commencement of his reign by granting him his freedom, and this magnanimous act of the emperor obtained the applause of surrounding nations. he The Poles, being informed of this tragical event, testified by loud lamentations their esteem for the talents and virtues of Kosciusko, and listened with confidence to the advice which gave them from the place of his captivity; for they were convinced that no menace could induce him to propose a measure, which was derogatory to his own glory, and that of his country. Even while the Russians besieged the capital, all the streets of Warsaw were illuminated on the birth-day of their unfortunate general; and the Poles celebrated the remembrance of his triumphs on the very eve of their destruction. The victory of Fersen did not abate the public ardour: the most vigorous measures were adopted by the national council for the defence of liberty, and Wawrzecky was appointed commander in chief. But, though the courage of the Poles was unabated, the same genius did not preside over their operations: the Russians defeated Zayontechik at Chelm; and Suwarrow, having almost annihilated the Polish army at Brezesk, advanced rapidly towards Warsaw. Instead of imitating the prudent conduct of Kosciusko, who always kept the field, the republicans retired within the fortifications of the suburbs of Prague. Suwarrow attacked the place, and, after a murderous assault, made himself master of the city. Nine thousand gallant Poles perished in this bloody action: but the carnage which succeeded the victory must for for ever tarnish the honours of the Russian general. The houses were pillaged, women violated, children murdered, and thirty thousand victims fell a prey to the vengeance and ferocity of the Russian soldiers. The inhabitants of Warsaw, who were destitute of all means of defence, were obliged to capitulate, and sent Ignatius Polocki to negociate a treaty with the conquerors. The terms he proposed were rejected; and Stanislaus Augustus, who retained no more influence with his neighbours than authority over his subjects, in vain endeavoured to obtain mild and honourable conditions: the city was compelled to yield to the mercy of Catharine. The Polish troops, refusing to submit, quitted Warsaw; but, being attacked on all sides by the Russians and Prussians, some were killed, some were dispersed, and others delivered up their arms to the conquerors. Madalinski, with a few resolute followers, fled into Gallicia. Suwarrow promised a complete amnesty, which Catharine did not fulfil. She ordered the Polish chiefs to be arrested, proscribed all those distinguished by their patriotism, confiscated their property, and erected a terrible inquisition that pursued their actions, watched their thoughts, and punished this unfortunate nation for all the virtues which it had displayed. Relieved from all obstacles, the courts of Vienna, Berlin, and Petersburg quietly divided their ensanguined prey, and wished to annihilate even the name of Poland: but history will eternize the glory of the vanquished, and the baseness, injustice, and tyranny of the victors. By an act signed at Petersburg on the 1795. third of January, and communicated to A. D. all all the powers of Europe, the three potentates designated the limits of their possessions in Poland, which they entirely appropriated to themselves. From that moment, Poland, which had during more than one thousand years figured in Europe as an independent and frequently a formidable state, was degraded from her condition and deA. D. prived of that title. On the sixth of Janu1797 ary, the courts of Vienna, Petersburg, and Berlin, published an act by which they engaged to extinguish, by different means, the debts of Poland, to discharge those of the king, to secure to him the enjoyment of ail his patrimonial or acquired property, and to allow him an annual pension of two hundred thousand duCats. He received orders to fix his residence at Grodno, from whence the czar Paul I. on his accession to the throne, invited the ill-fated monarch to Petersburg-a scene that must doubtless have recalled to his mind the adventures of his youth, which seemed to promise a happier destiny. He survived only a short time the fall of his throne, and the humiliation of his counA. D. try, He died of an appoplexy, at Petersburg, on the 11th of April, O. S. It was destined that the same hand which had presented should bereave him of his 1798. * Brezesk became the central point of the frontiers of these states. Warsaw fell under the dominion of the Prussian monarch. The Vistula divided Prussia from Austria. The Bog separated Austria from Russia. The Neimen marked the limits between the Russian and Prussian possessions; and one half of the city of Grodno belonged to the king of Prussia, and the other to the empress of Russia. crown; crown; and he would have lost it somewhat sooner, had it not been for the generous intervention of Potemkin, who saw, conversed with, and conceived an ardent friendship for his majesty, during the excursion of the empress to the Crimea. The character of Stanislaus Augustus Poniatowski, the last king of Poland, is neither difficult to understand nor to delineate. As a man and an individual, he was certainly more amiable, and more the object of attachment and respect, than when considered in his regal capacity. In his youth, his person was handsome, graceful, and elegant. Never was a prince more gracious, easy, and affable in his manners and address; which was the result of natural disposition, not the effect of artifice. But, when we contemplate him as a monarch, he evidently sinks in our estimation: he was amiable, not great; engaging, not imposing. Equally deficient in the strong powers of discernment, and in the vigour of mind which his situation demanded, he was not calculated to direct the storm by which he was assailed and finally destroyed. He possessed rather a lively and pleasing than a solid and penetrating understanding. The facility of his nature exposed him to deception; and the flexibility of his temper was abused by favourites, who acquired and retained an ascendancy over him. He supposed himself to resemble Henry IV. of France, in the leading features of his mind and body; but, though some resemblance might be traced in the circumstances of the two sovereigns, Stanislaus unfortunately did not equal the French monarch |