, furnished with full power to enter into conference with Prince Repnin, the Russian ambassador, concerning the affairs of the dissidents. Notwithstanding all the pains taken, however, the meeting of the 12th proved exceedingly tumultuous. The bishops of Cracow and Kiow, with some other prelates, and several magnats, declared, that they would never consent to the establishment of such a commission; and at the same time spoke with more vehemence than ever against the pretensions of the dissidents. Some of the deputies answered with great warmth; which occasioned such animosities, that the meeting was again adjourned till the 16th.

On the 13th the bishops of Cracow and Kiow, the proceed- palatine of Cracow, and the staroste of Domski, were carried off by Russian detachments. The crime alleged against them, in a declaration published next day by Prince Repnin, was, that they had been wanting in respect to the dignity of the empress of Russia, by attacking the purity of her intentions towards the republic; though she was resolved to continue her protection and assistance to the general confederacy united for preserving the liberties of Poland, and correcting all the abuses which had been introduced into the goverament, &c.

It was probably owing to this violent proceeding of Poland. the Russians, that Prince Radzivil's plan was at last adopted, and several new regulations were made in favour of the dissidents. These innovations, however, soon produced a civil war, which at last ended in the ruin of the kingdom. In the beginning of the year 1768, a new confederacy was formed in Podolia, a province bordering on Turkey, which was afterwards called the confe- Confedera deracy of Bar. The intention of it was, to abolish, by cy of Barforce of arms, the new constitutions, particularly those in favour of the dissidents. The members of the new confederacy likewise expressed great resentment against the carrying away the bishops of Cracow, &c. and still detaining them in custody.

Podolia was reckoned the fittest place for the purpose of the confederates, as they imagined the Russians could not attack them there without giving umbrage to the Ottoman court. Similiar confederacies, however, were quickly entered into throughout the kingdom: the clergy excited all ranks of men to exert themselves in defence of their religion; and so much were their exhortations regarded, that even the king's troops could not be trusted to act against these confederates. The empress of Russia threatened the new confederates as disturbers of the public tranquillity, and declared that her troops would act against them if they persisted. It was, however, some time before the Russian troops were considerably reinforced nor did they at first seem inclined to act with the vigour which they might have exerted. A good many skirmishes soon happened between these two contending. parties, in which the confederates were generally defeated. In one of these the latter being worsted, and hardly pressed, a number of them passed the Niester, and took refuge in Moldavia. This province had formerly belonged to Poland, but was now subject to the Grand Signior: the Russians, however, pursued their enemies into Moldavia; but in order to prevent any offence being taken by the Porte, Prince Repnin wrote to the Russian resident at Constantinople, to intimate there, that the conduct of the Russian colonel who commanded the party was quite contrary to the orders of his court, and that therefore he would be turned out of his post.

Great cruelty in the mean time was exercised against the dissidents where there were no Russian troops to protect them. Towards the end of October 1769, Prince Martin Lubomirski, one of the southern confederates, who had been driven out of Poland, and had taken shelter with some of his adherents among the mountains of Hungary, got a manifesto posted up on several of the churches of Cracow, in which he invited the nation to a general revolt, and assuring them of the assistance of the Ottoman Porte, with whom he pretended to have concluded a treaty. This was the beginning of hostilities between the Turks and Russians, which were not terminated but by a vast effusion of blood on both sides.

102.

confedera

The unhappy kingdom of Poland was the first scene War beof this war, and in a short time was reduced to the most tween this deplorable situation. In the end of the year 1768, the cy and the peasants of the Greek religion in the Polish Ukraine, Russians. and province of Kiow, took up arms, and committed the greatest ravages, having, as they pretended, been threatened with death by the confederates unless they would turn Roman Catholics. Against these insurgents the Russians employed their arms, and made great numbers

per

for that purpose by Pulaski, who in the town of Czets- Poland. chokow in Great Poland obliged them to swear in the most solemn manner, by placing their hands between his, either to deliver the king alive into his hands, or, in case that was impossible, to put him to death. The three chiefs chose 37 persons to accompany them. On the second of November, about a month after they had quitted Czetschokow, they obtained admission into Warsaw, unsuspected or undiscovered, by the following stratagem. They disguised themselves as peasants who came to sell hay, and artfully concealed their saddles, arms, and clothes, under the loads of hay which they brought in waggons, the more effectually to escape de

Poland. of them prisoners. The rest took refuge among the Haidamacks; by whom they were soon joined, and in the beginning of 1769 entered the Ukraine in conjunction with them, committing every where the most horrid massacres. Here, however, they were at last defeated by the Polish troops, at the same time that several of the confederacies in Poland were severely chastised. Soon after, the chan of the Crim Tartars, having been repulsed with loss in an attempt on New Servia, entered the Polish territories, where he left frightful marks of his inhumanity upon some innocent and defenceless sons. This latter piece of conduct, with the cruelties exercised by the confederates, induced the Polish Cossacks of Braclau and Kiovia, amounting to near 30,000 effective men, to join the Russians, in order to defend their country against these destroyers. Matters continued much in the same way during the rest of the year 1769; and in 1770, skirmishes frequently happened between the Russians and confederates, in which the latter were almost always worsted; but they took care to revenge themselves by the most barbarous cruelties on the dissidents, wherever they could find them. In 1770, a considerable number of the confederates of Bar, who had joined the Turks, and been excessively ill used by them, came to an accommodation with the Russians, who took them under their protection on very moderate terms.

103 New confederacies.

Agriculture in the mean time had been so much neglected, that the crop of 1770 was very deficient. This encouraged a number of desperadoes to associate under the denomination of confederates, who were guilty of still greater excesses than those who had been under some kind of regulation. Thus a great part of the country was at last reduced to a mere desert, the inhabitants being either exterminated, or carried off to stock the remote Russian plantations, from whence they never could

return.

In the year 1771, the confederacies, which seemed to have been extinguished, sprang up afresh, and increased to a prodigious degree. This was occasioned by their having been secretly encouraged and supplied with money by France. A great number of French officers engaged as volunteers in their service; who having introduced discipline among their troops, they acted with much greater vigour than formerly, and sometimes proved too hard for their enemies. These gleams of success proved at last their total ruin. The Russians were reinforced and properly supported. The Austrian and Prussian troops entered the country, and advanced on different sides; and the confederates found themselves in a short time entirely surrounded by their enemies, who seemed to have nothing less in view than an absolute conquest of the country, and sharing it among themselves.

104 Before matters came to this crisis, however, the Attempt to assassinate confederates formed a design of assassinating the king, the king. on account of his supposed attachment to the dissidents. Of this singular occurrence we have the following account in the travels of Mr Coxe, communicated to the author by Mr Wraxall." A Polish nobleman, named Pulaski, a general in the army of the confederates, was the person who planned the atrocious enterprise; and the conspirators who carried it into execution were about 40 in uumber, and were headed by three chiefs, named Lukawski, Strawenski, and Kosinski. These three chiefs had been engaged and hired

tection.

"On Sunday night, the third of September 1771, a few of these conspirators remained in the skirts of the town; and the others repaired to the place of rendezvous, the street of the Capuchins, where his majesty was expected to pass by about his usual hour of returning to the palace. The king had been to visit his uncle Prince Czartoriski, grand chancellor of Lithuania, and was on his return from thence to the palace between nine and ten o'clock. He was in a coach, accompanied by at least 15 or 16 attendants, beside an aid-de-camp in the carriage: scarce was he at the distance of 200 paces from Prince Czartoriski's palace, when he was attacked by the conspirators, who commanded the coachman to stop on pain of instant death. They fired several shot into the carriage, one of which passed through the body of a beyduc, who endeavoured to defend his master from the violence of the assassins. Almost all the other persons who preceded and accompanied his majesty were dispersed; the aid-de-camp abandoned him, and attempted to conceal himself by flight. Meanwhile the king had opened the door of his carriage with the design of effecting his escape under shelter of the night, which was extremely dark. He had even alighted, when the assassins seized him by the hair, exclaiming in Polish, with horrible execrations, 'We have thee now; thy hour is come.' One of them discharged a pistol at him so very near, that he felt the heat of the flesh; while another cut him across the head with his sabre, which penetrated to the bone. They then laid hold of his majesty by the collar, and mounting on horseback, dragged him along the ground between their horses at full gallop for near 500 paces through the streets of Warsaw.

"Soon finding, however, that he was incapable of following them on foot, and that he had already almost lost his respiration from the violence with which they had dragged him, they set him on horseback; and then redoubled their speed for fear of being overtaken. When they came to the ditch which surrounds Warsaw, they obliged him to leap his horse over. In the attempt the horse fell twice, and at the second fall broke its leg. They then mounted his majesty upon another, all covered as he was with dirt.

105

who is taken pri

soner,

106

and wounded,

107

"The conspirators had no sooner crossed the ditch, and rifled. than they began to rifle the king, tearing off the order of the Black Eagle of Prussia which he wore round his neck, and the diamond cross hanging to it. He requested them to leave his handkerchief, which they consented to his tablets escaped their rapacity. A great number of the assassins retired after having thus plundered him, probably with intent to notify to their respective leaders

Poland. the success of their enterprise; and the king's arrival as a prisoner. Only seven remained with him, of whom Kosinski was the chief. The night was exceedingly dark; they were absolutely ignorant of the way; and, as the horses could not keep their legs, they obliged his majesty to follow them on foot, with only one shoe, the other being lost in the dirt.

103 His presence of mind remarkable.

"They continued to wander through the open meadows, without following any certain path, and without getting to any distance from Warsaw. They again mounted the king on horseback, two of them holding him on each side by the hand, and a third leading his horse by the bridle. In this manner they were proceeding, when his majesty, finding they had taken the road which led to a village called Burakow, warned them not to enter it, because there were some Russians stationed in that place who might probably attempt to rescue him (A). Finding himself, however, incapable of accompanying the assassins in the painful posture in which they held him kept down on the saddle, he requested them, since they were determined to oblige him to proceed, at least to give him another horse and a boot. This request they complied with; and continuing their progress through almost impassable lands, without any road, and ignorant of their way, they at length found themselves in the wood of Bielany, only a league distant from Warsaw. From the time they had passed the ditch they repeatedly demanded of Kosinski their chief, if it was not yet time to put the king to death; and these demands were reiterated in proportion to the obstacles and difficulties they encountered, till they were suddenly alarmed by a Russian patrole or detachment. Instantly holding council, four of them disappeared, leaving him with the other three, who compelled him to walk on. Scarce a quarter of an hour after, a second Russian guard challenged them anew. Two of the assassins then fled, and the king remained alone with Kosinski the chief, both on foot. His majesty, exhausted with all the fatigue which he had undergone, implored his conductor to stop, and suffer him to take a moment's repose. Kosinski refused it, menacing him with his naked sabre; and at the same time informed him, that beyond the wood they should find a carriage. They continued their walk, till they came to the door of the convent of Bielany. Kosinski appeared lost in thought, and so much agitated by his reflections, that the king perceiving his disorder, and observing that he wandered without knowing the road, said to him, I see you are at a loss which way to proceed. Let me enter the convent of Bielany, and do you provide for your own safety.' 'No (replied Kosinski) I have sworn.'

"They proceeded till they came to Mariemont, a small palace belonging to the house of Saxony, not above half a league from Warsaw: here Kosinski be

over his

trayed some satisfaction at finding where he was, and the Poland. king still demanding an instant's repose, he consented at length. They sat down together on the ground, 109 He gains and the king employed these moments in endeavouring to soften his conductor, and induce him to favour or conductor, permit his escape. His majesty represented the atro-effects his city of the crime he had committed in attempting to escape, and murder his sovereign, and the invalidity of an oath ta-. ken to perpetrate so heinous an action: Kosinski lent attention to this discourse, and began to betray some marks of remorse. But (said he), if I should consent and reconduct you to Warsaw, what will be the consequence? I shall be taken and executed! I give you my word (answered his majesty), that you shall suffer no harm; but if you doubt my promise, escape while there is yet time. I can find my way to some place of security; and I will certainly direct your pursuers to take the contrary road to that which you have chosen. Kosinski could not any longer contain himself, but, throwing himself at the king's feet, implored forgiveness for the crime he had committed; and swore to protect him against every enemy, relying totally on his generosity for pardon and preservation. His majesty reiterated to him his assurances of safety. Judging, however, that is was prudent to gain some asylum without delay, and recollecting that there was a mill at some considerable distance, he immediately made towards it. Kosinski knocked, but in vain; no answer was given: he then broke a pane of glass in the window, and intreated for shelter to a nobleman who had been plundered by robbers. The millar refused, supposing them to be banditti, and continued for more than half an hour to persist in his denial. At length the king approached, and speaking through the broken pane, endeavoured to persuade him to admit them under his roof, adding, 'If we were robbers, as you suppose, it would be very easy for us to break the whole window, instead of one pane of glass. This argument prevailed. They at length opened the door and admitted his majesty. He immediately wrote a note to General Coccei, colonel of the foot-guards, informing him of his danger and miraculous escape.

"When the messenger arrived with the note, the astonishment and joy was incredible. Coccei instantly rode to the mill, followed by a detachment of the guards. He met Kosinski at the door with his sabre drawn, who admitted him as soon as he knew him. The king had sunk into a sleep, caused by his fatigue; and was stretched on the ground, covered with the millar's cloak. Coccei immediately threw himself at his majesty's feet, calling him his sovereign, and kissing his hand. It is not easy to paint or describe the astonishment of the miller and his family, who instantly imitated Coccei's example, by throwing themselves on their knees (B). The king returned to Warsaw in General Coccei's carriage,

wretched